As the film garners rave reviews, Do Revenge star Alisha Boe opens up about her mean girl character. The cast for the new dark comedy movie coming to Netflix this weekend stars Riverdale actress Camila Mendes and Stranger Things fan-favorite Maya Hawke. Originally titled Strangers when it was announced in 2020, Do Revenge is directed by Someone Great filmmaker Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and also stars Sophie Turner, Maia Reficco, and Austin Abrams.
Drawing inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's On A Train, Do Revenge follows an unlikely high school duo, Drea (Mendes), a former popular girl, and Eleanor (Hawke), a social outcast. After Drea's sex tape is wrongfully released to the entire student body, best-friend-turned-enemy Tara (played by Boe) exiles Drea, and her and Eleanor agree to get revenge on their enemies at all costs. Boe is best-known for her role as Jessica Davis in the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, and with her role as mean girl Tara, who abandons her friend in pursuit of social status in, Do Revenge posing a drastic contrast to her girl-next-door 13 Reasons Why character, the actor is opening up about the major change of pace.
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In a new interview with Nylon ahead of the film's premiere, Boe shares why she wanted to play the mean girl in Do Revenge. Boe reveals whether she relates to her character, and why she felt it was important to humanize the mean-girl stereotype. Boe also admits to being drawn to the script because of how dark and outrageous it was when she first read it. Check out what Boe has to stay about her character, Tara, below:
[I] definitely have no idea what world she lives in, [in] terms of just extreme wealth. I just didn't even grow up close to whatever world they are all in. I couldn't relate to that. I think what I do relate to is being in high school and trying to figure out where I need my validation to come from. That time in your life when you're worried about what others think of you rather than who your close friends are, or canceling out that outside noise of who you should be instead of who you want to be. That's what really drew me to Tara, you get to see her kind of come to a realization of everything is kind of bullshit besides the people you really love and care about, and that's important. And you see her mess up and be a terrible person as well, but I think that's the major lesson that's really nice to see. I think a lot of people go through at that very delicate age of being a teenager.
Although Boe can't relate to her Do Revenge character's privileged background, it's important she found a way to connect to her by looking past the surface level and seeing her perspective as a teenage girl in need of social validation. Based on her answer, it also seems as though Tara has a major arc throughout the film and eventually redeems herself, despite turning against her best friend. While many YA films aim to perpetuate the importance of climbing the social ladder, it's clear Do Revenge emphasizes the dark side of getting too caught up in the popularity contest.
As the mean girl trope is a classic part of the YA movie genre, Boe also hints that she was drawn to the character because it will break the stereotypical mold they're usually stuck inside of. Through showing just how far she'll go, and the relationships she'll ruin, to fit in, Do Revenge promises a fresh take on the high school movie genre, especially with early reviews proving largely positive, setting it up to potentially be this generation's Heathers. Only time will tell as audiences take to watching Do Revenge this weekend on Netflix.