Knowing her story would not end happily, Emily, how did you choose to play Lori out of the gate?
Meade: What made Lori interesting in the pilot, before you get to the other episodes, is that she was presenting herself in a false way at first. I think I was preemptively trying to find the layers that I was assuming would exist. How I see it, Lori comes off the bus and she’s pretending to be more innocent than she really is — but in truth, she really is more innocent than she thinks she is, and she’s getting herself into more trouble than she realizes. It’s endless layers.
Simon: You know there’s a tragedy coming, that there’s something not right here — there’s some hole in this character that she never quite gets to fill. But you also know that she’s streetwise. This world is not alien to her. That’s a lot to play. So when you go back and look at those early moments, it’s all there. The Lori that is ultimately going to get crushed is in there, but also the Lori who can go on for years and years.
David Simon and Emily Meade on What Lori Means to ‘The Deuce’