The two stars also discuss how they brought to life the Hulu series' “texting fantasy” scenes.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There’s a lot out there about the case.
What did you find most instructive to bringing these characters to the small screen?
Elle Fanning and Colton Ryan in ‘The Girl From Plainville.'.Steve Dietl/Hulu
ELLE FANNING:We had access to all the text messages, so I did read through them.
It’s very truthful and very honest.
There’s not much footage of her speaking.
Conrad and Michelle meet in Florida and discover a connection that will follow them back to their respective towns in Massachusetts.Steve Dietl/Hulu
The court [footage] is on YouTube, so I did watch all of those.
And also, we don’t have all the answers, necessarily.
COLTON RYAN:Any and all of it.
Elle Fanning and Colton Ryan reenact a text message exchange between Michelle Carter and Conrad “Coco” Roy III in ‘The Girl From Plainville.'.Steve Dietl/Hulu
And it was very lovely, but a lot of that has to do with the legal proceedings.
And I was really privileged and lucky to have all that stuff.
We worked with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
I also closely worked with a social worker on a more granular level.
Were you concerned about handling this material with the right sensitivity?
That was a real top priority for me.
At the end of the day, I think [Michelle] was extremely alone.
I just didn’t want to be a part of something that was going to harm the narrative.
I wanted to kind of be able to destigmatize mental health, especially in young people with this technology.
It’s cliche to say, but they do…
I think our show explores that hopefully, in a very sensitive way.
It’s done with care, you know?
We don’t need to rehash that."
Is it so important to find yourself online?"
You’re their champion, right?
And with this particular project, the inherent things that are already there are there.
you’re free to’t skirt around them.
Michelle and Conrad very famously only met in person a few times.
Most of their relationship was carried out over text messages.
RYAN:As an actor, those texts are bible.
There’s no subtext in texting, as I learned.
There’s only the way you receive it, because texting is a lot of id.
There’s three bubbles and there’s delete.
And what does that mean?
FANNING:That was another thing that I was like, “How are we going to depict this?
It’s just going to be two people sitting and texting?
That’s so uncinematic.”
We can’t do that.
And the gadget to use these moments, we call them “texting fantasies.”
It’s very [miscommunicated] sometimes, like often texts are.
And you’ll notice, in those scenes we don’t touch.
There were very certain rules in those scenes that we kind of followed, which was interesting.
FANNING:I think I have a deeper understanding.
I can’t judge her.
I have to figure out how she did the things that she ultimately did.
And I think now I do understand.
I mean, you know, as much as I can.
RYAN:I didn’t feel glad [at the end of the shoot].
That was not it.
But I actually still feel the reverberations.
I felt light as a feather.
I felt affirmed in breathing and being here and looking at the absurdity of the world.
That’s what Coco did.
And I don’t know.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The first three episodes ofThe Girl From Plainvilleare now streaming.
The remaining five episodes will be released weekly on Hulu.
Check out ourdaily must-see picks plus news, celeb interviews, trivia, and more onEW’sWhat to Watchpodcast.
