The Freeform psychological mystery Cruel Summer follows two young women – Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt), the popular girl who others look up to, and Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia), the nerdy girl who dreams of being popular – and what happens to the life of the latter when the former goes missing. Set over the summer in 1993, 1994, and 1995, the story’s shifting points of view change the perception of events, as more and more questions arise about who Kate and Jeanette really are.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Harley Quinn Smith (who plays Mallory Higgins, a quirky outsider questioning who her true friends are) talked about how wild it’s been to see the fan reaction to the show, how tempted she was to send the writers threatening texts to get answers from them, what she loves about her character, and why this was one of the coolest experiences of her life. She also talked about how passionate she is about doing a biopic where she would play Courtney Love, how hard it can be to live in the shadow of a famous family member, and what it’s like to be named after a bad-ass comic book character.
Collider: Congrats on the success of this show and how much everyone is talking about it. Since you never know what’s going to happen with a project, is it nice to see that people are not only watching, but also responding in the way that you hoped they might?
HARLEY QUINN SMITH: It’s really wild. I’ve never been a part of something like this, that has so many different opinions and theories about it, and it’s so cool to me to see people engage in discussions online about the show and their theories. I just think it builds such a cool community and creates such a cool environment, to be able to have discussions about it. I don’t know. It just blows my mind that people think so deeply about it.
Do any of the theories you’ve seen get even remotely close?
SMITH: I have seen people be completely right, and I have seen people be completely wrong. All of the wrong theories are all really good ideas, they’re just not correct. I’m like, “Oh, that’s super creative.”
How much were you actually told about the story and about where all of it would go? At the beginning, did you have any idea that it would end up where it ended up?
SMITH: There was a lot left to the imagination. We didn’t really receive the next script for each episode until a week or sometimes a few days before. I knew about some bigger ideas in plotlines, but there was a ton we did not know. There was a lot that we didn’t know, throughout this series, for sure.
Are you someone who is always asking questions and trying to get answers, or do you guys just talk amongst yourselves, as a cast? How do you deal with not knowing?
SMITH: I was very angry sometimes and wanting to send threatening texts going, “I’m going to lose my mind.” We talked about it, all the time. That was all the cast and I talked about, how we thought it was going to end. When they were waiting to send the last episode, it was such a big deal. We would all try to prank each other and be like, “Oh, my God, they just sent it,” and then they didn’t and it would just be sad. I’m an actor who, for sure, likes to know everything. I don’t want anything to be left out while building my character and the scenes that I’m in. I like to know exactly what’s going on. It was a little frustrating at times, to just be a little left in the dark, but it did definitely make the process super exciting. We were all anxiously awaiting emails, every day.
What was it like to finally get that last script for the season and read it? What was your reaction to learning how things would wrap up?
SMITH: It was crazy. In the days where we could have gotten Episode 10, I checked my phone and my email probably every five minutes. It was so unhealthy that it did get to the point where I was going to send a threatening text that said, “This is bad for my mental health. You guys have gotta send it.” But once we got the script and read it and knew about it, it felt very good. It just felt like I could take a nice, deep breath of fresh air because there were no more secrets that we didn’t know anymore.
Do you think that people who watch the show will see things coming, or do you think that they’ll be surprised by what happens?
SMITH: I think that there are an endless amount of secrets and mysteries throughout this show, so no one could ever possibly see everything that happens coming. So much happens, with every single episode. It would simply amaze me and take my absolute breath away. If someone managed to guess everything that happens, I wouldn’t believe it.
Your character is someone who’s pretty straightforward and she doesn’t seem to shy away from confrontation. What did you enjoy about playing Mallory over the course of the season, and playing with those different dynamics?
SMITH: I absolutely love how straightforward Mallory is. She really just says it how it is. She’s very confident, much more confident than I am, and I admire that about her. She’s just herself and she’s cool with having her two friends in ‘93, and then having only really one friend in ‘94 and ‘95. When she has her person or people, she really couldn’t care less about anything else. Her friends are her world and what’s most important to her. So, it was incredible getting to play her, throughout the years. I feel so lucky that I not only got the opportunity to play a character throughout three years, but especially her. I just really like how she does not beat around the bush. She is no bullshit and just so straight up. I admire that quality, although she for sure can get herself into trouble with that attitude. She also really doesn’t care, which is cool to me. She doesn’t even fear Joy Wallace, who is arguably the most scary person in that town. The fact that he doesn’t even flinch around her, is a good indication of how she is and you would not want to fuck with her at all.
How did you find the experience of getting to have different looks for each of the years, and getting to have the different wardrobe, hair, make-up and props?
SMITH: It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I definitely feel like I was born in the wrong decade. I was born in the ‘90s, but I was only alive for a few months of the ‘90s, and I’ve always felt like I was robbed of something that was meant for me. But being able to live in that time period as Mallory was a true gift. I wear all those clothes in real life. I try to pretend like I’m living in the ‘90s every day, so to be able to actually kind of do it was so cool to me.
