The TV Chick

The first part of the freshman season of Pretty Little Liars is wrapping up. There are only two more episodes before it goes on hiatus for a bit, and I know I am going to miss it. The show has not disappointed from its strong pilot, meeting my very high expectations from being a fan of the book series. The show centers around four girls in the small town of Rosewood, whose best friend disappeared and they are quickly caught in a web of lies trying to figure out who killed her. The moment I saw Ashley Benson on screen, I knew she personified Hanna. (I had the same feeling with Lucy Hale, but I digress). Her quick wit and understated style of expressions and acting perfectly epitomize the quirky, popular, wickedly sarcastic Hanna Marin. I recently had the chance to chat with Ashley, about her character, knowing what it’s like to be on the popular and not-so-popular sides of high school and the new found friendship (or possible relationship) with Lucas.

Hanna is probably my favorite character because of all the amazing lines you get to say.
Aw, thanks!

And you’re definitely a fan favorite too. What has that been like? What kind of feedback have you gotten?
It’s so awesome, because at first they liked my character, but since she was so stuck up and mean, they kind of geared towards other characters. Now, Hanna’s completely done a 180. She’s really down to earth, and she’s hilarious. She’s so sarcastic. The writers give her the best one-liners, and everybody loves it. It’s great to have comedy in a drama. It’s so much fun, I love it.

You’re not new to TV, so what makes Pretty Little Liars different from anything else you’ve ever worked on?
Well, I’ve never done a show that was based off a book series. It was crazy, because I didn’t know how well this was going to do. I knew that it would do well because of the book series, but I had no idea that it would have the following that it has. And to be a part of something like that, that’s so special to Sara Shepard, the author, it’s just amazing to make her books come to life and the success is insane. Honestly, I haven’t even wrapped my head around the whole thing, because it’s just so shocking.

Well it’s very well deserved.
Thank you. I work with the best cast and the best crew, and we all work hard to make a good show and it pays off. It’s so much fun being on this show, I couldn’t ask for anything better.

Did you read the books? How closely does the rest of the season follow the books?
Yes, I’ve read all of the books, and the writers are doing a fabulous job of staying really close to the books. The readers aren’t going to be disappointed.

What character do you relate the most to?
I don’t know, I guess I relate to Hanna in some ways. I can relate to each character a little bit. They are so dynamic and different. I love Aria’s character because of the clothes she gets to wear. She gets to wear these really awesome clothes. Hanna is so much fun to play, because they put a lot of my personality into her — the sarcasm, staying down to earth. I can definitely relate to Hanna when she was fat because when I was in school, I was in the popular group in elementary school and then I started doing things in the business, and I got kicked out of my group and I was picked on every day. I was the outcast, and I would cry and I would want to skip school. So I definitely know how Hanna feels and I’ve been in her shoes when I’ve been popular. So it’s very easy to relate to Hanna when she was younger and Hanna when she’s Hanna.

You touched upon it a little bit, but since you went through something similar to your character, what was it like playing those scenes as Hefty Hanna (the horrible nickname that Ali gave her)?
I had to put on the fat suit for the first scene in the third episode. And usually we just put on tons of layers or something, but they wanted her to look a little bit heavier. I put the fat suit on, and honestly, I almost started crying when I started saying my lines. I felt so sad for her, when she’s asking Sean to go to a party with her, and he’s looking at her like she’s crazy. And he’s trying to be sweet to her. I know what it’s like to have the courage to just talk to a boy, and honestly, tears were welling up in my eyes while I was doing the scene, because I felt so bad for her. It’s really one of my favorites to always go into Hanna when she was younger, because it’s just a completely different side of her. It’s nice for fans to see what she’s been through, and it kind of helps show them why she is the way she is. She’s more down to earth now, but earlier, it just shows why she did the things she did. She’s just so insecure. She was always knocked down, even by her best friend.

Yeah, definitely. Well, you still looked great even in the fat suit, just so you know. (laughs) But many of the actors in the parental roles were very well known as young stars. So what is it like for you now to be a teen star/idol and work with Laura Leighton?
I looove Laura. She’s so much fun to work with. She’s kind of like my second mom when I come to set. We talk about everything, and if I’m having a bad day, I just talk to her and she makes me feel so much better. I always ask her for advice, and she’s been in the business for years. But the idol thing and all that is insane! I was just at a store yesterday and this girl came up to me and she was so excited. She was like “I don’t want to bother you but I’m obsessed with you and your show, and you’re my idol.” It’s so weird to hear someone say that. I’m just like “Why am I your idol?” It’s so weird. There’s just people that come up to me all the time. It’s so sweet, but I just don’t even know what to do with myself because it’s just so awkward. It’s one of my favorite [things] because I get to meet the fans, and I can just see how passionate they are about the show. And I ask them a lot of questions and it’s just really cool. I love meeting my fans, but it’s just the weirdest thing ever. [Ed Note: She said this in the absolute sweetest possible way. From what I gathered, her new found (and quick) fame is just a bit odd to her. But it is so well deserved.]

Can you give us a little teaser of the challenges coming up for Hanna — perhaps with Aria’s flirtation with Sean or with Lucas?
With Aria and Sean, that was obviously something that he did out of anger, and I don’t think she’d really question that. As you saw, they kind of got back together after that whole thing happened. But with Lucas, she kind of does have feelings for him, but she doesn’t know if she needs to act on them or what, because obviously it’s Lucas. But then again, she befriended him because she knows what it’s like to be in his shoes and she’s a sweet girl. She’s more down to earth and more relatable now. So that’s definitely going to be a challenge in the next couple episodes and hopefully it carries onto the next twelve in the next half of the first season. But I have no idea where the storyline’s going to go, but so far it’s cute and innocent and we’ll see if they get together.

Be sure to tune in tonight at 8 pm to ABC Family for an all new episode of Pretty Little Liars!