Good. How are you doing?
Yeah, really good. Thanks.
I just watched a movie, actually, with my dog.
She's here, but she she I. She fell asleep.
I didn't know that.
That's the important part.
I really enjoyed out for your performance was just brilliant.
It's just so unhinged.
I keep looking at my shoulder in case you're standing behind me.
I'm just kidding. I want to begin
By asking how it was to play a character like that.
I mean, you know that you get these kind of
characters, you can be quite hard
to sort of understand, I suppose
and this is one of those characters.
Did you understand?
Did you feel like when you were playing her that
at the very least you had to find the way to understand who she is?
Or is that disconnected?
Not knowing actually an okay thing.
For me, I always need to know.
I don't need to know
what the actual writer thought, but like as an actor, I need to know
but I definitely base all of my assumptions on history
and psychology on on the script.
I feel like there's a lot there's a lot of really juicy dialogue
that let me into sort of let me craft her backstory.
And as I was creating character, I started with reading interviews
of psychopath, especially trying to find psychopaths
who were willing to be interviewed who lead totally normal lives.
Because I feel like Rebecca has not been on the run for very long.
She's not a very skilled liar,
and yet
I feel like I really I had a good handle of her psychology
to the point of like
like shoot from the hip from it at a certain point.
But I mean, obviously, you know, there are sort of
there are so dark elements, obviously, to her demeanour.
But just as as an as an actor, it must be fun.
To play a character that just lets you just lose yourself like that in a row.
Yeah, yeah.
Lose yourself.
And then I did like I used myself.
I was like, I was like what are the things that I do
that are a little like socially hokey that people go like, huh?
That's not
like I was like, we're going to get finger, finger guns in there.
Like, finger guns are going to be prominent
No, it was really it was really fun.
It was really fun to also be able
to play with the comedy of this character and like pressing those limits,
like at which point and social awkwardness and pleasantry.
I was really trying to stay like the uncanny valley of human behaviour
throughout the whole thing until it really
until she's really just an adrenaline mode and having fun, killing.
Are you mentioned obviously kind
of being able to kind of exercise some of those own things.
We all have within us that society says we're not allowed to do.
So was it quite cathartic playing a character that let you kind of release
all of those things and have no inhibitions?
Because we are we're all a little bit crazy.
I say we all kind of, but we all suppress it because we have to.
So it must be quite fun.
Just to not have to worry about that.
Yeah, it was really fun.
Also like, yeah, like
not worrying about making people feel a little uncomfortable
and not worrying about it being a little bit too exuberant.
Zuber Yeah, and
yeah, it was a really fun and serene character to play.
It was really fun.
You obviously have like a history
doing Disney Channel work, and that requires quite overstated
theatrical kind of performances.
Did you find that yourself going back to kind of, oh, techniques and skills
you picked up from those days to help when you were so crafting this character
yeah. And do things about that.
The first thing is that the reason Brandon Christiensen [director] trusted me to do this
performance was because I've done Disney Princess.
If you can do Disney Press like thing,
like that's a specific kind of false
social performance that I think was really applicable,
but also the character that I played for Disney was really similar in that
it was psychologically so different for me
because I don't personally I have the social awkwardness,
but I don't personally relate to the not understanding people's expectations
and not about any people's feelings.
That was a little so that was like
it was really just a completely different psychology debate into it.
And the characters I played for Disney isn't an actress from a 1960s movie.
She's the character played by the actress.
So she's like got all these things that she does, like hand on the hit,
like kind of booty boots
and all those things that she does not because of societal expectation,
not because of books that look as if not because of sexism,
but because it's what she fucking does in the movie.
That's what she does. So it was.
I felt like those characters are the most similar characters
I've ever really played that are like they're.
It's funny to compare
murdering Psychopath to a damn saying 1960s Disney Beach girl but
now was the acting it was pretty similar.
Actually find in some ways it can be easier playing characters
that are quite sort of from yourself
because they require more acting I suppose which
makes it more of a type
which relies more than on your skill involved than having to find more.
I do know in a truth if that makes any sense.
Yeah I also feel like it's less psychologically affecting to take home
like if my character's completely separate from me.
First of all, you get to escape yourself if you're having a stressful day,
but also if the psychology is different than yours, you don't
accidentally take as much of at home
yeah.
I guess it's good.
Acting, I always think means losing your self-awareness, which is in some ways
quite an interesting thing because it's a conflict of the fact
the always being filmed.
And when we're being filmed, we're very self-aware.
