Sometimes, the things actors do to get into character can seem a little wild or nonsensical from the outside, but internally, they must all make sense - as evidenced by the fact that actresses Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jessica Plummer both did the exact same detail work for their characters in the upcoming thriller The Girl Before without so much as even speaking to one another about it.

The Girl Before is an upcoming thriller about a young woman named Jane (Mbatha-Raw) moves into an unbelievably beautiful - and affordable - smart house. The catch is, the house will collect data on her the whole time she lives there, and the owner, Edward (David Oyelowo), has set a bunch of weird rules she has to follow, like 'no gardening' and 'no art on the walls.' The other creepy part? Edward seems really obsessed with Emma (Plummer), the tenant who lived there before Jane - and apparently Emma actually looks a lot like her.

The two characters obvioulsy don't get much interaction in the 4-part television thriller, at least not as much as either of them do with Edward, but interestingly, both actresses apparently chose to give signature scents to their characters - perfumes they put on in order to look and feel the part.

The two actresses interviewed each other for a feature in Interview Magazine, and Plummer brought it up:

"You know what's so funny? I actually watched an interview you had done, I think ages ago. You spoke about giving your characters a scent, and I was like, oh my god, I'm doing that."

For her character, Emma, Plummer chose Jo Malone Lime Basil and Mandarin. Jane's - Mbatha-Raw's - chosen scent was Le Labo Rose. 

Also interesting: Apparently Plummer also almost went with rose for Emma, but she changed her mind at the last minute.

"I thought a rose perfume would be good for Emma, but when I sprayed it on myself, I felt like it needed to have a bit more zing," Plummer said.

"That totally makes sense, because anything citrus has that zing," Mbatha-Raw agreed. "I feel like Emma, and you naturally, have that  vivacious and bright energy. With Le Labo Rose, I wanted something that feels a bit more heavy and sophisticated. Also because of the rose quartz, which both our characters share."

This method also apparently made for a funny on-set moment between Plummer and Oyelowo - one that kind of illustrates how little event the smartest of men knows about women's beauty routines.

"Once, David and I were in a scene together, and he asked me, "I really like your perfume. What is it?" I told him it was Lime Basil and Mandarin, and he thought that every morning I'd wake up and crush some limes, basil, and mandarin together."

Mbatha-Raw, finding this hilarious, finished Plummer's thought for her: "Grinding the juice for the limes. I love learning that, because we were connected in our process, even though we weren't on the set at the same time."

You can watch the BBC's The Girl Before and see if you can pick up on those scented vibes without smell-o-vision now on HBO Max.

Tags: gugu mbatha-raw Jessica Plummer David Oyelowo