Life moves fast in the world of BH90210. When Natalie Sharp got the call that she was cast as head writer Anna for the rebooted Beverly Hills, 90210 series, it was not even 24 hours later when she was thrust on set with iconic stars like Tori Spelling, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering and Jason Priestley.
Sharp told PopCulture.com that a few days after auditioning for the role, she got the call from her agent that she was being seriously considered. After that, it was all a whirlwind.
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“A couple days [after the audition], I got the call that I was on hold and then at 7 p.m. my agent called me saying, ‘You got the part,’” Sharp said.
“And then I had to dye my hair red at 9 a.m. the next day and do my fitting right after that and then film…I was like, ‘Can I get a script? I really have no idea who my character is yet and I’ve only done one scene,’” the natural blonde continued.
“It was very, very fast. And so I’m just really excited to see it all come together and [watch Anna] moment to moment through this whole story.”
BH90210 fans met Anna in the third episode of the season as the writer who put Zieran’s character, a heightened version of himself, in his place after he hit on her and asked her to grab him a coffee. As the show has gone on, fans have watched Anna transform into the rebooted show-within-a-show‘s confident head writer. Sharp admitted that playing Anna, a sharp-witted, sarcastic girlboss, could be a bit “intimidating.”
“I was a little nervous playing Anna because I am a very sociable kind of boisterous person, but Anna will snap her fingers and tell you what you should be doing and what you shouldn’t be doing,” Sharp said. “She really puts people in their place. I really like that about her.”
“It was definitely a little nerve-wracking,” she said. “She owns her power so well, where I definitely have a problem with conflict. I’m such a comedian at heart…that I just love to make people laugh instead…whereas Anna, she just gets right to it.”
As the rest of the cast starts to gain trust in Sharp’s character, fans wonder if her personal relationships with them will grow stronger. While Sharp remained mum on specifics, she did tell PopCulture.com that “what’s exciting about Anna and her arc has to do with what’s exciting about the show.”
As far as working with the iconic stars like Spelling, Ziering, Garth, Priestley, Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Carteris and Shannen Doherty, Sharp said she was well aware of their influence — despite never watching the original series or its first reboot in 2008.
“It’s kind of hilarious, because I get flack from everyone, but it is very new [to me]. I never grew up watching 90210 so I didn’t really know who people were, other than Tori Spelling because of all of the reality TV stuff that she’s doing,” Sharp admitted. “I think I was right in the middle. I was too young for the original but then I missed the reboot, so it’s funny that I’m coming off of those having not watched anything.”
“At first I was really intimidated, because I know how much people are obsessed with them and obsessed with the show and I’d never really worked with that much celebrity status on a set before,” she continued. “So it definitely took me a couple days to adjust, like, ‘OK, Natalie, you are not dreaming, you are working with these people, they are people. Let’s have fun.’”
But it didn’t take long to feel like one of the team.
“They are so great and so supportive and just funny and friendly and they’re such a family. Once I got to see that… I feel so grateful to be a part of it all.”
BH90210 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.
