From the producers of 'Stranger Things' and the director of 'The End of the F----ng World' comes the new high school tragicomedy, starring actress Sophia Lillis in her thrilling lead role.
At 17 years old, Sophia Lillis has achieved more in her profession than many actresses twice her age. In 2017, she rose to fame as Beverly in the horror film It and reprized in its 2019 sequel, It: Chapter 2, with Jessica Chastain in the adult version of the same character.
She was also the teenage Amy Adams in the HBO thriller series Open Wounds as well as the lead sleuth in Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019). Her next project is a little more somber: the Netflix fantasy series This Shit Is Over Me, in which she plays Sydney, a teenager struggling with anxiety, anger, and the loss of a loved one. As a preview of its premiere on Netflix, scheduled for February 26, we analyze the series with Lillis, from filmmaker John Hughes to graphic novels through the golden age of complex high school dramas.
This shit is beyond me, it has both dark humor and science fiction. How would you describe it?
“Basically, it's about a high school teenager who tries to overcome the typical problems juggling in class and at home. She then realizes that she has superpowers that are unleashed when she gets sad or angry. She's pretty agony, so she's not a very good mix.
It also tells of Sydney's relationship with her friends Dina [Sofia Bryant] and Stanley [Wyatt Oleff], with whom you already worked in It and It: Chapter 2. What was the casting process like?
“I took the test, they called me and I joined the project very early on. So I was able to do script readings with many actors, including for the roles of Stanley and Dina. I was very lucky because Sofia is great. In the readings, we would talk between tests and she is very nice and very funny. I think the casting people stuck with that. Plus, I'm super happy to be working with my friend Wyatt. “Sydney and Stanley have to have a lot of chemistry between them because they are close, so it was amazing to get him cast.”
Were you already a fan of Charles Forsman's graphic novel on which This Shit is Over Me?
“I had heard about it before I joined the project because I had seen The End of the F----ng World [series based on another graphic novel by Forsman and created by I Am Not Okay with This director Jonathan Entwistle]. It was later when I read the two novels. I Am Not Okay with This is difficult to adapt because you have to keep the balance between the darkest part and the humor. But Jonathan is great at it.”
What was the most difficult thing about playing Sydney?
“She thinks she's practically dysfunctional, but she actually handles everything pretty well. She is overwhelmed by the problems she has, so she draws down the blinds and denies everything for most of the series. She's also quite weird, which makes her very endearing. You see that she tries to do the best she can, she tries to control her emotions, live a normal life, but not everything turns out the way she would like.
Sydney's attacks are so intense that she sometimes finds it hard to see them. It would be exhausting to shoot them…
“I think the team has it worse than me! When Sid has a seizure and breaks the wall with his powers, the team has to make sure the cracks open in time and everything looks real. I just act a little and watch them work [laughs].”
The series is full of pop culture references. Did Entwistle help you get started?
“Jonathan told me that he wanted to add a John Hughes touch to the series, so I watched Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. I also saw several films by [Italian actress] Giulietta Masina. Jonathan didn't ask me, but I like to see it before I start anything. He is my childhood idol.”
