Arya Vasco, Baskara Mahendra, and Jerome Kurnia Rule the World of “Gossip Girl Indonesia”

Meet the three young actors who rule the world of “Gossip Girl Indonesia.” DA MAN’s Anindya Devy chats with the three individuals about the hit web-series.

BASKARA MAHENDRA – THE HUSTLER

Baskara Mahendra plays as the outsider in the series but in the film industry, he is definitely not.

Baskara Mahendra is on the path to make his name in the film industry. Before landing his role un “Gossip Girl Indonesia”, he was already involved in several Indonesian films—and successful ones too, if one might add. But he hasn’t always been an actor. Mahendra actually started his career working in an office while being offered modeling jobs. It wasn’t until he landed a supporting role in a film titled “My Generation” by director Upi Avianto and learned about the film industry that he realized that he wanted to be in the biz. Not long thereafter, Mahendra resigned from his day job, joined a management agency and began his acting career. From there, he appeared in local music videos, web series and soon enough, more films. In a mere three years, Mahendra has joined six film projects and now, he landed a role in the GoPlay original series “Gossip Girl Indonesia.” So, that decision to quit the office life seems to work out just fine for him.

In the “Gossip Girl Indonesia” series, Mahendra plays as Danny Hakim, originally Pen Padgley’s character Dan Humphrey. You can say that Danny is the outsider, the sensitive boy next door who longs after the most popular girl in school, who is way out his league. Casting for the role was held back in September 2019 and it was not an easy process. Nia Dinata, the director, mentioned in an interview that she was having the hardest time casting the male actors. While DA MAN asked all three actors featured here about their respective characters, Mahendra admitted that he was originally interested in Chicco (Jerome Kurnia’s role). Mahendra eventually auditioned for the roles of Danny and Nathan (Arya Vasco’s role) and ended up with Danny, which is perfect for him, because he doesn’t really have that approachable aura about him—a trait that is seen on the characters he missed out on. The production team then started filming in early November and wrapped things up in January. By February, “Gossip Girl Indonesia” was ready to be streamed, with a new episode launched each week.

Mahendra admitted that he never watched the original series before and just watched the first season (the original series ran for six seasons) while researching for his role in the Indonesian adaptation. So, when filming started, he put his trust in the director and the showrunners. In return, he gave his best performance.

“Gossip Girl” may sound like a series intended for younger viewers as the story revolves around the lives of privileged upper-class adolescents and their love lives; but the characters in it are actually quite deep and complicated. They’re manipulative, narcissistic and full of hidden agendas. Naturally, we asked Mahendra about his character and what he thinks about him. To that, Mahendra honestly said that he doesn’t like Danny. Don’t take it the wrong way, mind you, but as a character, Mahendra thinks that Danny is a hypocrite. He hates the upper-class lifestyle yet he is always in the thick of it—which is what Mahendra finds particularly annoying. Needless to say, he is very much a different person compared to the character he’s playing. Even though he didn’t talk as much as his fellow cast members during the interview, Mahendra certainly seemed confident and was a natural in front of the camera. He makes acting effortless.

ARYA VASCO – KEEPING IT REAL

Much like his character on the show, Arya Vasco is a down-to-earth young man who keeps it real.

Along with his fellow cast members, Arya Vascvo is part of a new generation of Indonesian actors. For one, they check all the right boxes: They’re young, talented and attractive. The attractive bit might not be all too relevant if you have the talent, but it is hard to miss. On that note, the photoshoot for this article was a breezy one. Everyone knew how to pose and what their best angle is, which is a bonus. The guys have great chemistry on set and we can’t help but think that this energy they bring to work is part of what made the “Gossip Girl Indonesia” web-series successful.

You can’t miss Vasco’s tall stature and his fair looks, thanks in part to his Dutch genes from his father’s side. Arya Pralabda Vasco de Haan or Arya Vasco for short was born in Bali, from a Dutch father and a Javanese mother. He recently moved to Jakarta to pursue his career in acting. And so far, he’s been very good at it. He started at an open audition for a movie called “My Generation” by Upi Avianto (yes, the same film that Baskara Mahendra also ended up playing in) and he was chosen as one of the male leads. You can call it luck or coincidence but that moment opened up a whole new world for him. Vasco starred in four more film projects after that, with the latest seeing him play as Nathaniel Siregar in “Gossip Girl Indonesia.” He’s basically the Indonesian adaptation of Nate Archibald, originally played by Chace Crawford.

