Wednesday, July 13, 2016

"Mr. Robot" Star Carly Chaikin Demands Your Attention


Christian Slater, Rami Malek Preview ‘Mr. Robot’ Season 2 | TODAY

The badass actress talks about Tinder, tech paranoia, and raging at Apple.

When Carly Chaikin, the reigning tough girl of prestige television, was in middle school, she said "f**k you" to her math teacher. "She wouldnt call on me. So I was like, "f**k you," and I left.

You could read this as the origin story of Chaikins persona nowadays. Her badass character in Mr. Robot, a hacker named Darlene, is similarly direct, observant, demanding, and takes no s**t. Or as Chaikin describes her: Shes just honest. Shes a b***s-to-the-wall girl.

Mr. Robot, a dark and cynical show about political hackers, is in the emerging stage, but it"s not hard to imagine it officially evolving into Breaking Badlevel obsession and cultish fandom. We hope. Already, Chaikin says shes proud of America for liking it. Its such a smart show, andnot to be rude, but a lot of America can be pretty dumb. It was one of those things like, Are people going to get it, or are they not going to get it? It could have gone either way.

For its viewers, Mr. Robot can spark a certain type of paranoia. The show, which is all about whats unseen on our screens, exists in a world swimming in shadowy threats. Recently, Chaikins iCloud was hacked, which sent her into a whirlwind of anger and fear. Mr. Robot has made me so much more aware of everything. I have to think about it," Chaikin says. "I was at this club in Miami, and this girl said she was trying to find her phone, but her hands almost went in my bag. I grabbed them, because nothing gets past me. After she walked away, I said to my best friend, "What if she dropped a device in my bag and is hacking me and tracking me and bugged me? Her best friend argued this was fairly unlikely.

Chaikin is also philosophical about the way the technology has changed us. What did we do before we had cell phones and we just had to sit there and be vulnerable? Rather than being vulnerable, Chaikin is completely hooked on exactly three phone games: AlphaBetty, Diamond Digger, and Farm Heroes. She"s at level 900 in all of them. She also praises Tinder as an excellent phone game. I think its an interesting, cool way to meet people. I have a boyfriend, but I always want to go on someones Tinder to swipe.

When we talk, she"s wrapped in a big sweater, her legs under her on a couch, shoes off. She isn"t someone who looks relaxed, though; she"s gazing around intently, and she repeats several times that nothing gets past her. In her non-acting time, she"s devoted to jigsaw puzzles and paintingboth of which hone her attention to detail. Her Mr. Robot co-stars, Rami Malek and Portia Doubleday, just gave Chaikin her latest puzzle. She"s still painting as Mr. Robot films in New York, though it"s just in a "tiny little nook," as opposed to her studio in L.A. For her subjects, she says, "I find myself going to faces and people more than anything. I just love human emotion and faces." Her next project is a set of paintings of the same eyesangry, sad, and happyto show how subtle the difference would be.

"Im so hyper-aware of everything around me and everyone and everything that people do." As she says this, she notices that I do some self-conscious shifting, she calls it out, and quickly returns to her mantra: My friend always says, Nothing gets past you. I can read people very well. This is also the appeal of a show like Mr. Robot: that there is something secret going on, and we might be able to figure it out if we just pay close enough attention.

And when Chaikin says shes observant, shes not exaggerating. Before the interview is over, she finds a pen I didn"t even know I had lost.

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Source: http://www.gq.com/story/carly-chaikin-mr-robot-darlene

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