Cruel Summer Star Defends Jeanette

Hi Kiara, how are you? You look great.

Hi. Thank you so much. I'm good. How are you doing?

I'm good. Congrats on Cruel Summer. Are you excited for summer?

Thank you so much. Oh, I'm so excited.

What would you say, I guess, like favorite behind the scenes moment that you had filming before we get into the actual show?

There are so many behind the scenes moments that I enjoyed. Um the cast and I kind of as a whole developed some really close relationships as well as with the creative team. So we would have a lot of fun. Um and I'm trying to think of what if I have one specific one. We did have some prank wars going on on set. So there was um there was once a giant cardboard cutout of my face that was traveling around set for a bit. Um and I got um I got pajamas with my producer's face, like a hundred of them on me and walked around um walked around the stages trying to scare everyone and make her as uncomfortable as possible, which were definitely some some great memories all around. Um but every day, every day was great.

I say, so it was a good cast to, you know, vibe with behind the scenes.

Oh, 100%. We were all super close.

Who do you think is the funniest on set?

Funniest. Yeah. That's hard. I mean, everyone's kind of funny in their own way. I I think our producer probably, Michelle, we both are a bit of like the jokers and the pranksters. So we would have some good laughs together for sure.

And are you in LA right now?

Yes.

So have you gone by the billboard yet? Because there's a billboard in LA, right?

Yes, yes, there's actually a billboard that I can see outside my window right now.

Yeah. Did you know that you were gonna be able to see it outside your window?

No, I definitely did not, but it's super exciting.

Have you ever been on a billboard before? Like a show you've been involved with?

Um I mean, I've there's been some billboards for stuff that I've worked on, but this is definitely um definitely a great a great feeling and you know, super exciting.

And if you were like sit back as a fan watching, so picture yourself is like you not in the show. Yeah. Who would you assume like did what happened to Kate?

Hm. I mean, I don't know. I'm I'm definitely partially biased. I cannot lie to you. Um I am just gonna make the assumption that I think Janette is completely innocent and totally wronged. So we're going to go with that.

Well biased, but it's fine. Yes. Are you gonna plan to watch it? Like will you watch it each episode or do you not like watching yourself?

Yeah, no, I definitely am going to watch it. I'm so excited. I mean, we've gotten, you know, we've been able to see little snippets and moments here and there, but there's also so many different parts of the show that I wasn't necessarily involved with filming and I can't wait to support the rest of my cast and get the opportunity to see it come to life.

And some people like going through like the YouTube trailer and stuff have said that it's a mix between Pretty Little Liars, Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why. Do you get that vibe? Like do you feel like it's kind of like a combination or how do you feel about the show?

Yeah, I definitely think it's a combination. I think it's a like a grounded psychological thriller that's following some crazy stories and some crazy teenagers. Um so I don't think it's necessarily like anything specifically that I've seen before, but um I think that's what makes it unique and cool.

And when you grew up, what was your kind of favorite like thriller show that you watched?

Thriller show. I don't know. I mean, there's so many. I mean, I've seen all the, you know, the 13 Reasons Why and the Pretty Little Liars. I loved The Sinner. Um which was with Jessica and Michelle. Um that was incredible. I mean, there's so many good thriller shows out there. I could list them on my fingers literally.

And what would you say like besides Cruel Summer, what would be like maybe a co-star that you'd love to have in a different like project you worked on or like your dream project?

I mean, there's so many there's so many uh different, you know, characters that I would love to explore and play. Anything that I I think I would consider a challenge is super exciting to me. Um and I'm looking forward to kind of seeing where the journey takes us.

And when you found out that you got this part in this series, where were you and like how did you find out?

Um I found out I um I got a phone call actually and I was I was in my bedroom and I'd been getting a lot of spam calls that day and I didn't know what was going on and I got another call from an unknown number. And I picked up like so aggravated. I was like, what? What do you want? And um it was the director and writer of um of the pilot. They were like, hey. I was like, oh, hi. Um I'm so sorry about that. I'm so sorry. I know, and they told me they were uh they were excited to go film in Dallas. Uh it was really really exciting experience.

And had you been to Dallas before or this is your first time?

I had been to Dallas, but kind of like very briefly. I hadn't really spent big chunks of time there yet.

I guess well, that's so exciting. And I guess what would you say is like in the end the end goal of the show? Like how what route do you think people will take? You think they'll be like kind of like the obsession like five like people have to follow like what happened to Kate? Like what do you think will you know like Pretty Little Liars and stuff, people got so dedicated to some of the characters, you know. I mean, what do you think will happen with Cruel Summer?

You can normally hope that people will be as excited and um intrigued and uh on the edge of their seat as we were when we were filming it. So, you know, I hope that people are uh totally captivated by our world.

Yeah. Well, that's gonna be so exciting. And congrats on everything too and thank you so much for talking to us.

Thank you so much. Thank you.