Video: Mae Whitman & Carlos Valdes on Starring in UP HERE on Hulu

How are you two

We're good. How are you? Okay, I have fallen in love with this show

I have to tell you what has made up here so special for each of you

May. Okay, for me, I mean, so many things made it special, but I think, you know

having done this since I was a child, the things I've really come to value are honesty

when it comes to the actual characters and everything kind of like they're being a through

line of really making sense and being genuine, but also honestly the process

and the team. And I feel like the people that we worked with from like all the producers and the

writers and the directors, but also the entire crew down to the very last person, loved this

project so much. And we all felt like we were bringing our absolute best to it. So there's

just a lot of heart in it. And I feel like you can definitely feel that through the screen. So I just

every day I felt just like lucky to be here. I was like, I hope nobody comes and takes me away because

they realize I'm an imposter. I would agree with that actually. Like I think one of the most special

things about doing the show for me is like the alchemy that just

happened to find its way between all of us. I think this is an amazing team and we all

kind of, it was very easy for us to kind of all get on the same page insofar as

like where these characters are, where they're going, you know, what this show is

and feels like. So, you know, yeah, it's, that's very rare, I feel like, to

get involved with a creative team and with a set of collaborators that you

really are like writing the same wavelength with. So that's definitely one of the most special things for me

To me it was great because it was like the perfect melding of like musical theater and television comedy

and putting it together. I mean, how cool was it like singing these incredible songs

written by the Lopez You the musical theater I the television comedy And together you know I don like labels I don like compartmental Oh my God It helps people understand Right but you know yeah I I what the question

It's the musical. It's insane. Are you kidding? We're part of a musical that, at least for me, I'm like, I've never done anything like

that before my life. And there is, I remember there's one shot where I'm walking to the diner to meet him

And it was one of the first scenes we did like, we were outside in New York. We were in the Lower East Side

It just like, and it was like walking and the camera was pulling me back and I was like singing the thing and walking

And I was like, oh, my God, I'm in a musical. This is so exciting

Like I felt that feeling and that nostalgia and that passion of just like what it feels like to be in that place and expressing yourself from a place that's really quiet, but actually super huge when you're actually inside of the person

Yeah. Yeah. I actually, you know, I feel like I stepped away from theater for a while to do TV

and now I found myself in this circumstance where it's like, no, no, no, buddy, you're going back

So, but it was like, you know, it felt like a little bit of a homecoming for me

you know, to like explore that confluence of elements. So, yeah, it felt, it felt weird and it felt new and it felt different

but it felt right. Now, talk about who you each play and what you love about them

Okay, I play Lindsay, and she's stuck in kind of a small town life

She's, her whole life is sort of been laid out in front of her, She knows who she going to marry She knows what she going to do every day is sort of the same by rote situation And I think there this part of her that she been repressing for a long time because she learned to be ashamed of it That kind of like the freak the weirdo the one that wants to kind of be bigger and more expansive and grow and learn and change and not wake up every day the same person And I think there you know everything kind of comes from a place of love or fear And I feel like when you living from a place of fear sometimes you too afraid to make that jump into the unknown And I think like you know right away she so brave I think she takes that jump and it scary

And every day is unknown, and you don't know what's coming. But I feel like she stays true to that true person that she is in there

And once she's able to get the voices out of her head telling her what she's supposed to do, she actually ends up becoming who she really is

And I think that's pretty dang cool. I play Miguel and my favorite thing

about playing him is his whole journey revolves around his ability to access

and own his vulnerability and I love that that's the principal thing I get to play with this character

because in the greater social context of like you know educating young men

in so far as like their own emotional landscapes and their own emotional intelligence

There's not a lot of, like, resources or, you know, just validation for that, for that kind of process, I think, in our world

And so, like, I think this show helps to just shine a little bit of light on that in a really refreshing way

Vulnerability is hot. Woo! Did we wake up at the same? I've been up since four

I've been thinking a lot about this. New York is where real writers live

and I am starting to think that I am a real writer. Why don't you tell me

Do not say it. Careful now? Keep it to yourself, Lenz. I just have all these voices in my head all the time

Now you've done it. Nice pants. Thanks. They're new. I mean they not new I wear them a lot Sounds like they have a very rich history I know exactly what you going to say I wasn going to say anything Just enjoying the view You don need her Mama here

Okay, that's creepy. It's great to really get someone to know and run back and inside out

That's when you can really trust someone to understand what you are all about

I came here to focus on myself. This could be a life-changing opportunity

You have no reason to believe that. What about this reason? It's funny, the devil's actually a very misunderstood card

Did you always want to be a writer? I think I always knew I had something to say

but just afraid no one wanted to hear it. She doesn't like you

She just thinks you're rich. Hey, don't listen to her. You're doing great, buddy. What are you thinking about

Nothing. I've listened to so many different people telling me who I should be

What are you doing? It's different with Lindsay because she's special. That is actually very sweet

It's time to give up and come home. I belong in this city

You've been hit by three cabs. At very low speeds. All those voices floating in her head, saying no in a million different ways

They don't see what I do. She doesn't appreciate you. She doesn't deserve you

This isn't your life, this is my life. I am sick and tired of everyone telling me what I'm supposed to do

I need to find my own story. You're going to be okay

I can handle it