Can you talk about the importance of a character like Syd as a Queer female superhero in a year where female lead superhero stories are finally seemingly taking more prevalence?
It’s interesting that no one got on board because the trend right now was female power stories, it just happened very organically. But to your point, I think it is interesting that there’s been this really exciting wave. I think it’s just the nature of the conversation about women, stories about women and by women. The superhero story being filtered through a more feminine lens is really interesting. We didn’t mean to be part of the wave, we just naturally were. I will say though that stories like this have existed. When I got on board I couldn’t help but think of movies like “Matilda.” I’m a huge Stephen King fan so I thought about “Carrie.” You have Eleven from “Stranger Things” and all of a sudden you have all of these incredible, huge entities coming out with female stories at the center. I think these stories have existed but I think it’s cool now that we’re crashing into a time where they’re really prevalent.
You’ve mentioned some of the references that you deliberately played into such as “Carrie” – were there any less obvious inspirations that you drew from?
Wisdom dictates that you be thoughtful about what has come before you, right? Everything’s been created in this space from “Harry Potter” to “The Lord of the Rings” and “X-Men.” It was just like let’s just sit and be really thoughtful about what in this world has existed and again whether we use none of it, some of it or subconsciously hold onto some of it. We were trying to be intelligent about it because when you know where we’ve been as a culture when it comes to these stories then you can be very surefooted about where we are now and you can dare to take a step forward and be a leader in shaping culture to follow you where you think it should go.
What I liked about the tone of the show was that despite the fact that it had those touch marks of what’s come before it never felt like it was dictated by nostalgia. Could you talk about working with Sophie Lillis?
She’s special. I remember when I saw “It” I went and saw it in a theater and me along with the rest of the world thought “who is that?” The camera not only loves her but she also feels very human. A lot of people who command that star quality don’t always feel relatable or universal and Sophia both has the ability to be undoubtedly a star but also, what I like about our show, is that she could fit in in a high school setting where she might stay quiet in the back. She’s relatable, which I think is a huge part of her power. On top of that she has an incredible work ethic. She just does her job and she does it well. She’s truly incredible and deserving of the limelight.
Was there any thought to how you balanced the tone of the show? I love that despite the battling genres this always felt like a coming of age story.
I think when you’re creating something there are challenges and that was naturally one of our problems in how do you keep this a slow burn coming of age story that is very character-driven. How do you allude to a grander mythology while feeling grounded? To what percentage do you allow the world to exist and how do you allow it to feel like it can have darker shades but remains a bit of an irreverent comedy of sorts. That probably was the biggest challenge in how do you get all of these things to work together and it doesn’t feel like Frankenstein and pieced together but whole and fully realized. But I love being a problem solver. I think that’s the challenge of art.
“I Am Not Okay With This” is available to stream on Netflix now.