AnnaSophia Robb plays the character of Lacey in The Act – neighbor and friend to Dee Dee Blanchard (Patricia Arquette) and Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King). Robb was ecstatic to find out that she would have the privilege to share the screen with one of her favorite actresses, Patricia Arquette.
Robb recalls one scene where she and Arquette’s character are having an intense conversation.
“I remember that day very clearly. I was like, ‘Holy shit. This is happening.’ It’s fun! You’re becoming a character,” Robb said. “At that point, I’m friends with Patricia, so you’re not thinking, ‘This is Patricia Arquette’ — who I respect so much. It’s, like, ‘I’ve got to be on my A-game because she’s on her A-game.'”
Arquette was certainly on her A-game when her character had to faint in the middle of the scene. Robb was amazed by how realistic Arquette made it look.
“And then I was really concerned. She faints in the scene and I was like, ‘Oh, shit! Oh, no! Are you going to fall?'” Robb recounts of watching Arquette fall in character. “And she’s all out of it and loopy and I thought, ‘Wow. That was a good faint. I need to work on my fainting.'”
While on set, Robb wanted to learn as much as possible behind the scenes as well.
“When I signed on and went down to Savannah, I asked Nick Antosca, one of our showrunners, if it was OK if I shadowed. Because there are a couple episodes I’m not in, I was like, ‘Perfect. I’ll have this time off. I can just sort of be there.’ He was so supportive, as were all of our directors. But Laure, who did episodes one, two and six, she was like, ‘Yes, of course.’ I loved working with her as an actor and I liked her process a lot, so I was able to shadow her,” Robb said. “I was able to see a lot of different little segments of it. It was so interesting and so much fun. I really realized I love being on sets.”
The series finale of The Act is now available on Hulu.