Interview with “Lagged Out” star Laura Kriss

The Pit was able to catch up with actress Laura Kriss to speak with her about the new web series, "Lagged Out." Kriss, who plays Amy Freeman, is one...

Lagged OutThe Pit was able to catch up with actress Laura Kriss to speak with her about the new web series, “Lagged Out.” Kriss, who plays Amy Freeman, is one of the stars in the series about a group of video game ‘addicts’ and their quest to become professional gamers.

The series debuted on February 28 and recently released the ninth episode of the season. It is a BrokenLink.com production.

The Pit: How long have you been acting and how did it begin for you? Are you strictly film or stage, or do you not have a preference?

Laura Kriss: I started acting officially when I was 14 when me and a bunch of my friends from the theatre department in high school decided to get together for fun and shoot shorts and enter them into online competitions. It was always just for fun or, rather, that’s why I did it. I never limit myself in what I will do with acting, but I’m mostly limited to film because I prefer it to stage acting.

Pit: Who are some of your influences as an actress?

LK: As an actress I consider any actor or actress who’s committed their whole lives and succeeded in film their as a great influence on me. Helen Mirren, Sir Ian McKellen, Meryl Streep, Christopher Plummer and people who’ve done inspiring roles like Rooney Mara for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and Jennifer Lawrence for a Winter’s Bone.

Pit: What are some past projects you’ve been involved with, whether it be as an extra or starring role?

LK: Some other projects I’ve done would be a lead in a Horror movie called Hunger Unholy; a reenactment role in Discovery ID’s Close Encounters; lead in a psychological thriller called Good News and a Principle role in an adventure movie called Bender. But I’ve experienced a variety of roles including extra work in block buster Hollywood films and leads in student projects.

Pit: Can you tell me what “Lagged Out” is about and how it came to be? How did you get cast in the role of “Amy?”

LK: Lagged Out is a story about a wanna be pro gamer who, after getting deported from Korea where she did commentary on pro gaming tournaments, decides to come back to the States and try her hand at the professional gaming world, with a crew of potentially pro level gamers in tow. It came to be when our director, who has carried a following of over two million independent readers for his publications in websites like Cracke, and College Humor, decided to put his talents of writing and knowledge of the “nerd world” to use and create a series that reaches his peers.

I really don’t know what had me cast in the role of Amy. I heard about the role from the AD and felt I related most to this character. I suppose my sarcastic and nonchalant attitude in how I portrayed the 20 something PhD drop out was what they were searching for. Either way I won’t complain, I love the character!

Pit: Of the episodes that have debuted so far, what stands out most to you about the final product of “Lagged Out?” How long is the series?

LK: What I find amazing about the final cut is how our chemistry shines through.  All our characters, of course, entail bits of our actual personalities. Our character’s interactions work as well as they do because of how all us actors have built up our relationships and I haven’t seen every episode filmed, so when I watch each scene for the first time, I find it a genuine pleasure to witness that experience.

As far as series length, I’m not 100-percent sure. As our episodes were filmed, we chopped them to smaller ones but I believe we have 28 shorts in total that are playing every Tuesday and Thursday on our website abrokenlink.com.

Pit: What can you say about some of the other actors you work with? Do you have any fun stories from on set or after a day of production?

LK: I can tell you that every day is an adventure with the actors. When we’re all together it’s so difficult to finish an episode because we all have so much fun that we can lose focus. Some of the characters, we have so many so I’ll just cover the leads: Joseph Seibert is the king of improv and one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. There never has been a character more influenced by the actor, but that’s him. Dialogue has essentially stopped being written for him because he ends up improving most of it anyway and it comes out funnier than we all could’ve expected. Grady Chambless, who plays Hart Symanski, has such quick wit and can keep up with anyone if he’s not leading already. Vivian Rackover, who’s so delightful and lights up the set, has a feisty personality and has a damn sharp tongue with intelligence to back it up. This woman can hold her own.

We have so many stories, it’s difficult to share without giving away episodes!

Vivian is so well known for having issues with doors. I can tell you right now, any scene involving her and a door had issues. Whether she couldn’t open it, couldn’t close it or had a nasty habit of opening it up into people. It’s always anticipated when she’s on set, but no less funny every time! Or one time that took us nearly 20 takes because Joe (who plays Dave) couldn’t remember to use the word identical when describing Viv’s Character, Nicole, and would replace it with anything else.. the most notable word being incendiary.. INCENDIARY! Which resulted in an eruption of laughter every time we approached the line from there on out. Or the time my character was supposed to chug a beer down.. the specific beverage was particularly foamy and when I flipped the bottle too quickly it foamed out of my mouth like a volcano and I sprayed the floor and fellow cast members while choking on it. The time Vivianchallenged our Director, Anthony Jurado to a Halo match because she thought she was pretty good and Jurado spent the good part of an hour, with his character, hopping around her (yes, hopping) and killing her character with the gun butt rather than shooting at her, while she was unloading bullets directly at him. She failed so miserably.

Actress Laura Kriss (Photo by Damien Dennis)

Actress Laura Kriss (Photo by Damien Dennis)

Pit: What would you tell fans of the show to encourage them to keep watching, as well as others who might be interested in watching the show?

LK: In this show, the antics get crazier, more characters show up, so the plot thickens and the interactions between people are just amazing to watch. Character development is astounding, and the situations we continue to find ourselves in are entertaining and fun. Lagged Out is a series about gamer and by extension, video games. Who wouldn’t be interested in that? Additionally, a lot of references related into gaming culture are tied in there. Finally, the characters are all so unique and yet, work so well with each other, there’s essentially a person everyone can relate to!
Categories
GamingTV and Film

Owner of The Pit Media, LLC. Damien is an award-winning sports journalist currently employed full-time by Tribune Publishing. He is a part-time sports information specialist with Joliet Junior College. He is a former Heisman Trophy voter and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. He has a Bachelors of Arts in Journalism from Oakland University and a Masters of Arts in Sports Administration from Northwestern University.
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