Speaker 1: I'm Susanna Shotkovsky and I played Deronda on Desprol. Welcome back,
Speaker 1: listeners to your one and only source into all things
Speaker 1: gossip Girl. You know you love it. XO x oh, hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome back to XO XO everyone. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Jessica's or Okay, so you've been waiting for this one.
Speaker 1: I've been waiting for this one. I am beyond excited
Speaker 1: to announce that my guest today is Susanna Shatkovsky, who
Speaker 1: played the iconic de Roda on Gossip Girl. And you
Speaker 1: know what, I don't even know where to begin with her,
Speaker 1: so we're just going to skip the rewatch today and
Speaker 1: just deep dive into her entire gossip Girl journey and
Speaker 1: what made de Roda such an important character on the show.
Speaker 1: Susanna and I were just together in Charleston, South Carolina.
Speaker 1: We also were with some of our castmates, Chase Ed
Speaker 1: and Aaron, so to have a little mini reunion and
Speaker 1: get to see some of you amazing fans with such
Speaker 1: a treat and it also leads Susanna coming on the podcast.
Speaker 1: So I'm all smiles over here. And this one is
Speaker 1: so good that we had to split it into two parts,
Speaker 1: so this time will cover things like her casting story,
Speaker 1: her relationship with Miss Blair, but obviously come back next
Speaker 1: week for more from the one and only Susanna shatkov Ski.
Speaker 1: Here she is everyone, Hi, Hi, Hi. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: your baby is so cute. I was looking at your
Speaker 1: Instagram pictures unless she looks just like you, It's insane.
Speaker 1: That's so funny. Everyone keeps saying that I see it,
Speaker 1: and then I'm also like, like, she's your twin. I'm like,
Speaker 1: is she though? But I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1: I want to be your twin. But wait, can I
Speaker 1: just tell you? Seeing you in Charleston and every like,
Speaker 1: all of us together just made me feel like so
Speaker 1: good on every level, and then having you here today,
Speaker 1: I'm just like so thrilled. We've been talking about you
Speaker 1: for months, like from the beginning of the podcast, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't think she wants to do it, guys,
Speaker 1: And she's not in She's not down so bad at
Speaker 1: Instagram that I didn't see that, And it's like like
Speaker 1: I never look at any messages or anything that I being, like,
Speaker 1: I wish I could be on the podcast. You were
Speaker 1: like one of our first people we wanted. That's amazing
Speaker 1: and yeah, well thank you. I'm sorry, I'm so finally.
Speaker 1: I know. It's so exciting because you're a legend and
Speaker 1: a gangster and such an amazing actor. And here's the
Speaker 1: other thing. Much on top of all of that, you're
Speaker 1: just fucking cool, Like you're just a cool person. You've
Speaker 1: got to like a good sense of humor. You're real
Speaker 1: like radical and I appreciate because we had not been
Speaker 1: around each other in a long time, but I was
Speaker 1: just with you many years. I'm like, yo, this girl
Speaker 1: is just she just knows what's up. She's got like
Speaker 1: the coolest cute little elphit on. I'm like this, you're
Speaker 1: just read. I do like to think that maybe I'm
Speaker 1: a little bit cooler than Deronda on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like I feel like she has
Speaker 1: her her vibe and her style. But you know what, though,
Speaker 1: you gave de Rota a real swagger and a real presence.
Speaker 1: But before all of that, tell us where, tell everyone,
Speaker 1: like where you're from? What made you get into acting? Well? Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I was actually born in Poland like Deronda. So
Speaker 1: that's that's my inn with um and I came here
Speaker 1: when I was little, but I was only three when
Speaker 1: I came to the US. I definitely am more of
Speaker 1: a you know, American gal um, but I have a
Speaker 1: Polish soul, so I like to maintain that. But I
Speaker 1: grew up in the Midwest. So did you always speak
Speaker 1: both languages? Yes, I mean I was already speaking, you know,
Speaker 1: when I was a little baby when we came here
Speaker 1: and then so that was really my first language. And
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, I had an accent. So like,
Speaker 1: it's so weird because I found a video of myself
Speaker 1: when I was six or seven, and I had a
Speaker 1: Polish accent, and so I was like a little Polish baby.
Speaker 1: And I grew up in the Midwest in Indiana, so
Speaker 1: there were not a lot of other Polish babies around.
Speaker 1: So I was like a little a little unusual kid
Speaker 1: in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Um, but I learned, you know,
Speaker 1: I Americanized pretty quickly, but my parents always pushed me
Speaker 1: to maintain my Polish. You know. I had to uh
Speaker 1: read in Polish and write, which I really am grateful
Speaker 1: for now because I use it, you know, professionally, and
Speaker 1: I feel like it's an important part of my identity.
Speaker 1: And I'm really grateful for it now. But yeah, but
Speaker 1: like talking and speaking like this, it's like wild that
Speaker 1: you're just like, I'll just take this other language, have
Speaker 1: this other act, that be this completely different person from
Speaker 1: this other culture. That's like ridiculously right. Well, it's funny
Speaker 1: because it's like I've used my Polish accent as an
Speaker 1: actor so much like my first TV job or jobs
Speaker 1: actually were with Polish or Eastern European accents, and then
Speaker 1: I got the Deronda Party, which was another one, and
Speaker 1: I didn't have anything with an American accent, you know,
Speaker 1: in my whole repertoire until like well into my acting career,
Speaker 1: so it was like, you know, it definitely became a thing.
Speaker 1: But I but I'm you know, I appreciate it, and
Speaker 1: I've always been like, to me, it's been really important
Speaker 1: to be authentically Polish for the Polish fans in the world,
Speaker 1: because you know, it is an important part of my identity.
Speaker 1: And you know, my parents had my mom passed away
Speaker 1: Uhelve and my dad is um still to this day,
Speaker 1: so many years had they had thick, thick accents that
Speaker 1: never went away. So I had a plenty of experience
Speaker 1: with the extreme polish accent stuff. So that comes pretty
Speaker 1: naturally to me. Right, that's wild. But you went you
Speaker 1: studied acting at Harvard? Yeah, I went to. Let's just okay,
Speaker 1: don't just say yeah like that, you know I did.
