In its second season, the Hulu seriesDollfacecontinues to follow Jules (Kat Dennings) and her best friends, Madison (Brenda Song), Stella (Shay Mitchell) and Izzy (Esther Povitsky), as they navigate post-pandemic life. Heading toward turning 30 has them all re-evaluating their careers and romance and trying to figure out what’s next, while the ups and downs and bumps along the way bring them closer with each other.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, co-stars Mitchell and Povitsky talked about getting to explore this friendship, the fun of the music festival episode, the dance class, navigating the relationship drama for their characters, collaborating with this creative team, and what they’d like to see from their characters in a possible season three.
Collider: I love the friendship between these four young women, and it’s been two years since we’ve gotten to see them. What are you guys most excited about, as far as what fans will get to see of the shenanigans that you guys are up to in season 2?
ESTHER POVITSKY: I’m really excited for the music festival episode. It was so much fun to shoot. After being locked inside for a year and not going to any large gatherings, it was so fun to have that experience, even just on camera. I think people will really feel that energy when they watch it.
SHAY MITCHELL: It’s such a relatable show. We touch lightly on the pandemic, but then go back into our daily routines. I think it’s just been long overdue. We’ve been away for a couple of years, so it’s nice to be back.
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I loved the way that the music festival was shot. It really felt like you guys were at this big, epic music festival, and I would imagine it was not like that at all to shoot, since safety was a priority. Did you guys have any say in your wardrobe for that because you both had such incredible outfits for that whole sequence?
MITCHELL: I always love collaborating with our designer for the show. I had an idea. We have a fun text exchange for each episode, with looks that we’re wanting to do, so I did bring some ideas to the table for that one.
POVITSKY: Yeah, same. Our costume designer is so collaborative with all of us and really wanted to ensure that we all felt that we were dressed true to our character. Shay was always the one who had so many ideas for her wardrobe and would just stun all of us.
Esther, you get to sing a song this season. What was that like to do? How long did you get to work on that? Did you feel ready to do that?
POVITSKY: You always want more time to work on things, but it was really fun. I felt so honored that Jordan [Weiss], our creator, wrote the song. The song is so cute and it has a really meaningful message that I’ve never heard in a song. It was really fun to shoot that and to work with the director on that episode.
Another real standout moment for me was the dance class. What was it like to get to do the performance of that dance routine? How long did you get to work on that, to really bring out your inner sexy for that number?
MITCHELL: We had maybe one hour of rehearsal for that, and we gave it our all. I think we were all very excited about it, but also nervous. We had fun. We got to mask it by playing a character. We got to live it out without being too embarrassed. We were like, “Well, that’s how our character would’ve done it.” It was really fun, and different for us to be able to do that together.
Does it also help that you had each other to do that with and that you weren’t the only one having to do that?
MITCHELL: I don’t know if we would’ve done it, if it was just solo.
POVITSKY: I think there was one day where we were shooting at a location and I was the only one there, and the other girls weren’t there, and that was the worst day of the season for me. I thrive off of their energy, so doing that dance without them sounds miserable.
Along with trying to figure out the next steps in their careers, your characters are figuring relationships out. Esther, how hard is it for Izzy to get over anxiety and to actually enjoy and be happy in a relationship? Would you say that she’s her own worst enemy, as far as that goes?
POVITSKY: A hundred percent, she’s her own worst enemy. It felt like she manifested all the wrong things into her life this season. I’m so proud of the growth that she takes, and it really is all due to the strength that she got from her girlfriends, the strength that they brought her, and the way that they were able to point out what she was doing. I love that journey. I relate to it so much because of my own journey with anxiety.
Shay, Stella decides to open a bar this season, which not only allows for a relationship, but it also pushes her to look at what that means for her and whether she’s ready to have a kid in her life. What did you most enjoy about exploring that and seeing that maturity in her, and having Lilly Singh as a co-star?
MITCHELL: The relationship that she has with Lilly Singh was incredible. I love Lilly and I think that her character was the perfect for relationship for Stella, coming out of everything and now going into this new venture of opening up a bar. But what was really interesting was the fact that she got to teeter on stepmom/step-girlfriend. Out of everything, that’s what was new for Stella. Getting to experience that, and her questioning whether she was mature enough and ready and wanting to have that responsibility was really fun to play. It opened up a different side of Stella that we haven’t seen yet with her before. We’re used to her dating everybody, but playing the mom role, or the stepmom role, was a new one for her.
POVITSKY: It was fun to see that character go through a new experience that was so unfamiliar to them. The three of us other girls really enjoyed seeing her be unsure about things for once.
MITCHELL: She’s a little uncomfortable.
Even though these characters are still figuring things out, by the end of the season, do you feel like they’re at least more centered and more sure about what they don’t want?
MITCHELL: I think that’s what it is. I don’t know if we’re so much closer to where we want to end up, whatever that means, but I feel like they definitely all have a better idea of what it is that they don’t want and things that they wanna work on within themselves.
POVITSKY: Yeah, absolutely. Izzy realizes that she doesn’t want Jules to just hand her things because she’s her boss and her best friend. It takes a journey to get there and to learn how to deal with those kinds of relationships, especially female best friends who are working together. One of them is now her boss, and that’s weird. I haven’t really seen that on a show, and we address it in a really fun, funny way.
What is the collaboration like for you guys on this show, with your showrunner, the writers, and the directors? What is it like to really find your own voice amongst all of that and be the advocate for your own character?
POVITSKY: It’s a really safe environment for that kind of stuff. It’s so collaborative. Our show creator is female, our showrunner is female, and many of our producers are female. It really just felt like a slumber party of collaborative creativity. We each had to find our own vulnerable, honest moments that took our characters to the next level that they needed to get to, and it was really fun to do that alongside super badass bitches.
Shay, what is that process like for you? You’ve had collaborations with teams like that before, on other shows. How does this one compare?
MITCHELL: It’s not as dramatic and anxiety-ridden as maybe the other shows. It’s nice that this is a lot lighter. We’re not running away from stalkers. It’s fun. It’s a completely different genre that I love being a part of. It’s a whole new experience. I have been fortunate to be on great shows with an ensemble cast of women, and this is another one, but completely different.
If there’s a season three, do you have a personal wishlist of what you would like to get to explore and see with your character?
POVITSKY: Yeah, I would like to see Izzy thrive at work. She struggles with that in season two, and I would love to see where that goes. I would be super curious. I wanna see her hanging out with Celeste a little more.
MITCHELL: I would love G-Spot to do really well and for it to become like a chain that Stella oversees. And then, it goes to Europe and she oversees the one in Europe, in perhaps, maybe, France or Barcelona. I would like to really shoot in those locations.