Did you have a lot of conversations about how your character would change, but also be exactly the same, throughout the three different years?
SMITH: Yes. It’s really weird because now, watching the show, I see things that I didn’t even really notice when we were doing it. There’s a lot to think about while playing three different years of a character, especially with the mystery. There was a lot to keep track of in your mind. I thought I was on top of things. I take so many notes and came to set every day with pages of notes for what I wanted to do in the scenes that day. I never wanted to miss a possibility. I just tried to keep everything straight, so that I knew what was going on because it could be confusing. But now, watching the show, in ‘93, we all seem a lot younger. That was intentional, but at times, we got set in such a way of doing that after awhile. To keep things in order and so that we knew what was happening, we almost had to really step into the characters more than you might have to on a different project. In the first year, we’re way younger than in the last year where we’re all grown up and edgy. There was a lot happening.
Was there any one day that was most challenging, or was it just any time you had to shoot multiple years, in one day?
SMITH: Yeah, those were difficult days. I think I only shot in all three years on one day, but I had a lot of days where it was two of the years. It’s challenging to get yourself in a completely different mindset. One second, you’re this innocent prankster, fucking around with your friends. And then, in another year, there is a very dark topic being discussed and you’re in a totally different headspace. It was difficult, but it also made it so much more exhilarating and challenging, in the best possible way. Even though those days were a lot, it was a really awesome challenge and that just made it super fun.
You’ve talked about the goal of doing a biopic about Courtney Love and playing her yourself. Why is that something that you want to do?
SMITH: I started to think about it many years ago. I don’t even really remember where it first came up. Hole has been one of my favorite bands for forever. My parents would always play Celebrity Skin when I was growing up, and I always loved it. But then, as I got older and started to play music and got into grunge, I was just blown away. Hole became my favorite band, and they still are, before I had any intentions of wanting to make a biopic about Courtney Love. I love their sound so much. I have so many different biographies that are all unauthorized and not done with her permission, and I’ve read all of them and watched so many videos and documentaries. The more that I learned about her, I was like, “Oh, I understand you so much.” I think she’s one of the greatest musicians of grunge and has one of the most interesting voices that there is. She’s obviously a style icon who created an entire look that I try to emulate when I dress myself every day. And she’s obviously the most unique personality. I started to understand her life so much more because I related to it. She has done all of this incredible stuff and has such big accomplishments. Live Through This is one of the best albums, ever. Everybody loved it and it had a lot of success, but it was so overshadowed. A lot of her accomplishments have been overshadowed by her late partner.
I understand what it’s like living in the shadow of somebody. I constantly live in my dad’s shadow, every single day of my life. It’s challenging. It’s hard when people can’t really view you as your own person and see what you are just by yourself, instead of Kurt Cobain’s wife. Once that clicked in my mind, I just couldn’t let it go. I don’t know why. I just feel like a lot of people don’t appreciate her, or give her credit, or say insane things about her. People say that all of her songs are written by Kurt, but now. Yes, she was married to one of the greatest musicians of all time, but that doesn’t take away from what she’s done and what she’s accomplished. It started to really make me so angry that people don’t appreciate her and her individual work and her work in Hole. That’s why I feel very passionate about it.
She’s had the most intense life, far before she knew Kurt. That’s a story, in itself. It’s crazy. There’s so much about her that people don’t know. People are just like, “Oh, she rode Kurt’s coattails,” which is also what people say about me, all the time. Even with Cruel Summer, people are like, “You got this because your dad is who he is.” But no, I got this because I worked really fucking hard, I studied for a long time, and I auditioned for it. People just have this bad assumption, especially for women in particular, where it’s just like, “Oh, you’re successful? It has to be for some other reason,” or “The thing you’re doing is good? Well, it’s not because you or your talents.” I just hate that mindset.
Your name is completely bad-ass, but did you feel like that was something that you had to grow into? Did you have a moment when you felt like you fully owned your name?
SMITH: Living with the name Harley Quinn was really great, up until Suicide Squad came out, and then everything went downhill, really fast, and everybody thought I had a fake name. Nobody believes me. Everyone thinks it’s a stage name. When I would tell anybody, even if I was making a reservation at a restaurant, they’d be like, “Okay, all right, yeah, Harley Quinn.” Before that, it was great. Nobody really knew who she was. She wasn’t really mainstream and everybody just thought I had a cool name. And then, Suicide Squad came out and everyone thought it was lying.
Have you been able to reconcile all of that now?
SMITH: I love my name, no matter what. It has gotten to a really annoying point now, with everybody thinking that it’s not my real name, and I don’t know if that will ever go away because now she’s a pretty mainstream character and everybody knows who she is. I think it’s just something I’ll be explaining for the rest of my life, but it’s okay. I accept the cost of having this name.
Cruel Summer airs on Tuesday nights on Freeform.
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