Speaker 1: You've never heard of studying acting at Harvard is kind
Speaker 1: of funny because it's like all these Harvard students are
Speaker 1: you know, I have their noses in the books, and
Speaker 1: they're like super genious writing, writing amazing papers and thesis
Speaker 1: and all this stuff. And I'm you know, rolling around
Speaker 1: the floor pretending to be an animal or a tree,
Speaker 1: because that's like acting school, even at Harvard is still
Speaker 1: acting school, you know. But I did get to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was there, and I was on the campus and
Speaker 1: I pretended to be starting pants like the rest of them.
Speaker 1: But you know, no, I went to M. Barner College
Speaker 1: in Manhattan as an undergrad, and then I went to
Speaker 1: the a Art Institute, which is the acting school at
Speaker 1: Harvard for my graduate school. So sort of ussured me into,
Speaker 1: I guess, my professional career. It was after grad schools
Speaker 1: when I started auditioning and working. So back to New
Speaker 1: York City and back to the grind. What made you
Speaker 1: like I wanted take on acting. You know, I didn't
Speaker 1: my first My first acting experience I think was like
Speaker 1: sixth or seventh grade in Indiana in school, and it
Speaker 1: was like I auditioned. It was for Diary of Anne
Speaker 1: Frank and I got on the little stage for the audition.
Speaker 1: In the minute I opened my mouth, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is it. I was like, you know, and it
Speaker 1: was like, you know, I totally got the bug. And
Speaker 1: I'm not sure exactly what it was started. I always
Speaker 1: kind of think my parents were pretty strict because it
Speaker 1: was like I was an only child Polish parents, so
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't allowed to wear makeup, and I
Speaker 1: think part of the appeal as a kid was that
Speaker 1: you got to put on all this makeup and be
Speaker 1: fabulous and glamorous. So I think that was like one
Speaker 1: of the things I like, which is funny because then
Speaker 1: my acting career was never glamorous again. I mean, not
Speaker 1: that in Frank was, but you know, I did some
Speaker 1: musicals and stuff in high school. You know, I had
Speaker 1: really a lot of fun with the sort of not
Speaker 1: just being on stage and kind of the fabulous magical transformation,
Speaker 1: but also the community feeling of being in the theater like,
Speaker 1: I really like that scene, and so I stuck with
Speaker 1: it and there was no dissuading me after that. After
Speaker 1: I got a taste of it. That's amazing. You're like,
Speaker 1: I'm doing this. Yeah, so you got the bog You
Speaker 1: were like great? And how was your family supportive? Indiana
Speaker 1: is like the Midwest rid from Like people knew of it,
Speaker 1: but they didn't really like they're like, what what are
Speaker 1: you doing? What? It's a very weird thing. I mean
Speaker 1: in high school, I was voted most likely to be famous. It'
Speaker 1: just kind of funny because I am. It was just
Speaker 1: because I did all the did all the plays, you know,
Speaker 1: so it's like that was your that was the only,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of way to do it. But um no,
Speaker 1: my parents, what happens that they were that that's correct?
Speaker 1: Do you go back and like did they win an
Speaker 1: award for like being correct? Well? It was me, all right.
Speaker 1: It was funny because like, yeah, I missed my I
Speaker 1: just had my I won't even age myself to tell
Speaker 1: you which anniversary I missed, but they just had like
Speaker 1: the reunion for my high school, like a really big one,
Speaker 1: and I did ten years right yeah, right right there
Speaker 1: with you. Oh, but no. But you know, my parents,
Speaker 1: my dad he has PhD in mathematics and he he
Speaker 1: was he worked as a mechanical engineer and my mother
Speaker 1: was biochemists. So for the two of them to have
Speaker 1: an actor daughter was I think a little bit traumatizing.
Speaker 1: Not exactly what they were looking for. They're like, who
Speaker 1: are you saving? And how are you changing the world?
Speaker 1: And you're like, trust do a math equation? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I do think, you know, they it was a little
Speaker 1: bit of a hard sell at first, but I think
Speaker 1: actually being on television made it a little bit easier
Speaker 1: for them because they could watch me. Because then they
Speaker 1: ended up living in North Carolina, Like they moved there
Speaker 1: when I was in college, and so when I was
Speaker 1: in New York working as an actor, the first time
Speaker 1: they could see me on it on TV and they
Speaker 1: could like show the neighbors. It was like, oh, she's
Speaker 1: actually has a job. It's okay, It's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: So in the end, I mean, I think, yeah, they
Speaker 1: you know, they've always been supportive and loving parents. But
Speaker 1: I think that it was a little bit of a
Speaker 1: hard cell. I mean, they didn't It wasn't so much
Speaker 1: that they gave me a hard time. It was more
Speaker 1: that they made fun of me and still do, but
Speaker 1: my my fantastical acting aspirations. But I think that they're
Speaker 1: happy that I kind of get to, you know, for
Speaker 1: lack of a better word, like see the world and
Speaker 1: and sort of live slash chase my dream, you know,
Speaker 1: depending on the moment. Right, Okay, So your situation for
Speaker 1: Gossip Girl, like it was never going to be that
Speaker 1: de Roda was in start to finish, no, first, no, no,
Speaker 1: it was totally unexpected. And I always tell like young
Speaker 1: actors that you know, I always my advice is always
Speaker 1: like you never know uh where the character ever know
Speaker 1: where your opportunities lie. You know, you have this idea
Speaker 1: that oh, this is gonna be the job that's it,
Speaker 1: or this is the thing that this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a great gig for me, this is my path, and
Speaker 1: it's always a surprise, like it's never the one you
Speaker 1: thought it was. It's always somewhere where you didn't expect
Speaker 1: or see it. Because for me, um the Derotor role
Speaker 1: was an audition for literally it was a possible recurring
Speaker 1: guest star and the breakdown said something like sixty plus
Speaker 1: plus housekeeper. Yeah, and there were and there were no
Speaker 1: and I said no lines, and so I was like
Speaker 1: Rota was sixty five years old and a mute, silent Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there are no lines in the There were no lines
Speaker 1: in the first episode. And it was like, by the way,
Speaker 1: there's so without Derota, so was no gossip Girl. Basically
Speaker 1: it was gone, I'm I'm dropping the bike dub with
Speaker 1: the podcast, like no gossip Girl exists. Yeah, So it
Speaker 1: was like they were so basically it was like a
Speaker 1: possibly going to recur housekeeper who didn't have any lines
Speaker 1: and they were looking for an older woman. But the
Speaker 1: only keyword, the only reason I even popped up, you know,
Speaker 1: my agents even submitted me was the Polish part. I
Speaker 1: had just played a Polish housekeeper and the Sopranos, like
Speaker 1: in the final season this little show no one's ever
Speaker 1: heard of that basically television a tiny part because then
Speaker 1: like they had a really cool Polish housekeeper who did
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff on that show, but that wasn't me.
