Image Source: Yahoo Movies Canada, Property-Pressroom, Glamour
Reneé Rapp is an American actress and singer best known for assuming the iconic role of Regina George in the Broadway musical "Mean Girls," for which she received the 2018 Jimmy Award for "Best Performance by an Actress." She currently portrays the role of "Leighton" in HBO Max’s comedy series "The Sex Lives of College Girls" by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble.
The actress recently shed some light on playing "Leighton" during her interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Leighton is a wealthy blonde who makes sure that people around here know that they are not worthy of her time and attention. Reneé said, "I think with Leighton, you love to hate her. Leighton is a very bigoted girl who comes from a very rich and wealthy family on the Upper East Side of New York. Her experience of going to college is that, for the first time, she’s out of the comfort of her own home and her own situation and is able to walk into every room and have agency and have space. For the first time, that’s being challenged a bit. "
Reneé, who starred as the mean girl in the Broadway musical Mean Girl, shared that Leighton is dealing with a personal secret as well that the audience will get to see as the season progresses as they could see her unraveling it in a way. The actress describes that process of unraveling a secret as "scary but cathartic to watch," because the character of Leighton needs to be a rock. She added, "She doesn’t make great decisions, nor is she necessarily a kind person. But as you start to peel back some layers, hopefully she will not be as judgmental as she has been in the past. "
Sharing about the process of how she got the part of "Leighton" for The Sex Lives of College Girls, Reneé Rapp shared that it was a tedious and long process that included a lot of callbacks and Zoom meetings, but she finally made it and was locked in for the project last year in September. The actress mentioned that they started shooting the series over six months at Warner Bros. and Burbank and in upstate New York at Vassar College, which she described as a gorgeous campus and added that she was living her "Hogwarts dream." In another interview, she revealed that she was auditioning for Leighton but was also asked to audition for Kimberly and stated that the character of Kimberly is how she always feels.
In one of her interviews, she was also asked whether she was able to connect with the character of Leighton since Kimberly was how she felt all the time, to which she replied, "With Leighton, I connect to her identity, I connect to her queerness. I wasn't closeted ever in my life, but I understood that whole self-discovery journey and being a little wary of it because, sadly, you're very afraid that it's going to completely change the way people perceive you, and sometimes it does. So, that. But also, Leighton's super f---king insecure. I think the people who present the most confidence in the world are probably the people who know they're super insecure, so I relate to her in that realm too, because I'm a very insecure person. She struggles to open up, too. "
Creator Mindy Kailing and stars Reneé Rapp, Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, and Alyah Chanelle Scott. Image Source: Netflix Life
On asking how she would describe the show to someone who has not seen it yet, Reneé Rapp replied, "It’s chaos." It’s a very chaotic and messy portrayal of four women’s lives in college for the first time. I think you get to see that there are wins and losses, and a lot of times you get to see their losses raw and in real-time. It’s just a fucking mess. " Other than Reneé Rapp, Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, and Alyah Chanelle Scott also star in the series, and the actress described that they are close, almost like growing up together.
Reneé, when asked about her bonding with her co-stars, shared, "Some of my favorite memories are of messing around, and I know that’s not productive for the show or the work process. We formed a cappella group. When the four of us started to get delirious at 4 a.m., we would walk up to the crew and say, "Do you want to hear our song? Yeah? "No?" And we would do it anyway".
As we all know, Mindy Kaling is a powerful storyteller, and when Reneé was asked about her experience with working with the powerful and extremely talented creator, she described her as a "powerhouse" and added that on meeting with her, she realized that even though she rose to fame as a comic icon and is effing funny, she is also a businesswoman. Reneé added, "She has a very palpable energy, and she owns the room."
The cast of "The Sex Lives of College Girls". Image Source: Glamour
Further, in the interview, the actress was asked about whether they had any intimacy coordinators for the sex scenes, to which she replied that they did have Kelly Flynn. She added later, "Everyone would probably agree that Kelly is crucial to the show and its success, as well as our mental health and well-being. Kelly was always there with us, talking us through everything on the phone days before we would film something. And for me, that was helpful. I have a lot of anxiety, and I would have days when I would be very nervous and Kelly would be very receptive and say, "Hey, if this is not the day to do it, it’s not the day." And that made me more comfortable filming the scene, knowing I was in good hands and had someone to look out for me.
Sharing some details about her music career, Reneé shared that her music career is the reason she moved to New York, is fond of pop R&B, and would probably look forward to singing more.
"The Sex Lives of College Girls" is an American teen comedy-drama that chronicles the lives of two 18-year-old freshmen roommates at Essex College in Vermont as they navigate their active sexual lifestyle and deal with the various problems and hardships that college offers.
