Sophia Lillis & Wyatt Oleff On Their New Netflix Dramedy, "I Am Not Okay with This"

Hello world, what is up? Welcome to Build. I'm your host Matt Forte. We are here live at the Build studio in New York City based on the Charles Forsman graphic novel, the new Netflix series, I Am Not Okay With This. Just dropped and it is fantastic. Now, I get it, person with unexpected powers is a trope we're all very familiar with by now, but never has it felt so authentic and wonderfully awkward. The show's awesome. It looks great, the music's great, and the cast is outstanding. Joining me now, stars of I Am Not Okay With This. Please welcome, make a crazy amount of noise, Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Olaf right here. Come on, let's go. Yes, yes, you are correct. Guys, congratulations. This show is wonderful. You two are wonderful. I'm so excited you're here. How are you guys doing? How's life right now? You guys having a good time? I'm good. I'm good. We're both good. It's good that you're both good. What's it been like? The show's out in the wild. People are seeing it. They're responding to it. Obviously, the world's fallen in love. What's it like for it to finally be out there and to see reactions and see people digging this show? I'm really happy that everybody likes it. I had so much fun shooting this. I have now a lot of friends because of this. I'm happy finally the work is coming out and everybody is liking it. I don't usually read the reviews, but actually I started reading the reviews for this because I just really wanted to see if it had a positive feedback and it does. Is it crazy? You guys have been in a couple of really big projects before, but your face to see it blown up on Times Square and on billboards and stuff like that, is that a surreal feeling still to walk around and see a giant picture of yourself everywhere you go? I think it's funny. When I first saw it in Times Square, it was really close to the old high school I went to. My friends are from there. We all took a picture right in front of it and I posted it. It was great. I loved it. It's cool. It's very, very cool. I'm excited to talk to you guys about it because there's so many great moments that both of you have within the show. We'll get into those. One of the things that I think people are really responding to is just the chemistry between Sid and Stan. It's effortless and a lot of that is because you guys work together a lot, but you're actual friends. You know each other. You hang out. You don't just do this. There you go. Yeah, see? That's proof. Only friends know how to do that. True, true. Yeah, so that seals the deal. But how did you guys come to work on this together? I think you were casted first. Is that right? Yes, I was. Yeah. Okay. So you joined the project and they had to find the Stan. Then did you say, I know exactly who it should be? Or was it serendipity? The universe brought you together again? How did it happen? I didn't say anything. But once he started auditioning, I realized, oh yeah, I forgot. He's perfect for this role, isn't he? He's exactly like his character. He's perfect in the thing. You talk a little more about the process. What was it like for you, man? Yeah. Well, I got the audition and I saw Sophia's name was on it. I'm like, okay, that's cool. That'd be cool to do with her. And then director of End of the Effing World, it's like, okay, that's pretty cool. And then the script was good. And I was like, yeah, I kind of want to do this. So I just went in once. And then a week later, maybe, I heard that I got the part from my dad and not Sophia. Because Sophia wanted to tell me, but my dad told me first. She got really mad at him. I do. I'm so angry at him. Hold a grudge over something like that. Doug. Yeah. Is that a common refrain? Yeah. Is Doug here right now? No, it's my mom. I can see why. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'd be up on stage if he was here right now. He'd be answering for Sophia. He would. That's classic Doug right there is what that is. So, okay. So you couldn't tell Wyatt that he had the part. Did you help him prepare for his auditions in any way or no complete isolation? Just let the pieces fall where they may. Yeah. No, I just let him do his thing. Yeah. I was middle of shoot. No, I wasn't middle of shooting it. No, I was middle of shooting something else. I can't remember what it was, but. Was that Uncle Frank? Was it? Maybe it was Uncle Frank. I think it was Uncle Frank. And I was, but I heard about him auditioning and I just really wanted him to be in it. Yeah, for sure. I think we are good friends. And if he, and, you know, having, you know, that character is so specific and it's so hard to really perfect. But if he got it, then I thought he would be perfect for the role. And I thought we're already good friends. So I don't have to like. Yeah. You don't have to like find that chemistry. It's already there. Yeah. Does it make it, because the two of them, they, they go through it, man. And like individually and together, like a lot happens to the two of them throughout the course of these seven episodes. And when you're reading and you know that you're going to have to do that with, with your friend, does that make it harder? Does that make it easier? Are you relieved? Like, oh, thank God it's going to be Wyatt because we have to do X, Y, and Z together. What's that like? I think kind of more relieved, I believe. I mean, I would be fine if I didn't know him as well, but I feel like because we're friends, it makes it easier. I mean, it's both our jobs as well. So it's not like not going to do this. It's like, cause I feel like that. Yeah. I feel like it doesn't really matter if we're friends or if we're not good friends. When did this also do, if you're playing at home, every time we say friend to take a drink, if you, when did you guys, when did it happen? Like, obviously