Speaker 1: And then in the final season when she was gone,
Speaker 1: I played, uh, the Polish housekeeper for Carmel and Tony
Speaker 1: for like three episodes. But I said a couple of
Speaker 1: lines to Tony which was actually really thrilling, you know really,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, you know, and he was really and
Speaker 1: James sandal Pine, he was really nice to me and
Speaker 1: he said I had a good accent and that I
Speaker 1: was very good, and I was like so exciting. But
Speaker 1: but it had just happened right before the gospel auditions,
Speaker 1: so they were like, well, they know you you can
Speaker 1: do a Polish maid, and they know you're not sixty five.
Speaker 1: And in fact, like this always shocks people. But when
Speaker 1: we started Gossipel, I was twenty eight, and I love
Speaker 1: it because when you really look you don't like very young,
Speaker 1: but people in person maybe say, oh, you look younger.
Speaker 1: But the contrast and like what they did with the character,
Speaker 1: it just made me seem like right, and we're in
Speaker 1: a high yeah, yeah, like you and you're you know,
Speaker 1: sixteen at the time. Yeah yeah, I supposed to be
Speaker 1: like raising her. Yeah. And the thing is like we
Speaker 1: always had all these lines about de Roto going to
Speaker 1: feed ducks in Central Park with Blair when she was
Speaker 1: a baby, and I was like, yes, Deronto was twelve,
Speaker 1: you know, but anyway, literally Deronda was learning how to
Speaker 1: walk as well. Don't worry. It's like Hollywood magic. But anyway,
Speaker 1: so I went in for an audition and I had
Speaker 1: there were no lines, So what do you like, you know,
Speaker 1: just the different literally yes, literally for the audition, they said,
Speaker 1: you know, improvised, like you're serving breakfast to some rich kids.
Speaker 1: And I was like okay, um, And in the lobby right, well,
Speaker 1: that's the thing is, I was like, I gotta do
Speaker 1: something with personality, and so like when I signed in
Speaker 1: in the lobby and you know the actors, I'll sign
Speaker 1: in a sheet and I saw that I was the
Speaker 1: only one with a Polish name, so I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm probably the only like, you know, legit pole in here.
Speaker 1: So I figured let me lean into that. So when
Speaker 1: I did the audition, I sort of improvised and I
Speaker 1: was like mumbling and talking to myself in Polish, like
Speaker 1: in a sort of like uh, you know, brilliant. I
Speaker 1: love that. And I did it for so long and
Speaker 1: I think it was I'm pretty sure it was Mark Pisnarski,
Speaker 1: who was like who did the pilot and had directed
Speaker 1: the pilot, but this I wasn't in the pilot, was
Speaker 1: in the second episode. But I remember they let me
Speaker 1: go on and on for you're just talking to yourself.
Speaker 1: I'm just walking around out of polish, cursing and you know,
Speaker 1: roll in my eyes. And and then I left. And
Speaker 1: it was funny because I got the part, and I
Speaker 1: didn't really think that was that. I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: I mean it's like no lines, like whatever. And my
Speaker 1: agent said, you know, it's gonna probably be a good,
Speaker 1: big show because it's based on a very popular book series.
Speaker 1: And I thought another hit show. You're like, yeah, And
Speaker 1: I didn't really know anything because I was just like
Speaker 1: I never knew anything about anything I was, which is
Speaker 1: also always good. I really am the same. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I've talked to I mean, I've heard I've listened to
Speaker 1: your podcast. I'm a big fan, and I've heard a
Speaker 1: lot of people can't talk with you about you know,
Speaker 1: this idea that um, you know in this business, you know,
Speaker 1: either make a pilot that will the pilot go? Who
Speaker 1: knows will when we recast? Will it one continue? Will
Speaker 1: the show get picked up? Like all of the variables
Speaker 1: and uncertainty, the fact that any show ever goes at all,
Speaker 1: much less that it becomes popular, much less that it continues,
Speaker 1: much less that in that it then becomes part of
Speaker 1: the Zeitgeister and you know, part of pop culture over time.
Speaker 1: Like it's just so many phenomenal things one after the
Speaker 1: other with the show that I didn't even know to
Speaker 1: worry about. Like when we were talking show, I never
Speaker 1: even occurred to me to worry that they wouldn't renew
Speaker 1: it or you know, I was always on the ride,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just gonna talk to myself and the
Speaker 1: most favorite pends on the show. No. But it was
Speaker 1: like I just always was, you know. And the thing
Speaker 1: for me is that I was always scared I would
Speaker 1: never that they would never have me back. So it
Speaker 1: was like in the beginning, I as Dorota's character sort
Speaker 1: of grew over time. I never every single script, I
Speaker 1: was like, I hope they didn't kill me off or
Speaker 1: get rid of me. So I was like, I was
Speaker 1: like waiting for that to happen for six seasons. UM.
