- When I saw your name, Emily, I can't lie,
I called my agents. The contract, I think, had been signed.
So, I tried to get out of it. It just wasn't -
[Laughs]
It was already locked and loaded, but you know,
we figured it out. We figured it out along the way.
- I'm pretty sure I told Jack [Dolgen] and Doug [Mand] on the phone,
I was like, "I cannot wait to, like,
"just mess with Gregg Sulkin for four months.
"He's my favorite person to tease."
- That was literally what they told me.
They were just like, "You know, Emily's, you know, she's,
"she's a great anchor for the show." And I was like,
"I completely agree. Emily's, like, unreal."
Obviously, you've done this so many times,
but then they said, "But yeah, Gregg, you like Emily,
"but Emily has basically told us
"that all she wants to do is make fun of you
"for the entire season. So, like,
"are you sure Emily likes you?"
And I was like, "I don't know." [Laughs]
- I don't make fun of people I don't absolutely love.
- Ah well, yeah. And here we are.
- Emily. - Yes, Gregg.
- What was your first initial reaction
to 'Pretty Smart,'
and also your first reaction to the show in general,
and also the script?
- I remember, I was walking around in my backyard
with the dog, and I got a call from my entire team.
And every time you get a call from, as you know,
the whole team, you're like, "Something is up."
And they're like, "We've got this project.
"We know you said no more multi-cam,
"but we really think this is going to be the one.
"We love the script. We love the creators behind it.
"Please just read it." I'm like, "Enough! Stop!
"I'll read it. It's OK. I'd love to read it."
And I, like, sat down and read it immediately. Which again,
Gregg, as you know, it's probably like, "All right,
"I'll read it tomorrow. Or I'll read it tonight."
I was like, "No,
"I actually would like to read this immediately."
I was just walking around the backyard,
like scrolling, like, "Huh, oh, OK.
"The opportunity to play an intelligent blonde on camera?"
Unfortunately, it's kind of few and far between.
I love the dynamic between Claire and Chelsea.
I didn't grow up with a sister and I feel like
we don't see enough sister dynamic on television anyway.
And after the year we've had, it felt like the right move
to get back into something familiar, something that I know,
something I know I'm good at and something I really enjoy
and that can hopefully bring joy to other people as well.
What made you want to join 'Pretty Smart,'
what did you like about the script,
and why did you want to work with Emily Osment?
- I think when I first read 'Pretty Smart' script,
I thought, "OK, this is really light. This is really fun."
I just sped through the script. I loved it, thought it was,
I thought it didn't take itself too seriously, which I love.
I also thought there was a,
there was a lot of heart there, too.
And then now, when you see the final, you know, product,
which is an entire season, it has so much heart
and I'm so, I'm just so happy to be part of it.
- Who would you think is most like their character
off-screen?
- Oof, that's a tough one. I think,
I think we all have a little of our own
sort of essence and personality in our own characters.
You know, for example, Cinthya [Carmona] who plays Solana,
she's so, like, she has that fiest,
like, she has that, like, juice and it's just,
it just flows out of her and it flows out of Solana.
Whereas Michael [Hsu Rosen] has,
Michael's actually a little bit more,
I think reserved.
- [Emily] He's probably the least, I feel like.
- Yeah, I think Michael is probably the most different
just cause he's so sweet and so lovely.
He's not this, like, crazy, like, energetic type of person,
but he taps into it so quickly.
Olivia [Macklin] is very similar to Claire. She has a,
she has a lightness to her, like, this bubbly essence.
You're actually quite different. I mean,
you're similar in certain ways, but you are,
I think very different. I mean, you're smart.
You are actually one of the smartest people I've ever met.
I think that's down to your mum, but you know,
you can take some of the credit, but you know,
and obviously Chelsea is extremely intelligent.
But, I think that you also are very, like, you're not as,
you're not as uptight as when we first see Chelsea,
like you're such a bubbly and fun and, like, inclusive person.
And so, I think you're a little bit different than Chelsea.
I think when it comes to Grant,
I think that I'm the same in a sense of like,
I've always been very athletic.
I'd like to think that, kind of, what you see is what you get.
