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  • ‘Blue Eye Samurai’ Interview: Amber Noizumi and Michael Green

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    Netflix’s latest adult animation series ‘Blue Eye Samurai’ arrives on the streaming service beginning November 3 and was created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green (‘Logan’, ‘Blade Runner 2049’).

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with showrunners Amber Noizumi and Michael Green about the inspiration behind the upcoming animated series, casting Maya Erskine as the lead character Mizu, the influences from various samurai films and shows, and how the process of approaching their first animated project.

    'Blue Eye Samurai's Amber Noizumi and Michael Green.
    (L to R) ‘Blue Eye Samurai’s Amber Noizumi and Michael Green.

    You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview. 

    Moviefone: To begin with, how did this story come together, and what was it about the Eddo period that made you want to focus on it specifically?

    Amber Noizumi: So the Eddo period is heralded as Japan’s golden age. I mean, to this day, they call it the golden age of Japan. That was when their borders were closed, completely closed off to the outside world, where it was its most homogenous. The idea to have somebody who’s mixed race, as I am, and we have a daughter who was born with blue eyes, and we called her our Blue Eye Samurai, which was the start of our conversations about it. What would it have been like to be different, to look different, to be a different race during that time? So ultimately, that was the beginning of it, and it just, with our research, our ideas got richer from there.

    Maya Erskine as Mizu in 'Blue Eye Samurai.'
    Maya Erskine as Mizu in ‘Blue Eye Samurai.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    MF: Speaking of the blue eyes, the main character’s name is Mizu, which means water in Japanese. Was that the inspiration for naming the character,  based on the color and the meaning of water?

    AN: Yes, but also the idea of water, the idea of its various forms of steam, and ice, and sublimation, and then fire, when she’s sword making, and the fire that’s within her. We just used a lot of that element. Those elemental things to describe what’s going on in her and around her.

    MF: With a show focused on a samurai, were there any samurai films or shows that inspired certain scenes or fighting styles?

    Michael Green: We work with so many wonderful people, all of whom have encyclopedic knowledge. So it was so much fun, everyone bringing their favorite clips, and we would watch them. I’m going to say where I’m going to get to, is we ended up working with Sunny Sun, a fight choreographer who’s one of the greatest stunt choreographers in the world. So it’s really his movies that I want to talk about. He came at this with so much character focus. Jane Wu, our supervising director, also comes from with martial arts background. I mean, we talked about everything from ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ with the tension of scenes, or ‘Once Upon Time in the West,’ same thing. But in Eastern Films, we talked about the way Zatoichi moves and how he always moves differently from everyone around him. Of course, we looked at Kurosawa‘s compositions.

    AN: And then we have a song lifted directly from ‘Kill Bill’. There’s so much greatness to steal from.

    MG: We wear our homages on our sleeve and hope the originators notice and go, “Oh yeah.”

    Masi Oka as Ringo and Maya Erskine as Mizu in 'Blue Eye Samurai.'
    (L to R) Masi Oka as Ringo and Maya Erskine as Mizu in ‘Blue Eye Samurai.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    MF:  Mizu is voiced by Maya Erskine, who audiences know from ‘PEN15’. What has it been like to watch her bring the character of Mizu to life, and how did you know that you found the right actor in Maya?

    AN: Maya is such a talented, versatile actor, and you could see in ‘PEN15,’ even though it is a hilarious show, you could see how she brought that kind of raw pain of growing up mixed race and just growing up in general. I actually think that that’s how the character of Maya might envision herself. She might envision herself like Mizu. This might be who she aspires to be. But Maya really was able to bring a lot of that pain into the character of Mizu. I mean, she just did it beyond our expectations.

    Related Article: Director Marc Jobst Talks ‘One Piece’ and His Work On Netflix’s Marvel Projects

    Maya Erskine as Mizu in 'Blue Eye Samurai.'
    (L to R) Maya Erskine as Mizu in ‘Blue Eye Samurai.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    MF: Finally, the series is the first major animated project you’ve worked on as showrunners, what was the process like? Has it been different than your past projects, and did you approach it differently?

