When Sierra Burgess is a Loser debuts September 7 on Netflix, viewers may see Kristine Froseth’s Veronica as a typical mean girl when they first meet her, but there’s a lot more to Veronica that meets the eye. The same can be said of the women playing her.

I recently sat down to talk with Froseth and we discussed life on the set of Sierra Burgess, high school, what makes Veronica so interesting.

What drew you to the role of Veronica?

I think what drew me to the role was my relation to Veronica. Not necessarily in the exact same way but I related to her a lot in how I was in High School. I also thought she had to have an important story to tell, so I wanted to tell her story and do it justice. I also just fell in love with the script and the director and the whole team. There was a lot that drew me to this project.

As far as working with the team itself, there’s been this rom com renaissance within Netflix recently. I was looking at your resume and I didn’t see a lot of rom com. I saw a lot of thriller horror which I’m intrigued by, but I’m wondering how that was for you, working in that genre?

It was a completely different world. It was all very lighthearted and everyone was all happy on the set. Usually, on these thrillers, it’s very serious. It was, in general, an amazing enjoyable shoot. Everyone’s so lovely and everyone was so supportive. It was just so funny. RJ and the whole team, Noah, and Shannon, they’re just hilarious. So it was a great laugh. It’s not like a punchy kind of comedy so I didn’t have to worry about that so much, which was comforting. It was a wonderful experience.

I think that her earnestness is something that really comes across. I noticed Veronica’s different than a lot of the so-called mean girls we see. What do you think makes Veronica different? How did you approach it to give her that different kind of vibe?

I just really wanted to get across the inner conflict within Veronica, that she’s genuinely just extremely lost and it’s just a defense mechanism, this facade she puts up in High School, I mean she’s really struggling with her home situation and she, I think, she doesn’t know who she is so she puts on this personality. I really wanted that to come across. The reason why she is the way she is, I think that’s the core of everything. She is very similar to Sierra’s character, I think she envies Sierra because she believes in herself. She’s figured out who she is. That’s pretty badass in High School to have that figured out and be so confident in yourself.

I think when they help each other out and they realize how close they are it’s a pretty powerful moment.

What’s it like going back to High School? What’s it like revisiting that?

It was a bit scary. I didn’t enjoy High School. I had very different High School experiences because I did some in the States and some someplace else. So I never really had a one-sided High School experience. I was interested, it wasn’t like, it was still scary because High School is just an awful and terrifying place. It was a bit intimidating to be back in the halls and see the classrooms and get that feeling back. But because the cast and everything it was so supportive it turned out to be great. We did it right this time, we went back into High School right. And I got to be a cheerleader, which is fun.

I was gonna say, it’s kind of fun in this case.

It’s the cherry on the top.

What do you hope people take away from the film? And more specifically from Veronica’s side of the story?

I just hope it’s a reminder to everyone to not judge a book by its cover. I think it’s so easy to assume someone’s story or why they, that they are the mean girl or the jock, but there’s so much behind each person. I hope people will really remind themselves of that and remember that and therefore create a lot of real connections and friendships in the end. Also just embrace who you are. It’s terrifying but it’s so worth it in the end.

Just because I wanted to know, you’re in Gareth Evans’s new film. So talk about a complete switch from Sierra. Can you tell me a little bit about Apostle?

My character’s name is Ffion and I play the daughter of one of the founders of this cult. She’s kind of the rebellious one and she’s in love with another kid who’s the son of another founder of the cult. We are kind of the light in the movie because it’s a very dark movie. So we’re the love in the movie… Gareth is such a visual director, I’d never worked with someone like that, so that was a very amazing learning experience as well.

Kristine Froseth is definitely one to watch.

You can read more of my coverage on Sierra Burgess is a Loser by checking out this interview with writer Lindsay Beer and reading my review here.