Exclusive Interview: Ariana Molkara and Christopher Martinez Chat Warped!

Ariana Molkara and Christopher Martinez are two of the stars of the must-see comedy Warped!.

In Warped!, Milo (Anton Starkman), the beloved head geek at a popular strip-mall comic book shop, Warped!, finds his world disrupted when his boss hires a new employee. With the quirky and excitable Ruby (Kate Godfrey) now on the payroll, the two form an unlikely alliance to create the world’s greatest graphic novel. Joining them in their adventures are Darby (Ariana Molkara), a smart and fashion-forward friend who is always there to lend a hand, and Hurley (Christopher Martinez), a neighboring pizza shop employee who spends his time coming up with brilliant culinary creations.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Ariana and Christopher about all things Warped!.

PC: To start, could you introduce us to your characters in this series? Christopher, do you want to kick us off?
Christopher: I play Hurley who works upstairs above the Warped! Comic Book Store at OK Pizza. He’s an aspiring chef who always loves to incorporate food into whatever problem he’s trying to solve. It might not always be the brightest idea, but he has the heart. In the pilot, he uses Italian dressing to try to help get a boot off of Ruby. It might not be the best idea to use food to get it off, but he has heart. He wants to help his friends. He really loves his friends, and he’ll do anything for them.

Ariana: I play Darby on the show. Darby is this very creative and smart charismatic girl. She’s a total comic book buff. She knows everything there is to know about comics. She’s also very fashion-forward. She designs her own clothes and hopes to start her own line one day. The combination of those things makes her the ultimate cosplayer. She’s always cosplaying. Like I said, she’s super intelligent, but she gets stuck in her own world sometimes and doesn’t realize that she’s living in the real world. So we see a lot of comedy come out of that. She’s always there for her friends. She’s always there to lend a hand, and there’s never a dull moment when she’s around.

PC: Darby’s always dressing up as different characters. Which was your favorite in Season 1? If we’re lucky enough to get a Season 2, is there somebody that you would love to cosplay as?
Ariana: That’s such a good question. How could I possibly pick a favorite? Every time we went into our fittings, I would see my clothes on the rack and I would be stunned—every single time. It was so, so fun. I was like, “How could I possibly take this stuff without anybody noticing?” [laughs] It was the coolest thing. I love my outfits from the pilot. I have two characters that I cosplay as. One of them is called Amazonia, and she’s covered in leaves. That was definitely one of my favorites. I also have this outfit later on in the series where it’s a dress that’s covered in musical notes. I’m very musical, so that’s one of my favorites. She’s wearing this cute little beret, one of my favorite outfits.

If we get to come back, I would love to cosplay as Wonder Woman. She’s one of my favorite heroes. She’s the first female to headline her own comic, which I think is huge. I love that she is resilient in a way unlike any other superhero. She holds her own. She combats and fights all while wearing a pair of wedges, which I think earns her extra points.

PC: Christopher, like you were saying, your character comes up with all these crazy ideas. Which was the most shocking to you and how much fun is it to play a character like this?
Christopher: Oh man, he has so many crazy inventions that he comes up with. I know he has a device that shoots things out through a hose that he wears. It looks like a jet pack. It’s really cool how the special effects department can pull off some of these different scenes. It’s things that I didn’t know were possible. They’re just so awesome.

It’s so fun to play this character. There’s a mess in every episode. There’s a huge mess, and a lot of the time it’s because of me. Getting to see the three of them get covered in stuff because of something my character did is hilarious. That really pays off at the end of each episode. They’re all covered and they’re like, “We got to go shower now.” I’m just like, “Ah,” because they got covered because of something my character did.

PC: A question for both of you. This is one of your biggest projects to date. Did anything surprise you about the experience? What did you learn about your craft?
Christopher: Nickelodeon is something that I grew up with. Getting to be on this is such an honor. I had never worked on a studio lot before this show. I had never worked on a soundstage. Getting the experience of hearing them say, “We’re rolling,” and then a bell rings, which is something you only see in movies, getting to experience that in person was awesome. I’m incredibly grateful, especially having had such a great cast to work with. That was definitely a surreal experience.

Ariana: Same here. It was a super surreal experience for me as well. I grew up watching Nickelodeon, so being on a Nickelodeon show now is making my inner child freak out. She’s totally geeking out over this right now. I’m super grateful. One thing that surprised me was just the bond that I created with the cast and the production at large. Everybody was so sweet, down-to-earth, and loving, and they gave us the liberty to have our own creative space, which was really nice. Something that also surprised me was the big gags that we did.

I was super surprised to see how much actually went into these moments that you might see on screen for only five seconds. Those moments take hours to shoot, and all these different, brilliant minds coming together to create them. It amazed me, and it really took me by surprise. I was super grateful to be a part of it and see it firsthand.