But, I'd like to think I've read a couple of more books
than, than Grant has in his time,
but that's not to say that he won't evolve
and become more educated -
- Very true, very true.
- as the season goes on.
- And I think that's why Grant and Chelsea are very -
- [Emily] Kindred spirits.
- Yeah, there's a potential love, friendship,
blossoming there because
Chelsea can teach Grant a few things.
Emily, as you know, you had to suffer
a lot of scenes of me throughout the season.
What was it when you first, I guess when you first
read the Grant and Chelsea relationship,
and throughout the season, what was it about it
that you sort of, like, gravitated towards and enjoyed?
- In terms of so many different types of relationships
we have in our life, you gravitate towards people
that remind you of yourself,
but also people that you just wildly don't understand.
And I feel like Chelsea's a curious person.
She set in her ways, but she's, she's pensive
and she's curious, and I think Grant's one of those people
she can't figure out. He's worldly, and he shouldn't be.
He's kind of like, as we say, a "buff Buddha" in the show,
you just have sort of this like Zen optimism
and it comes across so well.
And you're like that very much, too. You have such a calm,
accepting, non-biased way about you.
And I think in terms of me, Emily, and you, Gregg, together,
we've known each other for so long
that I really cherished those scenes that we got season one
that were just the two of us.
And there was the, and of course Phill Lewis,
also known so long, all of us, allowed us, sort of, the space
to play with it and to find it.
And you don't really get that, especially with sitcoms,
the schedule is very tight.
It was nice to kind of mess around
and have the space for that.
- Yeah. I feel like our friendship
prior to the show definitely helped. It's nice to know,
It's nice to know that you're going in, you know,
with someone by your side, right?
- A safe space, yeah.
- Who's capable and who's willing
to sort of, like, stick by you.
Emily got to do the, the, the mouse ears before me
and I'm still bitter about it, but, you know -
- I need to find your mouse ears on YouTube somewhere.
- Well, I think Emily for you, I think
when we did our promos, it was on the 'Hannah Montana' set,
right?
- Oh, that's right.
Yeah. So our, our, you know, our gallery shoot for the show,
our promotional videos that we shot for the show
were in Los Angeles on the same stage
that I shot Hannah Montana for five annual years.
We walked across our stage to the stage next door.
And I was like, "Wait a minute.
"Where are we?" Obviously, it looks so different.
It had been like, you know, 15 years.
I walked in and I was just struck by this wave of nostalgia.
And that was so strange because it was so familiar
and it was so long ago.
And I was just such an insufferable, sad,
depressed teenager, as we all were.
And to come at it from a different perspective
on a different show was really lovely.
And Olivia [Macklin] was in, like, my dressing room that I had
for five years. I kept going in and being like,
"Over here was where I had my thing,
"and this is where this happened."
And they were like, "We don't care."
It felt very familiar and very nice.
But Gregg and I never really crossed paths so much
in, like, Disney world.
It was when we did a movie for Lifetime back in 2013
where we really became close.
So, it was kind of post-Disney era that that happened.
Of course I knew who you were, but we didn't really
connect in that way.
- You know, when it comes to the Disney side of things,
I think the, you know, when you're young
and you're blessed with opportunities
such as working on 'Hannah Montana' or working on 'Wizards [of Waverly Place],'
it's like, there are so many important lessons
that you're learning and you're not realizing
that you're learning them at the time,
but like being a number one
on a multi-cam sitcom for Netflix is a really tough job.
And it requires a true pro in that specific field
to knock it out of the park and Emily's that.
And so those experiences, probably,
from when you were younger, massively help you become one,
the professional, but also the actress that you are,
and thankfully, that we all got to like, see. You know,
during season one, I think there are definitely moments,
I know that I learned when I was on 'Wizards,'
physical comedy, you pick up little tricks
from other actors, you, you sort of mentally, you know,
capture them and kind of use them
and adapt them for yourself.
So, that experience on multi-cams in the past
definitely helped me, for sure. And you know,
the more you work with people who are good in the field,
then you sort of become better.
Em, were there any sitcoms when you were younger
that you fell in love with that you hope
'Pretty Smart' sort of emulates?
