Wrenn Schmidt has appeared on FX’s “The Americans” and HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” but now forays into the horror-thriller genre as star of the upcoming flick “Preservation.”
On the demanding shoot of “Preservation.”
“I’ve done more physical stuff onstage, but on TV and film nobody’s ever really thought of me that way. It’s almost like an action movie. The last 50 percent of the movie is just that. I was like, ‘Man, this seems like it’s going to be really tough.’ But I loved the challenge. Rock climbing, falling down hills, hanging out of trees, being dragged behind a bicycle—all that stuff.”
On acting in horror films.
“The audience has to see something’s wrong just because the situation is weird and off. Not because you’re telling them that it’s weird and off. That’s not your job. If you execute the scene the way it’s written, the scene works. Like, ‘What would I do in this circumstance?’ That’s how I tried to approach every scene in this film. ‘If I was in this situation, how would I proceed?’ ”
On growth.
“I want to be better today than I was yesterday, however I can do that. I want to get better at something or stronger at something today; that’s my goal. That takes a lot of the pressure off trying to be perfect, trying to do something right. No, I just want to grow. And sometimes it’s about not even knowing how that’s going to happen, but if you commit yourself to something fully, oftentimes you kind of surprise yourself.”
On meetings with writer-directors.
“I’ve been to a few of those meetings, where you go and you meet and you’re both kind of sussing each other out. Like, ‘Would you be an interesting person to work with?’ You talk about projects, but it’s kind of an unspoken thing where you’re like, Do we have chemistry? Would we be on the same page about the project? The same thing when you go in and meet an agent. Of course you want to work with a good agent, so when you’re meeting a good agent it’s hard to remember you’re interviewing them as well. It’s going to be a business relationship. It’s so easy to just be hungry.”
On perception in acting.
“There were so many days where I was like, ‘I don’t know if I got that,’ ‘I don’t know if any of that worked.’ We shot that film in 18 days, and we were so flying by the seat of our pants, and everybody was just trying to get the scene done. There were so many moments when I would walk off set and be like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t even know what that was.’ Sometimes your experience while you’re shooting isn’t necessarily indicative of what the final outcome will be. You could be having the worst day, like, ‘It sucks,’ ‘They’re going to fire me,’ and then you see the footage from that day and you’re like, ‘God, why I was being such a boob? It’s totally fine.’ I feel like that happens more than I would like to admit. Maybe a lot of actors feel that way. You can feel like, ‘Ugh, it’s the worst performance ever,’ and the director’s, like, ‘My God, that’s the best it’s ever been.’ And you’re like, ‘What? No way!’ That’s true for theater and for TV and film.”
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