Amazon’s latest series, Upload, may take on the serious idea of the afterlife with healthy dose of heartfelt humor, but it isn’t the show’s central character, Nathan (Robbie Amell) or his relationship with his “angel” customer service representative Nora (Andy Allo) that brings the bulk of the laughs. It’s Zainab Johnson‘s “angel” Aleesha and Kevin Bigley‘s “uploaded” Luke that not only keep viewers on their toes but makes them laugh as well as Aleesha attempts to thwart Luke’s afterlife antics at every turn. According to Johnson and Bigley, though, that playful, hilarious dynamic was an easy one to bring to screen as it was one that played out in real life as well.
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Speaking with ComicBook.com, Johnson and Bigley both commented on the chemistry on set, chemistry that made it not only easy to play off one another, but also to bring some of that good-natured competitiveness to live as well.
“I think my favorite part of Aleesha and Luke’s dynamic is that I don’t think I knew how much Luke could irk Aleesha and it seemed like every time we did a scene over he managed to make me boil a little bit more,” Johnson said. “So, it was very easy to find motivation to be frustrated and also want to win. I feel like Aleesha and Luke, it’s about who’s going to win this time? And I think that that was what was fun for me playing a character who is like, ‘who’s going to win in this scene? And who’s going to win when we shoot?’ You know, who’s going to win?”
“I feel like I got quite a bit of them,” Bigley said when asked who the thought “won” the most. “I feel like it’s always… it’s a nice stalemate in the best, best way. Z is so fun to work with and she’s just like, I don’t know, when you get to play against and with someone who… it can work if you’re acting with someone who is kind of making similar choices or something, but I don’t know. Z’s just so incendiary. She just reacts to stuff like it’s so… they’re all gifts. Every reaction from Z is a gift because even if I mess up, I know that she’s going to take care of me.
Johnson echoed that sentiment, noting that even when their characters would be at odds, they remained a solid team as actors.
“You know what was so wonderful though with Kevin and I, as much as we would be at odds as Aleesha and Luke, as soon as ‘cut’ was yelled we would look at each other like ‘Yeah!’ Like, high five, like ‘Yes, we did that.’” Johnson said. “And I think that was what was so fun about it, that we could be at odds in a fun way and then instantly be like, ‘We did that together.’”
Upload is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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Image Credit: Netflix