I assume you met on, on, on the first film. So that makes sense. Was it right away? That's it. You can, you can share. You guys are friends, but if you want, that one's yours. Was it, was it immediate? Did you guys click right away or did it take time for you to realize, oh, we work together. We like, we're good together. This person's cool. Like how did it happen over time? When did you guys realize that this was a thing? I think for it, one, it all kind of took us a week to like fully trust each other, I mean, it's only a week to do that, which is pretty impressive on its own. But I think once we finished filming and then we got into the press and stuff and we already had a pretty strong connection, but like, I feel like traveling with each other everywhere and doing all this work and it was just like extra bonding time for everyone. And I, you know, we all bonded equally and being able to work with Sophia again is obviously such a pleasure. So yeah, that's yeah. Oh, what were you going to say, Sophia? Did I forget a half, like one half of that question? I don't know. Maybe, but we're fine. It's okay. Don't worry about it. Yeah. None of this matters. We're just hanging out. There's a moment in the show somewhere between where they're both like listening to the record independently and kind of like when they're together in that room comparing who's grosser, there's like a moment where they like click and you realize, oh, like these two are really like good together and they're good friends. Was there a moment like that for you guys? That doesn't often happen in real life, but when you think back, is there a moment you were like, oh yeah, Sophia's pretty cool or like, oh yeah, Wyatt's cool? No, I think, do you have one? Okay. It happened over time. I feel like, yeah, I feel like kind of like in the show, there's a suggested friendship between Sydney and Stanley before the series starts. And I think it kind of takes a while and maybe it's not one specific thing that clicks and makes the friendship happen, but like maybe it's like over the course of time, but yeah. Yeah, no, I just felt like it was really easy to talk to him. We kind of have similar hobbies, I guess, like acting. Oh yeah, that's a good one. Another one, I believe. But yeah, no, he's really easy to talk to. So just over time, I realized, oh, we're pretty good friends, aren't we? Which is really nice, yeah. In the show, you know, obviously you talk about how much you guys are actual friends and these characters were friends and stuff like that, but they're very different people. You're not Stan, you're not Syd, like you're actors, but there's a little bit of you in every character you play. That's just kind of the nature of the gig. Did you guys fold any like hidden little things that just only you two would notice into their friendship or like, oh, you always do that, you should do that in this scene, like stuff like that? I got, there was like a time when like we were on set and we were talking and then you were like, you and your character both do that. And I'm like, what? You interrupt me. Like, I think I've gotten better at it. I would like, I used to like, I used to talk over you a lot and I feel like Stanley does too in the show. That's not really on purpose. That was just in the script. But yeah. Yeah. I kind of remember that. He does do that. And this is technically what was also was added on. That's not really like a characteristic, but more of like a physical attribute was you really wanted to put in a scene where you can put, you can add on to that. Okay. Where I'm really shorter, I'm shorter than everyone else. So he wanted to have a shot where it's just my nose and eyes. Just eyes preferably. Yeah. And instead of like the whole body while everyone else is like standing, you could see only like part of me. And Jonathan, I don't know if you liked the idea, but he did add it on when we're kind of doing this whole, can you help me with this? So I took a picture of like Sophia, like at our initial pre-party for like starting the shoot for the show. And I was like, Jonathan, what do you think of this? Jonathan Untwistled, director, obviously you already said that. My apologies. He was like, yeah, I think we should put that in. And he did. And episode 105, which is the one with the heist. There's a part where we both look, we're in the principal's office and then we look through the window and my whole head is there and it's just her eyes. That's my shot. I made it. It's a great shot. Thank you. How often do you find that you get to work with someone that's collaborative in that way that like is open to those ideas and wants to try those things out? Does that happen all the time or is that unique to this project? Well, I feel like Jonathan is very open in that sense. And I feel like he's really easy to kind of work with. I think we both get along well. And also I think it's mostly kind of why it kind of has this openness about him that he can really make friends easy, especially with the directors. So, yeah, no, I feel like that's another part of it. You're talking about why it's openness, like see the episode. I think it's four. It opens with Stan getting like this amazing sequence where he's prepping himself, getting himself psyched up to go to this party. And it's just you kind of dancing around, getting ready, going nuts for like two, three minutes. Does it take you a while to get comfortable on a set to sort of let yourself go and dance like no one else is there? Like that's not an easy thing to do to look that comfortable in your own skin. Is it hard for you to get there or are you just kind of naturally chill with that? I think I was lucky to film that film, that episode or the beginning or that part kind of in the middle of our shoot. So we kind of already had a relationship with everyone on set and understood like the boundaries and whatever. And