Get whisked away into a world of fairy tales when The School for Good and Evil drops on Netflix tomorrow!
Based on the bestselling book series of the same name by Soman Chainani, The School for Good and Evil tells the story of the best friends Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie). While Sophie has always dreamt of becoming a princess, Agatha has always had the makings of a witch, but when the two are taken to the School for Good and Evil, they seem to have been sorted into the wrong schools: Agatha in the School for Good and Sophie in the School for Evil. As the duo tries to correct this mistake, a mysterious figure tied to Sophie surfaces, threatening to destroy the school and the world beyond entirely.
Watch the trailer for The School for Good and Evil below:
Before the film drops on Netflix this October 19, we got to chat with its lead stars Sofia Wylie who plays Agatha, and Sophia Anne Caruso who plays Sophie, through a virtual roundtable interview. Check out the highlights of the interview below:
What life lessons from the film did you pick up when shooting?
Sofia Wylie (SW): I think there are so many wonderful lessons in this movie. Something that I think I learned, was how beauty comes from within. Even though that’s so cheesy, it’s really so true. Growing up in this industry, I didn’t necessarily feel like I was the standard for beauty in a lot of my life, and I kind of struggled with accepting myself for what I am and what I look like, but as Agatha has this journey of self-love and self-discovery, I feel like I was also mirroring that journey while we were filming too.
Sophia Anne Caruso (SC): I think that the film has a lot of lessons in it. It was a long shooting process, and it was a difficult shoot in all the best ways. But a big theme in the movie is friendship and how powerful that is, so to have an awesome co-star by my side who also became a friend really proved that message to be true!
What were your personal favorites when it comes to fairytales, and how did they resonate with you growing up?
SW: I think my favorite fairytale had to be The Little Mermaid. I was such a big fan of mermaids growing up. I would pray to God every night to make me a mermaid and wake up in the morning and I would place my finger in my sink with some water, and I would wait for about 5 minutes. Did I ever turn into a mermaid? That’s a secret I can’t tell, but I just wish I could be something more than just human. That’s always been a big dream of mine, to be this out-of-this-world thing.
SC: I always liked Alice in Wonderland growing up… I liked the idea of her, jumping down the rabbit hole and exploring a whole different world.
How was the casting process for the film?
SW: My journey in booking the role of Agatha for this movie was long. I had a meeting with some of the producers of the film, I was really interested in being a part of it. I did, I think maybe two or three self-tapes? Before I got the call to have a chemistry test with Sophia Anne and Paul Feig.
After that, I think I waited for… I don’t really know how long, I felt like an eternity. But then I finally got the call that I had booked the role of Agatha and we were still in quarantine during that time so we didn’t know when the filming process would actually begin, but it ended up beginning about a year after I found out that I was going to play Agatha. So it was a really long process because of that but once I started filming, it felt like no time had passed at all and I was really ready to go. I had a really wonderful co-star to work with every single day, so it was a really wonderful process.
SC: My journey of getting this job started with meeting with Paul Feig. He and I were talking about the different work that we want to do, and I asked him if he had anything that we could work on together. He mentioned this project, then I made a tape for him then I tested with Sofia.
Director Paul Feig encouraged you to have your own input on your characters’ looks. What were the elements that you added to your character?
SW: Renee [Ehrlich Kalfus], who was our wardrobe was so incredibly collaborative, as well as Paul Feig, he was really wonderful in allowing us to have a say in what we wanted to look like, how we wanted to act, what we wanted the environment to feel like and be– which was not something that I have ever experienced before, a very different environment to be a part of.
I think for me, as Agatha, I was able to incorporate my dream princess desires into her princess transition regarding hairstyles, as well as not allowing her curly hair to become straight. I did not want that to be a representation of what a princess should be, that her hair becomes straight if it’s curly. Her hair can still be curly and untamed and be out there, and that doesn’t take away from any form of princess-ness. The gowns are beautiful and I’m glad I got to send a lot of my personal aspirations.
SA: Everything was super collaborative, and I think we’re all on the same page anyway for the looks. Renee, the costume designer, we shared a lot of mood boards and we have a lot of the same imagery on there, so it was really great.
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The School for Good and Evil is directed by Paul Feig, and it also stars Kerry Washington, Charlize Theron, Laurence Fishburne, Jamie Flatters, Kit Young, and Rob Delaney. The film starts streaming on Netflix this October 19.
