ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
Will they, won't they? That question is the backbone to any good rom-com. And in the Netflix show "Nobody Wants This," there's the main concern of Noah, the hot rabbi, and Joanne, the gentile podcaster. But there's also something going on between their respective siblings, Sasha and Morgan. Here's a clip from Season 1.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "NOBODY WANTS THIS")
TIMOTHY SIMONS: (As Sasha Roklov) Hey, what's up?
JUSTINE LUPE: (As Morgan Williams) Hey, I need to - why are you hiding in the bathroom? Oh, I get it. You don't want your wife to hear us talking.
SIMONS: (As Sasha Roklov) What? No. All right, yeah.
LIMBONG: That voice on the phone was Morgan, played by Justine Lupe. And with Season 2 of the show about to come out, she joins us now. Justine Lupe, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
LUPE: Hi. Thanks for having me.
LIMBONG: Yeah, no, it's our pleasure, totally. I feel like your character is all about the sharp one-liner, the brutal honesty that sort of elicits a lot of laughs. I think it's fair to say that this season, you have a heftier role. But without giving too much away, what's going on for Morgan in this season? Where's her head at?
LUPE: Yeah, you know, Morgan just lost one of the loves of her life, in a sense, in her sister. Her sister's kind of departed their codependent relationship and is starting this new relationship that's a romantic relationship with Noah. And I think Morgan is at a bit of a crossroads and having a personal crisis of sorts, going, like, what is my life? Who am I? Where am I? Like, where's my love? And she doesn't really have the tools to answer that question as well as some of us might in our mid-to-late 30s. And this season is kind of her chaotic, whirlwind way of figuring that all out.
LIMBONG: I feel like in your hands, a personal crisis is really funny. It's a lot funnier than mine. You know what I mean?
(LAUGHTER)
LIMBONG: Like, your comedic timing...
LUPE: Totally.
LIMBONG: ...Is that just something you developed? Is that something you worked at?
LUPE: You know, that's really sweet. I think it's - my dad was a real comedian. My dad is a total goofball, and my husband happens to be a crazy goof, as well. So I think that having funny people around me is helpful in terms of just understanding the beauty of commedic timing, and maybe it's rubbed off on me a little bit. But also some of these beats are just intrinsically in the script. Like, Erin Foster is a funny person. Their dynamic is very funny, and so it just feels like it's kind of intuited when we're doing the scenes.
LIMBONG: Yeah, yeah. Speaking of Erin Foster, the show's creator, did she tell you that she had a lot in store waiting for Morgan, or did that come as a surprise?
LUPE: You know, it came when Kristen and I went and we did a visit to the writers room, and they kind of did a breakdown of all of our different beats for the season, and it kind of slowly was revealed that this was a heavier season for the character. And I kind of just sat there in awe and was, like, so excited at how, you know, fun and bizarre this season was gonna be for Morgan and so honestly grateful that they gave me this amount of real estate and this amount of dimension this season.
LIMBONG: Well, I think a lot of this show in particular rests on chemistry.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "NOBODY WANTS THIS")
LUPE: (As Morgan Williams) Sasha said something earlier. He told me I was nothing. Why would he say that? I'm not nothing, you know? I mean...
KRISTEN BELL: (As Joanne Williams) Wait, who cares about Sasha? Focus on Lenny.
LUPE: (As Morgan Williams) Who's Lenny?
BELL: (As Joanne Williams) The guy sitting right next to you.
LUPE: (As Morgan Williams) Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Joanne, is this a setup? Are you kidding me? The adult man in a vest? - come on. I am so out of his league.
BELL: (As Joanne Williams) Maybe that's a good thing. You know, maybe he'll become obsessed with you. Don't you want to be worshipped?
LUPE: (As Morgan Williams) I do love being worshipped.
LIMBONG: I think people use the word chemistry to define something ineffable, something that's hard to hold your hands around. What do you think chemistry is?
LUPE: Ooh, it's - man, I totally agree with you. There's something, like, effervescent about it. It's, like, just a - I think it's energetics between people. Like, I do think that the way that we interact with each other and the energy that there is between each other, like, activates something (laughter) in one another. And it's really fun to see what kind of essence that brings out.
