Kitty Track Covey’s fascinating love life has nothing on the “XO, Kitty” forged’s real-life friendships. In line with Anna Cathcart, who has portrayed Kitty on display for the reason that first “To All of the Boys I’ve Beloved Earlier than” film made its Netflix debut in 2018, the bond she shares together with her castmates has made her journey because the character all of the extra worthwhile. “I’m really so grateful for all of them as a result of they made such an enormous distinction,” she tells POPSUGAR. “It is actually what makes the expertise on the finish: the individuals that you just meet and the friendships that you just make.”
On display, Cathcart and her costars — Gia Kim, Min-young Choi, Sang Heon Lee, Anthony Keyvan, and Jocelyn Shelfo — are inseparable. Even when their characters get on one another’s nerves or discover themselves entangled in a sophisticated love triangle (learn: love sq.), they cannot assist however keep concerned in one another’s lives. When the cameras lower, that tether stays simply as robust.
“I bear in mind feeling like that is what it means to have a household of mates, to have such an incredible, supportive group of individuals.”
“The truth that individuals nonetheless needed to proceed hanging out and be like, ‘Yeah, I do know we simply spent your complete 16-hour workday collectively, however let’s nonetheless have dinner collectively,’ was so particular and, I believe, uncommon,” Cathcart says. On one event, she and Keyvan even booked a last-minute flight to see their “XO, Kitty” billboard in Occasions Sq. collectively simply days after seeing one another on set — proof that just about any time spent aside is an excessive amount of. “[The group chat] is a number of like, ‘The place are we going tonight? What’s taking place tomorrow? I am right here,'” she says.
Along with planning every day dinners, the forged normally move their time on set with sing-alongs of their make-up chairs — normally with Cathcart or Lee on the aux — and numerous inside jokes. She provides that the forged have even provide you with code phrases and code names to talk to one another whereas they’re mic’d. “There’s, like, sure songs that now I am going to hear and I am going to really feel like I am again on set,” she says. “One is ‘Zoom’ by Jessi, which is Ok-pop and it is such an upbeat hype tune. And when that is performed, everyone seems to be like, ‘We’re on the “XO, Kitty” set,’ like, ‘We’re again.’ I believe even in like 50 years, you possibly can play that and I will be like, ‘I miss all people.'”
After they’re not on set, the group divide their time between having tea at Lee’s residence and educating one another tips on how to prepare dinner totally different meals. “Anthony made all of us pasta one night time. That is certainly one of, like, my favourite core reminiscences of the entire expertise,” Cathcart says. “All of us sat round on the ground of his lodge and ate home made meals and all of us simply, like, obtained to know one another as a result of we have been nonetheless comparatively new. And I bear in mind feeling like that is what it means to have a household of mates, to have such an incredible, supportive group of individuals. It was so cute.”
Trying again on her expertise filming season one, Cathcart says it is these small moments which have caught together with her essentially the most. “It is so humorous to look again on it now and bear in mind all of the little issues,” she says. “These have been a few of the finest moments: all of the small issues which can be actually not small ultimately as a result of they’ve the largest impression.”
The forged’s fast bond is very heartwarming contemplating lots of them lived on totally different continents and had solely met on Zoom previous to filming. “I met Gia first,” she recollects, including that that they had their first encounter at their lodge. For Cathcart and Kim, the connection was immediate. “We simply have been, like, saying congratulations to one another and being like, ‘I am so excited for you.’ She was like, ‘I am so excited for you!’ It was simply an excellent feeling of: we’re about to begin an journey collectively.” When it got here to assembly her different castmates, Cathcart was mesmerized by how comparable they have been to their characters. “Min-young has a number of traits which can be much like Dae, and Sang has so many traits which can be much like Min Ho,” she says. “They have been each such pretty individuals, nevertheless it was actually humorous to see that.”
As filming continues, Cathcart says she’s turn out to be more and more grateful for this loveliness from her castmates, noting that their variations have made their friendship stronger. “In our group, we even have a number of variety in numerous methods,” she says. “People who find themselves a part of totally different communities are all, now, a part of one large group. [It’s a mix of] totally different ages and totally different life experiences. To worth variety as a buddy group is basically significant, and it interprets so much into the way you work together and what you guys do and the way understanding and empathetic everybody might be for one another.”
This empathy usually manifests itself in heartfelt talks between scenes. “It was nice to have the ability to discuss your day and have individuals get it, have individuals help you, and know the emotions that you just’re experiencing or a minimum of be empathetic to them and hear,” she says. “Should you had a tough day or in the event you have been confused with one thing, everybody understands that, which is basically necessary to have throughout a journey like that.” She provides, “I believe having individuals who perceive you and who hear you is essential.”
Additional demonstrating their love for one another, the forged even stunned Cathcart with the “finest birthday” of her life when she turned 19 final June. “It was the best; they went all out and had an entire shock,” she says. After a fun-filled dinner and an evening in town, Cathcart’s mates additionally handled her to an “unforgettable” present. “They painted me a skateboard,” she says, including that she’s an avid skater. “They obtained a clean skateboard, and so they all painted it and labored on it and designed it. I got here dwelling on the airplane holding it in bubble wrap.”
As a lot as Cathcart loves her castmates IRL, she additionally holds house in her coronary heart for the entire “XO, Kitty” characters, particularly with regards to their sophisticated love lives. “If Kitty continues to comply with her coronary heart and does what feels finest for her, I help whoever she decides, even when that is herself!” she says of the romantic rigidity between Kitty, Min Ho, Yuri, and Dae on the finish of season one. “I believe prioritizing a relationship with herself can be actually necessary proper now, so I am pleased with Kitty for being alone on the finish of the season and for giving herself the house to determine all of it out.”
“XO, Kitty” season one is presently streaming on Netflix, and it has been renewed for a second season.
