From I. Marlene King (Pretty Little Liars) and based on the novel by Rebecca Serle, the Freeform series Famous in Love follows ordinary college student Paige Townsen (Bella Thorne), as she gets her big break after auditioning for the starring role in a Hollywood blockbuster. With a public profile on the rise and undeniable chemistry with her new co-star, Hollywood heartthrob Rainer Devon (Carter Jenkins), Paige has to find a way to balance things with her long-time best friends, her college workload, and her new star-studded life and the demands that come with that.
Collider recently sat down with co-stars Bella Thorne and Carter Jenkins to chat about their new TV series, Famous in Love. During both a 2-on-1 and a panel conversation, the two talked about how this series evolved and how they both got involved, what they did and didn’t want to see, how they relate to their characters, why Rainer is drawn to Paige, and navigating social media while in the public eye.
Question: Bella, when you signed on for this, was there even a script yet?
BELLA THORNE: I read the book when I was coming out of Shake It Up, so that’s how long ago this started for me. I put a quote on the book, and then me and my manager were discussing making the book into a show. He knows [I. Marlene King] really well and was like, “She’d be amazing for this! She knows just how to do this, in all the right ways.” And she did. We read the script and we loved it, and then we were attached to it. We met with nine different networks, and we really loved Freeform the most. We liked what they had to say about the show and where they wanted to go with the characters, which was really cool. And then, we got started.
Carter, how did you come on board?
JENKINS: I came on much later and I liked the script. I thought it had all of the elements that this type of show needs to really hook an audience, but I didn’t know exactly what the tone was going to be. I knew that Marlene is a powerhouse showrunner, and that the director of the pilot, Miguel Arteta, is really a excellent director. When I went in, I had my take on it and I just wanted to make it real. I think a lot of people were coming in for this movie star role, trying to play at being a movie star and putting a little bit too much on it.
THORNE: He wasn’t playing at it. He just looked like a movie star.
JENKINS: Thank you! I just thought about a lot of the movie stars I’ve come across in my life, and they aren’t doing anything.
THORNE: Somebody is not a different person because they’re famous. We’re all just regular people that do everything else regular, like other people do. It’s ridiculous!
JENKINS: So, I just kept it very real and tried to be a normal guy. It’s kind of like playing a prince. Half of the work is done because you’re sitting on a throne. You talk and people just bow down to the prince. For my character, Rainer, he can just walk through a pool party and everyone turns their heads. That does most of the work for me. So, I was pretty happy with the tone that they chose to tell the story in.
You guys know this world and have a pretty good idea of what things would be like for these characters. Because of that, were there things you wanted to make sure were in this show, and were there things that you wanted to make sure to avoid? Did you get to have a voice in that?
THORNE: Yeah. A lot of people will say, “Go big!,” but I’m not going to let somebody fuck me in the edit room. They always say, “Just give it to us once,” and I’m like, “I’m not giving it to you once because I know that’s the take you’re gonna use.” You have to protect yourself. For instance, I struggled personally with my character not being a feminist. She wasn’t a feminist, at first, so I had to make it a thing that the character has to be a feminist. Girls will look up to Paige Townsen, and I’m not playing a lead character who’s not a feminist. I can’t do that, especially nowadays. That’s never going to work. It’s just not right. So, I had to go back and forth on certain things. I look at feminism in a little bit of a different way than other people do, so it was really important for Paige to look at it in the same way that I do and be more accepting.
JENKINS: Right before we started the series, I ran into Zac Efron. I have known him a little bit, throughout the years, and I told him that I was going to be playing a character that’s kind of like him. I thought about him a lot for this show because he’s a movie star and he’s good at being a movie star, and Zac was pretty excited about that idea. He impressed upon me that there’s a responsibility to make it real and not just glorify it. There’s more to the story. So, I was really interested in getting beyond the image and into the real life of the guy, and not just the star.
Bella, in what ways do you identify with Paige, and what are the challenges in playing her?
THORNE: It’s actually more of a challenge than some of the other roles I’ve played because I have to be a little bit more naive to everything, and that’s really hard when you’re jaded, which is what we will see Paige become. She gets screwed over so many times in the series that she becomes a little bit more guarded. She’s never had this experience before. It’s really fun to play somebody that’s really not very much like me, at all. Paige struggles a lot with who she is and who everybody wants her to be, and I’ve been there. I’ve done that. It’s not a fun road to go down, to look at yourself in the mirror and have absolutely no clue who you are. There will be many times in the show that Paige thinks she’s happy, and then Hollywood comes and just messes with her again and she’s back to an all-time low. Everybody will try to change you in this business and make you different. People will try to tear you down and make you look like you’re something that you’re not, so you have to really be matter of fact in who you are, what you want to do, and who you want to remain.
Carter, is Rainer Devon a bit of a complicated character to play because you don’t want him to seem like he’s whining about being famous and rich?
JENKINS: Right. His problems are very human. They’re not necessarily high class problems. Some of the obstacles in his life are very personal. I’m very excited that they didn’t just give me those high class millionaire problems.
THORNE: The funniest part about it is that there really are people like that, who are movie stars. You’re like, “Are you really complaining about that, right now?!” But, you also have to look at it from their point of view. They could be exhausted and overworked, and it’s a problem to them. You can’t say to somebody, “Your problem isn’t relevant and is not worth discussing,” because you don’t know how it is for that exact person. You may not think it’s a big deal, but it obviously is to them, so there’s something going on there that’s conflicting for them.
JENKINS: Yeah, it’s all relative. Someone might get off on drama, but also have stuff that’s very real and that goes much deeper than that. This show gets into some deep stuff.
Do you think that Rainer is drawn to Paige because he sees the passion that he’s lost in her?
THORNE: I like that. Nobody has said that yet.
JENKINS: Rainer has been born and bred in this industry and he’s jaded. He sees, in Paige, a beacon of authenticity and purity that cracks this facade of superficiality and ego. He’s holding onto her purity, especially in a town that can easily corrupt you.
THORNE: Rainer was in that position once that Paige is now in, so he almost wants to protect her, in a way. He knows how dirty the business can be. I think the reason why he likes her so much is because he wants to protect her, like family. He knows this life is very dirty and he can see that she’s very naive. He’s drawn to her because he knows what that’s like. The experiences that he’s gotten himself into led him to where he is now, and he doesn’t want Paige to go through that.
JENKINS: He’s definitely holding her hand, as she rises through the ranks of Hollywood.
Bella, what have you personally learned about reclaiming your identity, especially when it comes to social media?
THORNE: Snapchat is one of the only social media sites where people get to really see me. It’s my favorite thing when people come up to me on the street and they’re like, “Bella Thorne, I watch your Snapchat! You’re cool!” That makes me so happy because I really feel like they do know me because that is not me doing anything for anyone else. It’s me just randomly snapping whatever, throughout the day. I’ll be photographed with somebody and they’ll print that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, or that we’re getting married, or that I’m moving in with this guy. I’m like, “Oh, my god, calm down! I don’t even know him like that! What are you trying to do right now?!”
Famous in Love premieres on Freeform on April 18th, and the full season will be available to stream on multiple digital platforms, including the Freeform app, Freeform.com, On Demand and Hulu.
