First of all, I watched We Were Liars, I actually binge-watched it and I loved it. I would like to hear about your characters from your own perspective. How do you perceive them?
Esther: I love Mirren. I immediately found her so charming and alluring. I think that was mostly because of her curiosity for life, but also her fears about conquering those curiosities perfectly. Her general vigor in terms of her energy levels. The fact that she is a painter and I’m a tattoo artist, I’ve painted my whole life.
Joseph: I think for me, it was the playfulness, the energy, and the confidence of the character. I feel like it’s just so fun to be able to be playful and upbeat if you’re acting. It’s a fun thing to play around with.
Did you guys know about the book before reading the script, and what made you decide to take on the project?
Joseph: I read the book in the audition phases. I think I did my first audition without having any time to read the book. It was a very quick turnaround. But by the time I was getting callbacks, I read through it very quickly. It was probably not for the best because then I was immediately like, I really need to do this. It was obviously so helpful in finding the character. Then I just loved Johnny’s character.
Esther: I thought it was amazing to have the book to pull from. It was a very easy decision for me when the offer came through. I was very excited about it. I actually did know the book through my mother, because my mother had read it. So when I told her about this audition, actually she is CC’d on all of my work emails still to this day! She came to me saying that she had read it. So that was great. I got some personal insight from her because my turnaround was pretty quick too, at first. And then I immediately fell in love with the character and obviously dove straight into the book. And I was doing what I could to make sure that I had the chance to be Mirren.
So since it’s a book adaptation, did you feel any kind of pressure bringing your characters to life? Because they already exist in people’s minds…
Esther: Yes and no, I would say. I’m a big reader, so I read a lot. You build these characters in your head. And every person’s perception is always going to be different. So I think that I encapsulate her general energy. I know that it won’t be everyone’s exact depiction.
Joseph: I think just the fact that it has such a big, loving fan base already was nerve-wracking. But when they posted all of our photos on the Instagram account two days before we started filming and announced all of us, all the comments were so nice, which you don’t always get whenever you’re doing an adaptation. But the fans were so loving from the start. We got so many nice messages being like, we have full faith in you.
Esther: Yeah, it’s been really good. So I hope to do them all good.
Yeah, they’re all so excited for the series to come out. Esther, this is for you. I find Mirren to be a really interesting character, as you mentioned. She wants to move forward with her life, live to the fullest, and craves new experiences. But something seems to hold her back. Without giving anything away, could you talk a bit more about that?
Esther: I think she struggles a lot with identity, especially in her family structure. I think that she holds a lot of pressure in terms of like the idea that she had projected onto her mother, and onto herself, and this idea of perfection. I think that it’s scary to be young and I think she really holds that. I think the fear of doing something and not succeeding at it can really overtake you. So I think she is still working on that part of herself, getting rid of some of those fears.
Joseph: It’s a really good answer.
As for Johnny, he is quite different than Mirren. He is more adventurous and carefree. Joseph, how was it to play a character like that and could you also talk a bit more about his relationship with Gat, especially along with the others?
Joseph: I think he and Gat are probably the closest out of the Liars because Rahul, who plays Ed, is my mom’s partner in the show, and Gat is his nephew. We would have seen each other a lot more outside of the island. And as for why I enjoyed playing the character, I think it was his playful energy, it was intoxicating. Also his confidence. I think I gained and garnered all this confidence while being on the set. Maybe it was because I was on a big Amazon show. But also, it’s infectious.
So last question is for both of you, without giving any spoilers, what can you say about We Were Liars? What can fans expect?
Joseph: What can fans expect, umm… heartbreak. It definitely pulls on your heart, this show, a little bit. But also we had so much fun filming it and I think that just bleeds through the show. Like we were having so much fun on set every day doing these scenes and I think watching them back, you can actually see that in the show. So I think people will like that.
Esther: Yeah, I think people will definitely like that.
I loved it personally and it definitely made my heart break too!
Joseph: Thank you!
Thank you guys so much!
