BOP Interview: Leighton Meester
By Ryan Mazie
January 31, 2011
It sounds like you put in a fair amount of research into playing Rebecca.
LM: Well, I was really lucky. I had the opportunity to really prepare for this, and got a lot of great psychology books and information on delusion, mental disorder, especially in women, and I had the chance to speak with different psychiatrists about the disorder. Of course I watched different movies and this movie’s very much like Fatal Attraction or Single White Female, a woman under the influence. I think it’s a very interesting subject, a woman who sort of loses a real grip on reality.
And the psychiatrists I spoke to were the most helpful because they would describe in gross detail different cases that they’d worked on defending their patients who had been convicted of crimes. I’ll spare you the details but it’s definitely dark in the mind of someone who’s living like this, and it was interesting for me because I have what I believe is a firm grip on reality. I’m weird and crazy like anybody else but this person, she really doesn’t have control of her mind whatsoever and the decisions she makes are not based on rational thinking. So it was interesting and somewhat uncomfortable at the same time.
Rebecca is one of the darkest roles, if not the most dark, you have played. How much of an impact did playing such a character have on you?
LM: Watching it years after you made it is really interesting because you do remember certain times and certain days that you filmed different scenes, but this movie is strange for me because I feel I have a bit of amnesia about it. I can’t say it wasn’t fun, it was, but it was also intense. It was a really tough time for me because I try to share something in common with her or try to understand her motives and try to relate to her in some way. It was extremely difficult for me to do, because of how she unravels. From the outside she seems like a really good friend, good person. She’s understanding, she’s artistic, she’s trustworthy, but then eventually she just completely losses that.
During filming all I had to do was work on this movie every day. I didn’t have any other obligations at the time so I got to be really involved and focused, which really was a pleasure. But I mean it’s definitely - some of the things that I had to do were really disturbing for me. Particularly a scene involving a cat, so it was an intense experience. I’ll say that.
What’s it like watching yourself on the big screen playing a villain like that?
LM: Yes, it’s funny, when I saw the movie, a couple of my friends were asking me how did you like it and I was saying it was scary and I was genuinely scared at points, but it is sort of funny that I’m what’s scary in the movie. I’m really proud of it and how it turned out and it’s definitely a ride. It’s got a lot of levels, it’s sexy and exciting and scary and jarring and disturbing. In filming it was all of that too. So I can’t say that I wasn’t at all affected by it. I think it stays with you a bit if you’re terrorizing people all day. Overall it was exciting.
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