Centered around a college student’s big break in a Hollywood blockbuster.
The story focuses on Paige, (Bella Thorne) her journey navigating through an undeniable chemistry, uncovering the truth about a missing popstar, plus all the craziness that comes with dealing with Hollywood. We caught up with Famous in Love stars Carter Jenkins and Perrey Reeves to talk their new hit show.
OJ: Talk to me about your characters on the show.
Perrey: I play a character, I play Nina Devon, I play a producer who discovers Bella, I’ve created this incredible, sort of hollywood, power person and my son who’s played by Carter Jenkins plays a giant movie star, Rainer Devon. He’s had to endure the wrath of my character his whole life so he’s had a lot of life experience, I would say. I care a lot about him-
Carter: It’s a loaded question.
Perry: There’s a lot going on here.
Carter: You just wait until you see the whole show.
Perrey: It’s not a typical mother/son relationship although i think that Nina does everything to make sure that her son has the life that she has, but it’s questionable, her techniques. Right? You know, because sometimes making a movie might be more important than the individual characters but you know; we’re hollywood royalty. I’m saying #hollywoodroyalty for our characters, that’s one; I’m starting that trend.
OJ: Describe your arc, from what we see the character go through.
Carter: Wow great question. My god, my character’s arc – he’s sort of, in the beginning of the series, jaded by Hollywood. He’s been in the business for a long time.
Perrey: Raised in it.
Carter: He loves it but he’s jaded and when he meets Paige, who’s sort of this like this pure beacon of authenticity; she reinvigorates his love for it all and, you know, he holds her hand and wants to protect that purity as she rises the ranks of Hollywood.
Perrey: That was, nailed that.
OJ: There’s so many powerful women in Hollywood. Were there any particular characters or people that you based your character on?
Perrey: I think they loosely based her [Nina] on a number of different women, I mean, you know, it’s a very fantasy-fulfillment style show so everyone’s super glamorous; my character is like famous in her own right, like when I go out to lunch there’s paparazzi; everything about our show is a heightened version of Hollywood.
OJ: But how much is it really?
Perrey: It’s super heightened,
Carter: But that’s kind of what it is.
Perrey: But see, here’s the thing, it is really realistic and the fact of the matter is that you can be on top one minute and then crash for, you know, while you watch this movie getting made ‘cause the show is about the making of a movie so there’s a movie within the show. You know, you think it’s all, when we go see a movie, all we see is the final product, but you’re going to see the underbelly of how people, how financiers, pull out; how you’re forced to cast someone you don’t want and fire someone that you don’t. So you’re seeing a lot of that.
OJ: So you get the real drama on the show.
Perrey: Yeah, and you’re seeing that some people might have great chemistry on camera and then hate each other off camera. We don’t have any of that on our show because we all love each other but-
OJ: So there’s no beef going on?
Carter: It’s only season one.
Perrey: No, this is only season one, but no, I have to say though, this cast, you know, I’ve been on some great ensemble casts, like Entourage was a great ensemble cast.
OJ: You were also a power woman there.
Perrey: I like to play those power ones. I like to play, yes, I did, I came in and out of that but I have to say in this case, I’m playing a single mom, and there’s something about where my survival and the survival of my child is very important, and despite the fact that she’s been very successful she’s had to do a lot to get there. And to be a single woman and raise a child and have that level of success, there are a lot of sacrifices, and you see that play out with us throughout the season and it’s, you know, it’s complicated. Let’s just say that. This show like appears to be pretty and fun and Hollywood and we have a lot of levels, a lot of complicated dynamics, a lot of sexiness too.
OJ: As a young actor in Hollywood, does this show at times mirror what you go through in real life?
Carter: Yeah, I’ve been an actor since I was a kid and I’ve also been in love before so I know what it’s like to feel; I have the tools to tell this story because of my experiences. The difference is that I’m not an international superstar, so I don’t, and when you are that famous, everything is heightened because everything you do, everything Bella does, every time she dates someone even if it’s just, you know, a couple of dates that doesn’t go anywhere it’s a headline. There’s photos, they’re talking about it, there’s hashtags and all that so I think that this show is a nice look behind the curtain of what that’s like.
OJ: What do you think viewers will take away, in terms of on a positive note, will they take away from the show?
Carter: Well, I think people are into Hollywood and what happens behind the scenes and this is, it sort of depicts what the gossip magazines wish they knew about. There is a lot that goes on that doesn’t make it to the public.
Perrey: As it should-
Carter: As it should. Gosh, it’s like if you knew everything that happened in Hollywood, if you knew everything that happened in Washington.
Perrey: I also think that when you break it down, the reason this show works is because it’s about friends, it’s about loyalty, it’s about things you can relate to no matter what the environment is, you know: family, or Bella’s roommates, and seeing yourself in different spaces you can imagine yourself like, oh that could be me, I could have this struggle, I could, maybe in a smaller capacity, but it’s very relatable. Even though it’s Hollywood-ish.
OJ: I could see that because people often look at Hollywood as something they often aspire to. Now they see someone plucked from obscurity and be able to make it.
Carter: She’s [Paige] sort of the fish out of water story that is maybe a fantasy that we’ve all had.
OJ: You have such a really cool ensemble cast. Talk about them and all the fun you guys had on set, just a little bit.
Carter: It’s true that we like each other. Honestly it is pretty rare and wonderful to like your cast.
OJ: How long was the filming process?
Carter: We shot ten episodes and it only took about three and a half months, but we shot the pilot well before that so we’ve known each other about a year and a half. We’re ready for the world to see this.
Perrey: It’s a minute. It’s taken a minute, one, Bella, when they started doing this, like really working on it and putting it together, Bella was sixteen, and she’s turning twenty in September. So it’s been long, the process, and we’ve all been involved for the last year and a half and we’re all like, it’s felt like a long year and a half, but here we are, you know, and also it’s exciting. It’s really exciting, and I think I will say this, and I have to say in the case of Marlene with Pretty Little Liars as well, she’s incredible at putting great people together. Like there is true love and chemistry on this job.
OJ: It’s very well cast.
Perrey: Very well cast, and the people are, everyone’s excited as the next one about this show, there’s no one who’s jaded. Like no one’s like, oh yeah I did…It is really a delight and a joy to work in that environment, like, no one comes late to set, everyone is excited; it’s really collaborative. People hang out off set, like you guys hang out together and like they’re real friends. Legit friends. And when Keith met my husband, it was after we did the pilot and we were hiking in Runyon Canyon in LA with dogs and stuff and we ran into him and like he called my husband sir and like my husband looks like he’s twenty-three, like that’s so cute. He’s just nice and polite and a real person. You’re [Carter] so nice and polite and like these are all real people who have great personalities off camera and yeah, no, it’s true. We had after we did the pilot my friends were having a big New Years Eve party and I invited you to come and he brought his dad and it was really fun; we have like a really like authentic group of people that we love. It’s so nice.
Carter: Yeah I hope we can do it for a while.
Perrey: Me too.
OJ: Summer plans, where are you guys vacationing this summer?
Perrey: Well we’re hopefully going to be shooting a show this Summer, so we’re going back. We’re waiting to find out but it’s it looks like we will. I just got back from Mexico.
Carter: If we get picked up my plan is to get on a plane, ‘cause it will get picked up and take a few months before we’re shooting. I want to spend more time in New York actually, and I want to go to England cause i’ve never been. I just need to spend some more time in New York. I love it here. I might travel around England, I might get out of the city, I might travel around Europe.
Perrey: He wants to be in a boyband and I think his dreams will come true in England.
