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After three seasons of playing siblings, its scrub the three actors have bonded.
The following is an edited and condensed version of our conversation.
My dad came in and I said, Why am I not there?
And he said, Playing with the kids?
And I go, No, I wanna bethere.
Like, why am I not there?
And he said, Good question.
Mikey: Thats amazing that at 2 years old you knew you wanted to.
Olivia: I would always hog the spotlight.
If my brother was recording something on his phone, Id be like, No!
Id want to be on the camera.
Hannah: Thats absolutely not a surprise.
I did acting classes and movie camps.
I drove down to Atlanta and auditioned for an agent.
I got signed, and now Im here.
And you, Mikey?Mikey: I was a competitive horseback rider for most of my life.
I turned 15, and all of a sudden, I became really interested in this.
Im not really sure what sparked that in my head, but it did.
My dads a big film buff, so I think I acquired some of those traits.
I just met the right people along the way and got really lucky.
So tell me how you landedBetter Things.
How did it come about?Olivia: It started with putting a little tiny scene on tape.
We read one scene and we did a little bit of improv.
It was automatic, like,Oh my God, shes so cool![Laughs.]
Mikey:Before I met you, Pamela was talking about how excited she was that you were coming.
She was like, Youre gonna love Olivia and her audition tape!
Pamela said that was like Duke in so many ways, that quirkiness.
A week later, I got a call saying that Pamela wanted to have a chemistry read with me.
I was in the room with them for like two hours and my mom was waiting outside.
What about your audition, Hannah?Hannah: Well, I was cast last.
So we read and she was like, This is great, and she offered me the role.
At some point, we FaceTimed you guys while you were having Easter at your house.
Hannah:It was so great to meet you guys over the phone like that.
Mikey:I remember Pamela being so excited about finding you.
She was like, Did you seePaper Towns?
And I was like, Yeah, I sawPaper Towns!
And she was like, It was the young Cara [Delevingne].
I would be nervous, too.
Hannah: I was a little nervous just because its so much hair.
I realized that once I cut it, I dont miss it at all.
Your characters have grown a lot these past three seasons.
How do you feel about them now?Mikey:I feel like Ive grown with the character.
I started the show when I was 16, and Ill be 20 very soon.
And Ive seen you guys grow from girls into young adults.
For season three, it was so easy for me to slip back into character.
I dont know if you guys felt that as well?
Olivia:Onscreen and offscreen, we started to feel more like a family.
Thats the only way she can get them to listen to her, I feel like.
How do you handle those scenes where youre fighting and being mean to each other?
[Points to Olivia.]
[Olivia laughs.]
And there were, like, five takes of just laughing.
Hannah: Its the episode where Sam is getting Duke ready for Halloween.
Frankie comes in and shes like, I changed my costume again.
And Duke turns to Frankie and shes like, Youre a shit.
Olivia: I cursed!
Do you curse like that in life?Olivia:Noooo.
I dont curse, but its funny because Duke curses a lot.
So its like two different lives.
Mikey:Olivia, in real life, has good substitutions.
Shes like, Oh, blueberry bushels!
I wish I did that instead of cussing.
Olivia:I have substitute words that are very funny.
But if you ever get really angry, you cant actually say them.
Because who is gonna be like, Blueberry bushel!
Mikey:I feel like that diffuses it really well.
If youre in a fight, you just, Blueberry bushel!
Hannah: Do you guys remember the bar mitzvah?
Frankie was awful, but Sam got back at her and threw dessert on her pretty white dress.
That was great!Hannah: And a pitcher of water.
Ice water, by the way!
There were like six dresses that I had to keep changing out.
They had a blow-dryer.
Mikey: Frankie is so mean to Sam.
You take some of the load from me.
And I think thats why Frankie is so mean.
Do you agree with that?
Hannah: Yeah, I do.
And thats sort of what their relationship is.
Mikey: But shes not just being mean.
Shes tormented in some ways.
So her mother is like this punching bag where she can let it out.
What do you think the source of her torment is?
In season one, they touched on the idea that maybe she identified as a boy.
But it hasnt been discussed in the series again.
Its very on-brand for us because we keep things real.
And life doesnt give you all these answers.
You dont know everything all the time.
But all these people say Frankies a boy.
Whether or not she is, we dont know.
And does she know?
White Rock, when she talks to the sad lady, that was pretty intense.
But that ended up being one of my favorite scenes, cause there was so much emotion.
Mikey: White Rock was so beautiful.
Olivia: That was actually filmed in Canada.
Hannah: Oh, I loved being there.
I wanna go back.
It was just such a beautiful area, and I loved where we filmed.
Just being surrounded by great nature and going down to the water was really nice.
Mikey: It was also special to have a little vacation with the three of us.
We would go off and get Indian food.
Wed walk around to the stores and get jewelry.
That was really fun, just to have that time with you guys.
It was such a sweet episode, too, how the girls bond with Sams aunt and uncle.
I dont consider myself to be musically artistic.
Mikey: Hannah has a beautiful singing voice.
Olivia: Her voice is awesome.
Hannah: Thank you.