it was on a closed set as well, which if you guys don't know, that means like usually they have little monitors set up so you can see what they're recording on set. But they like turned all of those off except for Jonathan's. And I mean, it was pretty easy for me personally, just because like, who cares? Like, I don't care. Obviously, I wouldn't do that in public because that's a different story. But I think it's just like it's something I don't know. I just it felt really natural to just do it because that's something I do on my own all the time. And I have all this energy to just give out. So might as well do it. And yeah, it was fun to film. Yeah, I was gonna ask if that was like something that you've done before, like you're getting ready and just you have to have a soundtrack while you're getting ready. Well, kind of. I mean, sometimes I listen to music, but usually I don't because the shower is too loud. So yeah. Talking about music in general, music is such a big part of this show. It's such a heavy presence within the story. And there's always some kind of amazing song playing or a song being talked about. Did it have the same amount of like presence and weight offset? Like when you guys were preparing for the takes, getting ready for a scene? Did you have playlists that you're listening to? Did you listen to certain music to get into the zone to be like a part of this vibe? Like, what kind of role did music play? I didn't really play any music to get into character. I played it because I was, you know, waiting and bored. I listened to a lot of, what do I listen to? Some 80s stuff. You listen to a lot of ABBA. I listen to a lot of ABBA, especially on specifically that set for some weird reason. I don't know why, because I listened to it. It was kind of nostalgic. And I was like, man, I actually really like this. And so I listened to that a lot. And yeah, that was it. What else? I just listened to podcasts and ABBA. What are your go-to podcasts when you're killing time? I don't know. I really like, there's these three brothers called the McElroy brothers. And I like listening to the D&D podcast, their regular podcast. And they branched out with, each of them have a podcast with their wives, and all of them are really funny. And yeah, that's what I listen to. I love talking to people about the podcast they listen to, because no, I never get the same answer twice. There are super popular podcasts, but the beauty of that world is everyone can find a show that feels like it was made literally for them to listen to. So it's always really cool to hear if people are checking out. What about you? Why were you listening to anything to get into the zone? Is music a part of what you do at all, or just killing time? I didn't really listen to music on set, unless you call me and Jonathan arguing music, which I might. You guys would debate what should be played in the scene? No, no, no. Just like I would raise my hand, and then he'd call on me, and then I'd say, I have a question. And then he'd say, yes. And then I'd ask something really ridiculous and stupid. That was just my thing. It still is. And so he would just get really mad at me, and it was really funny. Would it pertain to the scene, or whatever flight of fancy, whatever question popped into your mind? Yeah. Nice. The latter. Yeah. Sometimes it was important, and that's the thing. Sometimes he actually had to answer the question, because it was important for acting or the story, but he would never know. That's the good part. That's the game, isn't it? I feel so bad for Jonathan. I don't. A lot of people have picked up on just the heavy influence from John Hughes and that vibe. There's some scenes that really call back to it. There's just little things and thematic elements and Easter eggs and yada, yada. You can go on and on. It's very much a part of the inspiration. Did you guys revisit or for the first time watch any of those films or anything to understand what his vision was for this world and this universe and the aesthetic? How did you prepare? Watch 16 Candles or Breakfast Club? I already watched all of them. You've already seen them, so you're familiar with it. I was familiar with it, and I re-watched them again just for fun. I feel bad saying that was a thing, that research and whatnot, because it really wasn't. Just fun. Yeah. Yeah. No, I didn't really watch anything in particular to inspire anything before filming or anything like that. I didn't really get asked to, but who hasn't seen a John Hughes movie? Going back to the heist scene, that felt very Breakfast Club-like. Having that reference was very nice, but I think Jonathan really wanted to input his own voice into it, which is why I didn't watch his previous show until after we finished filming. Do you do that often, going into something that is part of your preparation, not really absorbing the other stuff because you want to keep it special and unique to your experience? I think I just get lazy and I forget to watch stuff. Maybe it helps with just going into my own creativity rather than depending on other material, but I really don't know. We're going to get into... We got some questions. We're going to do one from Twitter and some in the room in just a second. Before we do, Sophia, you certainly would know better than I would, but I felt like this was one of the more complex, darker characters you've had to tackle, just with everything that Sid's got going on between figuring out her sexuality and figuring out just navigating being in a new town, an area, or what have you, and all these different things. Oh yeah, superpowers. Was it exciting when you saw all that on the page, when you were like, oh my god, this is some stuff I haven't gotten to do before? Was that really exciting for you to dig into? I felt like she was very different from all the other characters that I've done. She was actually more on the lighter side than the usual characters that I play, well some of them, but she's also... All of the stuff that she goes through, besides the superpower stuff, is just basic high school growing up, just figuring out who you are, and I feel like that's important to show in a show that people usually my age watch because it's relatable, and you can really understand what high school life is like. And when I was before high school, whenever I watched something, it was like high school musical and Glee, and those kind of stuff, even though they're very good, they're probably not... Not an accurate representation of what to expect once you get to high school. Right, yeah, so I really like this because it was interesting, and I love the characters, but it also is accurate, besides the powers. