'Florida Project' Star Initially Thought it Was a 'Sick Joke' When Director Reached Out to Her — Transcript

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1. 0:00I had never been on a set I didn't know
2. 0:03how anything works so literally like the
3. 0:05first two weeks I was just asking like
4. 0:07100 questions today I wanted to what's
5. 0:09that for like what does this do and it
6. 0:11was just so cool to have such a good
7. 0:13cast and crew around who were just so
8. 0:15helpful to teaching me everything I
9. 0:18wanted to know it was really good
10. 0:19[Music]
11. 0:39we really went about it in a very
12. 0:41unconventional way I mean Willem came to
13. 0:43us in the conventional casting way but
14. 0:45but then we street casting we used
15. 0:47Instagram to define Bria who's runner
16. 0:51full to see you know people you know
17. 0:53seasoned actors working with
18. 0:54first-timers working with non
19. 0:56professionals it was a big mashup that
20. 0:58it ended up having a really cool very
21. 1:00nice chemistry Shawn reached out to me
22. 1:06and through Instagram and then we
23. 1:08emailed and talked on the phone but for
24. 1:11the longest time I thought it was like a
25. 1:13joke like someone was playing a sick
26. 1:15joke on me and I was going along with it
27. 1:17when I first realized it was like
28. 1:18actually Shawn and he was serious I was
29. 1:21kind of like thrown off because you
30. 1:23would never think that you would get
31. 1:24such an opportunity like this just
32. 1:26through social media it's really crazy
33. 1:28where did you find her account was this
34. 1:30I think somebody that I was following
35. 1:32reposted one of her posts I looked at it
36. 1:34there was that really carefree attitude
37. 1:36that I was looking for in the haley
38. 1:38character and so I kept going back to
39. 1:40her page saying you know I wish we could
40. 1:43find somebody in Hollywood like this and
41. 1:44then eventually somebody just said well
42. 1:46why don't we just ask Bria whether she
43. 1:48wants to try to audition and we reached
44. 1:52out she came down to Orlando she
45. 1:54auditioned with the kids who would we
46. 1:57had already cast and these two just I
47. 1:59mean I was I shot like a little test
48. 2:02audition tape and the chemistry was
49. 2:05already there of course I was looking
50. 2:07for a maternal relationship but also
51. 2:09because Hayley is such a young mom in
52. 2:11the film I was looking for a sibling
53. 2:12relationship as well and these two just
54. 2:15were acting like sisters from the minute
55. 2:17they met each other and there was that I
56. 2:19knew there was something very special
57. 2:21there okay I warned it one trip in
58. 2:24you're out
59. 2:28it's Mountain inside too my mom and dad
60. 2:31talked from you for like five minutes
61. 2:34about Willem and then we started
62. 2:36watching hahahahaha and then we started
63. 2:40watching spider-man that's all I knew
64. 2:42that he wasn't imagine a lot of people
65. 2:44yeah well every day it made Christopher
66. 2:48Rivera's day Christopher Rivera clay
67. 2:50scooty in the film and he would just be
68. 2:52like I'm working with the Green Goblin
69. 2:55maybe I should ask were you intimidated
70. 2:57by her absolutely with each film the
71. 3:07process is different the job is
72. 3:09different so once you're there you
73. 3:12forget about what people have done
74. 3:13before it's all about being present and
75. 3:17it's pretending and and they were great
76. 3:19to work with I always encourage
77. 3:26improvisation even if we have a full
78. 3:29screenplay and all of the lines are
79. 3:31written I always like to hear it if the
80. 3:33actor is up for it let's put it into
81. 3:35your own words let's see what we can do
82. 3:37with this scene as long as we're staying
83. 3:39on course and I've been blessed with
84. 3:41actors who have that ability to to
85. 3:44improvise it more importantly comedic
86. 3:46Lee and provides I mean that's a that's
87. 3:48a genius thing that you're born with and
88. 3:50we had the opportunity in certain scenes
89. 3:53to keep it loose and there are really
90. 3:54wonderful improvisational moments
91. 3:57between all three and which really made
92. 3:59it exciting for me as the editor of the
93. 4:02film to have all these different things
94. 4:04to work with and different alternate
95. 4:06choices it's kind of off this
96. 4:08improvisation thing we were working in a
97. 4:10place that was so specific and had so
98. 4:12many real elements to it that there was
99. 4:15a very strong screenplay but there were
100. 4:17many like opportunities presented to us
101. 4:20just by the fact that this place had a
102. 4:23life of its own and people that were
103. 4:25live in the life or or we had a lucky
104. 4:29moment when these birds kept on coming
105. 4:31near the lobby and we got to interact
106. 4:33with them there was those are things
107. 4:36that you don't right not not in a film
108. 4:38like this so little things happen you
109. 4:41capture those moments and that kind of
110. 4:44sweetness is the sweetens the detail and
111. 4:47the life of the thing
112. 4:49[Music]
113. 4:54[Music]
114. 5:02you