KiKi Layne and Thomas Doherty portray Dandelion and Casey in Dandelion. The film is currently playing in theaters nationwide.
A struggling singer-songwriter falls into an intoxicating romance that leads her to a deeper appreciation of her artistic journey and the discovery of a voice that is authentically her own.
Layne is also an executive producer and she opened up about why that was important to her, expressing, “It was extremely important just to be able to have more real and meaningful conversations and to have a bit more of a leg to stand on with being an EP as well. But I think even if I wasn’t an EP in terms of conversations around the music, I think that still would have happened and they still would have been as receptive to it as Nicole and the Dessners were of just like, they wanted that music to really feel like it was coming out of Dandelion and being able to have those conversations of, ‘Well, it might sound a little different now that Dandelion’s being played by a Black actress,’ and just having them being that receptive to that and going on that journey of discovery with me of what these songs that the Dessners wrote, how little changes can make it feel a bit more real coming out of this instrument.”
“When I read the script, I immediately found a lot of commonality with Casey and myself and insecurities and things. Then, I just connected with him quite instantly,” Doherty told me while reflecting on his role. “I think I just surprised myself with the freedom that I was given from Nicole to really just keep going deeper and deeper, and keep going. I guess that was quite surprising for myself to keep unraveling more layers and that was hard. It was tough, but it was a beautiful thing as well.”
I spoke with the actors about the relationship between their characters, a project they would like to see the behind-the-scenes process of making from start to finish, how their experience with this movie led to a deeper appreciation of their own artistic journeys, and more.
Watch my interview below:
