The pic directed by Marcus Nispel is the retelling of the original Friday the 13th about teenaged summer camp counselors that are systematically slaughtered by a mysterious killer. Jason Voorhees will wear the mask and kill, keeping the famous setting of Crystal Lak
BD: Have you already had your face to face with Jason for the first time on camera?
DP: Actually no, we haven’t met on camera yet. I’ve run away from him in the woods.
BD: Is it still freaky?
DP: It is terrifying! He is terrifying, the way that Derek moves, the way he embodies Jason and the way Jason moves, is terrifying. We were shooting last week at a Boys Scout Camp ironically and running through the woods and running away from him. And you turn around to look and there’s Derek coming through the rambles and the smoke and its like, “Wow, that’s pretty scary.”
BD: Are you nervous about getting close up with him? Or are you kinda over it now?
DP: You know its funny because we were all sitting down at lunch one day and I’m like, “Is it bad that I wanna sit next to..Jason?” Because he’s a really wonderful guy and so I think that when we shoot, I’m going to have to sort of step away for a minute because I just adore Derek.
BD: It shouldn’t be too hard though, when the mask comes off..
DP: But when the mask comes on, every detail, his fingernails are long and black and gross. There’s nothing endearing about this guy, he’s a monster.
BD: How familiar were you with the franchise before you were offered the role?
DP: I grew up in a very conservative family, very sheltered. So, to this day I’ve probably seen very few rated R movies and horror movies were never really up high on my list. Actually when I got the offer I had to run home and I had to buy the DVD and I had my boyfriend come over and watch it with me and I made sure it was light outside because I knew it was going to be scary. I have the second one in my trailer to watch.
BD: Are you not conservative anymore, personally, to be in movie like this?
DP: I don’t think the movie necessarily has to represent who I am, I think that is what’s great about acting is that the character is not who I am. I’m still young so my life is still changing and evolving so different experiences and that sort of thing.
BD: How roughed up do you get in this film?
DP: Pretty roughed up, pretty much everybody gets pretty beat around by Jason, he’s a pretty scary guy.
BD: Do you have any real physical scenes that you have to do that you’re worried about?
DP: I do, and I’m not worried about them actually. There’s physical stuff that comes and we haven’t shot yet and probably be some of the last stuff that we shoot for the movie. I’m not worried because we have a really wonderful stunt coordinator and I feel really safe with him. With my limited experience, the best thing to do is to make sure you are prepared and everybody knows where the moving parts are going. I’m actually really excited to shoot it.
BD: Are you going to get blood in your hair?
DP: Am I going to get blood in my hair…probably but I don’t know. I can’t tell ya for sure.
BD: It doesn’t matter WHO’S blood, but somebody’s blood.
DP: Exactly. There will be bloody scenes, absolutely.
BD: Have you found it difficult to act scared as opposed to acting any other way in the things that you have done?
DP: It’s certainly different from the majority, a lot of what I do is really sort of angsty and this is not quite angst. It’s a challenge and I enjoy it. It is definitely something different that I haven’t had the opportunity to do before. It is funny how fear changes your body, when people are legitimately afraid, the coloring in their face changes, their pupils dilate, your heartbeat races, things change and so trying to recreate that can be difficult but hopefully I’m doing well at it. Let me know when the movie comes out!
BD: What is your own personal opinion of remakes?
DP: I’m actually really excited for this one and feel like its more of a ‘re-launch’ than a ‘remake’ because it combines so many elements from the so many of the different movies. The movie is truly terrifying and it makes Jason, even in today’s society, a real threat. That is what I think is great, the script is updated and it makes him very contemporary.
BD: So far what’s the best part about being in this movie?
DP: We have a truly phenomenal cast. Everyone that I’ve met is just wonderful and we’ve had some actors that finished their work last week and went home and it was just sad to see them go. We still keep in touch, still texting because we miss them! One of our actors had to go to the hospital and I think within the first 24 hours of getting there, despite the fact that most of the actors were shooting and shooting nights, I think the entire cast had gone to visit him. That’s how close we are. So my favorite part so far has definitely been the cast. Really wonderful people, we all get along well.
BD: With this experience so far would you do more horror films?
DP: Absolutely. This is my first really true to the horror/slasher genre, I do have a psychological thriller that came out last summer, Mr. Brooks, which was more of a thriller. This movie is going to be so enduring to watch and to experience I can’t wait to see it with an audience and see how they react to the deaths. I want them to scream at the screen.
BD: Are you hoping you do the same thing?
DP: Absolutely and with producers like Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, they’ve got such a great track record, and Marcus with TEXAS CHAINSAW, we will get that.
BD: Did you get a chance to see TEXAS CHAINSAW?
DP: I did! It was funny because I watched FRIDAY THE 13TH one Monday afternoon and woke up Tuesday morning, when it was broad daylight, opened all the curtains and watched TEXAS CHAINSAW.
BD: It’s pretty brutal right?
DP: There are some deaths in that movie! But we’ve killed off already quite a few people on this set and we’ve got some pretty bad ass stuff, too.
BD: What is your role and what is your relationship with the characters?
DP: It’s about a bunch of young adults out on a road trip and they hang out. And then they are at somebody’s house in the woods and the guy whose family owns the house is this guy named Trent and he’s my boyfriend.
BD: There’s a love triangle here, right?
DP: There is! There’s a lot of love going on here. There’s a lot of love in this movie. Yes, there are love triangles, but I shouldn’t tell you all of them.
BD: Is this you’re first movie that you’ve done overnight shoots for? And how is it?
DP: Oh my goodness, yes. This is my first experience with true, true night shooting. I have done night shoots before, but even that’s like the last week of the movie. And with this, this is basically our first week. I’m ok, my dog hates me but it took a couple days to get adjusted and now we’ve got it set so that we get in the car and we’re like, “Can we go to Starbucks?” on the way in at like 6 p.m. when everyone else is going home for the day, we are getting our Starbucks and getting ready to go! Gotta get that little bit of caffeine.
BD: And you drive home in traffic right?
DP: Oh my goodness, it took us an hour and a half to get this morning practically.
BD: Man, that’s brutal.
DP: It was bad. Fortunately, we’re not driving which is probably a good idea, they know how tired we are. We’ve been trying to grab a cat nap, but not quite.
BD: Is there any experience or any feelings that you have about this film that you wanted to express or talk about?
DP: Kind of what we were talking about before. I think that audiences are really going to love seeing this movie. This is a movie that you enjoy going to versus, like I can’t go and see the Saw movies because they are just so agonizing and torturous and everything is always so down. This movie, it’s for starters, hilarious about every five pages people are going to just laugh out loud just because the characters are so great and authentic and relatable. It’s incredibly humorous, I can’t stress that enough. Going back to the characters, everybody’s got a distinct point of view, and you relate, you go, “Oh in my high school Trent’s name was Brad or whatever.” It’s totally relatable, the characters are great and I think that people are really going to enjoy seeing this movie.
FRIDAY THE 13TH arrives in theaters Friday, February 13, 2009
