In the go90.com streaming series Confess (executive produced by Amy Kim and Jaime Burke for Lifeboat Productions, as well as Lauren Levine and author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the best-selling book that it’s based on), Auburn Reed (Katie Leclerc) has already lost everything important to her and is trying to fight to rebuild her shattered life, and while her heart is in the right place, she’s terrified of making a mistake. But when she unexpectedly ends up with a job at a Los Angeles art studio, she finds a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist, Owen Gentry (Ryan Cooper), who works and lives there, and together they must learn to navigate their pasts, in order to move forward with the lives that they want.
During this very fun and highly entertaining phone interview with Collider, co-stars Katie Leclerc and Ryan Cooper talked about how they got involved with Confess, what drew them to the project, their awesome chemistry, having Kyle Secor and Sherilyn Fenn as the parental figures on set, their production schedule for the shoot, the scenes they were most nervous about, which paintings they got to keep, and all of the fan love. Leclerc also talked about what it’s meant to her to have been a part of the Freeform series Switched at Birth, while Cooper talked about his experience working with the insanely funny cast of Rough Night (due out in theaters on June 16th) and the preparation he did to give Scarlett Johansson a lap dance.
Collider: How exciting is it for you guys to not only hear the feedback about how much people are loving Confess, but also that they immediately started asking for more?
KATIE LECLERC: It’s been interesting having a show get canceled and have its final episode air in the same week that these episodes premiere. There are lots of feels in that department.
How did this come your way? Were you even aware of what go90.com is?
LECLERC: I just got it through my agency, as a regular audition. I did know what go90.com is, through friends of friends who had done projects with go90.com and Awestruck. So, I was a little familiar with it, and I’m more familiar now. I thought this was an intriguing story about an artist who takes confessions and turns them into fine art, but I loved the portion where Owen is explaining that and says, “Everybody has these secrets that they try to cover up, but ultimately, how much better off would we be, if we just shared all those secrets.” I loved the aspect of the love story, but more importantly, and the thing that really sold me on the project, was Elissa Down, our director. In the audition process, she was wild and crazy and so much fun. Because we got closer and closer, further into the auditioning process, I was like, “This woman is my spirit animal and I would like to work with her.” I was really lucky to be picked.
RYAN COOPER: I totally agree! I actually hadn’t heard of go90.com, prior to the whole project. Reading the script, I knew Elissa’s work and the way that she tells story and the way it ends up on the screen. She’s Australian, like I am, so I knew of her previous movies. And then, I met Katie in the room and it just all felt right. I felt like I could really trust each of the players and that everyone was going to bring their A-game and do justice to the fan base. There’s no point turning up to tell a story, half-heartedly. I felt very privileged, and the response has been wonderful and just amazing. It’s really cool.
Your chemistry is pretty great and you seem to have a real ease with each other, on screen, which is so important to this story. Did you guys do a chemistry test, at all, or did you just click, right away?
LECLERC: There was a chemistry test. It was on a Saturday morning, and it was a gloomy, overcast day. Ryan walked in the room and he was a ball of sunshine, and we all swooned, at the same time. It was a really nice day. Honestly, from the moment Ryan walked in the room, I feel like there was no doubt in anyone’s mind, and at least there wasn’t in mine.
COOPER: When I did get to meet Katie, she just brings her A-game. As much as Katie says she’s not like Auburn, at all, I think there’s a bit of Auburn in her. She’s very, very, very kind-hearted, and you can feel that. We just had a blast. It was wonderful.
These characters have really been through some shit, so you really want to be able to root for them to be together.
LECLERC: Yeah, and in a lot of ways, they’re the only people who could understand each other and accept that the person that you are is not defined by the mistakes that you make. They’ve both made mistakes, but they’re both in this place where they’re making up for that and just doing the very best that they can. That’s all you can expect from anyone.
COOPER: And it’s really interesting to see the way Lydia is trying to keep Auburn as a child, in many respects, with the way she’s treating her. And Owen has had to grow up and take care of his own dad. They’re both trying to figure out this equilibrium between where they are and where they should be and what’s expected of them, and the guilt that’s placed on them for the secrets they keep and what that is like when they truly can be vulnerable with each other and what doors open into each other’s lives when that happens.
What was it like to have actors like Kyle Secor and Sherilyn Fenn as the parental figures on set?
LECLERC: So good. I am a Twin Peaks fan, so I was really stoked when they cast Sherilyn Fenn. She was everything that I was hoping she would be. She was very giving in the scenes, and inventive in the moment and terrifying, at the same time. I just really learned into that for Auburn. And I had less scenes with Kyle, but he was lovely. He was just willing to play.
