How much did you all know about what was to come for your characters? And if you didn’t know much, is there a freedom in not knowing, or are you asking a ton of questions trying to figure it out? I was trying to prepare for the bad reactions and everything.” Photographed by Charlotte Hadden
Jung Ho-Yeon: The Squid Game actress talks about what it was like for her first acting job to become the most watched series in the world: “It was so stressful. I can go as far as the world will let me go because it’s not me anymore.” I was like, “Oh God, where have I gone? I’m not there anymore.” And then I felt this, “Oh, I’m not there anymore, I can do anything without any judgment. And at first, I was scared because I didn’t see myself at all. Sometimes I have two contact lenses in each eye.
ROSSUM There’s some liberation in the moment that they spin you around for the big reveal. But I always feel the costume fitting is the moment where you go, “Oh, this is it.” I found the note on the piano because it was such a different pitch, so I could almost relate to it from a singing point of view. JAMES Yeah, the voice was pretty key for me, too. ROSSUM I’d walk the reservoir for months just listening to these meditation tapes and I’d take lots of pink bubble baths saying these phrases repeatedly until I felt like I hooked into something like a mantra. It’s so remarkable seeing that change not only in how they did it physically, but in your attitude and your voice. And she’s in her 50s toward the end, right? JAMES Wow, that’s longer than I had, but it’s incredible how we see you so young and then we see you much older. You both spent many hours in that hair and makeup chair, but what was the moment in that process where you locked into these characters? Lily James: “When it does feel like an open communication and you’re being heard, it’s so exciting, which I bet is way different than women would have said even 10 years ago,” says the Pam & Tommy star about collaborating on projects. So, I saw the way people on the lot looked at me, and it was the first time I understood the power of being in an ultra-curated, hyperfeminine body. And this character, she’s a living, breathing piece of art, a performance artist, and I’m somebody who does not covet that attention as I walk down the street. I walked across the Universal lot in everything. It was the last beat of selling the show before we got the green light, and it was a surprise presentation at the end. Do you feel like people treated you differently when you were in character?ĮMMY ROSSUM The first time that I put it all on, it was for a pitch for the network. Lily and Emmy, you went through significant physical transformations for your roles, too. “And I saw that people did not want to work with me again because I was very upfront and open, where it was like, ‘Maybe we can say this in another way?’ ” Photographed by Charlotte Hadden
Christina RiccI: “I had a really hard time when I was younger,” says the Yellowjackets actress about being opinionated early in her career.