PC: Speaking of that bond, there’s great chemistry that comes off the screen between the entire cast. How are you all able to build that? Do you have a favorite off-set moment?
Christopher: We get along so well. Even after we wrapped production for Season 1, we still stayed in touch. We’re always doing Zoom calls and FaceTiming each other. Ariana and I were having a battle to see who could finish the Avatar show on Nickelodeon first. We were going back and forth. We really made it a priority to keep that chemistry because we want people to see the same chemistry on and off screen.

It really helps to be able to work with people that you work well with and who are your best friends in life. I have so many favorite off-set moments. Every single Friday night after we finished filming for the day, we would always go out to eat. That was something that we always made sure to do, like after every episode. We would get some food and we would eat until the night ended. It was really cool. It’s those moments that we cherished.

Ariana: Same here. I completely agree. We’ve all become the best of friends, and I’m so grateful for them. It’s one thing to get to say that you love the project that you’re working on, but it’s another to say that you love the people that you get to work with so dearly. How blessed am I to be able to say both of those things? It was hard because when we were filming, we were still in quarantine. We couldn’t have a lot of face-to-face interaction. Not as much as we would’ve liked. Because whenever we were off set, we were in our trailers, but it’s amazing how we still reached out to each other virtually. We FaceTimed and communicated with each other over text. It’s amazing to me that we were able to build that connection on a virtual platform. The fact we were able to do that virtually goes to show how close we are and how much we love each other.

One of my favorite memories (other than the fact that we went out every Friday because that was definitely one of my favorites) is how in between takes, when we were on break, we would play basketball outside. We had a basketball hoop and would play horse on our off-time. That was so fun.

PC: Who would win those games?
Christopher: It was Anton, but it was really competitive. We got very competitive when we were playing horse. But I think Anton [Starkman] always pulled out with a win.

Ariana: Anton was the one who most consistently won. I remember one time I was wearing three-inch heels and I came out like, “I want to play basketball.” I made three in a row. I was so excited, but that didn’t last very long. It was just a lucky three-streak.

Christopher: You had so many moments where you sank ten baskets in a row. It was like, “Wow.”

Ariana: Those were very isolated moments.

PC: The Warped! set is filled with so many little Easter eggs from other Nickelodeon shows. You guys already touched upon this, but which was your favorite Nickelodeon show and why?
Christopher: It’s the current one that I’m watching: Avatar. I got to watch Avatar at home and then go onto set the next day and see all the memorabilia. It was so wild. It really makes you think, “I’m on the same network.” It’s cool to get to see all that. I love the set. It’s massive. It’s so cool. I get starstruck every time I go on it.

Ariana: I’m obsessed with our set. Our set is stunning and breathtaking. You notice something new every time you walk on that set. But my favorite Nickelodeon TV show would probably be Victorious. I’m a singer and I’m very musical. I absolutely love that show. It’s definitely top on my list.

PC: The show looks like so much fun. Do you have a favorite scene or episode that you’re excited for your fans to see?
Ariana: Good question. There’s so much that I’m excited for fans to see. I’m so excited for fans to see all of the action, the comedy, the messiness, and the goofiness that’s going to be going on. I’m really excited for audiences to see the episode titled “Creeped.” You might be able to tell what the episode is about just by the name. There might be a lot of creepiness going on in the funniest way. I’m also really excited for fans to see my character step out of her comfort zone and try something she’s never tried before, but you’re going to have to wait and watch to find out what that is.

Christopher: “Creeped” was one of my favorites for sure. That was so much fun to film because it’s a horror-type episode. It’s just really cool. Then we have a cool episode where there’s a movie set that’s built, and it was really cool to work on that. Kevin Smith, the comic book store owner, the author, and the filmmaker, makes an appearance on the show. Him being there was such an honor as well. I’m excited for people to see those episodes because the set was so cool.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after they see the series?
Ariana: We really hope that fans are able to embrace all the qualities that make them unique. Our show is really special in that it celebrates individuality—all of those quirks and idiosyncrasies you have—in a way that makes you think of them not as insecurities but as assets you can really capitalize on. We take the definition of normal and turn it into something that simply means being your very best self and not being afraid to put yourself out there and not let the light that shines within you dim. We hope that fans really experience that kind of acceptance and self-affirmation when they’re watching our show.

Christopher: For sure. I love how our show really capitalizes on the friendships. I agree with every single thing that Ariana said. It’s showing that individuality and that nerdiness is cool. It’s fun getting to show how individual our characters all are and the friendships we can create while having such different characteristics. I really hope people take that away from our show.

Make sure to follow Ariana (Twitter/Instagram) and Christopher (Instagram). Watch Warped! every Thursday at 7:30/6:30c on Nickelodeon.

Photo Credit: Tobin Yell and Nickelodeon