Lilah Richcreek Estrada on 'A Man on the Inside', Ted Danson, & Behind-the-Scenes Stories

[00:00:10] Okay, good. Elias, thank you for joining me today at Pop Culture Unplugged. Hi, good to be back. Exciting times. We have A Man on the Inside and a career about what, two days ago now? One day, I forget. I'm losing track. Yesterday. I know. Me too. Yesterday. Yeah, it's, I know, it feels like it's been out for a while, but no, yesterday. Maybe because I watched the screeners a few days ago. That's why I feel like it's been outside. There you go. There you go. Yeah. What's your life been like? Because the last time we spoke, you know, you had Chicago, Matt, and a few other

[00:00:39] projects, and now you have this. It's like, you've been busy. Yeah. I mean, life has been good. Yeah, we worked on this project, like, at the beginning of this year. We shot February to May. And then, so it's so cool that it's out so quickly. I mean, it feels fast to me. But life has been good. I can't, I can't complain. I'm so excited that the show is finally out. The

[00:01:09] response has been really great. So far, people seem to be loving it and watching it in one sitting, which is so cool. Yeah, I mean, I can't complain. It's all, it's all good stuff.

[00:01:21] How are you approached for this series now? Was this like an audition? Or was it somebody you worked with before? So like, hey, we might have this little part for you, like Julie, like what happened?

[00:01:30] Um, so I met, well, I've been a fan of Mike Schur. Like, I love The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Rec, all of that. And I auditioned before Chicago Med. I was up for a different role that he was working on, a different show that he was working on. That show didn't end up getting made.

[00:01:52] Um, and then I did Chicago Med. And then my reps saw that this was coming out. And, you know, reached out to the casting and, and, and all of that. And they had said that I was already on the list to go in for it, because I had, you know, met Mike prior.

[00:02:15] And, um, yeah. And then so I, uh, I basically read one time with, uh, the producers and got to see Mike again. And then I did a second chemistry read with Ted. And then here we are.

[00:02:31] It's amazing. It's amazing. I like Julie. She's like, uh, like one of those like dynamic characters, you know, we see her as a, you know, she's a PI with like an unconventional mole. Like, how did you like, what did you like, how did you, how did you want to bring this character?

[00:02:45] What drew you to this role?

[00:02:47] Well, I think, um, she was already written, written so perfectly to begin with. She's so, you know, she's direct and assertive, but she's also warm and patient with Charles. And, um, I think the dynamic between the two of them was so clear that he's just loving this new spy mode.

[00:03:10] And she's still like, this is still a job that I'm getting paid for and we need to complete it. Um, so I really like went based off of what was there already because it was so fleshed out.

[00:03:23] And then I, I added my own, um, backstory to it, to, uh, you know, not explain, but like have a reason for why she is the way she is.

[00:03:35] And hopefully, you know, if we get more seasons, we get to see more of her personal life and we'll see, uh, how accurate my own, my own thoughts were on it.

[00:03:45] But, um, yeah, yeah, that's just so, yeah, it just, it was already so well written to begin with.

[00:03:52] And then I just infused and did my, my actor thing to it. And then here we go. We're, this is what we're at now.

[00:04:00] Right. One of my favorite things about the series so far is like, you know, you pretend you're a Charles's daughter, you know, to maintain the, like the mystery, the undercover thing.

[00:04:07] Like, uh, how would you say this layer of deception impacts like the dynamics between like Charles and like the retirement home?

[00:04:15] And I think it makes it particularly fun. I mean, because also Julie is the opposite of what she thinks like a daughter should be like, yeah, it's like, I guess I'm in cardigans and like pink cardigans and jeans now.

[00:04:35] Um, and she knows she's like a power suit girl. So I think just, I think that dynamic is just so funny in general. Like she's playing this thing that she's, that's not her favorite.

[00:04:48] And she has to wrangle her mole who is just loving his new, his like, feels like it's a game to him.

[00:04:56] Um, and I, I just think it's, I just think it's so funny. And like the way people in the retirement home approach her and call her froggy now, even though she specifically said like, I don't like nicknames and he just threw one out there.

[00:05:10] I just think that's so funny. Like, um, there's an episode where, uh, Julie as Emily comes to the retirement community and everyone yells froggy and you can just tell it's like grading nails on a chalkboard to hear that.

[00:05:28] But she has to play it cool. And like, I've been called froggy my whole life. So, you know, I'm just going to roll with it.

[00:05:33] Um, I just, I think it adds another layer of, of fun to it, to be honest and fun to play for me. That was very, that was a ton of fun.

[00:05:43] We noticed the show also blends, you know, like we have like the mystery, but we also have, you know, comedy also like, how did you balance these two tones?

[00:05:52] Um, yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a good question. Um, to me, they felt pretty, pretty seamless. Um, I think, uh,

[00:06:02] I think there's like the, the comedy comes from just playing the truth over and over again, you know, because Ted did such a good job at playing Charles and playing, you know, his, uh, his love for this new spy game that he's playing.

