‘It’s What’s Inside’ Star Brittany O’Grady Says Her Character Brought Some “Severe” Baggage To This Thrilling Body-Swap Game

There’s nothing left to hide once you’re in someone else’s body.

That much is true for Greg Jardin ‘s new body swap thriller, It’s What’s Inside , which follows a group of friends reuniting for a night of fun, until their night takes a twisted turn when a former classmate arrives with a mysterious game and some seriously bad vibes.

The White Lotus actress Brittany O’Grady is at the center of it all as Cyrus’ ( James Morosini ) anxious girlfriend, even though she initially wants no part of their antics. Her anxiety is practically suffocating for the viewer as she worries about her boyfriend’s diminishing interest on top of this dangerous game, but she embarks on a complicated – and slightly immoral – journey when she finds freedom in her friends’ bodies, most notably that of Alycia Debnam-Carey ‘s character, Nikki.

While speaking to Decider, O’Grady highlighted that she came to understand Shelby better after seeing how her co-stars developed their own characters during rehearsal.

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘It’s What’s Inside’ on Netflix, a Loony, Highly Entertaining Millennial Body-Swap Comedy

“After [Shelby] got through her anxiety of swapping bodies, she started to feel the empowerment,” O’Grady recently told Decider over Zoom.

“I think she was very impacted by her long term relationship of eight years and impacted by Cyrus’s baggage, and I’m sure Cyrus was impacted by Shelby’s baggage,” O’Grady said. “It was a really collaborative effort. It wasn’t so self-focused this time, which made the experience very fun.”

Read on to find out what the actress had to say about that intense rehearsal process and what could be next for It’s What’s Inside .

DECIDER: Could you tell me a little bit about how you approached playing this character?

‘It’s What’s Inside’ Star Alycia Debnam-Carey Happily Stepped Away From Her Usual “Apocalyptic” Roles For Netflix Body Swap Thriller: “It Was A Nice Challenge”

BRITTANY O’GRADY: When I had my meeting with [director Greg Jardin], I felt like we really talked about Shelby and Cyrus’s relationship. That was the kind of central focus. And when we started the rehearsal process, we were able to have a rehearsal process with all the characters in the film for a week before we started filming. I feel like once I started collaborating and rehearsing with our director, Greg, and James Morosini, who played Cyrus, Shelby’s boyfriend, I think that was when I started to be able to dive into who Shelby was, because I think she was very impacted by her long term relationship of eight years and impacted by Cyrus’s baggage, and I’m sure Cyrus was impacted by Shelby’s baggage. It was a really collaborative effort. It wasn’t so self-focused this time, which made the experience very fun.

What did you think about Shelby and Nikki’s relationship with each other?

I think there’s a big [feeling of] the grass is always greener on the other side. Shelby was constantly looking for a void to be filled, to feel good about herself, and she was looking for it through her partner, and she saw that her partner was desiring something that came off a little bit more shiny, like Nikki and her life. And it seemed like Nikki got a lot of external validation that Shelby felt like she was lacking. So, after she got through her anxiety of swapping bodies, she started to feel the empowerment that Nikki felt in her life, and how Nikki navigated life. I think that was something that made her want to stay in in that body, which is pretty severe, to want to leave your whole identity become of someone else. It almost shows how much Shelby felt like she didn’t have an identity in her relationship or in her life.

Did you get to work a lot with Alycia during this rehearsal process? How did that inform how you navigated Shelby’s character?

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The really cool thing about our rehearsal process was that we all were there when we started creating our characters. And so all of us, because we all swapped bodies, we all had to listen and watch and respect the actor creating the character at first, and then it was like a blueprint. And then everybody took the blueprint. So Alycia did that with Reina [Hardesty], and then I did that with with Alycia. And it was a lot of fun. We got to collaborate, and all of us took it very seriously. It was really fun to work with Alycia on that, as well.

Which character was the most fun to play, between Shelby, Brooke and Maya? Was there a character that you wish you got to play?

It would have been fun to play Nikki for like a hot second, or even one of the guys, maybe Dennis, or Forbes, or Ruben… or even Cyrus, that would have been really fun. I think that I would have playing anybody. But I loved playing Maya because I felt like that was actually the most challenging, because Nina [Bloomgarden] did such a wonderful, unique, original job of playing that character, and I don’t think it’s an easy character to bring to life. And I loved playing Brooke because she’s very outgoing and confident, or appears that way, and Shelby’s the complete opposite.

Do you think that there’s any possibility for a sequel down the line?

We’ve been getting that question a lot, and I never thought about it until today. Somebody was saying that it would be cool as an anthology series if the suitcase went to another party or another situation. It could be really cool.

It’s What’s Inside is streaming on Netflix now.

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