Boo, Bitch star (and paranormal magnet) Lana Condor recounts spooky stay at a historic hotel
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Lana Condor has had one too many paranormal encounters.
The encounters, however, are precisely why she was drawn to the script of Boo, Bitch, Netflix's latest comedic limited series premiering July 8. The series follows the misadventures of Erika (Condor), a high school senior who decides to start living it up after playing it safe for the last four years. Her plans, however, hit a bit of a snag after she wakes up one morning and discovers she's a ghost following a fun night out.
Condor, who also executive produces the series, tells EW the subject matter resonated because she has "had very weird paranormal things happen to me or happen around me." She says, "I remember I had dinner with the producers early on [and] I was telling them all these scary stories. Paranormal things do happen to me — and often, unfortunately."
One particular story takes place at the Hollywood Roosevelt, a luxury and historic hotel in Los Angeles that dates back to the Golden Era. The To All the Boys I've Loved Before alum flew in for a press junket a few years ago, where she encountered chilling presences and a particularly demonic painting. "I flew in at night and they upgraded my room," Condor recalls. "I was just by myself." (Why must every horror moment begin at night, alone?)
Erik Voake/Netflix Lana Condor in 'Boo, Bitch'
She continues, "And the first thing that I do when I go into a room is basically scope the entire place out: Check the windows, check the curtains. 'Is someone going to kill me? Are they hiding under the bed?' I just do that. And so I checked everything [and] everything was fine. When I was in the room, it smelled really weird and was very cold. And it's a five star hotel. So I was like, 'Why would they do that?' But [I] moved on, ate my food, went to bed, and all night long, I felt that there was someone at the end of my bed."
The next morning, Condor started her day with breakfast and a FaceTime with her fiancé, actor and singer Anthony De La Torre, when she looked up and noticed a "painting that had been torn off of the wall and was hanging," she says. "Anthony saw the whole thing and I go, 'Wait, what's happening?' And I walked up to it and I almost touched it. And I was like, 'You know what? I'm not going to touch it.' It was a painting of a demon standing on a mountain of skulls with thorns in his face. It was so, so weird."
A friend stayed overnight with Condor following the strange experience, but the oddities didn't end there. "I kept waking up because I kept thinking she was going to the bathroom, but I'd look over and she'd be asleep. So, [it felt like] people were walking around me." The very next morning, Condor had to head downtown to shoot near the famed Cecil Hotel, notable for its sinister past of murders, suicides, and mysterious deaths. The hotel, which opened in 1924, rebranded in 2011 with a new name (Stay on Main) and as an affordable housing complex, but the eerie history lingers.
"People died there," Condor says. "I was shooting on the roof right next to it. That entire weekend was so evil."
All eight episodes of Boo, Bitch premiere Friday on Netflix.
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