Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Light as a Feather’s Brianne Tju

Brianne Tju has done it all in her career: she scored a perfect ten as elite gymnast Genji Cho on Make It or Break It, been chased by Ghostface as Riley Marra on Scream: The TV Series, and starred as world-renowned actress Xu YiFei on Famous in Love. This October, she’ll play Alex, a fun party girl who’s involved in a terrifying game of “Light as a Feather.” Pop Culturalist spoke with Brianne about her new series, Light as a Feather, the many layers of her character and what she’ll mean to a lot of different communities.

PC: Tell us about Light as a Feather, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Brianne: Light as a Feather is a story about a group of friends who meet the new girl at school, Violet (Haley Ramm). They all decide to play a game of “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” together, and as they’re playing the game, Violet predicts the way that the girls are going to die. From there, things begin to get scarier and people begin to get hurt. The girls quickly realize that there’s something bigger at play. We do what we can to figure it out and save one another from any harm.

I play Alex. She’s a fun character—at least that’s how she appears to everyone; that’s her facade. She’s the fun, party girl, but she uses that as a way to hide the fact that she’s extremely lonely. We get a peek of that when she’s at home. She doesn’t have a close family, and although she and her friends are very close and loyal to each other, I think she feels a lot of pressure to maintain her “party girl” image. She starts to take pills to keep up with her persona, and throughout the show, we discover she’s hiding a dark secret.

I really loved the script when I first got it. I actually originally read for McKenna first, though. I’m not sure if that’s something that everyone did, but I did, and then they had me come back for a director’s session to read for Alex. I was really grateful for that because after I re-read the script and her sides, I connected with her a lot more. I loved that the show was a mix of Final Destination meets Pretty Little Liars. I knew this project was going to be a lot of fun.

PC: How familiar were you with the source material? How faithful would you say this adaptation is?
Brianne: I actually haven’t read the online book on Wattpad, but, Liana (who plays McKenna) and I asked R. Lee (showrunner) how similar the adaptation was, and although there are a lot of similarities with the game and the circumstances, a lot was changed. I’m actually glad I didn’t read it because that sometimes leads to preconceived ideas.

PC: How similar would you say you are to your character?
Brianne: In a lot of ways, we’re similar. I understand the pressure that Alex feels. When you’re in high school, everyone has a mask. Then you add social media and there’s this expectation that you have to rise to or above, which creates this competitive spirit among girls and peers in general. Being an actress in this industry, I feel the pressure to look a certain way, to work more, or whatever else it may be. Alex feels that pressure from her own friends and family and, unfortunately, she deals with it in a destructive way. I like to think that I’m not as destructive, but I do empathize with her.

PC: Alex has a lot of different layers to her. Which was your favorite to explore and why?
Brianne: Definitely her substance abuse and how she hides it. I’ve never experienced that, so there was a lot of research that needed to be done. I was her age at one point, so it was interesting to see how easy it is for someone her age to slip into that abuse and how easy it is to hide a deep secret like that. There were a lot of people that I knew growing up who were into it and I didn’t know it at the time. Also, Alex has another secret that she’s hiding. Everyone has secrets, but for her, it gets to the point where it’s eating her up inside.

PC: Like you just said, Alex is hiding another secret. How will that affect her relationship with her friends?
Brianne: I don’t want to give anything away, but it does involve McKenna. It definitely causes a lot of tension, although not right off the bat. They’ve been best friends since they were young, so there’s so much loyalty between the two. She would never do McKenna any harm and she feels like if she reveals this secret, it’ll do more harm than good. She’s having this inner battle with herself. She wants to protect herself and her friends, but doesn’t know what the right thing to do is. It really starts to eat her up inside and as time goes on, you start to see a physical and mental change.

PC: How did you and the girls build your bond? There’s a natural chemistry that comes off the screen. Did you develop any traditions similar to the girls in the story?
Brianne: Oh my gosh! It’s actually insane how close the girls and I got. We immediately all clicked, which is rare, and I’m so grateful for that. The first weekend we had together, we spent the night bonding. We ate a bunch of snacks and danced around in Liana’s apartment.

On set, we had this tradition. It sounds awful, but it’s really not: we would give these backhanded compliments to each other. [laughs] Everyone laughed and no one was ever offended because we knew it was just the game. It became a competition about who could one up the other. [laughs]

Photo Credit: Rachael Thompson/Hulu

PC: Which of Alex’s relationships was your favorite to explore?
Brianne: Alex’s relationship with each of the girls is very different—that’s what makes her so dynamic. I have to say my favorite was her relationship with McKenna because of the secret, but it was also interesting to explore the power play between Alex and Violet. In the beginning of the show, you see Alex, and you think she’s this very confident, powerful, fun girl, but later on, you see Violet chip away at that strength and then you start to see Alex fall apart. It was interesting to see her become so vulnerable so quickly.

PC: Alex will mean a great deal to a lot of different communities. Do you feel any added pressures stepping into her shoes?
Brianne: I think I did in the beginning. I’ve played a lesbian character in the past and what I love about Awesomeness is that they don’t make these characters who are gay, lesbian, or trans the defining factor of who they are. It’s mentioned and everyone is supportive, but it doesn’t define who she is. That story arc wasn’t the most important one to be told at this point in her life, so we didn’t try to push it. At the end of the day, she’s just a girl. It was great to look at her and identify with her in so many different aspects.

PC: What are you most excited for fans to see with this series? What do you hope they take away?
Brianne: I’m so excited for people, especially girls, since this is a heavily female cast show, to see the camaraderie, the love, and the respect that these girls have for one another. It doesn’t seem to start off that way in the beginning, but it grows into that. I think everyone will also appreciate seeing how diverse this cast is, which is amazing, by the way! It’s a strong group of women, not only in their strengths, but also in their vulnerability. Most importantly, though, they’re a group that’s supportive of one another.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Brianne: Ah! I sometimes watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Brianne: Any kind of rom-com. I love Failure to Launch, 50 First Dates, stuff like that.

PC: Favorite book?
Brianne: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Brianne: Angels in America, The Crucible, and Mamma Mia!

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Brianne: ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Queen…I like the oldies. I don’t listen to a lot of modern music. I think the classics are classics for a reason.

PC: Last show you binge-watched?
Brianne: Right now, I’m binge-watching The Handmaid’s Tale, but I just finished Peaky Blinders. That emotionally messed me up for a long time.

PC: Hidden talent?
Brianne: I give really good facial massages. All my friends and family always ask me to do that.

Make sure to follow Brianne on Twitter and Instagram, and watch all ten episodes of Light as a Feather when it premieres on Hulu on October 12.

Photo Credit: Victoria Will/Hulu