#bc cast interviews

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USA Today: Alden and Alice Interview

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TributeMovies: Interview W/ Alden and Alice

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It looks like you had a lot of fun playing a Siren.

Emmy Rossum: I did! It's probably too much fun. I can't believe they paid me to do it. It was a role that I fought for and auditioned for and really wanted. I like the idea of her special brand of evil, which is infused with happiness and joy at doing these kinds of things. She's very self-assured and into herself, almost comically so. So I had a lot of fun with it. It's the first time I've played a villain.

Did you ever meet the authors to talk to them about the character?

Emmy: I did, secretly. I kind of wanted to pick their brain about their feelings about the character. I don't think even Richard knows this. I got ahold of Kami on Twitter and started asking her questions on direct message after I got the part. We started brainstorming about what we thought Ridley's life had been, and then I took some of that information and incorporated it into the overall story that I wrote myself about the character.

Emmy: What was the reaction among fans when you got cast?

"Why isn't she blond?" That was the first thing. But then a lot of people were skeptical because you envision the character one way. I think that people have really embraced -- at least I hope the people who have seen it so far -- my interpretation of her. I think I tried very, very hard to capture the spirit of who she is in the book, her way of walking and thinking and feeling -- although the physical look of the character is different than she's described in the book. She's kind of more like a Harajuku punk princess in the book and we're showing her as more of an Old Hollywood Siren. So it's definitely different, but I think it has the same, fun-loving, kind of sexy, outlandish boisterous quality that the book had.

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JasonLeroy: Interview W/ Alden and Alice

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Film360: Interview W/ Alden and Alice

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AccessHollywood: Interview W/ Alice and Alden

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Emmy: We did have a lot of fun; cast and crew dinners and hang out sessions even if we were just watching “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” and eating a pizza in somebody’s hotel room. Especially when we went out to shoot at the plantations we stayed in a little town called St. Francisville which is kind of well-known for its plantations but doesn’t have much else.

The accommodations we had were pretty much like a Holiday Inn Express so when we were staying there they didn’t give us transportation in our off hours. Me, Alden, Alice, Thomas and Zoey were like “Okay what do we do now for dinner?” because those little places don’t have room service or a restaurant. So, the only thing within walking distance was the Chevron station. So, we would literally walk across the highway in our pajamas to the Chevron and the kids would be like “Sunchips, Doritos” and I’d be like “Is there a banana in here? Has anyone seen anything that has ever been living?”” (laughter) So, we definitely bonded a lot during our weeks there.

Fun question. What spell would you cast if you could?

Emmy: I just thought of three I won’t say (laughter). Hummm, I guess, on a superficial note, I would look for totally calorie-free ice cream or crème brulee. Then on an important note something simple like equality and acceptance and some larger thing that I’m not sure any single person has the power to create.

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Talk about working with Alden (who plays Ethan) and Thomas (Link).

Emmy: They’re very different people. Alden is a total bookworm and Thomas is just too cool for school. He’ll seem a little dorky but he’s not at all. He knows every word to every Drake song. They’re both terrifically sophisticated. Alden is so well-read that he and Richard would play this trivia game that they made up based on naming old movie stars and naming a movie they were in. Then name another actor who was in it and a movie they were in. They’re in the Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo world. They’re so smart for young actors. I don’t think I was that cool or smart when I was a 17 or 18-year-old actor.

Thomas seemed to be really going for it in the alleyway for your kissing scene.

Emmy: That was just a weird scene to shoot because Richard kept telling us to kiss each other more aggressively and I was wearing this red lipstick. It’s almost impossible to create a red lipstick that won’t come off on someone else’s face, especially when you’re kissing them “aggressively” (laughs). So, at the end of every take there would be like a ten minute reset where they were taking the red lipstick off the top of his nose because I literally felt like we were eating each other’s faces. It was fun.

What do you think it is about the book that struck such a chord with readers?

Emmy: I think especially female readers (like) the fact that the female protagonist is a young woman and that the girls have all the power. The chicks have more power than the men in this movie and it’s told from a boy’s perspective. He idolizes the girl. She’s everything that he’s been dreaming of and wanting. It’s very romantic and she is the tortured one with all the power.

I think girls/teens (would say) “I went through this”, when you don’t know who you are and don’t feel powerful and you feel helpless in the world and school and everything you’re going through, you see this girl who has all the power in the world and that’s really amazing. I read it with that kind of escapist mentality when I enjoyed the books.