Stephanie Hsu is a woman whose romantic problems turn deadly, and Zosia Mamet is her best friend trying to help, in Willing. Although he has been acting since the early 2010s, Hsu has skyrocketed to fame in recent years since his Oscar-nominated performance in the film A24. Everything everywhere at the same timefollowing everything from action comedy The fallen guy for the comedy set of friends Joy ride. Mamet first found his success with a leading role on HBO's Girls as Shoshanna, having since starred in everything from Under the Silver Lake for Netflix The Decameron.
Hsu leads the Willing cast as Ruby, a 30-something party planner who has bounced from partner to partner with no success, only to later discover that all of her former sexual partners are bizarrely dying in the order in which she slept with them. Mamet stars in the series as AJ, Ruby's best friend and roommate, who helps her put together a timeline of her former partners and begin to investigate why they are all dying. As Ruby is faced with some tough life lessons, she will also see her and AJ's friendship put to the test.
Alongside Hsu and Mamet, the group Willing cast includes This is us former student Michael Angarano, Good problemare Tommy Martinez, Andre Hyland, Elizabeth Bowen, Olivia Holt, Ryan Pinkston, David Denman and Susan Berger. Featuring a host of special guests and the Emmy-nominated creative duo of Nahnatchka Khan (Fresh off the boat) and Sally Bradford McKenna (Will and Grace), the show proves to be a captivating blend of dark comedy, significant character growth, and intriguing premise.
In anticipation of the program's premiere, TelaRant interviewed Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet to discuss Willingwhat attracted them to the "wild and undisciplined"The premise of the show, the connection they made in finding their characters' dynamics and the joy they felt in exploring their characters' messiness.
Hsu and Mamet found Willing Be one"Really rare" Except for the scripts they read
"...the pilot is so hilarious..."
ScreenRant: I'm so excited to talk to you both on this show. I watched the first seven episodes and I'm already in love. It's funny, it's wild. Stephanie, if you would like to start and then Zosia, and the material, about your characters, really attracted you to want to be a part of this show?
Stephanie Hsu: I mean, it really is on the page, the pilot is so hilarious and the premise is so wild and rambunctious. You know, this woman who's in her 30s is having a hard time finding love, discovering that everyone she's slept with is dying. You're like, “I want to be a part of this.” So it was kind of obvious. And so, I think in a broader existential way, it's fun to ask these questions about love and relationships, it felt like a fun task. Yes.
Zosia Mamet: I mean, we've been talking about this a lot today, unfortunately it's very rare that you read something and there's nothing that you can change or transform a little bit, or you're like, "Oh, okay, maybe this will change on the day. " It jumps out at you instantly, makes you laugh out loud and feel the sensations. It really was like a perfectly baked cake was delivered and you wanted to be a part of it. You want to say those words, and then when they told me that Steph was playing the lead, I was like, "Yes, I want to do that. I want to say those words with her." We said a lot of words.
Both: [In sync] We said so many words. [Laughs]
Hsu and Mamet discovered that they were given "The space to find"Your characters
"...it's fun to have flaws, and we have flaws too."
Stephanie, I'll talk to you next, because one of the things I love about Ruby is that she's a three-dimensional character in that she's flawed, but she's also a very endearing person who you want to sympathize with and empathize with. . What's it like to achieve that balance on the performance side, exploring both the bad side and the good side?
Stephanie Hsu: Yeah, I think that was a really important thing for Sally and Natch, and for me as an actor, to let her have flaws. There are times when I really want to protect her thought process, and I have to understand where that's coming from, because I have to play her. But it's also fun to have flaws, and we have flaws too. Allow this character to be imperfect and just find those moments when you need to protect her integrity and when you can let her free.
Zosia, I'll talk to you next, because very similar, AJ, is someone who is still trying to find herself. She's in this relationship that she's not sure about, she's having problems with her friend. What is it like finding her heart and that balance through your acting?
Zosia Mamet: I think similar to your first question, Natch and Sally did an incredible job creating these characters and making them completely three-dimensional. And so, I think they also gave us space to meet them in the moment. I think they wrote an incredibly funny show. It's so incredibly crazy in its circumstances. But also, we all keep coming back to the idea that these characters need to feel real. And I think a lot of times in TV shows and movies, we don't necessarily want to go to unpleasant, imperfect places because it feels a little more scary and uncomfortable. I think that was really a through line that we kept trying to come back to, that not everyone has it all figured out at that age.
I think a lot of times we see people or characters in their teens or 20s being messy or making mistakes, but when they get to their 30s, we think, “Yeah, they figured it all out.” And that's just not real. This isn't reality or real life, so it was really fun but also really honest to play these characters that are in this romantic comedy with a chocolate shell, so to speak. But also, maybe they are not fully realized as human beings, and they are still going down the wrong path, or making a wrong choice, and they are not the perfect friend or the perfect partner. It was a really fun line to walk.
On Willing
A woman discovers her former lovers are dying in unusual ways and must go back in her sexual timeline to confront her past and move forward - “Laid” is a fucked-up romantic comedy where the answer to “why can’t I find the right one?” Baby, is there something wrong with me? is a resounding “Yes. There is. The problem is definitely you.
Stay tuned for our others Willing interviews:
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Michael Angarano and Andre Hyland
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Tommy Martinez
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Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna
Source: TelaRant Plus