But I think being good at
it means you have to forget there's a camera you have to get.
There's an eventual audience.
They're going to be watching it with a go like this is not especially important
because she kind of is so wired to some degree.
You really just have to completely forget about everything and anything in your
it's of in your in your parameters, I suppose.
Yeah.
Yeah, especially I think there are moments as many hours
like I should have thought about the audience instead of
just my character's thoughts a little more like there's at one point where I'm just
I'm, I'm through the window of the door and like, I just, I'm
doing so much nothing with my face that I kind of have an English accent.
Like I'm just using the laziest part of my time
and is using the front of my mouth to speak.
And I was like,
I was like, I should have been a little bit
more self-conscious
when making decisions as an actor instead of just like full on creativity mode.
I was like, I was like, I should have done just that performance a little bit. But
no. Yeah,
especially a character like this.
I really just I just sort of went into it.
It's really weird on camera acting as like
the action of completely forgetting your own thoughts to the point
that you stimulate your amygdala , but then you also have to have
your prefrontal cortex active enough to hit your mark
so it's it's a
it's a weird gig in that you have to be completely unaware
that you're making a movie, but also hit your marks
and you have to be in your left frame to do that.
Yeah.
You're simultaneously have to always remember exactly what you've got to do.
Well, being someone else has no idea they're supposed to do it quickly.
Forgotten it.
Yeah.
For me, how I do that is I plan the thoughts out for my character.
Like, if I'm like, if this makes me think this, then my reaction will be this.
And if that's what I've rehearsed and I'll do the script right
and also mean not consciously.
So obviously, I mean, this character is a kind of classic sort
of psychopathic character,
but there's this added element of having a platform to showcase your own.
So you've always had these kind of unhinged characters on screen,
but with the rise of my social media, that can now be shared and amplified,
let's say, which means that characters who are already slightly unhinged can over
kind of exaggerate their own personality because they've got a camera
in their face.
Is that quite an interesting thing to play around with in this
yeah.
And was it was fun to play with.
This movie is obviously asking the audience to wonder about
like how far is too far and being false
and like, like, I don't know who is the bigger psychopath
or better people on YouTube going like whatever I
like, Oh, I'm okay,
yeah. Can you think that you are right? Yeah.
Into this very badly
and is it social media, do you think,
creating these personas or do you think the personas already exist?
They just now have a platform to share it, so that makes sense.
Yeah, I think it's, it's, it's that, but it's also not seeing the other side.
Like you're, you're sort of performing into the void
and I think that's what Rebecca feels like.
Like Rebecca looks at her face and it's just like analytically guessing.
What the fuck does this person expect from me?
Like, and, like, that's the lag.
And, like,
the lag ends up being comedy for them for the first part of the movie. But
just like
that, like, am I saying to long, do I need to stay longer?
What's that like?
What's the polite, socially normal amount of staying that I need to be doing?
And I think there's like, how much do I need
to shout into the void to get this attention back?
Like, you don't see like you're not having a conversation there's no tone.
And I think, you know,
there's it's intrinsically psychopathic to be doing that.
But the character you mentioned that she you know, she she'll
there are certain things that she'll miss. So certain social cues.
I really care so much what people think, but I think in some ways can be quite
of miserable quality and people but that rubs off on you at all.
And just in general, just as an actress does, do you find characters can leave
marks on you as a person?
Can you play someone for a few weeks and if they have a trait you might admire?
Do you have a or a way or take from it to vote for yourself as a person?
Yeah, I don't mean to, but like I define my first show,
it took me a really long time after like my first ABC family gig
just not going like
it was written on the right story.
Oh my God, one word.
And like I was only guiding and my personal life
but I think I relate
to Rebecca so much and in that way, like I usually do
know what people are expecting, and I definitely not, like,
have my analytical and intuitive sense of what they're feeling.
And then I just like, I don't I grew up in a weird community in Texas,
like it felt like telling me that I need to conform
with people is like, that's obviously immoral.
I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to remove those people
because I think that I was like
a lot of how I related to Rebecca is just like, Rebecca doesn't care
about how people feel about her behaviour outside of needing to survive.
And I think it's great.
You mentioned honestly having to kind of lose that inhibition
when playing a character like this, but I was, you know, the practise
obviously is quite simple cause you've worked with them before, is that right?
So that must make it easier when you're going on a set like this.
When you've worked with or
you've got a pre-existing kind of relationships of the other people
you're working with is I like the two directors.