    MG: We approached it the same, which might’ve been naive, but that’s good because it ended up working out.

    AN: We would’ve been scared away otherwise.

    MG: If we knew exactly how hard it was going to be. Some of the ways were very similar. We wrote the script as if it was a live-action piece. We ran our meetings, and mixed it and scored it, and worked with the type of people, with casting directors and costume designers from live action. Suttirat Larlarb did our costumes, worked with her on ‘American Gods’. She’s done everything from Star Wars to Bond, and on and on. Our casting directors work on ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Avatar’. We really just worked with as many live-action people, including Jane Wu, our supervising director and executive producer. But then we met the reality of animation, where we knew we had to learn a lot, where we had to work with people who knew it much better than we ever could, and could teach us and be patient with us, and also just lead us through it. So it was very different. The main difference is how slow animation is. It is for the patient. It’s just the dough needs to rise and you can’t rush it. But you can have anything you want if you’re patient. So it made the show everything we wanted and more.

    Maya Erskine as Mizu in 'Blue Eye Samurai.'
    (L to R) Maya Erskine as Mizu in ‘Blue Eye Samurai.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    What Is The Plot Of ‘Blue Eye Samurai?

    Set in 17th-century Edo-period Japan, Blue Eye Samurai follows Mizu (Maya Erskine), a mixed-race master of the sword who lives a life in disguise seeking to deliver revenge. In her search for vengeance, she meets Ringo, a soba maker born who longs to be a samurai, Taigen, a pompous samurai, and Princess Akemi, the daughter of Lord Daichi of the Tokunobu clan.

    Who Is In the Cast of ‘Blue Eye Samurai’?

    A scene from 'Blue Eye Samurai.'
    A scene from ‘Blue Eye Samurai.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

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  • ‘Gran Turismo’ Interview: Director Neill Blomkamp

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    Opening in theaters on August 25th is the biographical sports drama and video game adaption ‘Gran Turismo,’ which was directed by Neill Blomkamp (‘District 9’).

    What is the plot of ‘Gran Turismo’?

    Based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won him a series of Nissan-sponsored video game competitions to become an actual professional race car driver.

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    Who is in the cast of ‘Gran Turismo’?

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Neill Blomkamp about his work on ‘Gran Turismo,’ adapting the video game while telling Jann Mardenborough real life story, why Archie Madekwe was the right actor to play Mardenborough, the VFX he used to simulate the game, and shooting the race car driving scenes.

    Neill Blomkamp director of 'Gran Turismo.'
    Neill Blomkamp director of ‘Gran Turismo.’

    You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Blomkamp, Archie Madekwe and Jann Mardenborough.

    Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the idea of adapting the ‘Gran Turismo’ video game by telling Jan Mardenborough’s real life story. Was that the key for you in making this movie?

    Neill Blomkamp: Yeah, totally. I mean, the thing about the movie that I thought was unique and a different way to approach video game films was this totally unusual approach of it being a biography. His life is very interesting and this combination of real world racing and the drama of the real world where we’re not in the narrative of a video game, but the video game is so integral to his journey and to the movie. I thought that was a really cool and unusual way of approaching a video game movie.

    The real Jann Mardenborough on the set of Columbia Pictures 'Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story.'
    The real Jann Mardenborough on the set of Columbia Pictures ‘Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story.’ Photo: Gordon Timpen.

    MF: Why was Archie Madekwe the right actor to play Jann Mardenborough and bring his real life story to the big screen?

    NB: I mean, there’s a host of different factors that make Archie perfect. One of the things that we spoke about a lot was just that Jann is a very grounded and sort of warm person. He’s like a really good guy. There’s something in Archie that naturally seems grounded and similar to him. They’re very similar in terms of charisma, but they’re physically totally different. Archie’s 6’6, or some crazy height and he’s not optimal for being a race car jockey, that has to be squeezed into small, lightweight race cars. So physically, he’s cool in the movie, because he kind of lurches over everyone, but he’s very different to Jann in that respect. But I met so many actors for this role and even the first time that I had a Zoom with him, I could just tell that he was the right person. Then I went to London and I met him in person and I just totally loved him. I loved working with him as well. I loved his performance and I also loved the process of actually working with him.

    Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough in 'Gran Turismo.'
    Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough in ‘Gran Turismo.’

    MF: Can you talk about the VFX you used to simulate the game within the movie?

    NB: Yeah, I mean that idea came from this concept that in the PlayStation or any video game computational device, that it’s running some kind of game engine. It’s calculating in 3D space everything correctly. So when you’re driving it, it’s projecting an approximation onto a screen of roughly what the track looks like. But in reality, it’s genuinely computing like an eight-kilometer long track where the size of the car is correct, all of the mathematics are in fact correct. I wanted to just project that in 3D space and let the audience see what the PlayStation is actually computing. Visually, I thought it was interesting, but the real thing about it that’s cool is, it’s kind of how a real professional sim driver experiences and sees Gran Turismo. So it felt very personal to Jann, even though it’s a cool visual motif, it’s actually how he sees the world. So any place that I could put it that didn’t feel gratuitous or too much of a gimmick, I wanted to include it.

    A race from Columbia Pictures 'Gran Turismo.'
    A race from Columbia Pictures ‘Gran Turismo.’ Photo: Gordon Timpen.

    MF: Finally, can you talk about the challenges of shooting the race car driving sequences and making those seem as authentic as possible?

    NB: I mean the goal with the race sequences was to make it as much of an experiential thing as I could. I wanted to put the cameras in positions that really let you feel like you were on the track, feeling it in a visceral way, almost like you were there as much as I could. A huge portion of that was sound design and also how the sound design would change depending on where the camera’s placed. Then also showing the internal mechanics of the car and the idea with that was, if this is how all the mechanics work, then there’s sort of a G-force or physical stress that’s applied to the driver. It all came back to this idea of trying to feel it through the screen. Then the other thing was for everything to just be real as opposed to using tricks or visual effects. I don’t really want to say visual effects, because we used visual effects, but we used visual effects to amplify what was real. So the basis for everything was always real. Anytime you see one of the actors in the cockpit, they’re really on the track doing that. None of that is fake. It’s a hundred percent real.

    Director Neill Blomkamp (center) and the real Jann Mardenborough (right) with additional crew on the set of Columbia Pictures 'Gran Turismo.
    Director Neill Blomkamp (center) and the real Jann Mardenborough (right) with additional crew on the set of Columbia Pictures ‘Gran Turismo. Photo: Gordon Timpen.

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    ‘Gran Turismo’ is produced by PlayStation Productions, 2.0 Entertainment, and Columbia Pictures. The movie is scheduled to release in theaters on August 11th, 2023.

  • Movie Review: ‘Gran Turismo’

    Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough in 'Gran Turismo.'
    Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough in ‘Gran Turismo.’

    Opening in limited release in theaters on August 11th and wide on August 25th, ‘Gran Turismo’ is the latest attempt to bring a video game –– sorry, driving simulator as the movie’s characters are at pains to remind us –– to screens. And it’s a mostly successful effort, partly because it has a compelling true story/underdog tale to tell rather than trying to force a narrative onto a title that doesn’t have one.

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    What’s the story of ‘Gran Turismo’?

    Archie Madekwe stars in Columbia Pictures 'Gran Turismo.'
    Archie Madekwe stars in Columbia Pictures ‘Gran Turismo.’ Photo: Gordon Timpen. ©2023 CTMG. All Rights Reserved. Gran Turismo is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

    The movie follows Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a gamer living in the UK who is obsessed with the PlayStation-based driving simulation ‘Gran Turismo’. He’s become a highly proficient driver, rising up the ranks of top players and saving money to buy new gaming equipment even as his parents –– particularly former professional footballer Steve (Djimon Hounsou) –– don’t understand his ambitions.