COOPER: I’m similar with Katie, in the opposite. I actually didn’t have any scenes with Sherilyn, so we just said hi, passing by, in and out of the schedule. And with Kyle, because he’s such a tall guy, the way he came on set the first day, the dynamic between us was very, very interesting. I loved it because even just his height alone gave me the feeling of, “I’m small, and you’re a big guy.” It was something to fight towards, which for me, gave me a very different feeling in the scene, which helped with what Owen is going through, trying to fight up and break ground with his father and get his message across. That was very interesting to me. And Kyle is a fantastic guy. I just loved having him there. We’ve been on walks and talked, since then. We did Runyon Canyon. I really like him.
What was your production schedule like on this? Did you shoot it one episode at a time, or did you shoot it more like a movie, with everything all at once?
LECLERC: Definitely like a movie. We bounced around L.A. The first two weeks were in Owen’s loft, which was such a cool set. Thank goodness for our amazing script supervisor and director because I got lost plenty of times. I was like, “What is happening right now?! I don’t know. I know my lines, but help me figure this out.” But, that’s the collaboration of a crew. We were very lucky!
COOPER: That’s true. You’re shooting across seven episodes, and we had scenes with the three Fs. We had food scenes, fighting scenes, and the other f-word. We had days where we would have all three of those, so it was interesting trying to figure out if we were in a flashback or if we were in the present moment, and keeping all that straight. It was a task, but that’s what we do. We had a wonderful team around us to support that. We lucked out.
There are so many emotional ups and downs, throughout this story, and your characters go through so much. Was there one scene that you feel most defined your character, that you were most nervous about shooting?
LECLERC: After five years on Switched at Birth, I can cry. If Switched at Birth has taught me one thing, it’s that I can have tears coming out of my eyes, like the turn of a light switch. But the scene with Adam – that very first scene – established so much of my character that that was, for sure, the scene that I was like, “Okay, this has to be right, or nothing else works.” And of course, it was the very last thing that we shot, for the entire series. It was a bit of a backwards jumping jack. But when we got there and I looked the other actor, Lukas [Gage], in the eyes, we just connected. He was actually at the chemistry read, as well, so I knew that’s who I was gonna be working with. It all came together, and it ended up not being anything that I needed to worry about because Lukas was so great. We were so physically exhausted by the end of it, that I was just leaning into that. It felt like the tragedy that Auburn was going through [mirrored the fact that] our time creating this show together was also ending. I was like, “Man, art imitates life and we’re all gonna go our separate ways tomorrow.” That was a very bittersweet moment. It’s amazing how connected we all became in less than 30 days.
COOPER: Lukas came on and brought such a presence. He’s such a kind-hearted and wonderful guy, and I know he’s going to be doing great stuff, in the future. For me, there was one scene that I found extremely heart-breaking. I couldn’t read the scene without crying. And it was the scene where Owen and Auburn dance in the nursing home. It might seem insignificant, but for me, it was that moment where things were totally not what they seemed. There was so much love for each other there, and they were so desirous just to say yes and jump in, but because of the circumstances, they couldn’t. Auburn is protecting her son and that relationship, and Owen is protecting Auburn, in a way, as well as his father, in bringing out that truth. That, to me, was a really, really sad, heart-wrenching scene. And obviously, that scene with Adam and Auburn was also heart-wrenchingly beautiful, but I wasn’t in it.
For all of the tears in this story, there are also some really fun moments, whether it’s Auburn hiding under the table or Owen hiding in the shower in a pink robe. Was it ever hard to keep from laughing?
LECLERC: We laughed constantly.
COOPER: We had a lot of fun. It’s so easy for Katie and I to have fun on set, or at least it was for me. Maybe Katie has a different opinion. We just really had a great friendship and chemistry, and I think that really shows on screen.
There are some really beautiful paintings that are a part of this story. Katie, did you manage to sneak off with the one of you, or would it have just been too weird to have a painting of yourself?
LECLERC: The answer to both of those questions is yes. It is very weird to have a painting of yourself. Colleen [Hoover] actually gave me the original, which was much smaller than the one that Owen ultimately paints in the show. That was a reproduction that they had just blown up. So, I got the original, and I am so grateful to Colleen for giving me that. And I immediately gave it to my parents because it’s weird to have a painting of yourself in your own house. But, it’s a very beautiful painting and I feel very special that she thought of doing that. That was very sweet of her. I don’t know if Kyle [Secor] ended up with his original, though. His is a bit darker.
COOPER: Colleen actually gave that one to me. That was very, very kind of her. I’m surprised that Katie didn’t want to take home the one that I actually did, with a booger hanging out of her nose.
LECLERC: That wasn’t offered to me, but that’s the one that I’d actually hang in my house.
COOPER: During the scene that I’m painting, and there’s the progression of the painting, towards the end of the series, when the camera was shooting over the painting, I had a little fun and drew boogers and all sorts of stuff on Katie’s face, to the enjoyment of the crew.
Did you wonder about whether Owen ever told Auburn about how they really knew each other and where the drawing of the hands really came from, or how Auburn might have reacted to learning the truth about everything?
