Cherry star Ciara Bravo has opened up on her ‘easy’ chemistry with Tom Holland, raving about her co-star as she worked through the ‘harrowing’ film with him.
The Big Time Rush actress stunned in her performance as Emily, as her character embarked on a sweet and heartbreaking relationship with Tom’s character Cherry as they both battle addiction.
Their chemistry is one of the most striking parts of the film, with Ciara admitting it couldn’t have been easier to bond with the Spider-Man star.
‘Tom’s a very easy person to bond with, so it wouldn’t have taken much time to love him as a human being!’ she told Metro.co.uk. ‘But we were lucky that we had about two weeks before we started filming, so we could really get to know each other.’
Recalling fun outings the cast would have together, the 24-year-old explained: ‘We had ample time to really bond as friends and I think without that space, without that time, we wouldn’t have been able to really tell the story that we told.’
In fact, one of those outings provided Ciara with a pretty memorable moment of her co-star, after he and her brother attempted the famous lift from Dirty Dancing.
‘My brother came to visit us from Cleveland and, as per usual, we all went out dancing, and at one point – I don’t know how this happened or what led us to it – Tom and my brother were doing the Dirty Dancing lift in the middle of the bar,’ she recalled.
‘My brother is a much bigger guy so you would think he wouldn’t have had much trouble lifting Tom up over his head […] but I just remember clearing the floor so that the two of them could run at each other from across the room and it was the most uneventful struggle and immediate set-down.’
Tom and Ciara navigate the film expertly, as the tone switches from heart-wrenching to hilarious and back again in a matter of moments.
For the actress, that was exactly what drew her to the role in the first place.
‘I was completely in awe of how the writers, Angela [Russo-Otstot] and Jessica [Goldberg], were able to balance so many tones, and handled topics that are very heavy, very difficult stories to tell, but were still able to have this through-line of both love and humour,’ she recalled.
‘It was such a dark story, it was really heavy, but I had never laughed so much when reading a script before and I was absolutely impressed and in awe. And then on top of that as an actor […] it’s not very often that you get the ability to play so many different versions of the same character, the same character at so many ages.’
Before shooting, Ciara delved deep into the role, speaking to people who have struggled with addiction to see how exactly she needed to portray Emily.
But playing such a tragic character left her struggling to leave her work behind her – something which Tom helped her out with.
‘This is the skill that I’m trying to work on, which is leaving my work at work,’ she pointed out. ‘Because when you’re telling stories that are so harrowing, can be so harrowing and are so personal, and become close to you through the journey of making a movie, it can be really difficult to leave that at work and not bring it home with you and ruminate on it.
‘Tom taught me a lot about that and he drew a very distinct line for himself – when he left set, everything stayed on set and as soon as he left set, he was Tom again.
‘I really respected and appreciated that.’
As for what she wants viewers to take from the film, she hopes a conversation can be opened up about mental health and addiction.
‘I hope that in watching this story, we’re able to develop some more empathy within ourselves, for the people in our lives who are going through similar situations, and in turn, create more space for conversations surrounding both mental health and addiction,’ she said.
‘And break down these preconceived notions that we have, and hopefully, in turn create a safer space for people who are battling something like that, to seek help and get the treatment that they deserve.’
Cherry is available to stream now on Apple TV+.
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