    Jann’s life changes forever when he wins an invite-only GT race, gaining him entry to an exclusive academy set up primarily as a marketing deal between Nissan (driven by ambitious PR executive Danny Moore, played by Orlando Bloom) and Sony. Whoever succeeds at the academy will score a contract –– subject to also securing a racing license by finishing at least fourth in one race –– to drive in Nissan’s professional team for races in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

    After making it through as the champ, Jann faces the toughest test of his life… since racing with trained drivers who have been behind the wheel of real vehicles for years is no mean feat. And he faces snobbish backlash from both pit crews and the drivers he’s competing against. Aided by former driver-turned-mentor Jack Salter (David Harbour), Jann will have to prove he has what it takes on actual tracks such as the legendary Le Mans in France.

    Related Article: Orlando Bloom Joins David Harbour in the ‘Gran Turismo’ Movie

    Who else is in ‘Gran Turismo?’

    David Harbour stars in Columbia Pictures 'Gran Turismo.'
    David Harbour stars in Columbia Pictures ‘Gran Turismo.’ Photo: Gordon Timpen. ©2023 CTMG. All Rights Reserved. Gran Turismo is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

    ‘Gran Turismo’s cast also includes Geri Horner, Darren Barnet, Takehiro Hira, Joshua Stradowski, Daniel Puig, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Pepe Barroso, Thomas Kretschmann and Lindsay Pattison.

    Does ‘Gran Turismo’ make the winners’ circle?

    A scene from director Neill Blomkamp's 'Gran Turismo.'
    A scene from director Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Gran Turismo.’

    In a world where video game adaptations have finally started to see real success (e.g., ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ and ‘Mortal Kombat’), the pressure is on for new titles to stand out. ‘Gran Turismo’, which has been in development for years (at one point, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski was in the directing driver’s seat), has an advantage thanks to its hooky roots in Mardenborough’s real-life story, which means it doesn’t have to go the ‘Need for Speed’ route and try to layer a fictional idea over a game that doesn’t have a narrative.

    The result is much more effective than that benighted 2014 movie, though it still suffers from a few issues.

    Neill Blomkamp was an interesting choice to direct: he’s more known for the sci-fi likes of ‘District 9’, ‘Elysium’ and ‘Chappie’ and more recently took a side-step into shorts and horror. He certainly has a grasp on how to meld the effects with real-world footage seamlessly, aside from the moments where he actually wants to call attention to them (such as Jann’s car breaking apart to put him back in his bedroom before reforming all in one shot to show him channeling his virtual racing experience in a key moment during an actual event), and he knows how to shoot a kinetic racing scene.

    Madekwe, previously seen in movies such as ‘Midsommar and ‘Voyagers’ does a decent job of bringing Jann to life, the script from ‘American Sniper’s Jason Hall and ‘King Richard’s Zach Baylin, portraying him as quietly confident but never overly cocky (there’s a stock American fellow driver for that purpose). He’s believably a young man still looking for his place in the world when he discovers this extension to his obsessions.

    Yet the person truly deserving of a place on the acting podium is David Harbour, who has spent years perfecting the grumpy veteran dealing with a bunch of younger people on ‘Stranger Things’. His Jack is a highlight of the movie, a former racer himself tinged with tragedy who is grimly unconvinced that any of these “sim” kids can cut it in an actual car before Jann proves he has real potential, and a bond begins to form. Harbour is also the anchor for an amusing montage where Jack washes out one simulator candidate after another.

    Oh, and this is likely to be the only video game/sports movie where the hero chills out to Enya and Kenny G.

    Where does the movie lose traction?

    'Gran Turismo' video game from PlayStation.
    ‘Gran Turismo’ video game from PlayStation.

