Lili Reinhart is done playing it safe.
The former Riverdale star is officially trading in her pom-poms for some serious indie grit, and she’s being refreshingly honest about how hard it is to get a “messy” story onto your TV screen. While accepting the Art of Light Award at the Miami Film Festival on Monday night, the -year-old actress got candid about her upcoming Mubi series, Hal & Harper.
The project—an eight-episode dramedy created by Cooper Raiff—follows a dysfunctional brother and sister (Raiff and Reinhart) dealing with the news that their estranged father, played by the legendary Mark Ruffalo, is expecting a new baby.
“It didn’t feel like we were creating something that fit neatly into a box,” Reinhart told the crowd. “It was messy and emotional and sometimes uncomfortable—and that was the point.”
However, “messy” isn’t always an easy sell in Hollywood. Reinhart, who also serves as an executive producer, revealed that the team had to fight tooth and nail to keep the show’s soul intact. She admitted that studios often pushed back against the show’s “slow-burn” pace.
“We faced a lot of challenges trying to sell the show in general,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “In this world of binge-y television, studios don’t respond to slow storytelling. They don’t want a slow burn; they want to get right into it.”
The actress even confessed to some modern-day “shapeshifting” just to get the series picked up. “We were like, ‘Let’s throw in a Sabrina Carpenter song,'” she joked, noting that while she loves the music, it’s “sad” that creators have to alter their vision to fit the current landscape. “You shapeshift the show, honestly, to sell it.”
One of the most viral talking points of the series? Reinhart and Raiff actually play the child versions of their characters in flashbacks.
“As a woman getting older in Hollywood, I’m never going to play ever again!” she laughed. She described the experience as a “depressing Pen,” where she played a “jaded” -year-old Harper. The choice was intentional—Raiff wanted the audience to see the characters’ “inner child” in their eyes to build empathy for their adult mistakes.
To prepare for the heavy emotional lifting, Reinhart and Raiff actually went on a spiritual retreat to Mount Shasta, California, a year before filming.
“We were both going through breakups, actually,” she revealed. “It is rare that you get to know someone for that long before you shoot something.”
The deep bond clearly paid off, though Reinhart admitted to some major nerves when it came to her A-list TV dad. After her first rehearsal with Mark Ruffalo, she admitted she texted Raiff in a panic.
“I was like, ‘I hope Mark doesn’t think I’m the worst actress in the world,'” she shared. Luckily, the Avengers star lived up to his “internet’s dad” reputation. “He texted me after… and said, ‘You’re going to be great.’ Very dad energy.”
While Reinhart describes herself as an “indie girl at heart,” she isn’t sugarcoating the industry’s struggles. She revealed that she is currently attached to ten indie projects, noting that “maybe two of them will shoot.”
“It is a miracle when you can shoot anything,” she said, encouraging aspiring filmmakers to hang on. “The best scripts find their way… just don’t be discouraged by the amount of time it takes.”
Fans on X (formerly Twitter) are already praising Reinhart’s move into more “human and accessible” roles, with many eager to see her move past her “Betty Cooper” persona.
As Reinhart put it: “I’m always very flattered when someone can see me in a role that isn’t just Betty Cooper… for a director to see me as something other than that is very exciting.”
