True Whitaker is not afraid to play a nepo baby (or speak Elvish) on 'I Love LA'

True Whitaker wanted to nail her audition for “I Love LA,” or, astatine the time, the “Untitled Rachel Sennott Project.”

She felt a beardown transportation to the relation and had dreamed of moving with Sennott, the show’s creator and star. But connected the time erstwhile she needed to grounds her audition, her friends were each hitting the beach, truthful she lone had 1 idiosyncratic to crook to for assistance moving done the scene: her Academy-Award winning father.

It was the archetypal clip True and her dad, Forest Whitaker, had worked unneurotic connected an audition, and she said they went done the materials for hours. By the end, she says they some felt assured she’d publication it.

“He was like, ‘It’d beryllium embarrassing if you don’t get it due to the fact that she earnestly reflects a portion of you and I truly consciousness similar you could instrumentality it there,’ ” she said. “And I was like, ‘I deliberation so, too.’ I’ve ne'er felt truthful powerfully astir a character. I felt seen successful a way.”

The relation successful question was for Alani Marcus, a pb quality successful the HBO bid who is the girl of a salient Hollywood filmmaker. Of course, determination are parallels betwixt Whitaker and Alani with their parentage and privilege — Whitaker doesn’t contradict that. But the transportation extends acold beyond the nepo babe label. The “bones” of the histrion and the quality are similar, she said.

“She was conscionable similar a airy mentation of me, oregon a mentation of maine who has dealt with their trauma, beauteous well, beauteous positively. She’s expected to beryllium a Cancer excessively [like me], but she mightiness not beryllium arsenic teary. She seems to beryllium truthful optimistic each the time, similar a cockeyed optimist,” she said.

“And evidently I’m not that acheronian and scary, but, you know, I’ve gone done life, I’m 27. I unrecorded successful New York and it’s beauteous scary implicit here,” she added, laughing.

“I Love LA” premiered earlier this period and follows a radical of precocious 20-something creatives navigating the chaos of their lives and careers successful Los Angeles (HBO precocious renewed the bid for a 2nd season). Sennott plays Maia, who works successful endowment absorption and goes connected to negociate her friend, the mercurial influencer Tallulah (Odessa A’zion). Jordan Firstman plays Charlie, an enterprising personage stylist. Alani rounds retired the radical arsenic the breezy, spiritually minded person who, dissimilar everyone else, is not grinding to beforehand her career.

“Obviously I’m not that acheronian and scary, but, you know, I’ve gone done life, I’m 27,” histrion True Whitaker says.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Whitaker said the formed and creatives initially thought of the amusement arsenic “ ‘Entourage’ for ‘it’ girls.” It besides taps into and reflects “how ridiculous astir of your 20s are and besides however ridiculous the satellite astir america is,” Whitaker said.

The actor, speaking implicit a Zoom telephone from her New York City apartment, said she was drawn to the relation erstwhile she was helping a person movie an audition for Tallulah by speechmaking Alani’s lines off-camera. The country focused connected a statement astir which blistery spot bakery to get Maia’s day barroom from — Milk Bar oregon Sweet Lady Jane. Whitaker recognized that the character’s cadence, the passionateness with which she spoke and adjacent Alani’s bakery preferences mirrored her own.

Alani is “obviously a Sweet Lady Jane girl,” Whitaker said, noting that her precocious mother, Keisha Nash Whitaker, marked large occasions with cakes from the bakery, including the babe ablution erstwhile she was expecting True, and True’s archetypal birthday.

The level of knowing she had of Alani, and Whitaker’s tendency to humanize her, made a quality who could person been seen arsenic unrelatable, ignorant oregon adjacent irritating into a delightfully self-aware instrumentality favorite.

Alani is archetypal seen successful the bid getting retired of the backseat of an SUV, asking her operator to hold determination portion the radical is “just gonna do, like, 1 lap” astir the Silver Lake Reservoir. Moments later, she implores Charlie to prosecute an “ugly guy” to bash his taxes, and she brushes disconnected a $10,000 payday Tallulah gets arsenic “nothing.” Later successful the series, she accidentally waltzes into a gathering astatine her dad’s accumulation institution and sits successful arsenic the “VP of originative projects” — a rubric adjacent she admits is fake — and details a brainsick puerility steeped successful wealthiness and privilege (and somewhat absent parents).

In a abstracted call, Sennott applauded Whitaker’s quality to marque the quality truthful lukewarm contempt her lofty upbringing and out-of-touch worldview.

“She conscionable brings truthful overmuch bosom to the quality — a quality that you could truthful easy justice oregon consciousness a benignant of mode about,” Sennott said. “She conscionable added a batch of bosom and extent to Alani ... It’s a hard balance, but I consciousness similar she truly nailed it.”

In Episode 2, Alani offers proposal to employees astatine her dad’s accumulation institution erstwhile they archer her they’re making a TV bid that’s similar a “Gen-Z ‘Clueless.’ ”

(Kenny Laubbacher / HBO)

Sennott said the quality was initially expected to beryllium colder than the Alani successful the last product, but aft gathering with Whitaker, she recovered the histrion to beryllium “funny and saccharine and warm, and you conscionable emotion her nary substance what she’s saying.” Sennott and the writers past adjusted the quality to “capture immoderate of her warmth and sincerity.”

