College star Renee Rapp’s sex life on playing Mean Girl again – The Hollywood Reporter

Four women share a dorm – and freshman getaways – in Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble’s new HBO comedy Max, The Student sex life. One woman in the quartet is the inevitable villain of the group: Leighton, a wealthy blonde who arrogantly makes it known constantly that she considers everyone barely worth their time and attention.

The player is Reneé Rapp, a promising talent who had previously perfected her mean girl chops portraying Regina George in the Broadway musical version of Bad girls.

“I think with Leighton you love to hate her,” says Rapp, 21, who brings a sarcastic side with a funny side to the role in The sex life of the students, which premiered on November 18 and drops new episodes on November 25.

“Leighton is a very bigoted girl who comes from a very wealthy, wealthy family on the Upper East Side of New York,” Rapp continues of her character. “Her experience in college is that for the first time she is out of the comfort of her own home and her own situation and can walk into every room, have an office and have space. For the first time, it is a little questioned.

Leighton is also hiding a personal secret that she continues to struggle with as the season progresses. “You kind of start to see her crumble in a certain way,” Rapp says. “It’s very scary for her, but a little cathartic to watch – because this person needs to be shaken up. She doesn’t make big decisions and isn’t necessarily a nice person. But as you start to remove some layers, hopefully she won’t be judgmental like she has been in the past.

Rapp grew up in Huntersville, North Carolina, outside of Charlotte, and performed in high school theater productions before eventually moving to New York City, where she won the role in Bad girls. She played the role from mid-2019 to March 2020, when Broadway closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was later announced that Bad girls will not reopen on Broadway when theatrical productions in New York resume.

She auditioned for Sexual Lives a few weeks after its passage in Bad girls It’s over. “It was a long, long process of recalls and [meetings] on Zoom in the midst of the pandemic, ”recalls Rapp, who won the role in September last year and shot the series for almost six months, both on the Warner Bros. field. in Burbank and in upstate New York at Vassar College. “It’s a beautiful campus. I was living my Hogwarts dream, ”she adds.

Rapp spoke to Hollywood journalist about working on the HBO Max series, moving to Los Angeles from New York, and loving music.

Do you like LA?

I’m starting to like it. It’s interesting. I’m from North Carolina and now know I found North Carolina in LA because I live in sleepy little Burbank which is amazing but sometimes I never leave my house.

How would you describe the show to someone who hasn’t seen it yet?

It is literally chaos. It’s a very chaotic and messy portrayal of the lives of four women in college for the first time outside the home. I think you can see that there are wins and losses and often times you can see their losses raw and in real time. It’s just a fucking mess.

Have you and your three main teammates, Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Alyah Chanelle Scott, become close?

We’ve known each other for so long and we’ve really grown up together, it seems. Some of my favorite memories are messing around, and I know that isn’t necessarily productive for the show or the work process. We formed an a capella group. When we all started raving all four at 4 in the morning, we would walk up to the team and say, “Do you want to hear our song? Yes? No? ”And we would anyway.

Was it just a one-time thing or did this little group of singers continue?

We harassed people and were a bit boring. It ended up working in our favor because it just brought us closer together. We started with “You Are My Sunshine”. And it has become a thing. I would ask our DP: “Can we sing the tap dance?” Take one, take two, three. And then we would start to sing them. That’s when people started to get angry. We started to sing it all.

What did Mindy Kaling enjoy working with?

It is a power station. Every time you see someone who is a comedy icon, you see how funny they are. And when I first met her, I was surprised how much of a businesswoman she is too. She has a very palpable energy and she owns the room.

Did you have intimacy coordinators on set for the sex scenes?

Yes, we had an intimacy coordinator, Kelly Flynn, who we would probably all agree is crucial to the show and its success, as well as our sanity and well-being. Kelly was always there with us, talking about everything on the phone with us a few days before filming something. And for me, it was really helpful. I have a lot of anxiety, and I would have days where I would be very nervous and Kelly would be very receptive and say, “Hey, if this isn’t the day to do it, this isn’t the day. And it made me more comfortable filming the scene, knowing that I was in good hands and that someone was taking care of me.

Are you also pursuing your musical career in addition to the show?

Yes. My music career is the reason I moved to New York in the first place. I love R&B pop. This is my first love. I’ve been singing since wearing diapers, and hosting shows for my family and getting on the coffee table and asking everyone to shut up and singing.