They might be in their twenties, but Issa (Amita Rao), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Billie (Lucy Freyer), Samir (Malik Elassal), and Anton (Owen Thiele), who all live together, still have plenty to learn about how the world really works when challenging situations come their way in the FX comedy series Adults.
Awards Buzz spoke with the cast about how much they enjoy being part of this show, which is set to return for a second season sometime in the future.
Rao responded to the assertion that Issa might be the craziest of the bunch:
“She gets crazy a lot. I don’t think she thinks she’s crazy. I feel like she thinks she’s very much in the right in most situations, but she’s definitely the most willing to put herself out there in a situation because she doesn’t perceive the line. I would say I’m a lot like Issa, especially in my youth, I was a lot more like Issa. I would say I’m much more neurotic than her and so the line of what would make me nervous to do is much more present in my own life. But I like that she doesn’t see it and for her, it’s like, right here, right now, and she will do it. For example, the subway, she was like, ‘Something has to be done, and I’m the one to do it. If no one else will, I will.’ And you know what? I like that she has that righteousness about her, she’s willing to take a situation in her own hands.”
Innanen revisited the “spectrum of your language” scene that so defines the show:
“That’s one of my favorite lines of the show. That’s pretty generationally summarizing. That is such a funny scene. It’s such a funny look at not just the relationship of the characters, but also a generational thing of just not knowing where everyone is and where they stand, what they are knowledgeable of. I think that was just such a funny lapse of getting to see Paul Baker be out of depth but then slowly being like, ‘Oh, we’re on the same page, but maybe we’re not.’ And I feel like that happens ten times a day for me. I feel like that’s a thing where there’s almost a switching of language based on what I assume people understand but then realizing I’m wrong and I should have just been like, oh, hey, they understand.”
Freyer shared what she likes about her character and how she and Billie aren’t the same:
“I like that during the course of season one, I’ve got to lean into those awkward and embarrassing moments that make people squirm. I’ve never got to do that before. So, I like that she makes a fool of herself. In terms of what’s hardest to relate to her? I don’t know. I’ve never had an office job. I can actually can cook a chicken and I can cook a chicken really well. I love the scene in the art gallery with Mr. Teacher and his friends. When we were filming that, the writers were throwing out a lot of things that I could be saying at the painting, and there were a couple that I was like, ‘that goes way too far. Oh my god, I can’t bring myself to say that.’ And then that stuff didn’t end up getting used.”
Thiele compared himself – in the third person – to Anton in addition to talking about his other roles in projects like Overcompensating, Idiotka, and the comedy based on his own life that he’s creating:
“It’s funny. I’m actually less functional than Anton in my real life. Anton has a real office job, a finance job that he doesn’t really know, he has really no clue what it is. But nonetheless, he got this finance job. He sits at a desk every day. Those are things that Owen could never do, ever. But I think Anton also prioritizes his friendships in a really beautiful way. Owen actually should aspire to be more like Anton in that way, where he cares less about career but more about these beautiful relationships that he’s cultivated.”
Season one of Adults is available to stream on Hulu.
