Interview With "Loki" Actress Sophia Di Martino

[00:00:00] You were listening to the Next Best Picture Podcast, and this is Giovanni Lagos' interview

[00:00:05] with actress Sofia DiMartino speaking about Loki Season 2.

[00:00:10] Obi, hello? We have a little bit of a situation we wanted to run by you.

[00:00:18] Obi, yes! Wow! Great to see you again!

[00:00:23] That, that's what's been happening. Wow! Time slipping.

[00:00:27] Wait, times you know that? Yeah. You've seen that? Yeah. Can you fix that? No.

[00:00:33] It's impossible to time slip in the TVA. I know but we just saw it happen. Yeah.

[00:00:39] Hello everyone, this is the Next Best Series Podcast. I'm joined by one of the stars of Loki,

[00:00:45] Sofia DiMartino. Sofia, thank you so much for joining. Of course! Hi! Nice to see you.

[00:00:51] Well, big fan the first season. It was fantastic and I think especially, you know,

[00:00:56] your chemistry with Tom Hiddleston, the whole journey of Loki and Sylvie. So going into season

[00:01:02] 2 and especially with how the season from one finale happened, how are you being in the mindset of

[00:01:08] thinking of exploring that evolution of the relationship, especially how it's completely

[00:01:13] flipped over in this season? Yeah. Well, in series two, Sylvie is in a very different place

[00:01:20] and that was interesting to explore, you know, playing the same character but in a completely

[00:01:26] different world in a way. It doesn't happen very often so quite, quite gif. And I guess if series

[00:01:36] one was, you know, Loki and Sylvie getting to know each other, figuring out what makes them

[00:01:41] similar and what makes them different and what annoys them about each other and what they

[00:01:47] like about each other, if anything. Series two is more like, it's more about maybe how it feels to

[00:01:54] bump into your ex. And that was the starting point, like how much is unsaid, how much history they

[00:02:02] have between them and how fraught that moment where they bump into each other, well, where they

[00:02:10] see each other for the first time in McDonald's, how much energy is like sparking between them

[00:02:15] and that was the moment that sort of started the whole series. So that's what we used.

[00:02:47] You know, especially, you know, lots of new season, new character arcs. New actors joining the show,

[00:03:00] I like, I would be remiss if I didn't bring up Ki-Kwan who from like every interview, every like

[00:03:07] interaction you see him do it and he seems like one of the most lovely humans on earth. So I

[00:03:12] would just want to know what it's like working with him, you know, him joining the cast and how

[00:03:16] that dynamic played out. Yeah, it's exactly as you would expect. Ki is just always chipper and so

[00:03:23] positive. And he's like buzzing, he's just so happy to be there. He's so in love with his job

[00:03:30] and he's quite infectious to be around. So it was really lovely to work with him and hang out.

[00:03:38] One of the best aspects of Loki, I think, you know, a lot of these Marvel projects or even like

[00:03:43] big budget projects, you know, green screens are apparent. A lot of people feel doesn't really,

[00:03:47] you know, keep them engaged or attack title nature to what they're watching. But for Loki,

[00:03:52] there's all these very extravagant sets, whether it's the TVA or in the season when

[00:03:56] they go to the World's Fair in Chicago. So I'm wondering how as a performer, I'm sure,

[00:04:02] you know, of course, you work with green screen visual effects, but having that actual

[00:04:06] tangibility of real built sets helps immerse you as a performer.

[00:04:10] Yeah, I mean, Loki has a lot more real life sets than a lot of these shows do.

[00:04:18] And they really are incredible. They make you feel like you're there. That fair was huge.

[00:04:25] There were like streets built and you could really get lost, you know, in that whole world.

[00:04:32] You forget that you're in that you're in a studio. It's so realistic. A lot of our sets

[00:04:39] have ceilings as well, which is quite rare. Usually sets sort of stop at screen heights

[00:04:45] because you don't need to see above that. And even if you don't see it very often,

[00:04:49] there's always a ceiling and especially in the TVA, it helps make you feel sort of claustrophobic

[00:04:54] and contained. So it really helps with just enjoying being in that place. And you forget that

[00:05:04] it's not real. It's up to us to save this place. Is this cracked? You're good.

[00:05:13] Whatever we do, we're playing God. We are gods. With a lot of television shows,

[00:05:24] a lot of actors feel happy just to get the season renewal. I'm just happy to come back for another

[00:05:28] season. Ultimately, it's a very fateful industry and a lot of show runners come in, come out,

[00:05:35] a lot of different creatives come in for television. With season two, Kate Herron is

[00:05:41] as part of it. And like Waldron instead, you have Eric Martin and Justin Benson and Aaron

[00:05:46] Moorhead. So what were the feelings coming in? Because at the end of the day,

[00:05:50] you're like, I'm the performer. I have to come in. I have to show up. I've got to say my lines.

[00:05:54] But how did a sense of confidence come in that when you're starting to see how it plays out,

[00:06:00] you're like, okay, we're still in good hands. Everything is going to be fine.

