‘And Just Like That’ Actress Alexa Swinton on Playing Rock

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Spoilers for And just like that monitor

Sex and the city finally met Gen Z in the HBO Max revival And just like that, touches on the inner lives of children for the first time as Charlotte and Miranda’s children begin to become who they are. And while Brady’s boundless sex drive is certainly memorable, Rock Goldenblatt, do Alexa Swintonis a prominent role.

Rock appears in a non-binary form in the series, which throws their loving-but-completely controlled madness of one mother, Charlotte, through a loop – especially when it seems everyone else learned they changed their name from Rose to Rock via TikTok before telling them their parents, a plot drawn from writer Samantha Irby’s own experiences as a stepmother.

Swinton (who uses the pronoun she/she) comes from a family of entertainers (yes, that includes Tilda, despite being far away) and this family puts the video on YouTube channel, including the actor’s take on the original music with songs like “You, Me, and My Purple Docs.” In fact, her mother Inna Swinton was in an episode of the original Sex and the city and partnered with Alexa to create TikTok for the show that really gives Swinton a real feel.

Swinton previously played a young man in M. Night Shyamalan’s Old and appear frequently on Billionin a role that required the actor to skateboard, which was very helpful for Rock. If the series gets a second season, Swinton hopes Rock’s skating skills will improve, saying We’ve got this covered“It would be really cool if Rock decided they were going to play ollie.”

In addition to skateboarding, we talked to Swinton about knowing it all Sex and the city characters on social media, mistakes millennials make on TikTok, and playing a character with a positive experience.

What did you know about Sex and the city go into it?

“So I know as much as you would expect, as a 12-year-old knows, especially in the industry. I’ve watched a lot of videos about Carrie’s clothes, about Charlotte’s clothes, about people’s clothes. I know quite a bit about Carrie’s Manolos. I also know a lot about her entire backstory from memes on Reddit and Instagram. And so it was really funny because while I didn’t watch the show, I knew the characters very well and they were still close and close to my heart. ”

I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about fashion because it’s clearly an important part of the Rock’s plot and the show as a whole. When Rock doesn’t want to wear the dress Charlotte chose, it’s the first time we see them stand up and take control of their gender identity. How would you describe Rock’s development style?

“I think Rock is in tune with who they want to be. I think through the whole program you will get a lot [Rock] I guess you could say the same. The kind of rock that lowers femininity. I love their clothes. I think they have really great outfits and all their jewelry. In my opinion, they definitely had a pretty cool outfit in episode 10. I gasped when I saw it in the fitting room, so I think that’s what matters to them – that outfit in the episode. ten “.

You’ve decided to actually cut your hair, haven’t you?

“[Showrunner Michael Patrick King] like, ‘We’d love it if Alexa could do this. And we understand if we don’t, we can always wear wigs, but it can only help with the integrity of the character. ‘ Especially because, in my opinion, when you’re playing a role like this, it’s important that if you’re not a binary, you know that it’s not always the same thing. which you can relate precisely. You don’t want people watching to feel it’s just a complete character, that you don’t care about the actual character. And so, cutting my hair was a decision I wanted to make to make people feel that I really care about the character that I do. I love rock music. I also want to cut my hair really short. My mom and dad listened to the pleas for at least a few months, so it worked out.”

Aside from wanting a cool haircut, what do you connect most about Rock’s story?

“I would say the same way they loved their family throughout the whole thing. While I can’t relate to the gender part, I can relate to them being able to talk to their parents about how they feel and share their opinions and live their lives. they’re the Gen Z way, I guess you could Say. We both have strong feelings about ourselves. We are both really open and free. We both play games and I think it’s a pretty cool part of the Rock storyline. The whole arc of the skater is very interesting. ”

Sex and the city never dealt with social media before, so it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll take it and how Carrie won’t be the best at it, which feels right. Did you write rap? Is that or is it about taking the words from the script and deciding how Rock actually gets it on TikTok?

“Just the words my mom and I thought about how Rock would do it. Our inspiration after hours of scouring on TikTok is finally Justin Bieber, which makes a lot of people admire [including] Justin Bieber on TikTok yes. We thought it would be a great thing to do the rap part because Justin Bieber is great, but his TikTok presence is the epitome of a younger generation trying to be trustworthy on the internet. TikTok, so it’s pretty dull. I still love him. He is a wonderful person. Create great music. But to be a TikTok star, it takes something special. ”

“So we thought, that’s perfect for us, especially with the background music, it doesn’t even look like it’s uploaded to TikTok, but it’s playing in the background, which is what I can really tell you millennials have been working on TikTok. I have many videos of them saved to my phone that talk about how the side part doesn’t go out of date. It’s really funny. But I was thinking, this is perfect. This makes a lot of sense. So we took the word and made it our own. However, I added a phrase at the end, because apparently, Rose changed their last name to Rock, and so I thought, ‘Let’s rock,’ this sounds as simple as that, but I think it It was really funny and it made sure it wasn’t the last, and I’m really proud of that. “

How do you hope parents who may be in a similar situation to Harry and Charlotte should get rid of the show on how to talk to their kids?

“I hope that there are parents who have watched that maybe their child has been with them before or really recently, and maybe they are unfamiliar with the idea or unsure of what it means or not being too open to it because they don’t know what it is. And I just want them to see that their baby is still a human being and it’s not a stage or anything. There is still so much love Charlotte and Harry have for their children, regardless of their gender, and I hope that they realize that is something they should provide for their children, even if they don’t. understand exactly what they are. ”

What kind of music do you do and hope to create?

“I want to go the indie-pop route. I’m a big fan of Clairo, DoJi, Neighborhood, Wallows, those types of people. I think it would be really fun to actually get more involved in music like that. I also just want to perform with Taylor Swift, that would be fun. She does a lot of things with Phoebe Bridgers – well, one thing with Phoebe Bridgers – but it’s a lot with Taylor Swift. I really enjoy listening to such music and I am also trying to figure out how to write it. “

Taylor Swift and her team see it all, so sending it out into space is the first step.

“Exactly. Not that I didn’t manifest, but it will continue to manifest.”

The And just like that season finale will be available on Thursday, February 3 on HBO Max.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.