Star Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl, Country Strong) takes the lead in what is sure to be one of this year’s scariest movies. The Roommate should prove to be extremely frightening in its content, but especially to us college students since the movie is all about living in a dorm with a new roommate who begins to go crazy. Some of us have been there, hopefully not as intensely as what is shown in the movie.
In the film, Leighton plays Rebecca who starts to obsess over her roommate Sara Matthews, played by Minka Kelly (Parenthood, (500) Days of Summer). From the trailer alone, it seems as though the movie will make the audience jump out of their seats. I wouldn’t be surprised if some shrieks were heard throughout theatres over The Roommate. Leighton sat down to answer some questions regarding her role—how she went about playing quite an insane character that becomes hard to shake off.
“A lot of people can relate to moving in with a complete stranger. Everyone has had a friend who feels they have a right to your feelings or clothes. I tried to portray someone with these qualities,” Leighton said. Either way you look at it, college is a scary time filled with new people, places, and situations. It is even scarier if you get stuck with a strange roommate. It’s enough to get high school seniors jittery about meeting their new roommates when it comes time for college.
Playing such an extreme character was not an easy thing to do for Leighton, even though she has had experiences with intense roommates in the past, at least the kind who would stay up all night partying. Still, she admits that getting into a character’s head that is suffering from deep mental instability is challenging.
She considers herself as having a “firm grip on reality.” “I tried to relate to her in some way, but that was hard for me to do because she unravels—she is sweet, a good friend at first, and then changes.” She went on to include, “Some of the things I had to do were really disturbing for me.”
As for preparation, Leighton believes she had an ample amount of time. She talked to psychologists and examined movies that were similar. What’s more, she likes the final product. “It’s funny that I’m what’s scary in the movie. It’s sexy, jarring, and disturbing and filming it was all these things. It stays with you.”
Contradictory to what develops in the movie, Leighton is good friends with Minka and loved working with her. From working on this movie and her real life experiences she advises, “It’s better if you are friends with your roommate. You know the habits of that other person.”
No matter how hard it is for actresses to delve into the minds of some bizarre characters, it can often be worth it in the end. Some amazing films have come out from such stresses. Of course, I am referring to such successes as Sissy Spacek in Carrie, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, and Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.
On top of that, there was the original The Roommate, which was called Single White Female. Could this new version prove to be better? Leighton believes, “It’s a ride.”
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