Hollywood actor Kristen Bell has told of how the Gossip Girl reboot has helped her embrace a part of her alter ego.
Gossip Girl has helped Hollywood actor Kristen Bell harness her catty side.
The only returning cast member from the original series in the 2021 reboot said it was a no-brainer to sign up for more.
“I think I still have her in me, I always have,” Bell says of providing the voice for the Gossip Girl narrator character. “I present as a very nice person and I like being a nice person but there’s always a pretty sassy/catty side going on in my head. Sometimes it comes out and I say it out loud but it’s rare. It’s liberating to let out my inner mean girl for Goss.”
Brought back by series creators Josh Schwatrz and Stephanie Savage, a host of new faces round out the cast for the reboot, most of them relative newcomers.
The original series ran for six seasons from 2007 to 2012 and starred the likes of Blake Lively, Chace Crawford, Penn Badgley and Leighton Meester in the main cast.
While not continuing the story from the original, the reboot is set in the same world where previous characters existed and will be referenced.
“When they asked me to come back, it was an easy yes,” Bell said. “I was thrilled to be able to come in and play around again.”
Of not appearing in person on screen, she said: “I like the challenge of having to evoke emotion from the audience by using only the tone, pitch and cadence of my voice. It’s really fun. I like storytelling and I like the challenge of only using my voice. Also, you can go do it in your pyjamas which is great. Voiceover has been my main form of work during the pandemic because it’s just you and a microphone, you don’t have to have contact with people. It’s kind of incredible.”
Bell is married to fellow actor Dax Shepard and the couple have two daughters together.
Gossip Girl, she explained, is a guilty pleasure for the actor.
“I would describe it as my guiltiest pleasure! My Gossip Girl experience has always been very different from anyone else’s on the show because I get to watch first. That means I get to know what is happening on the show next and then I get to add my sassiest twist as the narrator.”
RELATIONSHIPS AND SEXUALITY ARE KEY THEMES
THE key focus of the new Gossip Girl is fun, gripping entertainment with rich characters – but many of its themes, and the cast involved in bringing them to life, reflect key youth social issues of today.
These include relationships, sex and sexuality, in a range of formats.
Savannah Smith, who plays Monet de Haan, is bisexual – like her character – and said most of her friends in real life are LGBTQ.
“I think Gen Z kids are like, ‘Hey, I don’t even want to label myself. I don’t even want to talk about it. I don’t even want to have to put myself in this box’, she said.
“It’s just an openness and an ease that this show is really reflecting.”
Smith, who is also a singer-songwriter, is among a number of the show’s young stars – and older producers – to address this issue.
Citing her own experiences feeling “suppressed” at a Catholic high school, she wants teens to feel at ease with their identity regardless of their environment. Smith said she hopes that is a conversation viewers will have after watching, while also considering questions of power – or lack of it – that the show throws up.
Discussing Monet – who, along with Luna La (Zion Moreno) is one of two “mean girls” wielding influence in the show’s Constance Billard School – Smith reveals she was nervous about playing an “evil person” so she pulled inspiration from real-life experiences.
“I guess Monet is an amalgamation of different mean people I’ve met,” she said, adding that she could loosely be compared to Leighton Meeseter’s Blair Waldorf in the original series.
“We’ve kind of said that Luna and Monet are kind of Blair split into two, a little bit,” she said. “I would take the ruthless part and she would take the style.”
RACIAL DIVERSTY CENTRAL TO REBOOT
Gossip Girl reboot star Whitney Peak says representing racial diversity in the show is a “step in the right direction” to confronting prejudice, but it won’t win the war.
In terms of cast and character makeup the 2021 version is notably different to the original series, which was the preserve of rich white teens in New York’s Upper East Side.
Peak plays Zoya Lott, who is thrust into an unfamiliar world of privilege when she wins a scholarship to the school where her half-sister is the Queen Bee.
The 18-year-old sees the show’s revival playing a role in changing perceptions, although she takes a realistic approach.
“Gossip Girl isn’t the pinnacle of diversity entertainment, I think it is a step in the right direction,” she told Confidential.
“Obviously this one show isn’t going to cancel racism forever, but it will definitely spark conversations as we move forward and bring more people into the cast.”
Born in Uganda then raised in Canada, Peak got the Gossip Girl role based on her audition tape alone, and has an impressive resume: she has previously appeared in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Home Before Dark, iZombie, Legends of Tomorrow and Molly’s Game.
That experience gives her the chops to comment on showbiz and its social impact, despite her age.
“I think racism, unfortunately, is always going to be around no matter how diluted it is,” she said.
“And I think the more that we highlight representation in TV and entertainment is going to kind of play into how long that goes on for
For lovers of the original Gossip Girl, that late noughties fashion was all-important.
The reboot is no different, with designer threads and costuming by the OG’s style guru Eric Daman lighting up not just the screen, but the young actors who got to sport them.
“The fashion in the show is a character in itself and it’s part of what made the original such a hit,” said Zion Moreno, who plays bad girl Luna.
“It’s really gratifying to be able to wear all these designers because I personally have never been able to afford it,” she added, laughing. “I never felt I would even be in the vicinity of such costumes.”
Pleasure perks aside, the Mexican-American actor said the outfits were helpful in channelling her privileged New York character.
“It really helps me embody the role of Luna, you know, when I am wearing her Louis Vuitton or whatever it may be,” she said.
“Once you put on those outfits you do become a different person. Once your hair’s done a certain way, and once your makeup’s done a certain way, you feel like you’re a billionaire. And then that lends to acting like one.”
Their show revolves around the power of social media – but many of Gossip Girl’s stars are not fans IRL.
MIXED FEELINGS OVER SOCIAL MEDIA
“If I didn’t have to have it for work, I don’t think I would have it,” said Eli Brown, meaningfully.
The 21-year-old, who plays Obie Bergmann, revealed his feelings in a group chat with co-stars Jordan Alexander and Whitney Peak, who both chimed in.
“I feel like everybody else, I’ve had a complicated relationship with social media in that I hate it but I can’t seem to get away from it,” said Peak, “and that for some reason I feel like it’s associated with my career.”
Peak, 18, said to have a healthy relationship with social it is important to “learn to listen to how it is affecting you” – a point backed by 27-year-old Alexander, who plays “Queen Bee” influencer Julien Calloway.
Using the character of Julien as an example, show runner Josh Safran said the “idea of how we curate ourselves daily” on social is a “prevailing theme” of this reboot; with the narrator, Gossip Girl, exposing the dichotomy of how people portray themselves and how they really are.
Gossip Girl: the reboot streams on BINGE from 5pm AEST Thursday, July 8 – and you can catch the original series as well.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMimwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5oZXJhbGRzdW4uY29tLmF1L2xpZmVzdHlsZS9zbWFydC9nb3NzaXAtZ2lybC1yZWJvb3QtaG9sbHl3b29kLXN0YXIta3Jpc3Rlbi1iZWxsLXJldHVybnMtYXMtbmFycmF0b3IvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS9mZTQ3NjAxMDNmOTNkMmIyYjJlMjRkNWI0N2YwZDJjNdIBAA?oc=5
2021-07-07 22:29:04Z
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