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Jennifer Beals and Troian Bellisario on Season 2 of “Lauren”

Today, WIGS’ groundbreaking web series Lauren returns for a 12-episode second season. No one is more proud of the series than the series’ stars, Pretty Little LiarsTroian Bellisario and The L Word‘s Jennifer Beals. We were recently able to join in on a conference call with the AfterEllen favorites in which they talked about the series’ lasting impact, about what’s in store for season two, and about their fondness for one another.

On the dark nature of their roles in Lauren:

Troian: Oh, I think it’s definitely very difficult, especially because you know you’re spending whole weeks in these situations and going through these really terrible conversations and events kind of over and over and over again, as you’re getting coverage of this awful thing. And so I think for me, you want to dive into it, be truthful and honor the story as much as possible, because you don’t ever want to become desensitized to it. You’re on set all day and eventually you have to start joking around. Everybody’s working, they’re all tired, and rather than it being difficult to leave that dark place, I think it becomes more important to me to kind of be true to it and to make sure that I’m not just glossing over it, because Lauren’s story isn’t based on one woman in particular; it is based on true events, and it is a very common occurrence. And so I think it is hard, and I definitely smiled every time I got in my car at the end of the day because I knew I was going to get to go home and take a bath and pet my dog.

Jennifer: And I think that’s the difference. I think as an actor you relish those roles where you can play something so complicated and so difficult and you take the time to dive in as deeply as you can, and you kind of hold on to that for the day, even if while you’re joking around there’s still that little string that connects you to that other experience. And the difference with us is that we can walk away from it at the end of the day. There are so many people, they don’t walk away from it at the end of the day. That’s what their life is.

And I think one of the things for me working on set, and particularly when I had scenes with Troian, which was so helpful to me, is that even though we never talked about it, it’s like this unspoken thing between us that we both are going through the same thing at the same time. And in a funny kind of way, I recognize that even if she’s telling a joke, I know that underneath in the surface there’s this other thing bubbling that’s just waiting to come up whenever it’s summoned to come up, and you support one another on the set as best you can, even if it’s through silent communication.

On the support of Pretty Little Liars fans:

Troian: Yes, it was wonderful for me. It’s very funny, I was so excited that the fans from Pretty Little Liars were so receptive and so supportive of Lauren, and especially helpful in getting it out there, because there are so many of them. And they really took to it and they really saw what Jennifer and I both saw in this story, which is that it needs to be told and it needs to be spread around as much as possible. But for me it was kind of funny, because everybody was like, “Oh, my God this is so different from Pretty Little Liars. Is this the kind of role that you want to be doing more?” And for me, Pretty Little Liars was a really big difference from what I was used to. I kind of only loved doing really, really dramatic, and what people would call “dark” roles, and when I got Pretty Little Liars it was a big change for me, so this kind of feels in an odd way like going home. There’s a kind of truth and a kind of raw honesty to the story of Lauren that I really was so happy to be a part of again. So yes, definitely I think I would love to do more roles like this.

On working with one another:

Troian: I don’t know how you felt, but most of my scenes during the first season were really across from you, and the biggest difference for me was being away from you for so long.

Jennifer: Yes, I know. That was very odd.

Troian: It was very odd, and it was wonderful to experience this amazing new cast of characters, I feel like it really filled out the experience of Lauren and of Jo Stone, their lives and who they had histories with and who they have futures with. But it was really, I don’t know, I felt so excited when I finally got to come back to working with you for our scenes.

Jennifer: Yes, me too, me too. It was like, “When do I get to work with Troian?” Not that I don’t love Bradley Whitford, because I do, I do. But again it’s this sort of unspoken thing where you know – it’s like sort of I’m the more, Jo Stone is the more ossified version of Lauren, in a way. That’s the way that Lauren can end up if she doesn’t stay on the right path.

On how working on Lauren has changed them:

Jennifer: My goodness. I’ve learned so many more things. I just have learned so many more things about – certainly the military and at least how it feels to be this particular person in the military, like to be someone like Jo Stone in the military, how complicated that is. My experience in Washington with the Service Women’s Action Network: I will never, ever forget for the rest of my life. To be with all of these service men and women who are so unbelievably, inexplicably brave and truly courageous to be able to go tell their story over and over and over again on the Hill to get something to change, was really life altering, I think. And I remember a friend of mine said to me, “To be courageous is to be able to tell your life story with your whole heart.” And I feel like that’s what these men and women were doing on those two days, and doing it certainly out of their own pain, but also out of the love and regard for the people who would come after them so that they wouldn’t have to experience the same sort thing. And to me that’s the height of humanity, when you can take your pain and like the finest alchemist turn it into something beneficial for others, and the key ingredient in that I think is love.

Troian: I couldn’t agree more. I think what is such an honor and what I love the most about being a storyteller is the ability to step into somebody else’s shoes. When all goes well and you get a wonderful project like Lauren and you get these amazing characters like with Lauren and with Jo Stone, your whole vision of the world expands. And for me, my father served in the military, but I really knew nothing. I wasn’t born while he was serving, so I knew nothing of that lifestyle. And to get to step into that world and to get to understand and do research and hear stories and watch film about people’s experience and lives serving their country, which is something so completely different from what I do every day, but to stand in their shoes and fight for what they believe in, you just get a richer experience of life because you understand one more thing from somebody else’s point of view.

And I know that I keep on, but the great honor that it is to assume this role and to stand for these women and tell a story, which is one of hundreds of thousands of stories of these women, to get it out there so that maybe more people will listen the next time and then a change can be made and then a huge change can be made, and then we’re not talking about this as an issue anymore, hopefully, but it’s something that we all kind of came together and made a difference in. So, yes that is how it changed me. It was just a huge honor and it just kind of opened my eyes a bit more to the world.

Lauren‘s second season kicks off today. We will be posting all of the episodes right here on AfterEllen.

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