Emmanuelle Chriqui on Model Citizen and Whether People Can Change

Automatically transcribed; may contain errors.

Emmanuelle Chriqui: I don't, I'm not convinced you can change fundamentally who you are.

Allison Rose: So tell me, when you read the script and you saw what Gretchen was, who she was, what interested you the most about playing the part?

Emmanuelle Chriqui: I think what interested me the most was like, there, you know, there was this duality to the character, right? That like what you see is not what you get. And I just, I found that so interesting, you know, because she's posing as one thing, but she's part of a, you know, elaborate government experiment. And then you write and then unbeknownst to her starts to develop these feelings for Stephen and is like protective of him and is like questioning suddenly this government experiment. And it's just like talk about something to chew on, you know. So and I also I love that I had to read the script twice. I read it the first time and I was like, okay, I need to read it again and make sure that I really have a handle on this. You know, it's cool. It makes you think.

Allison Rose: It definitely does. And I definitely like the character of Gretchen for all the reasons you said. The whole script, really, for all the reasons that you said. I found it really interesting.

Emmanuelle Chriqui: Oh, great.

Allison Rose: Do you think that people can change?

Emmanuelle Chriqui: This is the question. Gosh, you know, I think you can change some things. I don't, I'm not convinced you can change fundamentally who you are. I think you can improve on things, but I don't think that we can completely erase who we are. on a spiritual level, I'm just not sure how that happens. Do you know?

Allison Rose: So you feel like we're shaped as children and then that's kind of our foundation and we can vary a little from it, but not change it fundamentally.

Emmanuelle Chriqui: I mean, I tend to believe that. Yeah. You know, like we were raised in such a way, like, You know, it's kind of like that sort of saying of like, when you fall in love with somebody, right, you fall in love with who they are today, not who they might become.

Allison Rose: Right.

Emmanuelle Chriqui: Because we don't, that's who they are. Like they're showing you. So there is that a little bit. But again, I think we can evolve. I think we can for sure evolve. But do we change fundamentally? I don't know.

Allison Rose: There's a good distinction there. Tell me a little bit about working with Aaron because you had a lot of scenes with him and a lot of very intense scenes.

Emmanuelle Chriqui: Yes. Oh, talk about like a dream come true. Honestly, like he is so amazing. What a talent. What a kind and just, you know, to work opposite somebody who at this stage in the game is still so passionate about what he does, you know, just really like raises the bar. And it was a thrill for me to be able to work that closely with him. And, you know, to just be creatively inspired by somebody was kind of it's what dreams are made of. It's like really why we do what we do for these moments that come along.

Allison Rose: Let me quickly ask you, yes or no. In the end, we don't want to give anything away. Are you pleased where Gretchen ended up?

Emmanuelle Chriqui: Um, yes, because in success, it continues.