Bel Powley Talks The Morning Show, Friends, And Feeling 'Strong Enough To Say What I Want'

Bel Powley loves Friends. Funny enough, I discover this more than halfway through our chat, prodding philosophical questions abandoned for a raucous conversation about our preference television shows. She's currently, finally, watching Succession, or attempting to. (She's only on Episode 3 of the initial season, beholden to her flatmates' busy schedules.) She's not a binge-watcher, per se, however she has no problem watching things countless times, like episodes of Love Island. And then there's Friends, a show she watched in real time and can still quote by heart, or tries to.


"I remember any time it was the last episode, and all my companions came over," Powley, 27, tells MTV News. "We were all crying once she's like, 'I got off the plane.'"


The "she" in question is Rachel Green, played by screen queen Jennifer Aniston, who is currently starring opposite Reese Witherspoon and Powley on The Morning Show. It's a surreal, full-circle moment for British-born Powley. Then again, the complete experience was surreal. The timely Apple TV+ drama is her first American television role, nevertheless once the names Aniston and Witherspoon are attached to an assignment — as stars and executive producers — then you don't hesitate. The series follows morning show anchor Alex Levy (Aniston) as she fights to keep her placement at the anchor desk soon after her co-host is fired for sexual misconduct, and Powley plays Claire, an assistant who believes Witherspoon's fiery and opinionated Bradley Jackson should be the future of morning news.


MTV News sat down with Powley while in a recent New York press trip to talk about the series, how it upacks the "gray areas" in the post-Me Also landscape, her experiences in theater, and why she's taken control of her career.


MTV News: What was it originally that made you aspire to be piece of the show? Was it the talent involved? Was it the material?


Bel Powley: As soon as you're presented with a show that's being produced by Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston and they're in it, you immediately know that this is going to be a good show for females. Also Kerry Ehrin, the showrunner, is just incredibly cool and clever. Basically, Once I first got sent it as an audition tape, because they were so secretive about it, all I knew was that it was about the morning news, and I was auditioning to play this character Claire. And then I read for my audition. It was three scenes between Claire and Yanko, the weatherman who she's having an affair with. I just thought the writing was so smart, like how they were portraying agenda politics between an older man as well as a younger woman.


Powley (left) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (right) on the set of The Morning Show


While I got the part, Kerry laid out my arc and informed me what's going to happen in the entire show, I was just so surprised along with really appreciative that someone was creating a show about Me Also, nevertheless not on a surface level. It's really delving deep into what this shows for society right now and why girls and males and all different echelons of this corporate world are adapting to this huge societal shift. It's not just about victim and perpetrator, right and wrong, black and white. It's really about the gray areas in Me Also. My character is having this relationship with this guy who's her senior, however they love each other. It's consensual, yet it leaves them with a question like, "How are people going to view us?" It's very tough for them to navigate. And that's just one of the several subplots of the story that showcases this post-Me Also landscape.


MTV News: Workplace culture rightfully shifted immediately after that. Your character, Claire, and this relationship that she has, it's right in that gray area. 


Powley: It's not only about them being worried about how other folks are going to view it. It's like they almost begin questioning themselves. So she has the question of, "Well, wait. Am I with him because he's my senior?" She doesn't want people to think that she's attempting to get somewhere in her job by having sex with the weatherman. So it's complicated.


Yanko Flores (Néstor Carbonell) on The Morning Show


MTV News: There's this moment in Episode 3 where Jennifer Aniston's character tells her daughter, some days ladies have to take control." Any time is a time that you felt like you took control? Of your life, or of your career? 


Powley: I feel like I've routinely been pretty in control of my stuff. I'm learning more as I get older it's not necessarily about taking control, yet I'm just learning more about myself and what I want and what satisfies me in my career and in the rest of my life. Any time While I first began acting and did my first movie, I don't think I knew really what I wanted to do. I did do a bit of just going as well as what each person else wanted me to do. So I can certainly mention that right now I have more confidence in my own choices, and I think that, in conjunction with what's been happening societally, it makes it much easier for girls right now just to be like, "I feel strong enough to mention what I want."


MTV News: Any time it comes to making your own choices in terms of your career, what are you looking for?


Powley: I don't think I specifically look for something. It's more of a feeling. I look out for directors that inspire me or, certainly, really smart writing. That's an obvious thing. Yet in terms of character and story, I like variety. I don't like to do the same thing. I like to switch between characters that I feel like can relate to, although then also characters that feel really out of my comfort zone because being challenged is the only way to get better. On a light level, I love doing comedy. I've habitually felt very comfortable in that sphere, nevertheless I also love doing drama, too.


MTV News: Do you feel like you were challenged on the set of The Morning Show, either by the material or by the rhythm of a television show? 


Powley: That was the main challenge for me. In terms of character, I noticed it quite easy to slip into Claire. We're the same age. We're both British and, also, she's only just began working on the show, so I may could realistically afford to not do a ton of studying into morning news because it's meant to be alien to her. We were learning about it at the same time. However in terms of just doing a American TV show, I'd never done one before, and they're just structured differently. I'm very used to doing film or theater where it's very much you and your director, holding each other's hands and going through this journey with each other. This is a Apple show, it's huge. So there's an enormous pyramid of people running this show. In TV, different people come in and direct each episode. So, actually, you're the one that actually understands your character better than the director does. At the starting it freaked me out because I was like, "Why is no one giving me notes, telling me what to do?" Then I actually really embraced it and realized it's sort of cool that the showrunner trusts you, so in the event you come up with new ideas or interesting choices, they're really receptive to it.


