When you first played Ramona for the film, did you feel her story was incomplete?
I don’t think I ever felt it was incomplete in terms of wanting to know desperately what was going to happen next or anything like that. I did think that there was a lot more to her that I would have loved to explore. Obviously, when you’re making something that’s based on a book or based on a series of books, there’s going to be a lot more in there than you’re able to capture in one film. So I think I always felt it would be fun to be able to explore all these other little bits and pieces that we didn’t get to see of her in the film.
But I wasn’t exactly wondering what’s going to happen next because I thought it was such a lovely ending, the way that that film wrapped up and I thought it was really perfect. So whenever ideas about sequels were bandied about, I was sort of like, oh yeah, that’d be great. But I didn’t really ever take it too seriously because I thought it was kind of like the perfect, you know, full circle that the way it was handled in the film.
So what was your first reaction when, or your initial reaction when you found out that Ramona was going to be the front and center for this series?
You know, it was really unexpected and lovely. I think I thought it was going to be amazing, but I don’t think I really realized what it was going to feel like until I was there doing it. And I didn’t realize how much it was going to mean to me.
It really meant a lot to me to be able to have Ramona kind of telling this story in her own way and to be kind of taking the reins because I think for a lot of the film, she was a bit passive, you know, she’s sort of watching all this happen around her and because of her, but there’s only a few kind of points in the movie where she gets to actually kind of take charge. And now in this series, she’s doing it throughout the whole series. And that was incredibly cathartic and meaningful for me to get to do that.
What was it like to explore her and like to really dig deep into what caused the pain and how she dealt with it?
I was just so grateful to have the opportunity to do that because, you know, I think it was all kind of there when we were doing the movie and I kind of felt all of these things for her. I really felt a lot of empathy for her in terms of how she was feeling and that vulnerability that she was covering up and that she was afraid of and all of those things.
But I think, you know, it wasn’t really her story. So we didn’t really get to see so much of what was underneath that guardedness. So I felt really grateful to get to kind of unveil that a little bit more and people behind that curtain and to get to see her have that realization about herself.
You know, I think in that scene with Roxy is when it really kind of clicks for her, what she’s been doing her whole life that she’s just runs away when she gets scared or when people get too close to her and, you know, and feeling regret for that. And so it was great to get to humanize her in that way, that there are, that she is vulnerable and that she is a loving person, but that she’s afraid. And so I was just really thankful to get to show that because I love her so much as a character.