Who got casted first in this project is confidential; however, Vasco shared that he was actually waiting for someone at the casting but ended up taking part. Just like his two cast mates who auditioned for two roles at the same time, Vasco tried for the role Nathaniel and Danny, but at the end he was more comfortable with Nathaniel. One thing that really generated a lot of interest when “Gossip Girl Indonesia” was announced—besides the actors in it—were the adapted names: Nate Archibald became Nathaniel Siregar, Chuck Bass became Chicco Salim and Dan Humphrey became Danny Hakim. On that subject, Vasco thought that the production team wanted to keep the first names of the original cast since those were so iconic. The surnames were then added to add an Indonesian feel to the characters—after all, it’s “Gossip Girl Indonesia.” So, it’s the best of two worlds.

Preparations for filming started in early November last year, which involved readings and doing their own parts for the show, as well as watching the first season of the original “Gossip Girl.” For his part, Vasco read the character descriptions for Nathaniel and went through online articles and blog posts about the series.

He and the rest of the cast might have been too young to watch the original “Gossip Girl” when it first aired in 2007. So, Vasco focused on watching the first season after he was casted but held off going through the other five seasons so as not to ruin the experience. When asked about what he thinks of his character, Vasco stated that he liked Nathaniel: He is down to earth, humble and keeps it real. He is the type of guy that would go against his family when he doesn’t agree with them.

Vasco is committed to and puts his faith on this adaptation project. He wholeheartedly puts his faith in the director, the production team, everyone. And he is also sure that the entire cast gave them their all, so he wishes that the audience would enjoy and love it as much as they do. And that shows how genuine and devoted Vasco is to his work.

JEROME KURNIA – IT IS WHAT IT IS

Out of the three actors here, Jerome Kurnia is the most courageous. With a commanding presence, he led his cast mates through the interview.

The casting director for “Gossip Girl Indonesia” did a great job with the cast of the series. When the production team first announced lineup of actors in the adaptation, Jerome Kurnia’s name was there. In the series, he portrays Chicco Salim, adapted from the character of Chuck Bass from the original “Gossip Girl” who was played by one of DA MAN’s former cover stars, Ed Westwick. Even though Chuck’s character is not exactly a crowd favorite, it’s one of those roles that needs special treatment because it is such a strong character to play. And Kurnia is up for the challenge.

He auditioned for the roles of Chicco and Nathaniel and eventually got the former. Kurnia himself admitted that he was more comfortable playing Chicco. Talking about roles, 2019 was the breakout year for this 26-year-old actor. If Baskara Mahendra or Arya Vasco started out their careers in modelling, it wasn’t that way for Kurnia, who was announcer for a local radio station in Jakarta before he jumped into acting. No wonder that out of the three, he was the best at holding a conversation and keeping a conversation going. He is articulate, confident and knows how to lead.

Kurnia eventually landed a role on the film “Dilan 1991” which was a huge success and overnight Indonesia found its new heartthrob. That movie opened up new opportunities for Kurnia as he continues to challenge his acting range. His next project was the biopic drama “Bumi Manusia” by director Hanung Bramantyo, based on the iconic book by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. That role got him a Piala Citra nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Indonesian Film Festival. After “Dilan 1991,” he would take part in two other movies—a horror flick and a romance film.

Back to “Gossip Girl Indonesia,” Kurnia tells DA MAN that he conversed with a friend who is a true “Gossip Girl” fan to get the gist of Chicco’s character. He has never watched the original series before, so after landing the role, he watched through the first season and formed his own adaptation of the character. Even though he’s expected to act like Chuck Bass, he wanted to perform his own take on the character while still following the script. Chicco is essentially the bad guy that everyone loves to hate. And by “bad guy” we mean a guy that sexually-harasses women. That being said, he is just the way he is—in a very troubled way. He’s not a hypocrite like Baskara Mahendra’s Danny. Kurnia said that he would definitely not want to be friends with Chicco, but all in all, it’s a fun character to play.

Halfway through the interview, I asked the trio whether they would hang out together when not on set seeing how the interacted with each other—it was as if they’ve known each other for a while. Turns out, that they do share the same circle of friends and hung out together a couple of times before they joined the “Gossip Girl Indonesia” cast. As we touched on the topic of fan reaction to the web series, Kurnia confidently says that of course people would be skeptical about the show, even before they actually watched it. While it’s fair, the show is in good hands and has a respectable director. He’s quite proud to be in this adaptation. That kind of attitude will definitely take him places and we’ll be watching.