There are a lot of reasons to love Greta Lee, from her early cameos on shows like Girls, High Maintenance, and Broad City; to her status as originator of the phrase “Sweet birthday baby!” on Russian Doll; to her absolutely immaculate Grub Street Diet. (It was as a direct result of reading about Lee’s food life that I discovered my absolute favourite family-style Thai place in Brooklyn, but I digress.) Onscreen, Lee is the best friend you wish you had, full of verve and never without a witty comeback; plus, her characters tend to be united by a keen eye for fashion.
These days, Lee can be found playing the ambitious, Gen-Z-literate former media-company president Stella Bak on The Morning Show, which returned for its second season last month. Vogue recently spoke to Lee about the series, avoiding social media in her own life, and Stella’s inimitable style. Read the full interview below.
What originally drew you to the character of Stella?
At the time that I read the script, I happen to be fully immersed in books like Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino and Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener, and I was obsessed with Elizabeth Holmes, just like everyone else. I happened to be in this place where I was absorbing a lot of material about the record number of young people in leadership positions, and the record number of women and people of colour coming in to try and implement real change in the workplace. I was watching my peers navigate the corporate world, which is very different than mine, obviously, and then this role came along. When I read the description for Stella Bak, the first and only female news president in UBA history, I just thought, “Oh my God. If this is anything like what I hope it could be like, it could be really great.” I wanted to step up to the challenge.
Do you relate to Stella’s desire to appeal to the younger-millennial/Gen-Z world?
Well, I made it clear to the creatives on The Morning Show that, though I am technically a millennial, I’m much more analog in my identity. I’m not on social media. I think that gives me a bit of a different view in terms of someone like Stella, who is this wunderkind coming from leading an online media company that only caters to Gen-Z.
Have you ever felt like Stella in terms of having to navigate an old-school, traditional work environment?
Well, I’m an actor, so not so much in terms of a corporate environment. However, isn’t everything sort of a corporation? I mean, not to sound incredibly woo-woo and anti-capitalist! As a young-ish, Asian-American woman, I’m used to having to navigate certain kinds of... let’s call them institutions that are mostly white, and oftentimes being the token. These are all things that are somewhat familiar to me, and I felt like there was a lot that I could draw from personally, even though I’ve never worked in news before.
Were there any particular shows or movies you watched in order to prepare for the role?
I watched a lot of TED talks and YouTube videos, featuring everyone from Elizabeth Holmes to Mark Zuckerberg. I watched videos of young female executives with startups giving speeches to their employees, trying to figure out: in practice, what does a young person in leadership actually look and sound like? I came in with my ideas of, you know, Sheryl Sandberg and “power poses” and having to shout so that everyone listens, and I was so wrong. The reality is, there is a whole generation of people who are in these positions who seem so firmly comfortable in their own skin; they were just showing up as themselves, and people were listening. There’s so much more power to that than, say, my tendency, when I want to be heard, of just yelling and getting louder, and then nobody listens to me. So weird, right? (Laughs.)
What was the experience of shooting during Covid-19 like?
Really, really nuts. It was at the beginning of the lockdown in LA and, you know, imagine how you would feel if all of a sudden you couldn’t see anyone at all except for Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon! I just really had to box up my sense of disbelief and disassociation from reality. I was so grateful, though, to be with other people during that time when we just had no idea what was happening, or what was going to happen. Not to mention, practically speaking, how do we do our job in a safe way? We all had to wear crazy masks, and if your thing is having a handful of almonds in your pocket to eat between takes, you couldn’t do that.
I know you’re a mom; what was it like navigating parenting and work during the pandemic?
Oh, it was a nightmare. I’m lucky because I have a partner who’s so supportive and able to help, but it was extremely challenging. I mean, this is an athletic show! It’s like jumping onto a treadmill that’s set at a 10. I have two young kids under five, so I’ll just sleep later. (Laughs.)
Last thing: tell me about Stella’s amazing sense of style!
Well, this closet is a dream. Sophie [De Rakoff, The Morning Show’s costume designer] did an amazing job. It’s Balenciaga, Prada, Chanel... I will never have a wardrobe like that. The thing is, though, it’s a full manifestation of how Stella sees herself. The clothes are aspirational, but they also push the boundaries. She is really owning how she wants to be perceived as a boss lady; she never wears heels. She’ll wear a giant chunky Prada sneaker, and that’s it. I love that about her.