    Which isn’t to say ‘Gran Turismo’ is totally free of issues. Despite the pacey racing scenes, no amount of sweeping drone/helicopter shots and camera positions near wheels can help the fact that an awful lot of what happens on the track is repetitive. There are several moments where Jann is trying to get past his competition, only for them to swerve to block him. It makes for less excitement more checking of the watch as you wonder if there is ever going to be anything else happening.

    And even when Jann suffers an accident that shakes him to the core, the fallout seems less than realistic, him refusing to see his mother and father when you know any real parent would have rushed to the young person’s side, no matter their feelings.

    In fact, emotion is a big issue for a film as a whole, coldly bringing the story to life with little in the way of heartfelt human reactions. Again, only Madekwe and Harbour moving the needle in any real direction on that front.

    And while the cars are running on gas, the film’s plot –– real as it might be –– is solely powered by cliches. There are the family misunderstandings, the wilder sportier brother (played by Daniel Puig, who ironically looks more like the real-life Mardenborough), the rivalry on the track and the snobbish professionals, one of whom drives a gold car. There’s also an entirely unnecessary subplot about Jann’s flirtation/relationship with a girl from his hometown who he follows on Instagram that adds nothing to the story and could have been excised, shortening the bloated 2hr and 15-minute running time.

    Yet ‘Gran Turismo’, while it might not be in pole position, has enough entertainment value and certainly skirts around some of the bigger potholes of game adaptations past.

    ‘Gran Turismo’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.

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    Orlando Bloom stars in Columbia Pictures 'Gran Turismo.'
    Orlando Bloom stars in Columbia Pictures ‘Gran Turismo.’ Photo: Gordon Timpen. ©2023 CTMG. All Rights Reserved. Gran Turismo is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

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    ‘Gran Turismo’ is produced by PlayStation Productions, 2.0 Entertainment, and Columbia Pictures. The movie is scheduled to release in theaters on August 11th, 2023.

  • ‘Never Have I Ever’ Season 4 Cast Interviews

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    Premiering on Netflix beginning June 8th is the fourth and final season of the popular series ‘Never Have I Ever,’ which was created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher.

    What is the plot of ‘Never Have I Ever’?

    ‘Never Have I Ever’ is a coming-of-age comedy about the complicated life of a modern-day first-generation Indian American teenage girl. The series stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, an overachieving high school student who has a short fuse that gets her into difficult situations.

    Who is in the cast of ‘Never Have I Ever?’

    ‘Never Have I Ever’ stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, Jaren Lewison as Ben, Darren Barnet as Paxton, Poorna Jagannathan as Nalini, Richa Moorjani as Kamala, and Lee Rodriguez as Fabiola, and Ramona Young as Eleanor.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Darren Barnet and Jaren Lewison about their work on season 4 of ‘Never Have I Ever,’ shooting the final season, their characters, and what they’ll miss most about the show.

    Darren Barnet, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Jaren Lewison star in Netflix's 'Never Have I Ever' Season 4.
    (L to R) Darren Barnet, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Jaren Lewison star in Netflix’s ‘Never Have I Ever’ Season 4.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Ramakrishnan, Barnet, Lewison, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Lee Rodriguez, and Ramona Young.

    Moviefone: To begin with, Maitreyi, what was going through your mind when you filmed your final scene for this series?

    Maitreyi Ramakrishnan: I think for me, it was like being at your last day of high school or even kindergarten. It was just last day of school vibes. All my life, it has always felt like a very fast day, like the hours were going by so quick and all of that. For some reason, on the last day of filming, time felt slow. It didn’t even feel normal, it just felt slow. I think it’s because unlike the previous times when it was last day of school or whatever, last day of camp, I wasn’t as mature enough to be able to really understand gratitude on such a deep, profound level. Now, on our last day of filming, I felt such overwhelming gratitude that I knew how to also slow myself down, not stress about the clock and see, “Oh my God, we only have two hours left,” and keep ticking down. It was just letting myself be in that moment, listen to all the stories, hear people, and just take in the environment for one last time. Then I bawled my eyes out after they called a series wrap on me.

    MF: Darren, how did you feel shooting your final scene for the series?