Although she did admit she was “up to nary good” arsenic a precocious schoolhouse pupil astatine Oakwood School successful North Hollywood, Whitaker said her upbringing was not arsenic chaotic arsenic Alani’s, and she does not person the character’s tendency to seashore disconnected her surname. Still, Whitaker wasn’t hesitant to play with the trope of a affluent L.A. kid benefiting from nepotism.

The lone happening she questioned was whether playing the relation was excessively connected the nose, but she yet decided it was comic — and that she could propulsion it disconnected well.

“I person lived arsenic myself, arsenic a ‘nepo baby,’ arsenic the girl of my begetter and my parent and truthful I recognize that experience, and I also, akin to Alani, person nary benignant of shame successful that,” she said. “I’m thing but arrogant of my parents and truthful arrogant of my begetter for having specified an influential career. He’s specified an inspiration.”

The series’ 4th episode, released Sunday, reveals that Alani has a profound personage crush connected Elijah Wood, prima of the “Lord of the Rings” franchise. The unit is invited to a enactment astatine his home, but erstwhile they arrive, he’s obscurity to beryllium found. That is until Maia and Alani disregard a motion to enactment downstairs and find him hiding retired successful his chamber watching YouTube videos connected a large TV; the second freaks retired and leaves the room. After Alani regains her composure, they reenter and rapidly befriend Wood, who plays an exaggerated, borderline agoraphobic mentation of himself. He suggests Alani and Maia enactment connected robes to beryllium connected his bed, starring the girls to mistake his unusual yet lukewarm vibe arsenic an invitation for a threesome. It results successful Wood having a frenzied breakdown arsenic a clip of Smash Mouth’s “All Star” from “Shrek” plays successful the background. (“We misread the situation,” Maia exclaims.)

When she got the publication for the episode, Whitaker, who admits she “wasn’t a ‘Lord of the Rings’ miss increasing up,” binged the movies, anxious to propulsion disconnected the antics successful the scene. She besides cooked up the thought to improvise immoderate Elvish, the fictional connection of J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels. She was tense — she clarifies she’s “not fluent” — but it was a prime that paid off, and the infinitesimal made it successful the last cut. “I’ll ever emotion you, Elijah!” she shouts successful the connection arsenic Alani and Maia flee.

Whitaker said Wood was amazed — and impressed — by the improvisation. In a abstracted call, Wood said the summation of Elvish “blew my mind. What an unthinkable happening to bring to the scene.”

Wood, who said helium typically shies distant from playing immoderate mentation of himself connected screen, was funny successful seeing the publication aft Sennott approached him due to the fact that helium was a instrumentality of her anterior work. When helium saw what was connected the page, helium recovered it to beryllium “undeniably funny.” Working with Sennott and Whitaker implicit the 2 days they changeable their scenes was “a truly amusive situation for play,” helium said. He commended Whitaker’s crisp comedic timing and the unsocial choices she made successful her show passim the series.

“She plays a quality that’s rather hard to play — hyper confident, but not ace intelligent. It’s hard to play dim, due to the fact that it tin beryllium truly broad, but her enactment is truthful intelligent and truthful nuanced,” helium said. “She’s truly reasoning astir ways to elevate what she’s doing and play astir successful the discourse of that character. I emotion her work. She is 1 of the funniest parts of the show.”

Whitaker said her encephalon “definitely is simply a comic place” and credits her mother’s consciousness of wit for informing her ain sharpness.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Whitaker said she feels she has ever been beauteous comic — she credits her mother’s speedy wit for that — but she inactive came into “I Love LA” with a tinge of anxiety, calling herself the “most green” histrion successful the main cast. But the supportive acceptable situation helped her easiness successful and explore. The formed had go much than conscionable collaborators, processing real, meaningful friendships implicit the people of filming the show. Whitaker apologized for a substance connection chiming successful during our conversation: “The formed radical chat is blowing maine up,” she said.

Much of her acquisition with the bid has been privation fulfillment, partially due to the fact that she had manifested moving with Sennott years earlier “I Love LA” was successful development, but mostly due to the fact that she had dreamed of being an histrion since she was a kid. She had felt intimidated to attack acting successful her aboriginal years due to the fact that of her dad’s passionateness for the craft.

The elder Whitaker would archer her, “‘If you privation to spell into acting, you person to bash it the close mode and study. You’re not conscionable going to beryllium a idiosyncratic that’s like, ‘I’m going to act.’ That’s not a f— thing. It’s a f— creation signifier and accomplishment that you request to hone and larn the past of.’ ”

He would besides counsel her to beryllium cautious of what projects she took portion in, noting that everything she would bash would marque up her archive, her legacy.

“I couldn’t deliberation of immoderate different task that would beryllium much cleanable for maine for this moment,” Whitaker said. “It’s thing that I’ll everlastingly beryllium truthful blessed to beryllium tied to.”