Speaker 1: So I never really even felt super comfortable in it. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah. But the funny part was the one I got,
Speaker 1: the part they called me and said, you know, you
Speaker 1: got the the show, And I text message my boyfriend
Speaker 1: at the time and I said I got Gossip Girl
Speaker 1: and he wrote back he was like, did you mean
Speaker 1: this for somebody else? Because he thought I met I
Speaker 1: got Gossip Girl, Like, hey all, I got got yeah,
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, no, I got the show
Speaker 1: calling off Girl. It was I showed up and my
Speaker 1: first scene was with Layton. It was like a really
Speaker 1: cool reveal for my character because it was like Lara's
Speaker 1: speaking kind of lamenting about her day and her troubles,
Speaker 1: and it looks like she must be talking to her
Speaker 1: mother because he would only speak to your mother that way.
Speaker 1: And then when they shot reverses, you see that it's
Speaker 1: the housekeeper. And so even though the housekeeper had no lines,
Speaker 1: you could see that, like, this is in this girl's life,
Speaker 1: This is who she has to you know this, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is her maternal figure, and like this is kind
Speaker 1: of you know, where she is um in terms of
Speaker 1: her relationships her own mother. So it was automatically kind
Speaker 1: of set up in that way, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: the the relationship between Blaren Dorota sort of grew, sort
Speaker 1: of it grew organically, and then we had so much
Speaker 1: fun with it, and then all this kind of silly
Speaker 1: uh stuff started getting introduced. I remember the first episode
Speaker 1: where it was like a funny thing happened for Deronda
Speaker 1: was that Cyndy Lapper came in and and and Blair
Speaker 1: wants to run off after Chuck or something, and then
Speaker 1: so she ends up pushing Dorota on Cyndi Lauper like
Speaker 1: She's like, you know, Derote is your biggest fan. And
Speaker 1: I had this like fantastic scene with Cyndy Lapper where
Speaker 1: I had to like, you know, freak out over her.
Speaker 1: And so Throtta all of a sudden started having a
Speaker 1: little you know, funny things to do, and I think
Speaker 1: over time it started to to grow. Yeah, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I love that love. And honestly, like when Norman Buckley
Speaker 1: was on he was talking about yeah, yeah, where he
Speaker 1: was like, you guys have to kind of lead into
Speaker 1: this relationship because of the way Blair's relationship with her mother,
Speaker 1: there has to be this thing. Basically, he was saying,
Speaker 1: you guys have to explore this relationship right now. He
Speaker 1: really was the guy. I mean, he and I know
Speaker 1: you talked about this in the podcast, but he was
Speaker 1: the one who really re established the possibilities for Dorota
Speaker 1: because he switched up this scene where Margaret it was
Speaker 1: written for um Claire's mom and then he made it
Speaker 1: all of a sudden because of him and his collaboration
Speaker 1: with the writers and producers, it became Derota scene and
Speaker 1: it was really what to find that role all of
Speaker 1: a sudden. It came from like an implied possibility to
Speaker 1: a reality, and so he opened that door and it
Speaker 1: was such a huge moment. It happens sometimes as an
Speaker 1: actor where you have, uh, you know, you're sort of
Speaker 1: doing your work over here on the side, and then
Speaker 1: you kind of get a door that you can step through,
Speaker 1: you know, and somebody has to open that up for you.
Speaker 1: And it was for me and for Dorota it was
Speaker 1: it literally just kind google down my whole body right now.
Speaker 1: So cool. There's something so lovable and wonderful that you
Speaker 1: do and bring to Deronda. The way you are balancing
Speaker 1: all these kids that are trying to deal with all
Speaker 1: these crazy emotions and money and wild, wild stuff. The
Speaker 1: way that you played it, it's just it's it's really great.
Speaker 1: I'm like so happy that I'm watching it now because
Speaker 1: I'm like, really, what you did with this role is amazing,
Speaker 1: Like you should really honestly win like an award. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, that's well, I already have because of just
Speaker 1: the nice things you're saying that means really means a
Speaker 1: serious you know. Part of it, I think is that
Speaker 1: like as an actor, it's like when I look at
Speaker 1: Rona or As as that role was started developing and
Speaker 1: those relationships with developing, it was like she was such
Speaker 1: an easy and fulfilling characters played because she was like
Speaker 1: all heart. So it's like the fact that um, I
Speaker 1: think in a way she's functioned like dramaturgically, is sort
Speaker 1: of like a moral center for that universe, you know,
Speaker 1: because of just her position. You know. So it's like
Speaker 1: all this drama was happening around her. She was the housekeeper.
Speaker 1: But then in terms of her relationship with all the
Speaker 1: you know kids, Uh, it was like she just loved
Speaker 1: Blair and she was going to protect Blair and she
Speaker 1: because of that, she loved Mr Chunk and she loved
Speaker 1: and everybody you know, yeah, you know. So it was
Speaker 1: like so it all came from that very maternal, like
Speaker 1: very sort of um simple and deep deep deep like
Speaker 1: maternal love center that she had, and so it was
Speaker 1: kind of easy and fun. And it's like I can
Speaker 1: relate to some of that. Some of that's very different
Speaker 1: from me but you know, she um, it was always easy,
Speaker 1: always had a north star, which was like what's best
Speaker 1: for miss Blair, you know. And uh, I think that's
Speaker 1: actually why a lot of fans like responded so much
Speaker 1: to Grod. It was because you know, she was there
Speaker 1: for Blair. But like when you were doing that, like
Speaker 1: as an actor, your intentions going in to these seeds
Speaker 1: and stuff, was it always that that was your thing.
Speaker 1: It's to protect Lair, yeah kind of. And and part
Speaker 1: of it what happened organically was so nice is that
Speaker 1: I just like immediately had like a total um, you know,
Speaker 1: such a nice, warm and loving relationship with Layton. So
Speaker 1: she was the person I would always look too on set. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so I would find you know, her energy like
Speaker 1: doing scenes with her. We had so much fun together
Speaker 1: and I feel like we immediately had you know, love
Speaker 1: and respect for each other. And so that translated very easily.
