While shooting one of the first scenes of Hal & Harper, Lili Reinhart‘s performance brought Cooper Raiff to tears.
“There’s only so much on the page,” the writer-director-actor told TV Insider. “The script was just like, ‘They’re at lunch, she’s in line, she sees her brother, brother waves. It’s just like four sentences, and it was like the most magical thing I’ve ever experienced watching.”
The eight-episode MUBI drama, which premiered its first two episodes on October 19, follows two adult siblings whose codependence stems from the shared pain of their childhood. When their dad (Mark Ruffalo) informs them that his girlfriend (Betty Gilpin) is pregnant and he’s selling their childhood home, it dredges up memories from Hal and Harper’s past. It manifests in flashbacks; Reinhart and Raiff play their characters’ third and first-grade selves, in an effort to show how they grew up too fast.
“What Lily brings to third-grade Harper is not to be spoken about almost,” Raiff said in a joint interview with his costar. “It’s so sacred, and I really mean it. It’s like my favorite thing in the world, and it’s offered me so much healing watching, and I know that it’s gonna offer so many audience members some real healing, ’cause what she gives, especially in the finale, it’s just such a gift.”
Reinhart knew immediately that she needed to be part of the project, which she was “shocked and surprised” to be offered as Riverdale was coming to an end. Reinhart and Raiff got to know each other over the course of a year before filming, which helped their chemistry. Now, she considers herself and Raiff as spiritual siblings, and she doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that the two of them played that dynamic onscreen.
“It sort of just became like, we understand each other, we get each other, we both feel very deeply, we’re empathic people and have deep compassion for these characters and also are deeply messed up in our own ways,” Reinhart added. “Then we’re able to find catharsis through playing these people.”
Scroll to the top of the page to watch the full interview with the Hal & Harper stars, who also break down Reinhart’s approach to playing nine-year-old Harper.
Hal & Harper, Season 1, Sundays, MUBI