Olly Sholotan recently spoke about filming the pivotal scene between Carlton and Will (Jabari Banks) in the first season of Bel-Air.

In Blavity Original/Shadow and Act Rewind the Scene series, Sholotan said that filming’s Carlton breakdown was something he’d been thinking about for a while.

“Scenes like that are always tough, right, because you read it and for the next two weeks, you’re sitting there, going like, ‘I know I’m going to have to do this episode,'” he said. But he added that he had emotional support during the scene from the crew, including the director for the episode, Aurora Guerrero.

“What’s really great about Aurora…is she’s like, ‘Hey this is a big scene, don’t think about it like that. Just breathe into this, we’re on your time, take your time. If at any point it doesn’t feel real…just restart,'” he said. “‘We’re here with you.’ I think that’s kind of the most beautiful thing about this scene and I think why it came out so well.”

Sholotan said that what fueled Carlton’s emotions was extreme overwhelm.

“He gets overwhelmed with shame, with guilt, with the feeling of inadequacy and it breaks him,” he said. “He doesn’t feel well-equipped to deal with everything that he has in front of him and he just breaks down. Just sitting there and staying in that headspace and allowing that feeling to wash over me…the scene that we saw is what came from that.”

Check out the clip below to learn more about the playlist he created to get into Carlton’s headspace.

Olly Sholotan

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