Speaker 1: Like that in combination with the way the character was written,
Speaker 1: it was really easy for me to you know, step
Speaker 1: into sort of the protector of that character and to
Speaker 1: go like whole hog team Blair, you know, and like
Speaker 1: for me, some of them more fun stuff was you know,
Speaker 1: this stuff where Dorota was sent off sort of as
Speaker 1: like Blair's yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, like but I had
Speaker 1: to go spy for her and do all that stuff.
Speaker 1: That was so so. But it's also funny, like Chuck
Speaker 1: is this one of these last episodes. He's like, de
Speaker 1: Rota tip me off, she's here. I'm like, de Rota
Speaker 1: is just talking to Mr Chuck. We got thanks going. Yes,
Speaker 1: Deronda had like really good relations very interesting, detailed Blaired
Speaker 1: relationship with Mr Chuck which I love too. Um And
Speaker 1: because oh yeah yeah, I always say because like to me,
Speaker 1: I'm always like when people say, like, why do you
Speaker 1: think the fans like dr I'm like, I think it's because,
Speaker 1: you know, something magical happened with Um Blair and Chuck,
Speaker 1: which is the fans really but into that. That chemistry
Speaker 1: of those two characters, right, you know, Team Chuck Blair
Speaker 1: was really you know, the audience really grabbed onto that.
Speaker 1: And then because Deronda was Blair's protector and also a
Speaker 1: big proponent of that relations Chuck Blair all the time,
Speaker 1: so it was very easy for fans to identify with Throat.
Speaker 1: I almost became like an extension of fans, you know,
Speaker 1: because I'm in there, I'm in there doing my best,
Speaker 1: you know, de Rode is in there doing her best
Speaker 1: to keep that relationship alive and keep everybody safe and happy.
Speaker 1: So like fans saw themselves in that character, you know,
Speaker 1: I think now that you see that, yes, that but
Speaker 1: it's it's just like lovely and awesome and it's just
Speaker 1: so funny. Obviously Dorota had a presence and all the things,
Speaker 1: but watching it now, you really were this light in
Speaker 1: her life that made her really get through all of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and also she had she could kind of like you know,
Speaker 1: ship on Derota when she needed to, which was great
Speaker 1: because which is you know, it's a great relationship you
Speaker 1: have with like you know, it's like a very classic
Speaker 1: trope of all history, cinema, storytelling, literature. Everything was like
Speaker 1: that you know, sort of sidekick, you know, nurse companion
Speaker 1: person that you know has to do a lot of
Speaker 1: the heavy lifting a lot of time and then also
Speaker 1: gets the brunt of the things taken out on them
Speaker 1: and it can be very comical. So I'd also think
Speaker 1: that that was nice because Gossip Girl, I think had
Speaker 1: such a nice mix of drama and comedy and some
Speaker 1: tongue in cheek stuff and you know, as I think
Speaker 1: Dorotta was a fun part to play because a lot
Speaker 1: of the sort of sillier, more comedic moments kind of
Speaker 1: came my way, which was also really exciting to develop that.
Speaker 1: And you know, I had never really done I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I had done some TV, but nothing super substantial,
Speaker 1: so it was always a learning curve to especially trying
Speaker 1: to do funny things on camera and you're like, was
Speaker 1: it funny? It wasn't good, I don't get a response.
Speaker 1: And even if you're like, look when Deronda is like
Speaker 1: surprised or shocked at things, were shocking moments at every scene,
Speaker 1: there's like things happening on a level, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you see Rona in your eyes like popa
Speaker 1: and it's just the cutest but like most real thing,
Speaker 1: I just love it. Like I see those like you know,
Speaker 1: little memes or whatever there are of Deronda, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's like those funny captures of those like oh, mostly
Speaker 1: the shock faces, like the faces of like like, OMG,
Speaker 1: that's great. To the writing and producers on this like
Speaker 1: what's great. We needed to have that because there's ship
Speaker 1: that goes on in this show that's just not stuff
Speaker 1: that we should just be like oh whatever, like it right.
Speaker 1: It is shocking and it is wild and it is crazy,
Speaker 1: and it's some of it's not okay that people and
Speaker 1: everyone else is just like in the moment one up
Speaker 1: in each other and throwing people under the bus and
Speaker 1: like getting by like all the things. So when you
Speaker 1: see the roads like eyes pop and chock, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's actually what everyone should be doing, because this is
Speaker 1: not Yes. Yeah, sometimes she just like they're just like
Speaker 1: observing and being like what in the world of these kids? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And now we know Blair outside of your relationship with Blair,
Speaker 1: like de Ronea Blair, who did you like? Well? I
Speaker 1: really like For me, my favorite scenes were ones with
Speaker 1: the old Waldorf family, like when when Cyrus Rose was introduced,
Speaker 1: because while Sean is like such, I mean he is
Speaker 1: such a character and like such an some phenomenon as
Speaker 1: a human and as an artist, and so working with
Speaker 1: him crazy. Margaret Colin, who played you know, Claire's mom,
Speaker 1: I mean, she is an incredible I learned so much.
Speaker 1: I always always I'm using something that I've learned from
Speaker 1: Margaret whenever I work on camera and just watching her.
Speaker 1: I mean when I say really, I don't mean like shocked.
Speaker 1: I'm saying I love. Yeah, No, it's great because she
Speaker 1: like had such a quality of like really embodying what
Speaker 1: was on the page and then always somehow lifting it.
Speaker 1: You know, she would meet the character in a really
Speaker 1: interesting way. It was like so real, and then she
Speaker 1: had such great sense of humor, but she didn't push anything.
Speaker 1: It was like I was just was really admiring of her.
Speaker 1: So I feel like when those scenes when it was
Speaker 1: me and Leyton and Wally and Margaret and all the
Speaker 1: you know, the Waldorf family, that was always blowing my
Speaker 1: mind because it was just so many amazing that's much talent.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what to do. And I mean
Speaker 1: I had like when I had my wedding episode and
Speaker 1: like Wally Sean this you know Cyrus character walked me
Speaker 1: down the aisle and that was like such a thrill.
