Image Source: POPSUGAR, Twitter

The modern has brought forward its fair share of issues, the most pressing of which are addiction, drug abuse, and alcoholism. Many people can relate to the struggle of staying away from 'that' bottle of wine when they are on their way to sobriety. The same is explored in "Single Drunk Female," a Freeform series depicting the touch life of Samantha Fink, portrayed by Sofia Black-D’Elia. 

Sharing why Sofia Black-D'elia agreed to play a part in a very raw, messy show, the actress said that the fact these characters were so real in their struggles intrigued her. She got to see herself in the characters of the series and how everything they dealt with was so three-dimensional. Apart from that, the character felt like a role that she recognized, so it was a win in so many ways. 

"As an actor, you really wanna play people you feel like you can recognize and that other people will recognize and see aspects of themselves reflected back in an honest way. And the other big draw for me was just the amazing women involved, like Leslye Headland and Jenni Konner," said Sofia. "I loved Simone's script. So yeah, all of those things combined, it was just like, “Oh, yeah, I wanna be a part of this.”

While the script did matter for Ally Sheedy, she was also concerned with the type of people she would be working with. Being in the industry long enough, the actress is experienced enough to get the gist of a series from its script and the creative people involved in it. The creative team of Single Drunk Female called out to her and she felt like she had to answer it.  

When saying 'yes' to the role, "It was the creative people involved, the producers – Jenni, Leslye, Simone – the writing, and this character and the dynamic with the relationship between Carol and Sam," revealed Sheedy. "But then, Sofia made this entire show work for me, I just have to say. All our scenes together, our dynamics together, our energies together, are just joy."

The actress also mentioned that acting in itself gives her joy. Ally Sheedy is presently also a teacher and does freelance book editing. But she admitted that she "really misses" acting "when I haven’t done it for a while." "I know that I truly love it. But it’s the experience of the particular project," before adding, "This one was just a joyful experience," referring to her latest series with Sofia. 

Sofia Black D'elia first received appreciation for her work in the American version of Skins. The actress was 19 at the time and still in high school. Show 11 years later, she is 30 and acting in a totally different TV series. Apart from the major age jump, the actress admitted that back then, she was pretty confused when it came to her art form. Now, over a decade later, she is more or less the same but is grateful for the chance she got. 

"I’m still a confused person, but I’ve definitely grown to appreciate the craft of acting more. I hope that I have deepened what I’m capable of," conceded the actress. "I definitely am way more drawn to comedy now than I was at that age. So yeah, I feel very, very different, as a person and as an actor."

The show features some very raw moments of a messy character, Samantha, Played by Sofia, who struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. Now at a time when she has to avoid the pull of the addiction while she is also facing her addiction triggers, there are moments when she just wants to hide in a tight spot and sleep, even if that is behind the cereal boxes on the lowest shelf of a grocery shop. 

Though many actors would have mentioned that getting into such a cramped space for the shoots was a struggle, Sofia shared that the specific scene was a blessing, as she "was very tired, a lot of the time", when shooting the show. She added that she is very "grateful for the gig," but "I was very, very happy to have a scene where I was lying down." "It didn’t really matter that I was on a cold shelf. It didn’t really matter that I was behind cereal boxes," added Sofia. "I was just like, “I’m ready to shoot this, all day. This is great.” It was really nice for me."

While the actress agreed that sleeping behind cereal boxes is "a very specific and weird thing to do," "as somebody who can fall asleep really easily at work, I was like, “Yeah, I buy that.”

Though the series features a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship, there is still a lot of authenticity to those two characters and the genuine difficulties that they go through together. Also, because both Sofia and Ally Sheedy managed to connect with each other instantaneously, shooting an intimate dynamic such as that of these two was not a difficult task. 

"The Carol-Sam relationship, for both of us, is the heart of the show and the show to us. We both took it really seriously and really wanted it to be special because it felt special to us," said the actress. "Working together, at least for me, it was just so easy, right from the jump. I think we both saw their dynamic in the same way, so it could just be playful, and we could find stuff on the day."

The series shows the exhaustion of the modern generation and their struggles; Credits: Freeform

The series airs on Freeform every Thursday.