Ciara Bravo recounts her modest start and playing an addict in Apple TV’s Cherry

I actually read Nico’s book shortly after it was released, like a couple of years ago. I was wondering, what was your approach to the material when you knew the part was yours? How did you find that balance between your character on paper and on screen?

That’s a great question. I read the book before I was attached to the movie. So, I was very familiar with the story. And the first thing I realized upon reading the script was that the book is one step away from Nico’s life. The movie is certainly one step away from the book. I was speaking with Joe and Anthony about that. We made it clear very, very early on that, you know, these characters in the script are different versions of the characters from the book, and to not confuse these different versions of these different characters.

I just tried to focus more on the Emily that I saw in the script and less of the Emily that I had read about in the book.  In terms of process and how I break down and build a character, I very much so like to go through and treat it almost like a puzzle. Find all of the little different pieces that are hidden within the dialogue, and within the screen direction, and try to build a person out of that.

One of the favorite themes for me in the film is how we see how heavily one person can drag another person down with them. I was wondering playing this character, did it teach you anything that you may not have been in touch with before?

Absolutely. I certainly learned the negative effects of a truly codependent relationship. I learned what can happen to a person if you allow yourself to get too lost in someone else for too long.

I love that. I’m learning that for an actor, the process is oftentimes more important than the result, the result being, what we just end up seeing on screen. Given the nature of the role, what’re you taking away from that experience?

I took away so much from this experience. I felt like I grew a lot as both an actor and a person in making this movie. Of course, it definitely depends on the person, but I very much so prefer the process of making a film versus watching the finished product. It’s all about the process of making it for me, and especially the research. Building those relationships to help bring these characters to life. I feel like I learned so much in my research for this film too. Particularly in regards to Emily’s battle with addiction. I had the chance to go to a rehab facility in Cleveland, and speak with a couple of recovering addicts there. Many of their employees had also went through the program themselves, and it just completely opened up my worldview. I mean, there are things that you don’t know unless you’ve gone through them yourself and hearing them explain these things to me, it really turned my world upside down. I found it to be such an extraordinarily humbling experience. I’m so grateful to them for being so open with me, because I knew I wouldn’t have been able to do the job that I did without their help and their vulnerability.