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, of course. Aaron, my husband, Eric Schwartz,
Speaker 1: who played Vanya, is also one of my faves to
Speaker 1: work with because like, all of a sudden road I
Speaker 1: had a boyfriend and then a fiance and then a husband,
Speaker 1: and he was He's so cute and so fun and
Speaker 1: I really love Aaron and like he he also has
Speaker 1: such a great story, you know, because he was like
Speaker 1: child actor and he was like this, you know, very
Speaker 1: cute kid and mighty ducks and what was out of
Speaker 1: him that he did heavy weights that was very popular
Speaker 1: back in the day. And then he kind of transformed
Speaker 1: himself and became this like you know, physical specimen, this
Speaker 1: like Adonis, like really uh you know his least, like
Speaker 1: you're very buff and like hot guy. And so he
Speaker 1: went from this like you know, cute little kid to
Speaker 1: this like hot guy and you know, kind of really
Speaker 1: the whole time working and you know, trying to make
Speaker 1: this work for himself as an actor, which is such
Speaker 1: a difficult road to hope for a long time, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, for to have a lengthy career.
Speaker 1: So I'm always so excited for him when he gets
Speaker 1: these career opportunities. And so when he became Vania, I
Speaker 1: thought he was just like the sweetest and it was
Speaker 1: like an inspirational story and exciting and he's you know,
Speaker 1: really really funny as Bonnia. So we had a fun time.
Speaker 1: I love that. And did you feel like that storyline
Speaker 1: they kind of probably wrote into that as it was
Speaker 1: like happening like I don't was that like in the
Speaker 1: script before No, no, you know you know how that
Speaker 1: started so weird um and it speaks to so much
Speaker 1: about at a different time we were in when we
Speaker 1: made Gossip Girl. Is that it was around season two.
Speaker 1: I want to say Verizon, who was a huge sponsor
Speaker 1: of Yeah, Verizon came to Gossip Girl and they they said,
Speaker 1: because like they were always a big sponsor, because like
Speaker 1: their phones were all you know, those like flip phones
Speaker 1: and stuff that those like weird old phones that we had,
Speaker 1: you know, they were always Brizon phones. The Verizon came
Speaker 1: to Gossip Girl and they said that they wanted to
Speaker 1: do a spinoff as a web series that would only
Speaker 1: be available to Verizon customers on Verizon devices. So, by
Speaker 1: the way, that's really awesome and gangster, it wasn't that funny,
Speaker 1: and so they were like, so they're like, let's make
Speaker 1: a staff and so they considered I think a couple
Speaker 1: of options. One was the option that ended up becoming
Speaker 1: the Gossipel spinoff. You know, when they they wanted to
Speaker 1: make the one about Lily when she was a kid.
Speaker 1: They ended up doing that storyline trying that one now
Speaker 1: later on, but the other one, they thought, well, why
Speaker 1: don't we just do a De Rota backstory spin off,
Speaker 1: So they made this thing called Chasing de Rota, which
Speaker 1: is available on the DVDs if you buy a DVD
Speaker 1: can listen. Everyone go buy the d and this because
Speaker 1: and then it's I think you can see it on
Speaker 1: YouTube too. But it's like basically we made I can't
Speaker 1: remember how many episodes, and it was like there were
Speaker 1: many episodes. They were like a four minutes long eache
Speaker 1: or something. We made several of them, six eight of them,
Speaker 1: something like that. So it was like filmed on the
Speaker 1: gospel sets, but it was ust Dorota Vanya and then
Speaker 1: Dorota's two best friends. One was Um, one was like
Speaker 1: Serena's cook, and then one was like Nates housekeeper or something,
Speaker 1: you know. But no, they ended up both coming back
Speaker 1: for like a little montage at one point, but Aaron.
Speaker 1: That's where Aaron where Vanya was introduced. So in the
Speaker 1: Chasing Derota series, we find out that in Poland she
Speaker 1: had some sort of royal title, but her husband was
Speaker 1: like abusive and she felt trapped, so she escaped from
Speaker 1: Poland to escape her usive relationship, came to the US
Speaker 1: became a housekeeper and then falls in love with Vanya
Speaker 1: the dormant, and then the Polish husband ends up chasing
Speaker 1: her down, and then Vania and the Polish husband had
Speaker 1: like fisticuffs over her get into it, and this is
Speaker 1: all in they's web sites, and it's so weird, and
Speaker 1: it was like the weirdest thing for me because it
Speaker 1: was like, um, you know, all of a sudden, Dorota
Speaker 1: was like the lead of the show, which I was
Speaker 1: so unused to, and I found it really like it
Speaker 1: made me feel so vulnerable and strange because I used
Speaker 1: to pop in and out and doing like a you know,
Speaker 1: one liner here and there. But to all of a
Speaker 1: sudden be the romantic lead was so foreign to me.
Speaker 1: So I was like it was a strange thing. And
Speaker 1: then it was I love that. So people watched, I
Speaker 1: mean some people watched this thing on the Brizon you know,
Speaker 1: phones or whatever. But then, because they were really happy
Speaker 1: about the about Aaron and Ivania and they thought it
Speaker 1: was a cute storyline and it worked, they ended up
Speaker 1: introducing that character into the normal season and so he
Speaker 1: showed up. He showed up then and then you know,
Speaker 1: became Derota's boyfriend. And then then that proposing her. So
Speaker 1: it was such a weird start, and but it really
Speaker 1: speaks to the fact that back then Gossiper was on
Speaker 1: the cusp of so many things in terms of, like,
Speaker 1: you know, the way we watched television now, and one
Speaker 1: of the things was like there were no like a
Speaker 1: web series and streaming and stuff like that was so
Speaker 1: brand new. So it was one of the first web series.
