Well there’s still quite a lot to happen in the book.
There’s still quite a lot to happen and lots of things, and some of them are going to be happy and light-hearted, and some of them aren’t.
That’s life.
Yeah, that’s life. We want to be true to these stories, so I don’t worry about the genre. It will be funny if I win Best Performance in a Comedy right after an episode where I cry a bunch. I also don’t think that I am going to win, and that’s fine. It’s an honour to be nominated, and really fun to go. I think it’s going to be a blast to go. We’re all going to get dressed up and go hang out at the Streamys.
Why not!
Why not! I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re going to hang out.
What happens at the Streamys?
I actually have no idea. I don’t know, I have no idea what they are going to be like.
I think it will be an interesting group of people. Looking at the nominations list, it’s very wide ranging.
Yeah. I know some people – I know Grace Helbig, I know Hannah Hart, they’re great people. And then I don’t know a lot of people. I don’t know most people. And fans are going to be in attendance at the Streamys, so I know that they are going to be screaming over people and I’m going to be like, “I don’t know who that is.” But I think that’s great! I think the fact that the web is creating people who have fans who are screaming about them like they’re One Direction is phenomenal. And it means they can probably still live a normal life and walk down the street, and not be stopped.
Unless they’re at the Streamys.
Unless they’re at the Streamys! In which case, crazy. So actually I have no idea what it’s going to be like at the Streamys. I didn’t even really think about that fact until right now.
Well you’re welcome. While we’re talking general industry – how has The Lizzie Bennet Diaries impacted your work as an actor – do you find you’re getting more auditions? Or is it this very niche thing that we think is very exciting but no one else really knows about?
Hollywood is definitely not as on top of the web. There’s starting to be more recognition of it, starting to be more respect for it. For me, it has helped me get better representation, which probably doesn’t mean that much to most people but an actor lives and dies by their reps, so that’s really, really great. I am going on better auditions, it’s pilot season in L.A. right now so we are all going out for pilots and things like that.
It’s a great experience to have been the anchor of a show. Confidence boosting-wise, that’s a really powerful experience to have for an actor, and to have gotten to live in the character for this long, and really grow with her, that’s been a really interesting experience as an actor. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. There have been times when characters have gone through emotional things and it’s not like, “Oh, now I have to act sad.” It’s very sad.
I have strong relationships with the actors playing these parts, 87 is an episode in which Mary Kate [Wiles, plays Lydia] and I both shed real tears, and we did it several times, and we kept shedding real tears. Part of the reason that that wasn’t hard – and not to say that it wasn’t hard, but I was surprised how easily tears came – because we are so invested in these characters, and I’m not an actor who can make myself cry. I can’t be like, “Now I’m going to cry in this scene,” it happens or it doesn’t happen. It’s been a really interesting and a very rewarding experience for it to happen.
Our [most recent] shoot day was very emotional for a number of reasons. When people go back and see [the episodes], it was an interesting day when people reflect on it all being one day.
So what you need are a few nice comedy episodes to fill up your next shooting day?
Well, I imagine that there will be some light-hearted things.
To wrap up, how do you feel about the show ending? You’ve been doing this for over a year.
Weird, so weird. In some ways, it feels right to end it. I know some people were really hoping that we would continue beyond Pride and Prejudice, and make up our own story or try to adapt one of the many sequels to Pride and Prejudice, which are of course under copyright. But ultimately I’m glad that we are not. It doesn’t necessarily do these characters justice. I feel like we are going to leave Lizzie in the right place.
As much as I’m going to miss this character, as much as I’m going to miss our show – it’s such a part of my life now, I hear from fans on a daily basis and I’m so used to that – it’ll be strange when all of that starts to die down. But I wouldn’t want to continue just for the sake of continuing. I want Lizzie to get the right sort of end to her story, and then she’ll live on in however our viewers decide she lives on, but then we’ll put it in their hands, at that point.
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