‘Looking For Alaska’ star Landry Bender hopes people can see the ‘heart behind’ sarcastic and sassy Sara as Hulu series progresses
John Green's 'Looking for Alaska' is a touching coming-of-age story that has been a favorite among young adult readers for its smart, sympathetic approach to the problems teenagers deal with in their everyday lives. In an interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Landry Bender, who plays Sara on Hulu's limited series adaptation of the novel, said the depth the story has, is what attracted her to the show.
"It was a really, really crazy auditioning experience," Bender told MEAWW while talking about her casting. "I actually auditioned for all three girls on the show. So Alaska first and then Laura and then Sara. I'd been auditioning for a casting director for a long time, since I was like 14, and he just really thought that the project was a good fit for me and he wanted to get me in there wherever he could. It's just kind of really the project that I always wanted to be a part of. I wanted to get to a point where I could do really smart coming-of-age stories and this was exactly that."
Sara is a pretty sassy character who can be quite merciless while dealing with the people around her. Though she admitted she's no stranger to sarcasm, Bender revealed she still had some difficulty relating to her character because of how different their approaches to life are.
"I didn't relate to her a ton," Bender explained. "I think that our approaches to things are a little bit different. I definitely use sarcasm and can have my sassy moments but I want to do it out of love and want to present myself in a different way but she really gets after her boyfriend and gets after a lot of people. But I hope people see the heart behind her as the series goes on. She has kind of lived inside this bubble for her whole life and really knows nothing but the small, Alabama rich community that she's grown up in. So think we relate in terms of that we kind of had to grow up really fast in a lot of different ways and that we are kind of sassy but I think our approaches to it are different."
'Looking for Alaska' will premiere on Hulu October 18.