Speaker 1: Really was this like Chasing Derota thing, so you know,
Speaker 1: it was really kind of on the on the forefront
Speaker 1: of television kind of moving to the internet. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it was pretty cool. Did you find it crazy that
Speaker 1: dad was gossip Girl? Oh? Yeah, And like, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: the number one I think you can say to me.
Speaker 1: The number one thing people say to me is they're like, well,
Speaker 1: we thought maybe through it was gossip Girl. And the
Speaker 1: other thing is I thought maybe she would be too,
Speaker 1: But I'm so glad she wasn't because of what we've
Speaker 1: been talking about, which is the like, I feel like
Speaker 1: Droto was a pure hearted human being who was like
Speaker 1: earnest and like had a good intentions. So if if
Speaker 1: she had ended up being gossip Girl, it would have
Speaker 1: been like the what that would have meant about her
Speaker 1: character and her like, you know, being duplicitness and backstabbing
Speaker 1: too Blair and all that's like, like I really wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Although it would have been a cool twist, it would
Speaker 1: have been I think, really disappointing for me and my
Speaker 1: understanding of who drown it is. So I'm really glad
Speaker 1: it wasn't drow Up. Whether or not it makes sense
Speaker 1: that Dan was constable, I'm not so sure on that either.
Speaker 1: But you know, I don't know who it could have been.
Speaker 1: But a lot of I thought it was going to
Speaker 1: be you. Yeah, I really, I mean people always say
Speaker 1: that to me, and who did you think it was you?
Speaker 1: At one? Boy? I did, because like you know, we
Speaker 1: all didn't know. I love that you thought. I mean,
Speaker 1: I told itally just like maybe it's me and you know,
Speaker 1: but the thing is that they I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I really don't know even if pen knew ahead of
Speaker 1: that last episode, but that you know, all those redacted
Speaker 1: scripts and the fact that we didn't know who it was,
Speaker 1: and then I kept thinking it might be me, And
Speaker 1: then when I found out it was Dan, I was
Speaker 1: like I remember sitting around when we shot that those
Speaker 1: last scenes, and we had there was a scene, yeah,
Speaker 1: reacting to it, and everybody's like sitting there like being like, wow,
Speaker 1: it's Dan And in between takes all of the actors
Speaker 1: were like, wow, it's damn. But we were always doing
Speaker 1: the same thing, like trying to make sense of it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So funny because that's like
Speaker 1: a long that was a long time coming. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, they really had to, yeah, go back
Speaker 1: and trying to make sense of that. Yeah. Everyone always
Speaker 1: asked did you know I'm like no, No one really knew. No. No,
Speaker 1: the whole fairly were like fully blacked out, like it
Speaker 1: was nuts. Did you have fittings every week? No? I
Speaker 1: had like two fittings in the history of because I
Speaker 1: held well, yeah, it was such a fashion show and
Speaker 1: I was the only one that I mean, I always
Speaker 1: had my same uniform. And then I had like a
Speaker 1: couple of pregnancies on the show, so they would like,
Speaker 1: you know, give me a pregnancy, but it was always
Speaker 1: the same uniform. I mean, it wasn't me pregnant, right,
Speaker 1: but she was, but she was, But so they you know,
Speaker 1: they made those adjustments. But then um, I would say
Speaker 1: probably maybe four or five times over six seasons did
Speaker 1: I get in an outfit to where that wasn't my uniform.
Speaker 1: And it was always some sort of wedding, so it
Speaker 1: was like my own wedding and I had like a
Speaker 1: rehearsal dinner dress. And then Blair's wedding to the Prince,
Speaker 1: and there was I think I was invited to Lily's wedding.
Speaker 1: One of her mother wrote up was invited everywhere at
Speaker 1: all days because I remember being at a garden party wedding,
Speaker 1: which I think was really so like the few weddings
Speaker 1: I got to have like fancy dresses a minute. It
Speaker 1: was so fun because I was like, this is what
Speaker 1: you guys are experiencing, you know, going in and getting
Speaker 1: all the fancy stuff and then and I always thought
Speaker 1: it was such a thrill until you know, two hours
Speaker 1: into shooting and I was like, oh, these offen suck.
Speaker 1: These are uncomfortable, very very practical shoes, and it's very comfortable.
Speaker 1: But you know what's really really crazy. There is a
Speaker 1: world in which these people have money like that and
Speaker 1: I have aids and have butlers and have drivers and
Speaker 1: have and that was just wild to me because I'm
Speaker 1: like Midwest grew up so far from that, like, oh
Speaker 1: me too. I mean, don't you agree? Is that it crazy? No,
Speaker 1: it's wild to me and I've never I mean, I
Speaker 1: lived in New York for a while because they came
Speaker 1: here to go to college, and I just didn't even
Speaker 1: know that world really existed, you know, in the way
Speaker 1: that it does. And but it had such a weird
Speaker 1: experience on set we went to you know, most of
Speaker 1: the time I was on set on the in the
Speaker 1: sound stage. You know, we had the interiors of everything
Speaker 1: built out in the sound stage. But once in a
Speaker 1: while I would get to go on location, uh like
Speaker 1: sort of less off and I think than other people
Speaker 1: because they didn't leave the house that much as Torona.
Speaker 1: But for the Thanksgiving episodes, the kitchen, like the Waldorf kitchen,
Speaker 1: was in a house on Central Park West. It was
Speaker 1: like a mansionette, so it was like a double house,
Speaker 1: like right off Central Park in that up east side,
Speaker 1: and that's where they had They had rented it out
Speaker 1: to shoot the kitchen one year, so then every year
Speaker 1: we went back for the same kitchen set, and then
Speaker 1: they also shot I want to say it was Nate's
Speaker 1: dining room was also in that same house. So whenever
Speaker 1: there was a Thanksgiving episode, we always used that house.