I definitely have worked with people that the cast had worked with,
and technically I've been in a movie with Barbara [Crampton]
and technically you've been on a Comic-Con panel.
Together, so I.
Think we might have been introduced during that experience.
We're in the same photograph together
I didn't actually get to work with BArbara until this movie,
but like Sara Canning was in Vampire Diaries,
and so we got to talk about all the people
on that, and Osric [Chau] was on Supernatural, and so we got to talk about that.
And and everyone was so amazingly welcoming to me
and generous with me during scenes, and I really it was
it was like one overly entitled or ungenerous person.
And a cast like that would really spoil the barrel.
And we I felt so lucky that we just like such talented
but also very genuinely good and kind of people on that.
You mentioned a couple of the TV shows and so series you've been on in the past.
I always wonder
when you've got these kind of
when you work on these kind of popular series of such big cast,
the people that they and touch and stuff, do you get these kind of WhatsApp groups
as sort of large?
You get like supernatural WhatsApp groups and all these kind of things
that survive the kind of time because because that for me,
I watch these programmes and I think, Oh, they must all be so close knit.
I guess in your profession
you do just
move from one project to the other, so you have to learn to
play things as they are, but you have to find
some projects have continuing kind of relationships to come out of it.
Yeah, I definitely I have
some relationships with cast more than more than others and
if there's a
Vampire Diaries Group chat, I'm not on it.
I wouldn't reckon
that there probably isn't like a group that's everybody.
But I think like the weird thing about joining
these casts that have been so established is just the set
environment is so already set up and I say like
you can kind of tell everything about a cast
just by showing up to set and how the set greets you because
sometimes you show up to set and like it's like, Hey, so this isn't quiet.
So if you want anything from the it can be a lot like
feeling like, okay, this is going to be is it going to be a summer thing?
Like Supernatural
showed up in there to say, Hey, you're that character, right?
Yeah.
And I drove over there and it just panned to reveal like 45 trailers.
I'm like, This is going to be a really fun gig.
I'm talking about us as well.
Quickly, as you mentioned, Barbara before, was it like work?
I mean, you've been on a panel with her, but.
Well, actually, working with her and having some of this fun scenes
got to play out.
I mean, she's such a kind of legend of the
of the of the genre she sort of has excelled in over the last however long.
But she's she's a wonderful actress.
What was it like collaborating with someone like her on this on this project?
Beautiful all just beautiful and wonderful.
We had her for like two days.
I think one shooting day was was our day with Barbara.
And she was just so down.
It was like cold on the mountain.
She was like, yeah, more dirt, but more blood.
Like, more blood on me was so fun to work with her.
She was so generous and wonderful.
There was I mean, there was like added pressure of, like,
screaming in an icon's face during a pandemic.
I was like,
it was safe, but, like, this could be I could feel bad about this forever.
And then,
you know, it was like it wasn't like normal times.
And we were up on a mountain.
So, like,
I definitely invited Barbara over after that one day
and we hung out in my hotel room with my dog and fiancee. But
it was it was a quick in and out for Barb.
Though.
So you had your... you take your dog with you to the shoot.
I like to. Yeah.
Yeah, I drove
I drove across America.
I can ask, but yeah, I guess I went to a press junket
last week, and I was someone one of the actors brought their dog,
and I told him the conundrum was that we should normalise bringing dogs to work.
I think all the time.
She thought in a short that I did, it was really quite
bit like she was just on set and there was like, well, let's use her. And
and so she's like on
like there's a goth girl reading at the party and my dogs just like
you know, I'm, I am too busy and then I'm.
Really not sure.
That's my final question is just asking sort of the obvious question to end on,
but what have you got much coming up in the next or in the future?
Are you working on anything at the moment.
Nothing. At the moment.
I'm like, I'm actually attached as a director to something
that's an early pre-production that's going to release on
to collaborate on acting wise, you know, online.
I'm in North Carolina, I'm auditioning a bit.
I'll probably try to be auditioning more fervently
to it's getting safer out there.
So this is if I lead you to mention, you might be just okay directing you loud.
You're able to talk about that project.
Yeah, it was it very nice.
And not not talking point.
Okay.
Well, fingers crossed it will get to a stage, we can talk about it sooner.
Yeah, but cool.
Well, thank you so much for your time today.
So much. And I love your couch.
Thank you very much.
I've got to with my wife out in Albania.
So. Really? Yeah.
And the pillow with it is great.
Yeah, I love that.
And then the dog, now she's.
Oh, I think I'm. But anyway,
thank you so much.