In Conversation: Lou Llobell & Jacob Scipio
The co-stars reminisce on filming their upcoming horror as Jacob Scipio sits down with actress Lou Llobell to talk craft, confidence and the milestones of her career so far.
By Zain Ké
It takes about thirty seconds on this Zoom call with Lou Llobell and Jacob Scipio to realise that the chemistry they built for their upcoming horror film didn’t stay on set. It’s carried over into real life. Lou joins from Prague as she prepares for season four of Foundation, and Jacob is back in London, fresh from a trip to his fatherland, Guyana. The pair first crossed paths at the Latino Film Festival in LA, reuniting less than a year later in an audition room charged with the pair’s undeniable chemistry.
They reminisce on their first meeting – and on the shoot itself, which, according to Jacob, came with ‘some bad juju’, enough for him to call a priest to bless the set and for both of them to carry holy water around between takes. Superstition aside, they fondly remember that spark during their chemistry read: the almost-kiss that signalled a comfort with one another which carried them into two months of night shoots for the Paramount picture set for release next year.
Jacob Scipio: Lou, have you ever felt starstruck before? There’s only one right answer to this.
Lou Llobell: Yes. When I walked on set and Jacob Scipio was there. Truly the highlight of my career.
JS: I’ll take that. Anyway — what was the last good thing you watched?
LL: One Battle After Another. I think it’s the best film out this year. I love it because of the feelings I get watching it — which is every emotion you could imagine. I laughed, I cried, I held my breath, I was annoyed, I felt disgusted. All the feelings I’ve wanted to make other people feel as an actor, I felt watching that movie. With Sean Penn’s character, I didn’t even realise it was him for a long time! I was like, ‘That guy looks like Sean Penn… he’s kind of gross and awful.’ You watched it twice, didn’t you, Jacob?
JS: Yeah, I watched it in Los Feliz. I got to see it in VistaVision as part of the crowd. I had to wait in line because I didn’t get a ticket. They were letting people in and I got a seat right at the back — and the guy at the end of the row was Jack Black.
LL: That’s so sick!
JS: It was sick. The best thing I’ve watched recently is… I was lucky enough to be invited onto the Paramount lot to do some ADR for this film I’ve just done. There were some scenes in it by this talented young actress… Her name’s Lou Llobell, and she absolutely smashed it.
LL: You’re gonna make me blush, Jacob!
JS: Right, let’s rewind a bit, then — where did it all start for you? Did you go to drama school?
LL: Yes, I did. I did a master’s in Screen Acting.
JS: Has there been a difference between your experience in drama school and on set? Anything you’ve taken from one to the other?
LL: Yeah. I always say the real learning happened on set. But I’m grateful for drama school — coming from South Africa to the UK, it got me an agent and into the right rooms. So I’m forever grateful for that. The funny thing is, I was never picked for the leads at drama school, so it was a crazy contrast coming out, getting an agent, and then getting cast in Foundation. I was thrust into that whole experience thinking I wasn’t good enough. But I learned a lot. I also learned that sometimes you work with people you get along with… and sometimes you don’t. When I got into acting, I thought it would always be beautiful and harmonious, but you realise there are people you don’t actually gel with.
JS: The dream is to turn up on every set and everyone gets along and it’s all hunky-dory.
LL: Sometimes you’re lucky and that happens. The trust I have with you isn’t something every actor experiences. It’s rare to work with someone you trust a hundred percent.
JS: For sure. Is that imposter syndrome you mentioned earlier still something you deal with?
LL: Yeah, a hundred per cent. I was reading my scripts for season four — which I’m so grateful we even get — and I kept thinking, ‘Oh, they really believe I can do this.’ But that bit of imposter syndrome drives me. If it ever felt easy, I think I’d be done with acting. There’d be nothing left to learn and nowhere to grow. So the doubt is good — it pushes you to prove yourself and do the things you’re convinced you can’t.
JS: To some degree, it should scare you. Any role where you think, ‘I’m not sure I can do this,’ is probably the one you should take. Imposter syndrome can fool you, but Lou – you’ve been doing this for years at the highest level. There has to come a moment where you know you’ve earned it and can step into it confidently. Which you have, and continue to do.
LL: Definitely. If you don’t believe in yourself, how do you expect anyone else to? I deserve to be where I’m at and to do what I’m doing, because I’ve worked my ass off. Even if they didn’t pick me for the leads at drama school, they’re picking me now!
JS: I’d love to hear more about your experience playing the role people know you for. Gaal in Foundation carries so much moral ambiguity — how do you step into that without judging her or yourself?
LL: In the first two seasons, Gaal is very much the hero — she can do no wrong and everything she does is in service of saving humanity. By season three, she’s grown into herself more, and she gets to make some really terrible decisions, which I love because it makes her more human. There’s something honest about people messing up. If we always made the right choices, we’d never learn anything. And I can’t judge her — I’m playing her. I remind myself she believes she’s doing the right thing, even if it’s questionable. She sacrifices people, and sometimes her own morals, because she thinks it will serve the greater plan. But her morally ambiguous choices make her feel real to me.
JS: That’s a great answer. I once heard that you don’t have to agree with your character, but you do have to help people understand why they make the choices they do. In that sense, you become a lawyer for them — a devil’s advocate. Even if you know their actions are wrong, you’re trying to understand the long-term reasoning. What do they believe in? It’s all about understanding, even when it doesn’t align with your own values.
LL: Totally.
JS: Gaal has become a standout figure for women of colour in a genre where representation is still limited. What does that mean to you personally?
LL: I didn’t realise it at first. I’ve watched a lot of sci-fi, but you don’t properly clock it until you’re in the position yourself — that there really aren’t many people who look like you in these worlds. In a few interviews people mentioned it to me and I was like, ‘Oh, shit — right.’ There’s a responsibility there. Not something I have to overthink necessarily, because me being in this lead role as a Black woman is already meaningful. But the idea of people who look like me seeing themselves in this role — that’s incredibly special. This isn’t sci-fi, but I remember watching James Bond and seeing Halle Berry come out as a Bond girl.
JS: I remember that too!
LL: And I just thought, ‘I can do that!’ Because suddenly someone who looked like me was in a space we weren’t used to seeing ourselves in. So the fact that I get to do that now feels really special. It’s such an honour, and I hope I’m carrying it with grace.
JS: So you’re in the process of conquering the sci-fi genre, and you’ve done a horror film coming out next year. What other genres are you interested in exploring?
LL: My answer to this is always a bit vague, but only because I’ve really only worked in two genres — sci-fi and now horror. I want to try everything and figure out what I don’t like through trial and error, rather than pigeonholing myself before exploring what’s out there. But I’d love to do a comedy.
JS: You’d be so good in a comedy! You’re jokes.
LL: I’ll take that. And thank you, Jacob, for doing this. I really appreciate you.
JS: Are you kidding? I’d interview you every day of the week. It’s been a pleasure.
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