Overview

• The Hollywood Reporter published Lower’s 2019 self-tape of Helly R.’s opening scene, bringing the audition to public view this week.
• Ben Stiller shared the video on X and praised it as “the best I’ve seen,” highlighting the craft behind home-recorded auditions.
• Lower filmed the tape in her Los Angeles bathroom with a friend reading Mark S.’s lines, delivering a physical performance that left shoe scuffs on her door.
• The audition won her an in-person callback with Stiller and creator Dan Erickson, during which she made Stiller laugh before ultimately being cast.
• The performance continuity from tape to screen has been widely noted, as has Lower’s subsequent Emmy nomination among 27 for the Apple TV+ series.