LIMBONG: Do you know if you have it with the scene partner - if, like, you guys did a take and if it was there or not? Or is that something that you can only see after the fact?
LUPE: Ooh, that's really interesting. You know, I've heard stories about people saying, like, oh, I didn't think we had any chemistry, and then you watch it back, and you're like, whoa, there's so much there. I feel - you know, I've never really run into a case of feeling like I really didn't have any chemistry at all with another actor unless they were actually, like, not looking at me and, like, reading while - I had one or two situations where someone didn't know their lines, and they had them, like, pasted behind me, and I was like, well, this is pretty hard to find chemistry here.
LIMBONG: Yeah.
LUPE: But in most...
LIMBONG: Whatever it is, it's not this. Whatever...
(LAUGHTER)
LIMBONG: Yeah.
LUPE: Yeah, totally. I'm like, don't know where you are, but...
LIMBONG: Yeah.
LUPE: ...It's not with me, so - but for the most part, I've never been like, man, there is absolutely no chemistry here. I'm sure people have run into that, though. And then after post and all the, like, magic that goes on with creating a movie and all the post-production, it comes back, and you're like, wow, there's amazing chemistry (laughter).
LIMBONG: Yeah. Well, this show is, you know, billed as a rom-com, but it's also a love story between two sisters, right? And speaking of chemistry, like, you two are so in sync. And these characters - you know, they've got a podcast together. They're both kind of jaded about dating. They're both blonde or, you know, that kind of thing.
LUPE: (Laughter).
LIMBONG: How did you think about navigating those sisterly dynamics? Like, you don't have any sisters yourself, right?
LUPE: I don't, I don't. But I have had really close female friendships, so I really understand the feeling. You know, I've had long female friendships. Like, most of my friends, I've had from middle school or college. They're ones that have endured long runs, and I know the different iterations of each of them, and I know the heartbreak that can come with losing a friend to a relationship. Even though it's a celebratory thing, it's also, like, you know, things have to adjust and adapt, and that can come with a little bit of heartache.
And then I also really understand kind of some of the, like, catty childlike behavior because I do feel like I had it with cousins. I've had it with, you know, even my brother in moments. He's a very chill guy, but we definitely - like, there was teasey (ph) stuff. And these girls - there's something about them that kind of, like, regresses back to, like, the teenage versions of themselves. Like, they haven't quite evolved out of, like, their old bad behavior...
LIMBONG: Yeah.
LUPE: ...In moments. But yeah, I have a lot to draw from, you know, a lot of really close female relationships in my life.
LIMBONG: Yeah. I know earlier at the top, we were teasing the Sasha-Morgan thing as something coded as more than a friendship. But I was kind of just racking my brain to think of representations of great platonic male-female friendships - right? - outside of - I don't know - like, George and Elaine, right? That's all I can come up with, right?
LUPE: Yeah. That's a good one.
LIMBONG: Yeah. Was that something you were thinking about? Like, that - you know, not to get too spoiler, but I think that does become something of a healthy friendship.
LUPE: Totally, totally. You know, I think these people were drawn to each other. There is something magnetic between them. And what's kind of interesting about it is that it's a little bit ambiguous and a little gray and kind of vague. But it's kind of about how you choose to deal with a situation like that, how you choose to, like - I don't know - deal with attraction of some kind between adults. But to answer your question, I don't know. I don't know. It's really tough to find, like, the male-female platonic representation. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I'm trying to think. I'm like, "When Harry Met Sally" before they (laughter)...
LIMBONG: The - I was just going to say, this is why we have to have the same argument every time somebody brings up "When Harry Met Sally", yeah.
LUPE: (Laughter) I'm like, they did have moments...
LIMBONG: Yeah.
LUPE: ...Of just being really platonic, but there's something, like, a spark there, through the whole thing. I'm sure if I, like, really, you know, hit the books and tried to figure it out, we could find one. But man, it's...
LIMBONG: It's rough.
LUPE: ...It's definitely tough.
LIMBONG: Yeah.
LUPE: Yeah.
LIMBONG: Yeah. Justine Lupe stars in "Nobody Wants This." The new season drops soon. Justine, thank you so much.
LUPE: Oh, thank you so, so much for having me. This was awesome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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