- Well, when I first read it, I grew up watching 'Cheers.'
That was my favorite sitcom growing up,
big Ted Danson fan. Who isn't? The man doesn't age.
And I remember reading this and being like, "Oh my god,
"this is 'Cheers.' This Diane Chambers coming out of her,
"you know, professional education
"and being forced into a community of drunken Bostonians,
"and trying to fit in and not knowing how
"and falling on her face, but also learning
"how to be a human being." And that felt very Chelsea
trying to sort of get a better understanding of herself
through an avenue she didn't expect.
And so that was, that felt very, very similar to me.
And of course I'm seeing on the internet, like,
"It's the reverse 'Big Bang Theory.'"
I'm like, "No, it's 'Cheers!'"
Always one of my favorites.
I would just do anything to have Diane Chambers
play my mom on this. I think that'd be awesome.
- I love sitcoms. I would say that, you know,
there's a 'Two and a Half Men' aspect,
a tiny bit in the sense of, you know,
Charlie and Alan and that living situation,
that their living dynamic just quickly changes
when somebody moves in.
- Oh, I didn't think about that.
- Which is obviously, you know, when Chelsea moves in,
everything is, you know, changing.
I also love 'Friends,' obviously.
I think that captures, our show has a little of the romance,
we hope, that 'Friends' did so well in capturing.
But, you know, 'Just Shoot Me' was a great show
back in the day. 'Big Bang,' I like 'Big Bang' a lot too.
So, hopefully we can capture a little bit of success
from those shows.
Emily, as you know, throughout the season,
you know, we had a lot of scenes together.
Do you think our characters, Grant and Chelsea,
are the unexpected perfect match?
- I think it's unfair to say that anyone is a perfect match.
And I think that perfect is kind of boring, anyway.
I, in my own life, I,
I strive to have relationships that challenge you,
that surprise you, that teach you something about yourself.
And I think Grant and Chelsea really have that in spades
with their relationship.
They both come from different worlds
and they're both very different personality types.
Chelsea is so befuddled by the fact that
she can't figure out this guy, who's seemingly on paper,
like just this hot dude that lives in L.A.,
that's banging every girl at the grocery store.
But like, it's not that, he's so much more,
and he's a caring person and he's genuine and he's deep,
and that's throwing her.
And it's a good lesson for her throughout the season,
and for all of us watching,
that you can't judge a book by its cover,
that, that you have to give someone a fair shot,
no matter how they seem on the outside.
So Gregg, do you think that they're
an unexpected perfect match?
- I love perfect matches. I do.
- Says the man who's completely symmetrical. OK.
- Remember that line,
remember the blue shorts guy in the gym?
- “It’s a perfect match!” - Yes! Oh, I loved him.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, there's a scene where
Grant actually loves perfect matches and he's, you know,
Yeah.
- The perfect match!
- And so, and so, yeah, I think Grant absolute -
I think yes,
they're a perfect match in their own unexpected way.
Grant and Claire have also dated prior
and that is obviously gonna throw a spanner in the works.
So that's, that's -
- They seem like the obvious match.
- Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So, yeah.
So who knows what's going to happen? We don't know.
We, as, as, as cast members,
- We have no idea.
- don't know where it's heading
and I think it's going to be exciting
to see the audience, sort of, go on this journey with us,
both Emily and I, to see, and Olivia,
to see actually what happens. And so,
and, and what audience, what the audience is rooting for.
I love Chelsea and Grant.
I absolutely love Chelsea and Grant.
It would be unfair to Olivia if I said,
"I want Grant to end up with Chelsea,"
because that means I would have less scenes with Olivia
and Olivia is a great actress.
[Laughs]
So, I would never want her to feel
that I don't want to work with Olivia
because I think she's great.
- Gregg Sulkin the phenomenally fair.
- Emily and I, though, have a very special friendship,
relationship and I think more than anything, trust.
And when we're scene partners, there's just something so,
there's just a real, real bond there and faith in each other
that we're going to sort of go through this together.
So, I definitely don't want to lose that. So, that's my -
- Neither one of us are going anywhere,
so it'll be just fine.