During the recording for Season 3 of The Royals of Malibu, we had a little Q&A session with stars of the show Alyssa McKay (Ella Sinclair) and Chris Cafero (Reed Royal). Part 1 is below, and you can find the video version as well as Part 2 on our YouTube @theroyalsofmalibu.
Q: Do you improvise any of your lines while shooting the podcasts?
A (Chris): I do, actually. First of all, the writing is great. Keyanna Khatiblou, our writer, does a fantastic job. Sometimes when we’re in the booth, though, I will improvise. We just did a scene where I improvised a joke that will not make it into the podcast, and uh will probably get me in trouble (nervous chuckles). But yeah, it is fun to explore the character via improv and then also sort of paly with your fellow actors via improv.
Q: What is your spirit animal?
A (Alyssa): My spirit animal is probably a clownfish. They’re my favorite animal and I think they’re cute and fun and they bounce when they swim.
Q: Do you feel like Reed makes good choices?
A (Chris): I don’t. I think he makes well-intentioned choices. He always has other people’s best interest at heart, but I think oftentimes they are a little immature and overtly masculine, and self-destructive where he’s like “I need to take on the pain and I need to sacrifice myself and my happiness…” he’s very binary in his emotions which I think is a dangerous place to live.
Q: If you were Ella on S1 E1, would you have told Callum about Reed in the bushes?
A (Alyssa): Would I have told Callum? Probably. I’m kind of a narc.
Q: Do Reed and Ella lock in?
A (Chris): That’s the question? Do they lock in? I don’t think I know… ok. My interpretation of that question, unless it’s a new term, is like focus really hard? I think locking in is like, like an athlete, which is like “alright we gotta lock in, get locked in, we’re locked in…” So would I say we’re locked in? Yeah absolutely, especially this season since we’re solving a crime. If it has something to do with adult content then… yeah we do.
Q: What’s your favorite TV show right now?
A (Alyssa): Ohhh. My favorite TV show right now is Bojack Horseman.
Q: How do you think Reed has changed from S1 to S3?
A (Chris): What a great question. I think Reed has certainly matured quite a bit. He has gotten his anger under control. I don’t want to spoil anything, but he has grown with his emotional vocabulary. He’s gotten better at expressing himself in non-violent ways. But, he still has a bit of a temper and he can still be a little immature with his responses to things. He could either be at a 10 or a 0. Overall yeah, I think he’s grown quite a bit because he’s been through so much, and Ella has really helped him grow, I think.
Q: Are the crying scenes real tears?
A (Alyssa): So for me, usually no. But there was actually one time where we were doing, I believe it was the end of S2, where I had to let Isaac know I was choosing Reed. I don’t even think I was supposed to be crying in that scene, but for whatever reason I started bawling my eyes out and the director was like “you gotta stop because [Ella] is not supposed to be crying in this scene.” So yeah, that was the only time I’ve cried.
Chris: I’m going to go ahead and correct you, that’s not the only time you’ve cried. There have been several. There was a scene in S1 that was very challenging, an assault scene. I remember that specifically because I was in the booth with you guys and that was really tough for you.
Alyssa: Yeah, that was a very hard scene. I probably did cry, I don’t even remember.
Chris: I will say, having been in the booth for a lot of these scenes, all of the emotion is real. Crying or not, one of the challenges of this show is, we’ll be doing one of these hard crying scenes where you’re having an emotional moment, and the next moment we’re at a party. That emotional whiplash that comes with an audio medium is really hard to navigate and you do it so well.
Alyssa: Likewise 🙂
Q: What is your love language?
A (Chris): If you ask my loved ones what my love language is, like how I express it, it’s probably acts of service. I think that’s how I like to receive it as well. And words of affirmation, if that’s one. What are the other two, do you know?
Alyssa: Umm, no…
Chris: That’s ok. We’ll get on Duolingo and Duolingo love language and be fluent by the end of S4.
For more Q&A with the cast, to watch the video version of the Q&A above, and to watch Part 2, head to our YouTube (@theroyalsofmalibu).
The Royals of Malibu Season 3 is out now on all listening platforms. New episodes are released on #MalibuMondays.