Posted in: Disney+, streaming, TV | Tagged: disney, goosebumps, interview, Isa Briones, nicholas stoller, rob letterman, star trek

Goosebumps: Isa Briones on Fan Expectations, R.L. Stine Novels & More

Isa Briones (Star Trek: Picard) discussed working on the Disney+ streaming series adaptation of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps and more.

Isa Briones is aware of the potential fickleness of fandom, given her involvement in the Star Trek franchise, which may have helped her develop her skepticism going into the Goosebumps franchise. Luckily, those creators, Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller, won her over in their latest incarnation of the R.L. Stine universe on Disney+. Briones spoke to Bleeding Cool about her experience growing up reading the books as an introduction to horror, her initial thoughts auditioning for Margot, working with Letterman, Stoller, and the cast, her favorite Margot scene, and how she approached going into the Goosebumps and Star Trek franchises. The series follows a group of five high schoolers as they embark on a shadowy and twisted journey to investigate the tragic passing three decades earlier of a teen named Harold Biddle — while also unearthing dark secrets from their parents' past.

Goosebumps Star Isa Briones: Fandom, New Disney+ Series & More

Bleeding Cool: How did you get involved with 'Goosebumps?'

Briones: I had an audition where I got to do a chemistry read with Zack Morris, who plays Isaiah. Before then, I knew that it was 'Goosebumps,' but I wasn't quite sure what it was going to be like if I was going to be trying to be the old version. When there's a reboot of something, you're a little skeptical, like, "Is this going to be good?" The fans were always worried about it on social media. Once I got to read the scripts before the audition, I realized, "This is a brand-new take on this." I'm excited about it. I got to audition, and then it was a whirlwind after that. I found out later that day I had got it and that I was going to fly to Vancouver two days later to start filming. It was wild.

Did you read the R.L. Stine books growing up?

Most kids around my age range and a little outside, 'Goosebumps' is their first intro to horror as a kid. I remember in third and fourth grade, the bookshelves in the back of my classroom were filled with 'Goosebumps' books, and it felt like I was growing up in a way because it was the first book, specifically horror books, that you are reading by yourself as a kid. Your parents aren't reading it to you, and it was like, "Whoa, I'm a big kid now. I'm reading my own books, and I'm getting a little scared." Yeah, they were some of my favorite books to read.

Aside from your audition, was there anything from the books or from personal experience that helped you in your role of Margot?

Once I got to read the script of the first episode right before I auditioned, what helped was taking out the idea that "This is 'Goosebumps.' If you're so focused on that idea and 'This is horror,' then you get confused, and it takes you away from the core of something. It was like, "Okay, who is this character, Margot, who, at the time, was named Jane? Who is she? What does she want? What is happening in this town? How is she feeling?" At the end of the day, this is a story about humans. This is a story about teenage kids who are going through a lot in high school, which we can all relate to, so it helps to take the idea of grief out of it and focus on the core story, which is these five teenagers.

How do you describe working with Rob [Letterman] and Nicholas [Stoller], and how did they run their set?

It was a fantastic environment. Rob was often on set with us and was always so collaborative. From the moment we started working, he encouraged us to improvise, make the characters and our lines our own, and make a lot of decisions for our characters. That collaborative environment helped us find the tone of the show because there's horror, but there's so much humor and levity, and the relationships are so strong. It's because they allowed us to play with what they gave us, make it our own, and play off our own chemistry with each other. All five of us are good friends, and we got to bring that energy into work. Rob and Nick encouraged that.

Can you break down your chemistry with your costars, like with Zack, Miles [McKenna], and Ana [Yi Puig]?

Zack was the first person I met in our Zoom audition. Once I flew to Vancouver, I was nervous to meet everyone. Didn't know what the vibe was going to be like. I was afraid, "What if we don't get along? What if we don't like each other?" As soon as I landed in Vancouver, I got a DM on Instagram from Ana Yi Puig, who plays Isabella, and she texted me, "Come to my apartment, I'm making cookies, and we can all hang out and play games." From that moment on, I was like, "This is going to be a good group of people." That night, we met and immediately realized we all got along so well. Even though we're all such different people, somehow it works. Somehow, we all fit together, and Ana is the funniest person I've ever met. Everyone contributed to our chemistry on camera. Ana, Miles, and I are an insane trio [laughs]; having us on is a bit of a nightmare because we're always joking around. We do our work, but it doesn't feel like going to work. It always feels like I'm there with my best friend.

Did you have a particular favorite Margot scene this season?

I love the character in general. I like that she is intelligent and always trying to figure stuff out and solve the mystery. I will say some of my favorite scenes were in episode five, when Margot goes into the scrapbook for the first time. Even though I'm not saying a lot in those scenes, there was something magical about making those moments happen of seeing the shift from 2023 into 1993 because some of it is CGI with the music they play, but some of it was practical where they would change the lights. As I look up from the scrapbook, that was one of those magical movie moments where it almost feels like a theater production with its practicality. I love the dramatic work that we get to do towards the end of the show by episodes nine and ten without spoiling; there are a lot of wonderful scenes that are well written and carry all the beautiful relationships between all the characters.

You mentioned earlier concerns going in earlier with 'Goosebumps,' having an initial preconceived notion of worry about being compared to the previous TV series' incarnation. Did you have this similar mindset going into 'Star Trek: Picard?' Did you have a history with the franchise before going in?

[Goosebumps] is something I was more familiar with than going into Star Trek. I didn't grow up with 'Star Trek,' but I was aware of it because you must live under a rock to not know about its existence. I went into it with less of a preconceived notion. I'm aware Star Trek has one of the probably the biggest fandoms ever. There was always an awareness of the responsibility of that, knowing, "Okay, people are going to be watching. People are going to want to make sure that you don't mess it up, that you don't mess up this new iteration." There's a bit of pressure and responsibility with that. It was also helpful that I didn't know too much going in because it allowed me to get to play with my character. When you're going to act as someone who doesn't know, I mean Soji didn't know what was going on, and it's nice to go in [fresh] as an actor. I don't know everything about Star Trek, inside and out, because my character wouldn't. I want to go into this realistically as a girl who is figuring things out about herself in an intense circumstance, which is what it was like for me as Isa.

Season one of Goosebumps, which also stars Will Price, Rachael Harris, Justin Long, Leonard Roberts, Ben Cockell, Françoise Yip, and Rob Huebel, is available to stream on Disney+.

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