The Forbidden Fruits cast and director talk Mean Girls vibes, Shakespearean dialogue, and the cathartic thrill of playing a narcissist.
Forbidden Fruits brilliantly blends The Craft and Mean Girls, exploring the razor-edged dynamics of female friendship. Directed by Meredith Alloway and based on Lily Houghton’s stage play, the story centers on the Fruits – a secret, witchy cult of employees at a store called Free Eden. Led by the charismatic but narcissistic Apple (Lili Reinhart), the group’s fragile harmony is upended when a new hire named Pumpkin (Lola Tung) enters the fold, forcing every member to confront their own internal poisons or face a gruesome fate.
Mama’s Geeky sat down with director Meredith Alloway and the film’s lead cast – Lili Reinhart, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, and Lola Tung – at SXSW 2026 to discuss the unique language of the script, the catharsis of playing a villain, and the hidden symbolism tucked away in the store’s dressing rooms.
Forbidden Fruits Cast & Director Interview
Mama’s Geeky: What drew each of you to Forbidden Fruits initially?
Alexandra Shipp: I think it was that thing that draws you to movies like Mean Girls and Heathers, where you get to see a bunch of women on screen being badass and also being totally different, fully developed, specific characters. There’s something Shakespearean about the dialogue as well; the theater girl in me loved taking this poetic language and finding the humor in it.
Lili Reinhart: For me, I hadn’t read a script like it. I also hadn’t been presented with an opportunity to play someone like Apple. Having had many an experience with a narcissist, it was nice to play one. It was appealing to me in a cathartic way.
Meredith Alloway: As a director, I was drawn to it because it wasn’t women in relation to a man; it was just women with other women dealing with those dynamics. Lily Houghton’s script had its own language, and I felt she was really risking something and processing her life through what she was writing.
Mama’s Geeky: Victoria, your character feels very different from your previous roles. What did you love about her?
Victoria Pedretti: Everything. It was extremely fun. Part of what made it fun was working with these women and getting the chance to do my own makeup—it all felt very fun and alive the whole time.
Mama’s Geeky: What is something that you love about your character?
Alexandra Shipp: I love how much of a weirdo Fig is—she’s naming birds and obsessed with Ed Sheeran while rocking out in a latex corset. Understanding how she is such an integral piece of this machine was really fun to play.
Lola Tung: I love that Pumpkin has this quiet sort of power. She’s an observer, but she picks up on a lot because she has to. She has a little bit of a bite to her even when people don’t assume that about her.
Lili Reinhart: For Apple, I think it’s her sense of power that comes from deep within. You’re not quite sure where it comes from because ultimately she’s just working at this store and she isn’t even the manager.
Mama’s Geeky: The neon signs backwards in the mirrors were a great touch. Can you talk about that decision?
Meredith Alloway: You’re the first person to get it! I wanted the dressing room lighting to be annoying, like a real dressing room, and we used a double-sided mirror because I wanted to see them looking at themselves – repeated over and over to show the multitudes they contain. It represents the duality. “Live” is “Evil” and “Mood” is “Doom”. And for Pumpkin, the sign says “Keep” – as in keep the clothes – but backwards it’s “Peek”. It was all about doing it for the Reddit threads and the Letterboxd reviews.
Be sure to watch our full video interview for more on Forbidden Fruits.
