15 questions with Sean Mcbride & Jessie Rabideau
> How did you guys get involved in the project?
Sean: Well I’ve known Steven for five years now and we’ve been friends and we work on a lot of things together and... he just asked me [laughs]
Jessie: Yea! Uhh.... how did I meet Steven? I got him to shoot one of my films... that I wrote and my friend Natalie [Shepherd] directed and I guess he saw me in that and he had me in mind for this project.
>What was it like meeting each other and working with each other?
Jessie: It was horrible! [laughs]
Sean: It was so bad! [laughs]
Jessie: Ok. Honestly? When I met you at the table read I was very nervous because I hadn’t really acted that much.
Sean: No.
Jessie: No! I really was but once we went through it, I thought, ok, maybe we can do this. I felt more confident after that table read.
Sean: Well, you know Steven told me about you already and he was saying stuff like “She’s great! She’s perfect!”
Jessie: He talked me up!
Sean: He talked you up! So I thought “Great!” I was excited to work with you because I heard you were a talented actress.
Jessie: And in working together I learned a lot. I learned a lot from you. I had a lot of fun.
Sean: I had a lot of fun too. It was really easy. I’d do it again.
Jessie: Well, it’d have to be something else because you’re... you know...[motions]
Sean: I’m dead. Spoiler alert!
Jessie: Spoiler alert!
>What was the best part of shooting?
Sean: I enjoyed .... uhh...
Jessie: Kissing my face!
Sean: Well, I spent the night at the Biltmore.
Jessie: That was the best part?
Sean: I liked it, yeah. [laughs]
Jessie: The hotel might have been the best part.
Sean: Yeah, for part 1 the hotel.. I thought... . well, this is kind of nice. Then I woke up the next morning and went to the farmer’s market.
Jessie: You were kind of living as “Charlie”.
Sean: How about you?
Jessie: I think being on set and just being part of something. It’s better than being in a class. Because I’m still new to this, you know?
>What was the worst part of shooting?
Sean: Maybe it was the fact that in part two there was no privacy. The bathroom was part of the room.
Jessie: Yeah. I agree with that. That was weird. Yeah, the close quarters of the second hotel room was a little too comfy. Too intimate.
Sean: Yeah.
Jessie: And then we got too intimate.
>How are the characters similar to your real lives?
Sean: I guess being a photographer and being an actor is kind of similar. The way success and fame can look.
Jessie: [nods] Like a similar world.
Sean: Yeah, as far as look and aesthetic go but I’d like to think that I’m a little bit more even and little more sane than Charlie.
Jessie: You’re not a screamer?
Sean: I don’t really scream in my girlfriend’s face and I’m not an angry drinker or anything. I think I’m a little happier. Lighter.
Jessie: Alana Jordan’s a model, way more successful than I am in real life but I feel like- I wouldn’t say it was that far of stretch for me.
Sean: Yeah, I think he mentioned that he wrote the characters with us in mind.
Jessie: Yeah.
>How are they different?
Jessie: I hate these questions.
Sean: Well, I’ll go back to that last question. It was hard to do the accent. I had done some work on it but then the shoot got postponed and then I had to work on it again-
Jessie: Yeah, that was a lot. I can see that being really hard.
Sean: Yeah, and then it was supposed to be half-fake and in between and then we dropped it completely for the second one but that’s how the character’s not like me because I don’t have an accent obviously.
Jessie: Well, I’ve never experienced that kind of loss...at the end...that was different for me.
Sean: You guys shot that already?
Jessie: Yeah. [laughs] It was tough to experience that.
>What does Alana bring to Charlie’s life?
Jessie: That’s a question for you.
Sean: That’s a question for me. I think she brings him love and the life he was after. It’s like the dream girl. Yeah, I think he feels like she makes him feel like a success and a man and also inspires him.
Jessie: I think Alana brought him a lot of stress too or he sees it that way.
Sean: Well it’s hard because they’re almost in competition with each other because their lives became so intwined that it was hard to separate the personal and professional.
Jessie: Or it was like an ownership kind of thing maybe? Possessiveness.
Sean: Absolutely, yeah.
Jessie: Those are kind of the ugly things that come out of relationships sometimes. Especially one that’s so involved. One’s that are career and ambition driven.
>What does Charlie represent in Alana’s life?
Jessie: [sighs] I think that with anyone you ... fall (for lack of a better word) ... you kind of think they’re “it”, you know? You kind of invest so much into that relationship and you build a life and I think that for her Charlie was a new adventure. A new life.
>Can you talk briefly about having to navigate the accent?
Sean: I already answered that.
Jessie: Can you talk briefly in your British accent?
Sean: No. But I had [Dominic Best] read the lines and I recorded them and then I just listened to them for a while and then watched some of the videos and stuff.
>What were the differences in working on the first part and second part?
Sean: The hotel was so much smaller on the second part.
Jessie: In the 2nd part I was more comfortable obviously because we’d already worked together but in the first part it was great because I really was meeting you for the first time. So I used that.
Sean: Yea. I’d say I was way more comfortable doing the first part because you’re just flirting and having fun.
Jessie: Yeah, it was easier and we were just getting to know each other.
Sean: The second part was much harder because it was more serious. We really had to put in some work. Especially because of the emotion that was required...and you know...it’s hard to [gesture]
Jessie: Be mean to me?
Sean: Yeah!
Jessie: You were a jerk.
[both laugh]
>What was it like working with director’s Anthony Trujillo and Steven A. Soria
Jessie: Who’s Anthony?
Sean: Yeah, who’s that guy?
[both laugh]
Jessie: We’re supposed to say it was “fabulous” right?
Sean: But I did enjoy.
Jessie: No, me too! I was just kidding. I really did like how low-key... There was no stress and no pressure and they allowed us to play and explore the characters and go anywhere we wanted to go or need to go.
Sean: It made you feel more like a collaborator.
Jessie: There wasn’t ever any tension. I think they’re good at giving direction and help you get there.
Sean: They’re good at creating a comfortable atmosphere.
>What do you think Charlie and Alana’s story adds to the mythology of Beautiful Fools?
Sean: I mean, it’s a pretty pivotal back-story. It’s used to kind of justify Peter’s actions throughout the series because he’s so self-destructive and destructive towards others and ruining all his relationships and I think it was important to learn that it was from losing a family member. Our story ends up being important for that story because [Peter] does feel guilty because he does sort of let his brother down.
Jessie: Yeah, it’s like a piece of the puzzle. Another layer that people can take.
Sean: Yeah a big piece of baggage in Peter’s story.
What was it like working with Alejandro?
Sean: He was the sweetest so nice.
Jessie: He was great!
Sean: He was perfect.
Jessie: He made a good dick.
>The movie is also supposed to be a look into hotel culture. Do you guys like hotels?
Sean: I love hotels. Hotels are my favorite.
Jessie: I like room service. I like having your room turned down. I mean, like traveling right? It’s connected that way right?
>What can we expect to see you guys in next?
Sean: I’ll be reappearing in “My Crazy Ex” on lifetime. That reenactment show.
Jessie: Shut up, are you serious?
Sean: Yeah.
Jessie: That’s awesome. Well and then we have Steven and Anthony’s new feature.
Sean: Yeah. That crazy thing they want to shoot in, like, six days. That actually might be what’s next.
Jessie: They said they wrote us into that.
>Do you guys eat popsicles?
Sean: No.
Jessie: No comment.
[both laugh]