"It was a difficult period," Perez recounted to King during their episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors. "I remember it being winter, January, and absolutely freezing. Thinking of you in those conditions was hard. Plus, the heavy subject matter you were dealing with. When I arrived, I was like, 'Jo, are you alright? You've lost a lot of weight.'"
Perez and King co-starred in Netflix’s 2020 sequel, The Kissing Booth 2, and have maintained their friendship since then. Most recently, King appeared in Hulu’s miniseries We Were the Lucky Ones, with all eight episodes premiering on March 28.
"I became extremely thin for that role because my character is a Jewish woman pretending to be an Aryan woman," she explained to Perez. "At the start of the war, they were surviving on rations, and as time went on, their access to food became severely limited."
Adapted from Georgia Hunter's 2017 novel, which drew inspiration from her family's history, "We Were the Lucky Ones" casts King as Halina Kurc. Halina is a young Jewish woman thrust into the chaos of World War II, separated from her family as the conflict unfolds.
"We approached the filming with both respect and a keen awareness of the immense responsibility we carried towards this story," King explained. "While we couldn't truly experience the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand, we aimed to portray the impact it had on this family with authenticity, even if it meant pushing ourselves outside our comfort zones. It's important to remember that the discomfort we felt is nothing compared to what they endured."
"Despite the challenges," she continued, "filming this series remains one of my proudest achievements. It was an immense honor to portray Halina Kurc, a real woman and a true inspiration for her strength and resilience."
"They're not just survivors," Perez countered, his voice filled with admiration. "Halina and the entire Kurc family, they're heroes."
King smiled in agreement. "Absolutely," she said. "But heroes who never saw themselves that way. They were just ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Their only goal was survival, to find each other again, to keep their family whole. That's what makes their story so remarkable."
Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Fast forward to today, and here we are, discussing this incredible story. It's truly humbling. I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to bring these characters to life, and immensely proud of the entire team behind the series."