Attendees to Fan Expo Canada were ready for a reunion of a classic Canadian television drama, and its leads delivered. Laura Bertram and Lani Billard, who played Amanda Zimm and Busy Ramone on Ready or Not, did a panel on behalf of clothing brand Retrokid, who was debuting a clothing line at the event.
Repeats of Ready or Not aired on Disney Channel in the United States, after having initially debuted on Showtime Movie Channel. In Canada, the series was commissioned by Global.
The 44-minute panel covered a range of topics, like having a first kiss on-screen, and which character they’d like to see get a spin-off series.
Lani realized the series had a following when she went to the movies with her mom, at the mall, “it was just like screaming screaming people kind of following us and we had to kind of divert.” Another time, she visited her cousin’s camp, and “the whole mess hall was just like screaming, and going crazy. And I was young, so it’s a little bit overwhelming, but it’s also really exciting.”
While people often profess their appreciation to Lani, Laura says that it’s much rarer of an occasion:
I don’t get recognized that much, and I’m cool with that… but also I live on the west coast, and interestingly enough the show didn’t have the same impact on audiences, or was it wasn’t carried quite the same way as it is in Ontario and in Quebec and um in Eastern Canada. And I think that’s probably why
in fact if I ever do get recognized — and it’s not very frequently — it’s people from Ontario. They’re like, “did you go to this school?” I’m like “I went to after school with you, we hung out after school.”
Series creator Alyse Rosenberg was in the audience. She shared that during the casting process for Thirty-Two Double A, the short film made two years before the series was greenlit by Canadian network Global, she had seen almost one hundred other girls. Lani and Laura were late in the list, once they were getting to less established actresses.
Laura and Lani were instructed to try for what would eventually become each other’s parts, “which is now obviously hard to believe.”
I’m looking at these two girls who who just walked in, and I’m assuming that they are already best friends. I thought that they actually were two friends auditioning for the roles together, because their instant chemistry was so palpable for me. And I think I looked at them wait I think you’ve got to read for Amanda, Laura, and Loni, you read for Busy. And as soon as they started reading the script, there was just my hair stood on end, I knew this was it.
Lani and Laura will be back at the booth today and tomorrow, 11 am to 1:30 pm and 2:30 to 5 pm. The photo op and signed postcard are free if you buy $120 before tax of Ready or Not merchandise.