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's why I feel like authenticity and saying it, I feel like it's an overused word, but I don't know how else to describe exactly how real this feels, despite all that superpower stuff. You guys ground it in such a great way, and it's not just the writing, but it's your performances, and it's just what makes this show so much fun to watch. So seriously, congratulations, it's awesome. And it's out on Netflix right now. If you haven't watched it yet, and I say this often, but I truly mean this, you are missing out. And the episode's like 30 minutes or less. It's bite-sized, it's perfect, go watch it right after we're done doing this, okay? But before we go anywhere, we've got questions from you guys, those watching right now. So the first one's from Twitter, this is from Iconic Nick, I see what you did there, and I like it. Aside from the supernatural aspect of the show, the show is very realistic, we were just talking about this, in terms of kids in high school, do you feel like there should be more shows like this, especially with middle-class families and LGBTQ plus representation? Great question, Iconic Nick. Go ahead. Okay, cool, yes. Next question, this one comes from... No, yeah, no, we were just talking about this, so yeah, I feel like it's really important, because there's more of it now, but there used to not be any of it, and you know, but now I feel like this industry is more open to more things, and you get to really represent things more accurately. So yeah, no, I believe that it is important. Thank you. Great question, and we've got two more. The next one's gonna come from the room, and it's Grace, and Grace, you have a microphone, where are you at? I'm right here. Hey, Grace, what's up? First of all, I watched all the show yesterday, I loved it, just thank you for that. And so in the show, you kind of talked about this already, but if you could elaborate, like, Sydney, a big part of her struggle, she has to deal with her sexuality, figuring out who she is, and Sophia, I thought you did a fantastic job. Oh, thank you. You know, like, sharing, like, the anxiety behind that, and so I was just wondering, what does it feel like to be able to represent such an important issue for, you know, kids in high school who are also going through that? What's that like? Well, I feel like it's an important thing to do, and I feel like I'm honored to be able to do that. Yeah, I mean, like, there's not really much more to be said about it, besides I'm happy. This is my job, and this is what I want to be doing with my job. So yeah. Awesome. Great question. Thank you. Let's do, we gotta do one more before we get out of here. This one's gonna come from Zoe, and Zoe, you've got a microphone. Hello. Hi. I watched the show yesterday. It was really amazing. Hopefully, you guys get a season two, and what would you guys like to see from season two, if you guys have that? Good question. All during the press junket, we had to avoid answering that question, because it's like, oh, we're excited for season one to come out for everyone to see, and we still are, if you haven't seen it, go watch it. But we have no idea what to expect, and we don't even know if it's happening. So honestly, yeah. Yeah, no, I, I, because I really was, I was talking about how much I love this project. I feel like, really want a season two, to be able to actually work with everybody again, and so yeah, if this show does well, and I think it has, hopefully, then if there's a season two, that's basically all I'm really hoping for. Otherwise, we don't really know what's going to happen. I think you, thank you so much again. I think you just answered what I'm about to ask, so forgive me. And I know you wouldn't be able to say anything, even if they did talk about it, but when you guys were on set, was there ever like a throwaway thing of like, now we're going to do this. Now, if we get a season two, we'd like to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, were those conversations being had? Like, is it in their heads of like, where they want to go with the Kind of. Yeah, there you go. It's more like, it's more like, well, Stanley could do this, and if this happens in season one, then he do this, but we don't, that's probably not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Keep the bar low, that way you're surprised pleasantly, no matter what happens. Well done. Thank you. We've come full circle. We started with the bump, we end with it. That was beautiful. I want to thank everybody for tuning in, who watched live, for that great question. I want to thank everybody for being here, hanging out with us. You guys are awesome. Great audience. I'll remind you right now, if you haven't watched it yet, I am not okay with this. It's on Netflix. It's right now, and it's so wonderful. You should be watching it. It's fantastic. Let's get that season two. Let's make it happen, all right? Do me a favor, guys. Make a crazy amount of noise. Join me in thanking for being here, Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Olaf.