    Darren Barnet: How fast time passes. Especially when you’re in the middle of a season, when you’re in a position like Maitreyi that you’re there every single day for hours and hours and hours. Sometimes, Jaren and I had weeks like that as well. It’s not easy balancing life, it used to get like you’re kind of aching for, “Let’s get through this,” sometimes. But then at the end, I wanted to slow it down as much as I could. It was just a testimony in life. You never know what you have until it’s about to go or going. I think in that moment it all just hit me. This has been a dream.

    Jaren Lewison as Ben Gross, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi in 'Never Have I Ever.'
    (L to R) Jaren Lewison as Ben Gross, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi in ‘Never Have I Ever.’ Photo: Lara Solanki/Netflix © 2023.

    MF: Jaren, what was hooting the final scene like for you?

    Jaren Lewison: My life motto is “remember the feeling,” and that was for me the whole day. I was trying to just remember the feeling of the entire day, of that gratitude, of that profound sense of joy. There was a lot of emotions that day. But we also got to have a little party, we had a long lunch. That was really cool because we got to celebrate with people that weren’t even working that day. There was a DJ, and we were in a dance circle, and there was different food, and it felt like a party. It felt like we were all saying goodbye together. I guess maybe I was ready. I think I had emotionally processed that that was the last day and I just wanted to remember the feeling of every part of it. Then, it hit me later.

    MF: Maitreyi, what has it meant to you personally to be a part of this show?

    MR: I personally take away, of course, the impact that Devi, as a main lead, brown woman. I take that with such heaviness because it’s such a big impact. I could never even understand fully it’s impact, but I do know that it is big. What excites me is that the impact that ‘Never Have I Ever’ has as a whole in the industry is only pushing for future shows that are just as amazing, if not truly, and more realistically, better. Because we’re only going to get better with our content if we continue to strive in that way for representation that’s authentic and doesn’t shy away from specificity. Because there’s nothing wrong with specificity. That excites me. As a brown woman that really excites me for myself and other underrepresented groups of all different backgrounds and identities.

    MF: Jaren, what do you see your character doing in 10 years?

    JL: I think Ben is a high-powered attorney. He’s like a trial lawyer or a corporate lawyer or something. He’s trying to work really hard to be a partner at a law firm, probably in New York or something.

    Darren Barnet as Paxton Hall-Yoshida in 'Never Have I Ever.'
    Darren Barnet as Paxton Hall-Yoshida in ‘Never Have I Ever.’ Photo: Lara Solanki/Netflix © 2022.

    MF: Darren, what do you think Paxton will be doing in 10 years?

    DB: I can see, Paxton moved to some island and he’s teaching people to surf and skate. Hawaiian shirts all day, but I think that makes sense.

    MF: Finally, Maitreyi, where do you see your character in 10 years?

    MR: I feel like for Devi, whether it’s a lawyer or some kind of government job, it would definitely be something that helps fight for underdogs and fight for people who need someone to fight for them. I could totally see Devi doing that. Like a public defense lawyer, I could see her doing that. That would be a legitimate path for her. But I also definitely see it being a rocky way to get there. She’s definitely not getting the job straight out of college. That’s not her. She’s going to be unemployed I think for a little bit. Because life’s never easy for her. Life is just never easy for her, and that’s okay, that’s fine. I’m okay with that. She’s so getting fired from so many jobs.

    Jaren Lewison, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Darren Barnet attend Netflix's 'Never Have I Ever' season 4 premiere at Westwood Village on June 01, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
    (L to R) Jaren Lewison, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Darren Barnet attend Netflix’s ‘Never Have I Ever’ season 4 premiere at Westwood Village on June 01, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.

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  • ‘Never Have I Ever’ Season 3 Cast Interviews

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    Premiering on Netflix on August 12th is the third season of the popular series, ‘Never Have I Ever,’ which was created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher.

    The series follows the complicated life of Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a modern-day first generation Indian American teenage girl.