MTV News: You got to spend a lot of time with Reese Witherspoon. What does Claire visualize in Bradley Jackson? She's enamored by her. 


Powley: Claire is in awe of Reese's character. I think Reese's character resonates much more with her as sort of like third wave, maybe a little bit more of a hardcore feminist than Jennifer's character. And she likes the way that Reese's character really rocks the boat, and she really wants to learn from her. So they begin working together.


MTV News: You mentioned that having Reese and Jennifer on set as stars and producers was a large draw for you. What was it like having them on set? 


Powley: Both of these are the most hard-working females I've ever met in my life. They were hands-on producers, however then also while they were on set, which is all day, each day, they were totally focused on these characters and their acting choices. My starting day was the scene in Episode 1 once Jennifer's character first interviews Reese's character, which is a very long and very intense scene. And I remember being so astounded that neither of those dropped the ball once. They didn't forget one line, one look, one note, like nothing. I was in awe of these from that moment.


MTV News: Any time while you were promoting The Diary of a Teenage Girl, you spoken about the significance of having fictional characters you can visualize yourself in represented in media. That's why Minnie was so critical to you. 


Powley: As a teenage girl you'd find parts of male characters in novels or films, whichever, that you related to, however you couldn't totally because they're not a woman. And then in films, definitely, it seemed like you relate to parts of girls because they would only show one segment of a woman in everything. It's changing right now, nevertheless that was any time While I was growing up.


MTV News: How do you suggest your experience in theater has impacted your relationship to acting?


Powley: It's taught me everything. Most British actors will have trained. It's quite unusual to have not trained, especially in case you begin your career in theater. Remember As soon as I was younger and I would go into theater readings or auditions, I would habitually feel really anxious that I was untrained and each person around me was. I learned pretty much everything from doing plays. I did my first Broadway show [in New York] If I was 18, a Tom Stoppard play that David Leveaux directed, and I learned so much in that process. It was actually with Billy Crudup.


The cast of The Morning Show


MTV News: And right now you're working with each other on The Morning Show. 


Powley: I know, which is crazy because I was a kid then. I think it's also just the rehearsal method of theater and the quantity of time that you get to study text really cooperates with the going forth into doing movies and TV.


MTV News: What piece of that experience did you bring to The Morning Show?


Powley: Just understanding a backstory because I think with TV, more so than film, you've got to prepare construct a backstory because a movie is just like one narrative over 90 pages. TV, it's something that's ongoing, and it's going to develop and evolve, although I think it's crucial for you as an actor to know who your character is, equally to plays. Any time once you do a play, you routinely have to do a lot of filling in the gaps because it will often be set over, I don't know, one night or one hour. So that's certainly what I brought to Morning Show. And Kerry Ehrin, the showrunner is really receptive to you sort of coming up with your own ideas of who your character is. It's cool because we're going on to do more seasons of this show, and your ideas could get weaved into a future plot lines.


MTV News: Was Claire habitually British?


Powley: Yes! The brief was "a young Lauren Bacall." She was routinely meant to be British, quite prosperous, posh. The brief also said that some categorize kind of nepotism got her onto the show, which I think could be a really cool story line in the future. What if her dad's like, I don't know, some big news tycoon or something.


MTV News: Do you watch a lot of TV? 


Powley: I do! It's hard some days. Any time I'm not shooting, I'm reading scripts or learning lines for meetings, so I'm reading a lot of content. If I've had a day of learning lines or filming or doing my job, basically, I just go watch The Excellent British Bake Off. However I do like watching good TV. I'm not a binger, though. I'm really happy that with our show they're going to roll it out week by week. I think that's better. Because my mom's a casting director, and While I was younger, she would have to watch all the BBC dramas for work. And every Wednesday we would sit down and watch the murder thing that we were watching on BBC, also it could be an event and really exhilarating. I think it's sad that we've lost that right now because everything is there for you immediately. I think that makes me hope to watch it much less, weirdly.


MTV News: Some days it's supportive whenever you should catch up on something quickly. 


Powley: I recently began watching Succession because it was all I may hear. So I was like, "Got to watch it." I'm only on Episode 3. I'm also quite slow because I survive with my boyfriend and my flatmate, and we stupidly go, "Let's watch this with each other so right now none of us can watch it on our own because we have to wait up until we're all there to watch it again. So began watching that. I'm really savoring it, for now. I love Bake Off, and I love Love Island. I watch Friends all of the time.


MTV News: Really?


Powley: Yeah. Who doesn't?


MTV News: The Morning Show must have been a surreal experience then. 


Powley: It was. Just working with both of those was surreal, although I'm used to it right now. She's not just Rachel Green. She's Jennifer Aniston.


MTV News: Did you have a conversation with her about it?


Powley: I did, actually, once. She spoke to me and one of the cast about it any time we were having dinner, and she was just like, "It was the ideal time in my life. I miss it. I loved it." And I was like, "That's all I wanted to hear."