Harley Quinn Smith‘s star is on the rise following her memorable performance in the horror comedy Yoga Hosers, which was directed by her father Kevin Smith and co-stars her BFF Lily-Rose Depp.
The 17-year-old budding actress, who was named after the comic-book villain, opened up to Just Jared in a new interview. Harley delves into why she went vegan, her obsession with all things Disney, and why she and Lily-Rose were in absolute tears on set.
FYI: Yoga Hosers is currently available to stream on FlixFling! If you missed it, watch the YH trailer here!
Click inside for Harley Quinn‘s full interview with Just Jared…
What was your favorite scene to shoot from Yoga Hosers? I felt super badass during all of the fight scenes! It was really exciting to learn the fight routines and kind of do our own stunts (although don’t get me wrong, 95% of the stunts are most definitely not us).
Favorite prop from set? We filmed in a convenience store for half of the movie since Lily and I played convenience store clerks. Snce we were filming in a real store, there was real merchandise that was left there for us to use as background. So although it wasn’t ours for the taking, there were just so many random things that Lily and I kept slyly taking every day like silly string and bedazzled scrunchies. I guess we technically were stealing at the time since there was no one there to charge us for it, but at the end of shooting we made sure to pay the owner for all the missing goods, so don’t worry we’re not criminals!
What are the benefits and challenges of being directed by your father? If you know my dad at all, you probably know that he can talk more than anyone you will ever meet in your entire life. If I ask him a simple question such as, what time do we need to leave to get to this show on time? Or where should we go for dinner? He will somehow find a way to incorporate a motivational speech into his answer and then talk for hours. However, on set, he is in work mode so he tends to keep things short and sweet, which is a nice break from hour-long motivational speech dad! But other than that he is just truly the most passionate artist and is so respectful of everyone’s needs. Any actor or crew member is seriously so lucky to get to work with such an enthusiastic and heartfelt director, and I am lucky enough to get to call him my dad.
Are there projects your dad has wanted you to star in but you said no? My dad was asked to make a short film for an anthology of horror shorts called Holidays. He chose to write and direct the segment on Halloween and he ended up centering it around cam girls, which of course my mother was not very happy about. I didn’t really mind and was excited to do it, but the notion of having her daughter play a cam girl who was showing her body on the internet for money was quite disturbing to my mom. She said I couldn’t do it at first, but after much assurance that the only time I would ever take on the title of a cam girl was in a movie and never in real life, she finally agreed to let me do it.
Was it your dad that introduced you to comics at a young age? Do you remember the first one you really got into? My dad’s love for comics will never even slightly compare to anyone’s love for them, let alone mine, but yes my love of the comic world definitely stems from him. The first one I really ever got into was the Umbrella Academy series written by Gerard Way, but that wasn’t because of my dad, that was because I was incredibly emo and I felt it was my emo duty to follow everything Gerard Way had ever done. So it started out by me paying homage to my emo king, but ended up just me really falling in love with the comics.
What was your most memorable scene to shoot with Lily-Rose Depp on YH? There’s this scene where Lily and I are giving each other a pep-talk before Hunter and Gordon come over to the Eh-2-Zed for our “party” and if you look closely both of our eyes are kind of red and swollen from crying because right before we were shooting my dad came up to Lily and I and was like “Isn’t it crazy that we’re changing locations tomorrow? You’re never going to get to come back here again, (because it was going under demolition once we left) but anytime you pass this area you’re going to think to yourselves, hey this is where we filmed our first movie!” And we just started BAWLING because it hadn’t really hit either of us that we were already about to move on from a location and we had been having so much fun where we were shooting so it was very hard to say goodbye to a place that held so much sentimental value to us. My dad has a tendency to make people overly emotional sometimes and he picked an unfortunate time to pull out his sentimental speech since moments later we had to go film with tear-filled eyes. So now whenever I see that scene I of course start to cry.