    In addition to Ramakrishnan, the series also features Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Darren Barnet, Jaren Lewison, Ramona Young, Lee Rodriguez, and Megan Suri.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Darren Barnet, and Jaren Lewison about Never Have I Ever’ Season 3.

    Darren Barnet, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Jaren Lewison star in Netflix's 'Never Have I Ever,' season 3.
    (L to R) Darren Barnet, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Jaren Lewison star in Netflix’s ‘Never Have I Ever,’ season 3.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Ramakrishnan, Barnet, Lewison, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Ramona Young, Lee Rodriguez, and Megan Suri.

    Moviefone: To begin with, Maitreyi, how is Devi handling her new relationship when this season begins?

    Maitreyi Ramakrishnan: I mean, pretty much what you think Devi would be like if she was handling a relationship. It’s messy, as she does. But it’s exciting for her because it’s her first real relationship, where she’s actually committing to one guy.

    So, good job, Devi. Making real strides. She’s pined over him for years and it’s happening. It’s very exciting for her, but of course it doesn’t come without its challenges.

    MF: Darren, Paxton seems to be taking this relationship more seriously than Devi, is that fair to say?

    Darren Barnet: I think you’ve seen Paxton kind of get in his head about not wanting to be seen with the girl that got me hit by a car. There was a lot of ego involved there. I think a lot of that is dropped as they enter this relationship. A lot of those cares go away, and he realizes how much he actually likes her, and how much she challenges him.

    It’s been a wild ride, and like Maitreyi said, you will see how Devi handles this, and it’s exactly the way you would think. Once you get what you’ve wanted for so long, you start to realize, “I’ve done so much work, trying to attain this, I haven’t done any work on myself for preparing for it.” I think that shows a lot.

    Darren Barnet as Paxton Hall-Yoshida, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi in 'Never Have I Ever.'
    (L to R) Darren Barnet as Paxton Hall-Yoshida, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi in ‘Never Have I Ever.’ Cr. Lara Solanki/Netflix © 2022.

    MF: Jaren, how is Ben handling seeing the new couple?

    Jaren Lewison: I think that it’s hard for him. I think at the end of season two, we saw that longing look that he gave watching Devi and Paxton dance. I think that it’s difficult for him to navigate how to have a friendship with Devi, while also being in a relationship with Aneesa, and how much he can give to that friendship with Devi.

    He’s challenging her and she’s challenging him, trying to keep those feelings at bay and trying to be a good boyfriend for Aneesa. As we can see, it’s a little more difficult for him than maybe I would’ve liked, if I was rooting for him. But, you know, what are you going to do?

    MF: Maitreyi, when a new season begins do you get all the scripts at once or episode by episode?

    MR: Most certainly we do not. Pretty much like a week before we start filming, we get the first episode’s script, and then we keep going. So, as we film, we find out what happens, which honestly, I like. I enjoy that. It keeps us on our toes and it doesn’t give us too much information right away.

    So, we don’t know how it’s going to end while we’re starting. So, we get to really go with the flow with the characters, experience those stakes and we get excited. We get to be fans for a little bit and we do anticipate, “Wait, what do you think is going to happen?” That’s how it really goes every season.

    MF: Finally, Darren, when you get a new script, are you surprised by the different directions the writers take your character?

    DB: I think the writers make it very easy because they a hundred percent know who Paxton is. It’s pretty automatic for me to switch into it. But I do enjoy that I think he’s become a more multidimensional character as we’ve developed throughout the show.

    I don’t know if that was intended upon starting season one, but they’ve allowed that to happen. So, it’s given me a lot of room to play, and I have wonderful co-stars to work off of who help me grow into that and make it an easy and very fun job. So, no, I’ve never shocked. I’m always very pleasantly surprised.

    Jaren Lewison as Ben Gross, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi in 'Never Have I Ever.'
    (L to R) Jaren Lewison as Ben Gross, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi in ‘Never Have I Ever.’ Cr. Lara Solanki/Netflix © 2022.