[00:06:03] Yeah, I think it really did feel like Kate and Michael set this beast up. And then

[00:06:12] Eric and Justin and Aaron just sort of run with it. And it's just a continuation of

[00:06:19] more brains and more creativity that just add to it as you go along. So

[00:06:24] it just makes it better and better. The more people that get involved and the more creatives,

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[00:07:33] Conflicted, a history podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever else you get your

[00:07:38] podcasts. I hope to see you soon. Okay, I'm going to jump around because one moment that stood out to

[00:07:55] me when episode five towards the end, you go to a record store and there's the needle drop,

[00:08:03] you know, velvet underground, oh sweet nothings because I was wondering, okay, what are they

[00:08:06] gonna play? And then as soon as like the guitar riff happens, I'm like, all right, great,

[00:08:10] needle drop. So you know, going in as a performer, was it like nothing was playing

[00:08:15] at all? Did they let you know ahead of time that was the song they picked? So you're like,

[00:08:18] okay, I got a vibe of it. Was that just put in after? So we didn't know what song it was gonna be.

[00:08:24] Justin and Aaron were like, say maybe it would be perfect day, maybe it would be something.

[00:08:30] I was like, no, it can't be that. It has to like everyone had their real like specific

[00:08:34] song that they wanted it to be. When we actually filmed it, I wanted to listen

[00:08:39] to Purple Rain by Prince because I think it's just one of the best songs ever written.

[00:08:46] And I find it unbelievably sad. So that was my choice, but I made like a whole playlist

[00:08:53] for that moment. And I was sending Justin and Aaron like Spotify links, like maybe it could be

[00:08:59] this, can you try this in the edit? Maybe it could be this. And yeah, they settled on

[00:09:04] the Velova Underground song and it works perfectly. Okay, I got to know this. What is in

[00:09:08] this playlist besides Purple Rain? What else were you cooking out there?

[00:09:12] In a while. I can't remember. I think I actually shared it on Instagram like a year.

[00:09:19] It's out now. It's called So We Can. Everyone listening is going to go download it. They're

[00:09:23] like, okay, we got to know. Yeah. There's a bit of Stevie Nicks on there. There's some

[00:09:27] Patty Smith. I think there's some like Riot Girl, some bikini kill or something.

[00:09:34] Okay, perfect. Perfect.

[00:10:12] It was spot on. You know, also with the first season,

[00:10:16] it's so if you mentioned the balance difference, it really sets up the stage. There's a lot of stunts

[00:10:21] and combat that Sylvie partakes in. It's not as much in season two, but there's, you know,

[00:10:26] a recontextualization of like the finale. So yeah, what was it like recontextualizing

[00:10:32] the fight sequence, especially at the end of the first season finale?

[00:10:36] Yeah, so that was fun. It was interesting to go back. You don't often get to go back

[00:10:41] to like buy a whole episode, a whole series and re-reshoot something. So it was nice

[00:10:48] to be able to do that. It helped, you know, to be in the same costume as series one and

[00:10:52] have the wig on that looked like my own hair from two years ago. And yeah, it was interesting

[00:10:58] to try and get back into the mindset of Sylvie series one where she's, you know,

[00:11:04] before she's killed, he remains and revisit that. But then filming it was completely different

[00:11:10] because we had to freeze a lot because Loki was time slipping. So it wasn't like a continuous

[00:11:16] flow of the scene. We just had to keep stopping and freezing. And then I would like run offset

[00:11:22] and then they carry on filming because I had to like freeze. So there are a lot of special

[00:11:26] effects things that needed to be done. So it was a different experience to the first time.

[00:11:33] Kind of a bit of a head trip.

[00:11:38] And before we head off, it's impossible to ask is there going to be a Loki season three,

[00:11:44] you know, Marvel's tight lipped? I'm not even going to bother. So I'm just curious from your

[00:11:49] perspective, especially with how Sylvie's journey ends in the season, it feels that

[00:11:54] this possibly could be the end. Are you personally satisfied with Sylvie's journey? And

[00:12:00] if there weren't any more to be made, you think I am satisfied this was done well? I can go to bed

[00:12:06] knowing that the story was told. I feel like she's still got some stuff left to say. Okay.

[00:12:17] I mean, I've really enjoyed my time on it and yeah, I can go to bed a happy lady. But

[00:12:23] I feel like if there is something to fight for Sylvie would want to be there to fight for it.

[00:12:32] All right, we'll leave it at that people. Who knows? Yeah, I know the Marvel machine

[00:12:39] is never going to let us tell anything. It's all good. Who knows? Sylvie, thank you so much.

[00:12:44] This was a pleasure. And real quick, is there anything else you're working on or anything

[00:12:49] coming up on the pipeline? Couple of things. Peacock, a series that I did and the Radley's a

[00:12:57] movie. Yeah, and some other stuff that will be coming soon. All right, well everyone keep an

[00:13:06] eye out. Thank you so much. This was a pleasure. And Loki season two is out now. You go check

[00:13:11] it see what you're missing people. Hey, everyone, thank you so much for listening to Giovanni

[00:13:16] Lagos interview with actress Sofia D Martino for Loki season two here on the next best picture

[00:13:23] podcast. Loki is now available to stream on Disney plus and is up for your consideration in all

[00:13:29] eligible categories at this year's prime time Emmy awards. You have been listening to the

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