WILLA FITZGERALD
The actress, 29, plays Coach Colette French in cheerleading drama Dare Me (on Netflix now).
What excited you about Dare Me?
I had not read the book [by Megan Abbott, who is also the showrunner] when I got the pilot script, but it was so dark and twisted and compelling. I read a lot of scripts and when you see one that excites you, you jump at [it]. What made me excited is that the show changes so much in tone and texture over the season. You never really know where it’s going to go next. Your character is quite a contradiction – she seems so together but that’s not the case. She is a complicated, imperfect person. Megan is really good at the slow reveal of information, and in that first episode, Colette gives nothing away. Often people who are most superficially together have a wild internal life going on. She goes at it with cheerleader Beth. What was it like working with Marlo Kelly, who plays her? It’s such an interesting power dynamic. I hope there’s more stuff in store for Colette and Beth, because I feel like I did not get to interact with Marlo nearly as much as I wanted to.
Were you a cheerleader in high school?
I was maybe the furthest thing from a cheerleader. I went to an all girls’ school and we did not really have cheerleading. It’s a pretty gendered sport – most schools that have it have male teams to go and cheer for. Does that make cheerleading outdated?
I think people’s conception of cheerleading is outdated. It’s not just sideline cheer for men’s sports. There is this whole other side. It’s a highly competitive sport, but that type isn’t in a lot of high schools – you have to seek it out. In Scream, you played a high school student in your 20s. Was it nice to play your age in this? It’s an interesting transition, particularly as a female, because you play younger than your age for a long time. The emotional life of a high schooler is so intense, and playing adults is a different emotional range. But Colette has her own coming of age story, along with the girls.