By: Lisa Steinberg
Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?
A) I am contracted on “The Young and The Restless” so I have been working on that. I have been there for almost three years now. I am there all the time and I really love my job over there.
Q) How has it been balancing being a part of the show and A Girl Like Her?
A) I actually filmed A Girl Like Her over two years ago. I started “The Young And The Restless” in August and then shot the film in October. Then, I signed my “The Young and the Restless” contract the following January. I had just started on “The Young and the Restless” when I started the movie.
Q) Please tell us the premise for A Girl Like Her and about your character Avery.
A) The premise is about bullying. It is filmed documentary style. It is about my character Avery, who is the bully. She kind of gives a look inside what she calls “girl world” and how girls treat each other these days and what it is like to be popular. It’s like a day in the life of Avery and you see how much she torments this girl Jessica from her high school and the daily struggles Jessica goes through dealing with Avery at school and then there are texts or things on Facebook. She can’t get away from it. It’s about the bullying that goes on at the school between Jessica and Avery.
Q) What made you want to be a part of the film?
A) I’ve really never been a part of a project like this. The script was kind of like an outline. The director/writer, Amy Weber, gave us an outline for a script, but there was no real dialogue. All of the bullying between Avery and Jessica were fully improvised. Amy, my mom and I would sit down before we filmed to discuss what she wanted to accomplish and we just kind of would go from there. It was something I had never done before and bullying is such a huge issue in the world and it has been for such a long time that it is getting much worse with the social media people have access to. I have been bullied before. So, this was not only something that was challenging for me as an actress but something I really wanted to be a part of to speak out about this problem that we have.
Q) What kind of research did you do into the world of bullying?
A) My mom and I would just kind of go over what we thought would be right for each scene. I would just pull from my personal experiences in high school, how mean girls were, because I was bullied in high school. Not to the severity to the way Jessica was, but I pulled from personal experiences and watching movies. The feel for this movie is so much different than a Mean Girls movie, for instance, because it feels so realistic and has such an organic feel to it. It doesn’t feel like you are watching a movie and I feel that speaks to the audience more than a movie like Mean Girls would. It has more of an impact on them.
Q) Was there instant chemistry when you and costar Lexi Ainsworth began working together?
A) She was really sweet and had also worked on a soap opera before so we had that in common. She was really sweet and great. We got along really well off-screen. I had such a hard time with this film with how awful my character was to her that I would run up to her and give her a hug after every scene. Sometimes I would cry because I felt so bad and tell her, “I’m so sorry I’m doing this!” She would say, “It’s okay! It’s fake.” She was really great and she made my job a lot easier by being so sweet about it.
Q) Are there any anti-bullying tie-ins with the film?
A) Amy Weber has a project going on. I don’t know too much about it, but we are promoting the film. It’s been two years in the making so, hopefully, more word gets out about this.
Q) What were the moments from filming that really took a toll on you?
A) I don’t want to give too much away but it was definitely one of the physical aspects. Verbal bullying was one of the toughest aspects for me to come up with things to say because I would never speak to a human the way that Avery does. One of the times that my character physically bullies Jessica was really, really hard for me because I felt so bad. Lexi who plays Jessica is so tiny and small that I felt so bad physically hurting her. I didn’t want to physically hurt her. Going back to the hotel (because we filmed in Michigan) was really difficult trying to get out of that mindset. I felt really bad and really down because I felt so awful. It really impacted me a lot.
Q) You are a part of social media. Are you looking forward to the fan feedback you will receive?
A) Yes! I am really looking forward to hearing what the fans have to say. I am hoping people will see the ways to hopefully change the epidemic. I’m looking forward to what the fans have to say. I love that with social media. There is good and bad with all of it, but being able to interact with fans is really great.
Q) What have you taken away from working on the film?
A) Basically, the same thing they taught in high school is never judge a book by its cover and never assume anything about anyone. You will learn that about my character in the movie, too. You think she is so awful and so terrible, but there is a reason why she is the way that she is. I try not to judge people too quickly about the way that they look and what people say about them until I get to know them myself because there is usually a lot more to the story.
Q) Is there anything else you want to share with fans about the film?
a) I’m excited for people to see it and keep an open mind. Don’t judge a character too quickly. It has been two years in the making and it is something I’m super passionate about. I’m really excited for people to see it.
Q) What can you tease is in store for your character, Summer, on “The Young and the Restless?”
A) There is a big storyline of my husband being killed on the show. It’s a big murder mystery and we’re trying to figure out what happened. The characters don’t even know, we (as actors) bang on the writers door saying, “Please tell us who did it!” They won’t tell us. I just want all of the fans to stay tuned because, hopefully, it will come out soon. It is fun to try to play detective. There are a bunch of twists and turns. I’m excited for everyone to see!