Speaker 1: And when we would go there, it was the most
Speaker 1: incredible mansion. I mean, these people had like Rodan and
Speaker 1: Monet and they had um oh, Norman Rockwell. So these
Speaker 1: people had the most fantastic house I've ever seen in
Speaker 1: my life, and it was like beyond anything even set
Speaker 1: Young Gossip Grol. And I always wondered why they would
Speaker 1: let the people in their their house, and I figured
Speaker 1: it out finally, was because they had teenage daughters who
Speaker 1: went to that school that Gossip Rol was based on.
Speaker 1: So they so obviously they talked their parents into and
Speaker 1: they were like, let them shoot at our house. And
Speaker 1: then they used to always like come by and like
Speaker 1: with their friends and like watch the shooting and pretend
Speaker 1: like pretend not to be super excited about it. But
Speaker 1: their video village, yeah, it was like their house. But
Speaker 1: the reason I bring it up is that when I
Speaker 1: was there, I was sitting in a chair, like you know,
Speaker 1: waiting for whatever to happen, and I saw their Derota
Speaker 1: and she walked past me and they look an elevator
Speaker 1: in their house, and she got and she was wearing
Speaker 1: the Derota uniform apron. She even had like a little
Speaker 1: head like head gear thing on. It wasn't quite the headband,
Speaker 1: but it was similar. And she was in the outfit
Speaker 1: and she like looked at me, and we like looked
Speaker 1: at each other and she just started like cracking up.
Speaker 1: Like I was like, I play you on TV. I
Speaker 1: was like, I play you on TV. And she was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is so funny. And I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: this is a world that we were portraying. It was
Speaker 1: pretty you know, it was over the top certainly, but
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it had it's you know,
Speaker 1: the nuts and bolts were very real and and you know,
Speaker 1: and my character was based on a real life character
Speaker 1: from one of the show creators childhood. He had a
Speaker 1: grow up with sudden like a Dorota type figure. Because
Speaker 1: my character is one of the only people who didn't
Speaker 1: originate from the books. Yeah, yeah, so there was some
Speaker 1: kind of which also a volumes. Yeah, so that's so
Speaker 1: rare that you're just like, I wasn't even in the books.
Speaker 1: But listen, I'm here and I'm gonna make some noise.
Speaker 1: But you know, that whole lifestyle of those kids, like
Speaker 1: the I mean, the going out in the bar, hopping
Speaker 1: and the clubs and all that like stuff. You know.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've seen many different documentaries about weird
Speaker 1: New York things now and I'm like, yeah, oh no,
Speaker 1: that's true. That happens up there on the like they
Speaker 1: go out and live it up. Yeah, it's a wild
Speaker 1: living in New York. Everything's at your fingertips. So you
Speaker 1: walk out of your home and you could get in
Speaker 1: a cab, or you can get on the subway and
Speaker 1: you can go anywhere. When you live in a small
Speaker 1: town or other cities where it's like hard to get somewhere,
Speaker 1: it takes a little more effort, you know what I mean. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when I was in high school in Indiana, like the
Speaker 1: only thing we did would drive around from the Then
Speaker 1: we'd sit in the Taco Bell parking lot and just
Speaker 1: wonder where we were gonna go next, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like we were just like whose house we're
Speaker 1: going to? It was just like yeah, or there was
Speaker 1: like a bomb yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, we had that
Speaker 1: too because we had the country, you know, their foreign
Speaker 1: parties and stuff. But you know, it's so wildly different. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I see, um young people who grew up in
Speaker 1: New York City and they have the entire world with
Speaker 1: their fingertips. You're so right about that. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: a different way, and there's there's something so beautiful about that.
Speaker 1: And also anyone that I know that grew up there,
Speaker 1: they're so wise beyond their years. They are very like worldly,
Speaker 1: they know stuff. They're streets smart. They because it's also
Speaker 1: a city where you just learn. There's art and there's music,
Speaker 1: and there's people of the culture. Yeah, there's just it's
Speaker 1: a constant like That's that's what I love about that city.
Speaker 1: You know, you never want to sit still. You want
Speaker 1: to keep going and learning and doing things. And it's
Speaker 1: also what I don't like about the city because I'm like,
Speaker 1: you could never just I could never really being around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like read a script or a book on the couch
Speaker 1: and I hear like the subway and the horns and
Speaker 1: like music. I'm like, I gotta be doing something, get
Speaker 1: out there. But such a great city in that way,
Speaker 1: and I will say they did a really good job
Speaker 1: of capturing that and and go absolutely, I think it's
Speaker 1: huge and I feel like you can really see you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of fans come to visit New York and
Speaker 1: they go in the gossoepl Girl Tour of us and
Speaker 1: they go to see the things, and I think it's
Speaker 1: because you know, that essence of Gospel Girl, it really
Speaker 1: is captured. It's like, you know, related to the physical
Speaker 1: space that we're in, so you can actually go and
Speaker 1: visit it, like it doesn't exist in fantasy land, like
Speaker 1: it's it's here. So it's cool. When I talked to
Speaker 1: New York next, let's go on that tour. Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: do it. I didn't you did. I've never done it
Speaker 1: when I was like back when we were shooting still
Speaker 1: like it was happy when we were shooting, it was
Speaker 1: like the final seasons. Yeah, yeah, you know, we have
Speaker 1: to go. They were. People would love it because like
Speaker 1: it's so fun because you you know, answered the insider juice,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, yeah, I would love to do that
Speaker 1: with you. Let's do it, and if anyone else is there,
Speaker 1: we can get Sebastian or Chase or later and we
Speaker 1: should do it. It would be really fun. That would
Speaker 1: be so cool. Okay, I'm so sorry, guys. I know
Speaker 1: you want to hear the rest of this conversation, so
Speaker 1: just hold tight until next week's episode. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk about the minions, some of Susanna's favorite memories on set,
Speaker 1: and De Roda's accent might even come out. I promise
Speaker 1: we'll be back before you know it. X O x
Speaker 1: O x O XO is produced by Propagate Content and
Speaker 1: Meat Jessica's Or. Our show is executive produced by Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Diego Tapia, Christin Vermilia, Emily Carr, and
Speaker 1: Hannah Harris. Original music by Moxie and Luke