“Make Me a Match” premieres Jun 24, 2023, as part ofHallmark’s June Weddings collection.
Kota stars in the film as Bhumesh, alongside Eva Bourne as Vivi.
This was really cool.
There were so many ups and downs for the character.
What would you say was the most challenging and also the best part of the role?
The most challenging part was the amount of words that were in this movie.
It was a lot of words.
Once I got there … it was all shot in Vancouver.
It felt very smooth throughout the process, and I was having a lot of fun on set.
Everybody else was having a lot of fun on set.
Everything else, all the stress, took a backseat to it.
Working with Eva Bourne
What was it like working with Eva Bourne opposite you?
We had way too much fun on set.
She [Bourne] is extremely talented, and she’s so fun to be around.
When the director yells “cut” or “action,” she’s right there with it.
That was really fun to see that shift in her.
I was like, “Oh yeah, that’s cool.”
That was really fun.
Do you have any memorable moments from behind the scenes with her or with the rest of the cast?
There were so many … the way this movie is structured, there were many parts to a scene.
It was very daunting, too, those days.
This day three happened to be [when] we barely had any lines.
It was just us getting married.
That was the most amount of fun that we had.
It was a lot of days of giggles and laughter.
He is quite different.
Yeah, it’s very different.
You’ve done a lot of varied roles, as far as genre.
You’ve been in horror and romance and comedies.
I honestly wish I had a choice in the genre.
I’ve done a sitcom, I’ve done drama, horror, comedy.
The other one I really want to do is action.
I want to get physical with a role.
I see where the wind blows and then see what happens.
It was a whole quarter-life crisis … an early 20s crisis, for sure.
Is this going to be lucrative?
What’s this going to be?"
It was just a lot of questions that were yet to be answered when I was starting out.
I don’t think the arts were the way to go for that.
I definitely talked myself out of it.
I’m trying to think.
It was really a blip on the radar while I was in college.
When I was getting my undergrad, I was dabbling in modeling a little bit.
How would I go about it?"
What can you tell us about that project and what it was working with the cast?
It was a lot of people like Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson, and Shailene Woodley.
I’m so excited for this movie.
It’s about the whole Reddit revolution that took place in late 2020 and early January 2021.
With GameStop, right?
It’s about this whole David versus Goliath story.
It’s got an incredible cast.
I’m very lucky and honored and grateful to be a part of that cast.
That was really cool.
All my scenes were opposite Sebastian Stan, so that was a freaking dream come true.
Every day on set, I was like, “Oh my God.”
I’m with Sebastian Stan.
Oh my God."
Meanwhile, I’m on set, I’m like, “Yo, what’s up, bruh?
Everything’s cool.”
You’re like, “This is no big deal.
I do this all the time.”
Inside, I was like [shaking].
There was Craig Gillespie, who was directing it.
There were so many covering shots that we were doing.
I just need you to feel him right now."
I’m like, “Whoa.
I never had a director tell me that before.”
I got to put on a wig.
They painted a whole beard on me.
It was a whole character transformation and a lot of physical characteristics of what was going into the character.
Everyone on set was saying how much … they could be gassing things up, but who knows.
They were saying how much chemistry Sebastian Stan and I had playing these two characters.
I was like, “Yeah!”
“Make Me a Match” premieres June 24 at 8:00 p.m.
ET on the Hallmark Channel.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