What instruments do you play? Is a musical career in your future? I used to play piano as a kid, but now I only play bass. Before Lily-Rose and I filmed our small scene in my dad’s movie Tusk, I had thought that I wanted to play bass in a rock band for the rest of my life and that would be the extent of my career, however now that I’ve discovered the wonders of acting, I don’t think I could ever go back.
You’re a big fan of Disneyland. Are you devastated that it’s getting rid of the Tower of Terror? This is a very sensitive subject for me because I am a HUGE Disney fan and although it will be exciting to see something new, I am DEVASTATED at the loss of such an iconic ride. Tower of Terror is not only my favorite ride at California Adventure, but it has such a unique feeling to it that no other rides in either parks really have. The old timey Hollywood theme is something that is so unique to that ride and that ride only, that I’m so super bummed I’m no longer going to get to feel like I’m a part of the Twilight Zone. However, I trust Disney with my whole heart so I’m sure they’re going to do great things with the Guardians of the Galaxy replacement. Disney can really do no wrong and that movie is obviously fantastic so I have faith that it will turn out to be fantastic, but I will of course miss my beloved trip back into old Hollywood.
You recently went vegan. Why? What non-vegan foods do you miss the most?
I’ve been vegan for four months now and I’ve been a vegetarian for a year. I decided to commit to a vegan lifestyle because ever since I can remember I’ve had this insane connection to animals. I’ve always had such a passion for helping them so as I got older and expanded my knowledge on how cruel the meat/dairy industry are, I decided that it would be worth the sacrifice if it would mean that I would be helping animals in a very significant way. Initially, it was very difficult to say goodbye to cheese and ice cream, but honestly there are SO many amazing vegan options that at this point in the game I don’t even really miss non vegan food! If you stop thinking as vegan food as a replacement, but instead you start thinking of it as it’s own thing, it will become a lot easier to commit.
Who are some of your favorite actors of all time? Fave actors of your generation? I look up to Margot Robbie the most. She commits fully to her roles, which I think is the most admirable quality an actor can possess. I think Harley Quinn would be one of the most fun roles an actor could ever play because of her progression from a psychiatrist to a psychopath, but it would also come along with a lot of emotional work that the actor would most likely have to go through to experience the character development, but despite the challenge of the role, Margot pulled it off flawlessly. Perhaps I’m a little bit biased because Harley Quinn is my namesake, however I truly thought she did a phenomenal job and I admire her so much for it. In addition to Margot, some of my biggest idols are Kate McKinnon, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Aidy Bryant, and Fred Armisen. I’m pretty much just naming cast members of Saturday Night Live, but again the quality I admire most in an actor is definitely commitment and confidence to go beyond your comfort zone and that is something an SNL cast member definitely has to have.
Fave bands of the moment? Fave songs? My music taste is so eclectic I listen to anything from rap to Broadway show tunes to 90′s hits, but my favorite artist of all time is Kendrick Lamar because he’s so inspiring and uses his platform to advocate about subjects he’s passionate about such as bringing attention racial issues that are still very prominent in society. I admire anyone that is willing to speak up for what they believe in. I’m always jamming to Kendrick, but besides that I’m of course listening to Frank Ocean’s album because it’s perfect. But I would say my favorite songs at the moment are ‘I Got a Man’ by Positive K, ‘High’ by The Cure, ‘I Wish’ by Skee-Lo and ‘Tired of Being Alone’ by Al Green.
Any movies or TV shows you’re currently obsessing over? I am absolutely in love with Supergirl. Not only is it just an incredibly amazing show with great story lines each episode and fantastic actors, but it’s so empowering to see a female driven show with an incredibly strong and heroic protagonist. Especially since comic book culture is becoming so popular with Marvel and DC putting out so many movies and shows at the moment, it’s so fantastic and absolutely necessary to have Supergirl in the mix so that women and young girls are able to see themselves represented.
