Laysla De Oliveira returns in season three of ‘Lioness.’ Ari Michelson Lioness actress Laysla De Oliveira has become somewhat of an accidental action star. “I did not lift a single weight before I booked this part,” she jokes.
During the first season of the Paramount+ spy thriller, the 34-year-old actress’ character, Cruz Manuelos, was mostly undercover. That meant her action sequences, while exhilarating for the actress, were quite minimal. Then along came season two, where her character becomes a Delta Force operator and things get much more hands-on.
“I had to up the workout routine because if you’re not ready, you don’t survive,” De Oliveira tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom. Thankfully, for season three of the Taylor Sheridan series, which premiered Sunday on Paramount+, De Oliveira knew what to expect and has been training accordingly. She adds, “It’s such a sensorial experience, and a part of being able to get through the day is being able to have the strength to do so.”
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There’s more to these action sequences, which Lioness is chock-full of, than looking comfortable in the scene. Training is needed to even get to the point where one can act. “The reality of the situation is you do it so that you can even hold the weight of the weapons, of the vests, of the helmet,” De Oliveira explains. “[It’s about] learning how to breathe when you have the weight of the vest on your chest, and it’s really, really hot and you have to run.”
De Oliveira tries to separate herself from the character and the physical toll the role takes in between season. She admits it’s hard to shed the character but it’s a necessity. The actress still goes to the gym when she’s not working on the show; she’s grown to enjoy it, but she’s firm about not pushing herself like she might when training for the show.
De Oliveira jokes that she wasn’t into working out before joining Lioness: “I did not lift a single weight before I booked this part.” Ari Michelson It’s unsurprising that while some of the training fades when she’s not shooting, it comes creeping back in once preparation for the season begins. She and the rest of the cast are sent to a pre-season bootcamp at Sheridan’s ranch, meant to help them prepare for shooting a new season. There they work with an individual trainer and learn close-quarters combat. The actors memorize every single position in these scenarios, so once the scripts come out, they’re ready to jump into whatever is needed of them.
Now three seasons in, De Oliveira notices just how much of Cruz she’s taken in. She recalls a conversation she had with a New York City server about their aversion to crowds. The pair realized that the server’s family had a background in the type of work De Oliveira portrays in Lioness.
“It’s just completely changed my brain composition,” she says of the show. “I went from a girly pop to a girly pop who now walks into a room and tries to figure out how to clear it if necessary.”
While shooting, De Oliveira and the others actors, who include Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman, are always on, as the show shoots with up to seven cameras at times. There’s no such thing as coverage for one actor or the other on the set of Lioness — the actress likens it to a play. “It’s a different style of shooting. You have to be on the entire time,” she says.
De Oliveira jokes that if production can “stick a camera” in a spot that catch something another camera isn’t getting, they will. She adds, “If the camera gets to you and you run out of ammunition, you better remember how to do that reload.”
The show has led the actress to some experiences she likely never saw for herself before the role. Her first time in a helicopter was thanks to the show. She rightfully thinks of it as the “craziest experience” she’s had yet.
Genesis Rodriguez as Josie, De Oliveira as Cruz andJill Wagner as Bobby in Lioness season 3. Lauren “Lo” Smith/Paramount+ “They took me up there, and they strapped me to the helicopter, and I was shooting guns,” she says, but thankfully, anything where she’s on the outside of the helicopter is done on the ground. “Taylor is very adamant about making it as truthful as possible, so it creates a very exciting environment for us.”
De Oliveira is adamant that safety is a huge priority on set, especially with weapons. “We do shoot with blanks,” she explains. “It looks very realistic, and it’s extremely dangerous.”
She notes that many productions opt to not use blanks for safety purposes, so on Lioness they “don’t go in all willy-nilly” and take protocol seriously. Part of their military training is learning how to lower their weapon as soon as someone crosses in front of them. De Oliveira notes their “incredible teachers” are “very, very adamant” about that.
When asked if she and the actors are able to communicate when they’re feeling uncomfortable with the weapons on set, she immediately confirms and reiterates that anyone not feeling comfortable with the weapon shouldn’t be stepping on set. The production also employs several military advisers, according to De Oliveira.
“The important thing is to do it in advance because there’s so many moving parts on the day. You never want to show up on the day and not feel secure about what you’re doing,” she says. The cast are given their instructions information and can write to them when they feel they need more practice. The actress notes that the entire process of learning to act with weapons and gear is a “forever learning process” that she and everyone else continues to settle into.
De Oliveira credits Sheridan with opening a big door for her with Lioness. Despite not being in the same location as the cast during season one, he sat with he,r and the pair ran every scene together. She finds him to be an “incredible acting coach” and misses that time from season one.
De Oliveira as Cruz and Ian Bohen as Grady in Lioness season 3. Emerson Miller/Paramount+. The actress jokes that she’ll call him now about a scene and he’ll tell her that she’s good. “We all love having his take on it because it comes from inside his head. He’s very talented. He operates on a different vibration,” she says of her boss.
“If you think about it as a sport, your vessel has to be ready to go because you will not survive the pace in which he works in and things change last minute. You just got to be a hundred percent on your game,” she continues. “If you can survive it, you come out a better artist and [with a better] skillset than you went in with.”
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