It took a lot of work because I continually felt anxious and disappointed in my voice.
But I can say that Im proud of it now.
Mikey: You worked so hard on that, Hannah.
And I was there when you sang it and it literally brought me to tears.
There was literally no preparation needed for me to get there in that scene.
It was just Hannah.
She worked really, really hard on that.
Olivia: Yeah, you workedreallyhard on that.
Hannah: Thank you.
[Wipes tears from her eyes.]
Mikey:Aww, Hannah.
Thats so sweet, you guys.
Like, sometimes, [Pamela] wont even tell us whats going to happen in a scene.
She just wants our raw reaction.
Mikey:Like the dance!
Olivia:[Mikey] had no idea that was going to happen.
Hannah: It was so hard to keep that secret.
Olivia: It was so hard to keep that secret.
I said we should come up with a code name.
The dance is called Tilted, so we said sit up straight might be the code name.
We had to use it a few times.
Once at the sleepover!
Hannah: And I was like, Oh, yeah, thanks.
It mustve been a dream.
Not even a hint.
I just thought they were being sketchy.
Apparently, everyone for months knew about this except for me.
I remember being like, Hey, do you guys wanna hang out on the weekend?
And they always said no.
Hannah: We felt so bad.
Mikey: Well, I didnt think you guys didnt want to hang out with me.
I just thought that you had something to do, but I was disappointed.
I didnt know that they were actually rehearsing this dance scene every single weekend for hours.
How long was this process?Hannah: This was about two-and-a-half-months.
Olivia: AndKat Burns, who also does some choreography forCrazy Ex-Girlfriend.
With Celia, too!
So what was it like when you actually filmed?
What happened?Mikey: I got to set and they gave me a different version of the script.
On that day, we filmed that.
I was disappointed because I had been in my trailer for a little bit and I was antsy.
When it came time, they said, Were going to do this improv thing.
Were going to blindfold you.
Dont worry, we did it with the other girls, too.
Just react in character.
What did they say this was for?Mikey:I had no idea.
So they blindfolded me and walked me down this really long hill.
For some reason, I remember thinking someone was going to tickle me.
Which is such a weird, creepy thing to think.
Olivia: Someone was going to come up behind you and be like, Tickle, tickle, tickle?
Mikey:Yeah, because you know that I hate being tickled.
I will hurt you.
So I was like,yo dont tickle me.
And then Pamela swooped in, sat me on the bench, and then untied my blindfold.
All of a sudden, I see these guys standing on the stage.
I was like,What is going on here?And you started doing the dance.
And they did this incredible dance.
It was like the best present I could have received.
And it wasnt even for me.
It was for Max.
It was so unexpected and awesome.
Now this season, you got to work with a monkey in the third episode Holding.
Tell me everything about that.Olivia: The money was so cute!
Oh my God, the monkey!
Hannah: It was so strange because we all had a safety meeting about the monkey.
And dont show your teeth to it.
Mikey: No one wants to get their face ripped off!
Olivia: That would not have been great.
Mikey:Better Thingsactress Hannah Alligood gets attacked by monkey on set.
Olivia: If that safety meeting hadnt happened, that could have happened to somebody.
Hannah: We would have all smiled!
Olivia:Im just glad I was on the other side of the room, thats all Im saying.
I want to talk more about theEulogy episode from the second season.
Im sure it was one of the more difficult ones for you.Hannah: We were all just bawling.
Even the crew was crying.
Mikey: It was just a full day of feeling those emotions.
But I thought to myself,You know what?
I have to cry at the end of the scene anyway, so itll be fine.
By the end, we were all exhausted.
We all had swollen eyes.
But the way that Pamela chose to end that scene allowed you to have catharsis, right?
Youre all dancing in the circle and chanting and laughing.Olivia:That was actually all improv.
At one point, I think we were all chanting, Sacrifice!
and then at one point someone started singing, Death is in!
Hannah: That was Pamela.
It was one of the best episodes of the series.
Could you tell that day that it was special?Olivia:Oh, 100 percent.
I had a fresh perspective after doing that scene.
Hannah: It felt like a cleanse, like something I should apply to my own life.
Why dont we talk about Pamela since shes not here?Olivia: Oh, yes!
Lets talk about her.
I dont know how she does it.
Hannah: And she has that vision.
Shes involved in literally every stage of the process of the show.
It makes me feel a little bit closer to being able to do all of these things myself.
Like, maybe thats a possibility for me.
Olivia: Its definitely very inspiring that we get to learn from her.
Mikey: I feel so grateful to her for casting me and taking a chance on me.
This show has been so special to me.
Theres a very welcoming, warm feeling on set.
Its just very special, and Pamela has created that.
That makes you think of other sets differently.
Not bad differently, but just differently.
Olivia: It might be because weve known each other for so long.
It is like family, so we see this as the place were supposed to be.
Mikey: I did a movie at the same time I was doing the show.
Amazing as both of the sets were, it was very different.
Whenever I got to this set, it would be like I was coming home to my family.
Hannah: You show up on set and youre just like,Ahhhh.