[00:06:23] That made it so easy to play the comedy, play the deadpan, dry comedy. And also, you know, the story was there, the, the mysteries is written in, um, which made, you know, which made it so easy to play as well.

[00:06:42] So I feel like, I feel like it was just the collaboration and a group effort of just like really great writing, really great being surrounded by really great actors.

[00:06:50] And, and for me as an actor to play, um, the truth, the truth over and over again, you know?

[00:06:56] Yeah. When the, when the audience tunes in, like, what do you hope they get out of like the, the journey of like Julie and Charles, what do you hope they take away from it?

[00:07:03] I think, I hope that they're just, that it makes them smile and makes them laugh. And it, you know, I hope,

[00:07:15] I really hope a lot of people do get to see, to get a little deep. The journey of Charles is, you know, he sends a message that like, you can do anything at any point in your life.

[00:07:27] You can flip the script and start over and do really well at it, um, at any age. And I think that's inspiring for anybody who watches it, you know, whether that's somebody just graduating college and not knowing what direction to go or someone in their seventies.

[00:07:44] That's like, I need to reinvent my life. I want to, I want to do something new. So, and I think Julie and Charles get to be a part of that journey together.

[00:07:56] Um, and so I really hope that, and also I just hope it's, it's fun and light and like brings people joy and, uh, gives them a little bit of an escape, you know, for the 25, 30 minutes that they're watching each episode.

[00:08:12] Right. Right. I know like this is, you know, this was like an inspiration, like loosely based on the mold documentary. Did you like go and watch that just to see how they made that before you jumped into this?

[00:08:21] I did. Yeah. I, I watched it after I got the job. Um, and again, it's, it's great. It's full of heart. It's warm. It's lovely. Um, I love that. I didn't, when I, when I first, I didn't know anything about it when I, when I first started watching it. Um, and I was kind of glad that, um, the private eye is, um, a man in it because I didn't want that to influence me too hard.

[00:08:50] I still wanted to play my version of Julie and what was written and honor that. So I love that. I love that. It's a woman in, in our show. I think that's super cool. Um, yeah, it's a, you know, it was nominated for an Oscar for, for a reason. It's great. It's really great.

[00:09:10] This show has a, an amazing cast also. Is there, I know like everybody's gonna say they love working with, uh, Ted Danson. Was there anybody else specific that you could wait to have these scenes with?

[00:09:21] Oh my God. There's so many people. I mean, like I was really excited to work with Mary Elizabeth and Stefan, obviously like they're two powerhouse women, incredible actors. And then we have a, uh, a huge guest cap full of legends. We have Margaret Avery and Susan Rattan and Sally Struthers and John Getz. And, and, you know, God, Steven is one of like

[00:09:47] the coolest, most content dudes you'll ever meet. He is just like, no wonder he's had such a prolific career. Cause he is just happy.

[00:09:59] Like he's happy at every stage and he's very grateful. And I like, I loved being around him. His energy is just easy and warm and cool. He's the coolest dude. Like you'll ever meet. Um, so yeah, when I saw that list of legends, I just was like, well, this is going to be a masterclass in how to have a great career.

[00:10:24] And I just get to watch all of these people. And, and learn from them. Uh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:33] If we see a season two, what are you hoping you see with Julie? Anything new you like, would you add something about her character or like a story?

[00:10:41] If you, if you, if you, if you could.

[00:10:44] We'll have to see. We'll have to see. Um, I really want to see like little Easter eggs of her personal life, just kind of be thrown in there. And I would love it to, um, I would love her personal life just to shock us.

[00:11:00] I would love there to be like a very weird comedy twist to whatever, whatever it is, you know, whatever, you know, class or clubs or what, like she, she knocks on Charles for being always being in a club.

[00:11:15] But like, what if she's in like five clubs? I just think that would be kind of like funny and silly and like ironic. So I'd love to just see more of her personal life. Yeah.

[00:11:25] Amazing. So we have, uh, a man on the inside on Netflix. Now, uh, what's next for you? Do you still, you still got any other projects you're allowed to tell us about before we end this?

[00:11:34] Yeah. Um, I still, um, I still work her on Chicago med. Um, the next episode I will be on is episode nine of season 10, which I think is coming up in a week or two. Um, yeah. And then working on, um, some of my, my own stuff that I'm creating and then we'll, uh, we'll see from there.

[00:11:54] We'll see what, uh, we'll see what comes from, from all of this.

[00:11:59] Hopefully Netflix will announce a season two soon.

[00:12:01] That's listen, let's spread that rumor. I'll take it. I love it.

[00:12:05] Yeah. Lila, I want to thank you for getting from me today. This was great. And, uh, good luck with the series.

[00:12:10] Thank you so much. So good to see you again.

[00:12:12] You too.