Rachel Sennott is just as obsessed with Blair Waldorf as the rest of us. In an exclusive interview, the I Love LA star and creator opened up about casting Leighton Meester on her new HBO series, which premieres on Nov. 2, and gushed about the actor with her co-star Odessa A’zion.
Like most millennials and Gen Z-ers, Sennott said she grew up watching Meester on Gossip Girl, and thought she would make the perfect boss on her show. “Oh my god, I’m obsessed with Leighton, have been since Gossip Girl. I think she’s just so funny and talented, so funny in this show,” she proclaims, with A’zion praising “her facial expressions” in particular.
On I Love LA, Meester plays Alyssa, the girlboss-esque supervisor of Sennott’s character Maia and the owner of a talent management company.
“I’m just a huge fan of hers, and then I Zoomed with her because I really thought she could be amazing for the role,” Sennott continues. “ She’s so lovely and cool, and down to improv and play, and was just a dream to work with. She’s so good.”
A’zoin went on to praise Meester’s acting chops, saying she achieved the perfect balance between comedy and girlboss tendencies. “[She] really nailed that character too,” she explains. “I feel that her character, specifically, is kind of a hard one to get, because you don’t want to overdo it or anything, and she really did it perfectly. It felt really real.”
Leighton’s I Love LA Experience
Speaking to Bustle, Meester credits Sennott for creating “a really fun world to live in” and honing her comedy chops. The actor got many opportunities “to play and explore and develop” while filming the show for over a year.
“There was just a lot of freedom there, a lot of trust, and an agreed-upon [sentiment of] like, ‘Everyone’s on this journey, we’re all on this crew,’” she recalls. “It just felt comfortable, more and more so throughout, and that’s a really nice environment for finding not only your character, but the funny moment for each scene.”