LECLERC: I think that would have just made Auburn fall in love with Owen even more. I do. I think what Auburn loves most about Owen is his kindness and sensitivity. In that moment, she was going through so much pain that she was literally blinded to her surroundings, but eight years later, with a different perspective, I think she would process it differently. Sometimes you have these brief moments of connection that dictate the rest of your life, but in that moment, you don’t know how powerful it will be. But I feel like, with an adult perspective and with how much she was already in love with Owen, it would have only served to strengthen that love.
COOPER: Wow! That’s a great question and something to think about. From my end, I hadn’t even thought of that question.
LECLERC: I hadn’t either.
COOPER: The way I saw it was that that moment was so special for Auburn. When you love someone so much and have had such a wonderful friendship or love relationship with someone else, there’s a little hint of jealousy because you weren’t there, but at the same time, that moment and that love defines who the person you love now is, and if you changed that, it would change who they are, in the present. I think for Owen, looking at that, the fact that she loved this boy for so long, he wouldn’t want to try to take that from her to steal the credit for himself. It’s very opposite to what I’d do. I’d be like, “Yeah, I painted that picture!” He doesn’t want to steal the moment from Adam and Auburn.
Katie, what has getting to have been a part of such a groundbreaking series as Switched at Birth meant to you, and how do you think it’s changed you, as an actress and as a person?
LECLERC: I really feel like I hit the lottery when I booked Switched at Birth. I grew up on that show. I had been acting for about 10 years, before I got that role, but it was very humbling to be a part of a show that receives the type of fan response that it did, specifically because it gave a voice to a group of people and a culture that had been very under-represented and not represented in a very truthful way. The deaf person would be there for a couple of episodes, and then go away. But here we are, five years later, and we had multiple deaf characters with multiple kinds of disabilities. Not only that, but I commend Freeform for being bold and allowing us to tackle crazy subject matter and stuff that’s scary for a network to approve. We talked about on-campus race issues and on-campus rape, and had all of these daring conversations that our creator was willing to bring up. And because we were bold, our fans never got bored. We always threw something crazy at them, and they just kept coming back, and they were so supportive and so lovely. In that regard, I have been bowled over by the support for Confess. I thought, “Wow, this is a really cool project. I hope people watch it.” But when we started rolling out the promotion, the feedback that we got and the excitement that we got from the fans of Colleen Hoover, shocked me. I was not expecting that kind of response. They were more rabid than the Switched at Birth fans, which was such a cool, exciting thing to be a part of. I feel so lucky! Six years ago, if you told me that I’d be here right now, I’d be very excited to see that possibility, and here we are, and I’m still excited to be living it.
Ryan, you certainly make quite an impression in the trailer for Rough Night, which seems completely wild and insane. How was the experience of working with such an insanely talented and incredibly funny group of women, but also have to give a lap dance to Scarlett Johansson?
COOPER: Well, I can tell you that it was a rough almost three months, having to play alongside such wonderful women. It was tough, really. No. It was so much fun, and I was pinching myself going, “Is this happening?! Did I really do this?! Wake up!” It was great. To get to be there through the whole process and see the way that they work is really inspiring. I’m excited for that to come out, and I’m excited for everyone to see it. It’s an interesting journey from banging in nails as a carpenter, just a few years ago, that’s for sure.
Did you have to mentally prepare to do the lap dance scene?
COOPER: Yeah. I actually showed up over-prepared for that job. I’d gone and taken hip-hop dancing lessons, and I’d given my wife multiple lap dances and strip teases. We actually got pregnant, at the beginning of that process. I didn’t know that would be a blessing that’s come from that movie, as well.
LECLERC: Oh, my god, I love that story! My jaw is literally hanging open, catching flies at that story! I love that! That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard!
COOPER: I’ve not told anyone that story, so there you go. When I got on set, I said to Scarlett, “Is there anything you don’t want done? Are there any holds barred?” And she was like, “Nah, go for it!,” and gave me this cheeky little smile. So, I was like, “Cool, let’s go for it!” And then, the director said, “No, no, no, make it more awkward.” And I was like, “What did I go and take classes for!” So, my handstand booty shake didn’t come in handy. It’s in my back pocket for Magic Mike 5, or something like that.
LECLERC: Am I to understand that you can upside down twerk?
COOPER: Yeah!
LECLERC: The next time I see you, I’m going to need to see that in person!
COOPER: I’ve been doing it while we’ve been on the phone. That’s the beauty of doing a phoner. When there’s a little vibrato going on in my voice, that’s why.
LECLERC: I was wondering! I didn’t want to say anything!
Well, thanks so much to the both of you for talking to me about all things Confess. It was an absolute blast!
COOPER: Thank you! I feel very blessed to have been able to work with Katie and Elissa, and share this story of Colleen’s to the world. It’s lovely. It’s really beautiful.
The Awestruck series Confess is available to stream at www.go90.com.
