We had the unique opportunity to speak with the creative team as well as the main cast that worked on the CBC Gem and Netflix YA series Fakes. The series comes from David Turko, who was an associate producer on a fave series of ours, Warrior Nun, and this grouping could not have made for a more fun, collaborative and overall just plain memorable group interview.
The show Fakes follows two teenagers, Zoe Christensen, played by Emilija Baranac (who you might recognize from playing the character of Midge on Riverdale, as well as embodying Genevieve, Lara Jean’s rival for Peter Kavinsky’s affection in the To All the Boys trilogy) and she is joined by rising star actress Jennifer Tong, who previously lit up our screens as Rebecca Li in the underrated Netflix series Grand Army. The pair are best friends that manage to accidentally build one of the largest fake ID empires in North America. As well, you may recognize series MVP Richard Harmon from The 100 (he’s a childhood pal of creator Turko), and plays a character sort of similar to that of Robert Pattinson in Good Time, known as ‘Tryst’. If the show reminds us a little bit of the Sofia Coppola film The Bling Ring, about a group of millennials who kind of stumble into a life of crime, then you’re on the right track, but Fakes is so much its own, down to filming the series in Vancouver, which in this case is not disguised or subbing in for somewhere else, the true story on which it is based took place in West Vancouver and here it is played by itself in all of its natural splendour.
In our wide-ranging chat, the cast (Emilija Baranac, Jennifer Tong & Richard Harmon) and creator (David Turko) of Fakes talked with Brief Take about the audition process, their favourite scenes to film, driving cars and riding horses on set (yes, there is horse riding in the series and Tong was more than happy to tell us why). Lastly, they shared why loved working with each other, but we can clearly see why in their interactions.
WATCH:
Fakes is now available to watch on CBC Gem in Canada and on Netflix in the U.S.
