Lana Condor: ‘Always and forever’ changed by To All The Boys journey
MANILA, Philippines — Netflix’s megahit trilogy To All The Boys is now down to its final instalment, Always and Forever. In the finale of the film adaptation of Jenny Han’s internationally best-selling young adult (YA) novels, lead character Lara Jean Covey prepares for the end of high school and the start of college life a.k.a. “adulthood”.
The end also means that its star, Lana Condor, is saying goodbye to Lara Jean, her first-ever lead role. The first film, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, introduced this charming high school student whose old and secret love letters get accidentally mailed to former and current crushes, including Peter Kavinsky. It became a global sensation in 2018, catapulting Lana and her leading man Noah Centineo to stardom.
Lana, in particular, broke ground as the first Asian-American leading lady in a YA romantic-comedy, with more doors of opportunity then opening up for her in Hollywood. Just some of her major projects to date include James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel, Patriot’s Day with Mark Wahlberg and Lifetime’s High School Lover. She’s also set to star in the HBO Max and Berlanti Productions sci-fi film, Moonshot, and the female buddy comedy Girls Night.
The Philippine STAR recently had a virtual interview with Lana, our second one with the vivacious and eloquent 23 year old, ahead of the Feb. 12 world premiere of To All The Boys: Always and Forever on the streaming giant. (The first time was last year for the sequel P.S. I Love You, right after her supposed visit to the Philippines with Noah got cancelled due to the onset of what has since become a global pandemic.)
During our roundtable, Lana talked about some “life-imitates-art” moments she had while doing the third film partly shot in South Korea; items she “stole” from the set as keepsakes, and how she and Noah actually wrote each other letters — a fitting culmination to their three-year To All The Boys journey.
On how it feels to be saying goodbye to her character Lara Jean:
“Ahhhh! I feel horrible! It is overwhelming! There’s a line at the end of the movie and it’s a voiceover, where she says, ‘I never knew that you could feel this sad and this happy at the same time.’ And that is exactly how I feel. These movies have been a huge part of my life, a huge part of my development as a young woman. I have dedicated hours and hours and hours to this world and to Lara Jean, and put everything I could into this. And so, it’s like my heart!
“And so, saying goodbye to it feels like I’m honestly saying goodbye to a piece of myself, because it really is so much of my life. It feels really emotional to know that we’re saying goodbye to her because she’s just been such a joy and she’s opened up different doors for me that I never had, opportunities that I never thought I would ever, ever in my wildest dreams get.
“It’s a lot to process for sure and I haven’t processed it well, clearly! But I think, once it’s out on Netflix on Feb. 12, and I press ‘Start,’ I will really know and it will hit me. I’ve already told my friends and family, don’t talk to me for two days because I’m just going to be in my bed weeping.
“But then, the happiness comes from knowing that I’ve done everything I could. The happiness comes from being proud of the Lara Jean that we see at the end, and being proud of her and excited for her future. So it’s a wildly emotional experience.”
On how the character and film series resonated with her:
“There’s so much that I can relate to. Obviously, that’s because I’ve spent three years developing her that it’s near impossible not to kind of have Lana and Lara (melding) together. It doesn’t help that our names are so similar. Constantly, people be like, ‘Hi, nice to meet you, Lara, I mean Lana,’ so it really starts to meld together. But, I think, in To All The Boys: Always and Forever, what I can really relate to a lot is when her family goes to Korea. Basically, their purpose there was to see where they come from and their mom had died, you know, as when they were children.
“To kind of walk in her footsteps and just follow in her footsteps, and learn about the culture in a new way and learn about themselves through this trip and how their identity is very much made up of where they come from, that was huge! Because right after we shot the Korea sequence, we wrapped the films and then I went with my family to Vietnam for the first time, which is where I’m from. I was adopted at a young age from Vietnam and brought to America. And it was my first time going home. And it was just such a wildly parallel storyline, between Lara Jean and myself — going back to where you’re from for the first time and learning about your identity and what makes me. That was definitely the biggest thing I could relate to in the third film, for sure!”
On what she and Noah wrote to each other after the filming:
“My letter was so much better than his, okay (laughs)? That’s the first thing I would like to say. I poured my heart out. I was witty, thoughtful, emotional. His was more exactly, probably what you would think his is like. His was just funny and kind of inappropriate. I forgot verbatim what he said but he was talking about, you know, his favorite memories between the two of us. He brought up things that annoy the heck out of me about him. But he did say like, you know, he had a lot of joy working on To All The Boys and has loved the relationship that we’ve cultivated and the friendship that we have, and he knows that I always have his back no matter what.
“It wasn’t handwritten but neither was mine because I think we had to send them to each other and it was just like this whole thing. But he also wrote me a letter when we wrapped the sequel. That one was handwritten, and was really, really sweet and kind. You know, he’s more emotional than people think he is. One of the ways he can really express himself is through writing. He loves to write, he loves to read all these things, so it’s very nice of him. But I let the record show mine was much better (laughs).”
On what she kept from the set as “souvenirs”:
“I pretty much stole so much from production (laughs). I mean, there’s not really anything they can do to me now about it so I don’t mind saying that I really took so much. After Korea, we had to go back and do reshoots actually a couple months back during quarantine, which was also a very interesting experience. Working in the age of the coronavirus has, like, changed everything…
“But we went back and we did reshoots. And they built Lara Jean’s bedroom in a studio. Her bedroom is like my special safe place because it’s such an expression of her mind and who she is, like it’s colorful, chaotic and romantic, and she loves to save memories so they’re constantly on board and her bedroom is just something that’s so cool that we did.
“And so once we wrapped the reshoots, I ran into the studio like when everyone was packing up, and I just filled a big bag full of little knick knacks that have been with me (as Lara Jean) for three years. So, I filled it with photos of Lara Jean and Peter. I took, you know, various notes that Noah had written as Peter, like from the first movie...
“I took a lot of her clothes, although she’s much more fashionable than I am… I took so much, yeah, because like what Lara Jean says, ‘I’m a person that saves things I’ll hold on to forever.’ That’s very much like me and I love saving my little knick knacks. Like literally, you guys, I stole on the last press tour for P.S. I Love You, this (standee). I hope Netflix still works with me because they’re like, ‘She is a thief (laughs).’ It’s just such a wild ride and I will remember it forever, but I also want to have tangible things.”
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