Eleanor Smith Talks About Her Passion For Filmmaking And Her Recent Role In ‘Reset’

What an incredible actress!

From creating films to starring in projects, Eleanor Smith is becoming a rising name in the entertainment industry. One of her most recent roles was as ‘Samantha’ in the series ‘Reset’.

We had the amazing honor of talking with Eleanor on balancing her career with school, dream co-stars, and more!

Tell us more about your amazing role in the recent series ‘Reset’.

E: ‘Reset’ focuses on a group of high school students who create and release an app. The app ends up becoming really successful and we see how the main kids deal with being young entrepreneurs in a tough industry. I play ‘Samantha’ who codes the app alongside her friends. I started auditioning for the project in the fall of 2021, and when I first met the cast I was thrilled to be working with such a talented group of young creatives. Over the course of filming we all became pretty close and I’m so proud of what we were able to create together.”

Do you think you have anything in common with your character ‘Samantha’?

E: “In the best way possible, Samantha is a bit of a nerd and really into computer science. I also enjoy coding and computer science so I definitely think we relate on those grounds. Outside her group of friends, Samantha is quiet and is not usually the one doing the most talking, which is the biggest difference between us. This was also something I found challenging while portraying her. In books and movies, especially ones involving teenagers, we normally just see caricatures like the ‘smart’ or ‘popular’ characters which aren’t authentic to how people behave and I didn’t want my portrayal of her to fall into these stereotypes. What I liked about how Samantha was written was that she wasn’t one dimensionally shy or geeky; while she’s quiet at times she never shies away from giving her opinion or taking lead when needed. This gives her more complexity as a character – something I felt was important to show while playing her.”

You also recently attended the premiere event for the series. What was that experience like?

E: “The premiere was such a fun experience. I invited a couple of friends and my dad to come with me, and they were so supportive and excited to see the series. I had school in the morning so my friends and I rushed out before lunch to start getting ready. I had a couple people help me plan my outfit and makeup before the event to save time on the day. When I got to the theater I was surprised by the number of people there, all seats were filled and there were around 250 people who attended. We watched the first half of the season, this was the first time I had watched any of the episodes so it was really interesting to see the differences between the script vs the final product. We also had a Q+A session after the screening and I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk about the creative decisions I made while portraying Samantha. Overall, the event was such a great experience and I loved being able to chat with other Korean entertainment industry professionals who were as passionate about movies and TV as I am.”

What has it been like to balance your entertainment career and your school work?

E: “Acting while in school has always been pretty challenging. I started working when I was 12, but back then it was pretty easy to keep up with school when I was on set. As I’m in high school now grades are obviously really important; the workload is definitely a lot more than what I had in previous years so it’s harder to work while keeping up with school. The filming of the last part of Reset took place during my IGCSE exams so there were several days where I went from being on-set in the morning to an exam in the afternoon; I had to balance revision with learning lines which were challenging. It’s during busy times when I’m really grateful to have such supportive teachers, friends, and family who help me schedule myself in a way where I can do what I’m passionate about while attending a normal school.”

A few days ago you released a short film ‘paranoid’. What helped inspired you to create it?

E: “I wanted to start making more film content for my Instagram and so decided to make mini-short
films based on a really simple concept – ‘Paranoid’ was an example of one of these projects. What inspired the concept behind the project was watching reels from content creators who make similar content to my own. I filmed “Paranoid” in a few hours one night after deciding what the concept was going to be. I really enjoy making small projects like this as it lets me practice my filmmaking and cinematography skills while providing content for my Instagram.”

Is working behind the camera as a filmmaker something you want to pursue more in the future?

E: “Yes, definitely! I’m looking to go to film school in a couple years. While acting is something I’ve been doing for a while, filmmaking is my foremost passion – acting and filmmaking go hand in hand and I think working on both sides of the camera is highly beneficial for anyone working in the entertainment industry. As an actor, you get to take full control of how your character is portrayed but your influence outside of your character’s storyline is fairly limited. While I love taking on different characters and delving into what motivates and influences them, I also love taking on the responsibility of deciding how best to display a whole storyline on screen. Ideally, I would love to be able to do both at the same time.”

Is there a type of character you haven’t played yet, that you would love to in the future? Do you have any dream costars?

E: “I love any character that feels realistic with interesting motives and layers to their personality. I also feel especially drawn to characters that are a little unusual and stories that have a thrilling/dark nature. I’m a big fan of Ransom Riggs’ books and would love to play any character in those novels. I’ve really enjoyed Florence Pugh’s work recently and think she does a brilliant job with her characters and I feel like working with her would be such a valuable experience. She and Saoirse Ronan both do such an incredible job in portraying the complexities of their characters subtly – working with them would be amazing.”

Where can we follow your amazing journey?

E: “I post the majority of my projects on my Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/eleanorsmith_official/ Reset’s Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/reset_thewebdrama/ | Reset – Season 1:
https://www.youtube.com/@reset-thewebdrama7707/featured