VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Stone Reveals How Having Type 1 Diabetes Influenced ‘The In-Between’

Jennifer Stone reveals how her real-life type 1 diabetes helped her better craft her role in The In-Between in her new uInterview.

“It’s a movie about Mads and Junior who are two kind of odd couple friends that go on this road trip,” Stone told uInterview Founder Erik Meers. “They both have chronic illnesses, which I and Mindy have in real life.” Stone and her character both have type 1 diabetes, and her costar and director Mindy Bledsoe suffers from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. “But it doesn’t define them,” Stone continued. “It’s just part of their daily routine. And it doesn’t limit them either, so they’re still able to go on this road trip.”

“But the reason it’s called the In-Between is because both women find themselves in these kind of transitional periods of their life. Mads is, you know, coming to terms with a very tumultuous relationship with her mom and Junior is mourning the loss of her sister. And you know I think the road trip is the perfect place to sort of find yourself and sort of find your way into the next chapter of your life, which these two girls do.”

Stone’s favorite scene in the movie?

“There’s a scene in like the montage sequence where Mindy and I have these like crazy hats on and we’re like eating ice cream and we’re like walking out, and that part just makes me smile because I think back to like that was an unplanned location. Like we were just driving through and found this spot and thought, ‘Oh how fun,'” she said.

Stone says her personal experience having type 1 diabetes informed her performance: “Of course it influenced me being able to play Mads because you know when I inject myself with insulin on screen, that’s something I do all day. I mean after this interview I’m going to have to take some insulin with my lunch, you know. That’s something that you can’t really fathom until you actually go through it,” she said.

“It was a big reason why Mindy and I and Rob [Senska] wrote it and wanted to create this movie was because we wanted representation,” she said. “I know I’ve never seen CRPS on screen, and every time I’ve seen diabetes it’s always this like really over-dramatized thing. I always think of like Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias, where it’s just like this huge scene and then she dies at the end. It’s like, okay it doesn’t have to be like that. They don’t have to be the victim.”

“I’ve had so many members of the T1D community, the CRPS community and also just audience members in general because I think everybody knows what it’s like to be in a transitional period or an in between period of their life and to face challenges and it’s to be seen and to feel understood, and to not feel invisible for what they’re going through and to feel capable,” the actress said.

The In-Between is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. Check out the trailer below.