Q’A with Ali Larter

The MUSE spoke with Ali Larter about her body, her obsessions and her character in the upcoming movie Obsessed, out tomorrow. Lisa Sheridan (Larter) falls in love with Derek Charles (Idris Elba), who is married to a beautiful wife (Beyonce Knowles) with a child. This one-sided and misinterpreted office romance quickly spirals into a stalker obsession for Sheridan, which has disastrous consequences.

The Muse: When you first read the script, what immediately attracted you to this character?

Ali Larter: The first thing that attracted me was the idea of getting a chance to play a femme fatal . . . The real classic femme fatals are one of the reasons I always wanted to get into this business . . . so getting the chance to play that really delicious female villain was my first draw.

MUSE: What kind of research did you do for the role?

AL: I had a lot of discussions with the producers figuring out why she does what she does and making sure that this character was really believable, that you could understand her point of view . . . To me, [the film] is an imaginary office romance that ends up having disastrous consequences and we try to examine the different points of view of the different people involved. We tried to figure out what made her feel the way that she feels, and make sure that Derek’s character (Idris Elba) gives her enough reason to believe that he is in love with her. She kind of goes down this path of delusions and . . . to her, it has to be completely rational. For me, it was always making sure that this is something where it’s like I take the movie really seriously, but I try not to take myself seriously and to really have fun so that people, when they watch this movie, they see the enjoyment I’ve had creating this character.

MUSE: How does this role compare to some of the others you’ve taken?’ I mean, you’re most well known for your roles in ‘Heroes’ and Final Destination. What was it like to actually switch over and be the villain for once?

AL: I’m usually the one beating people up, so this movie really humbled me a little bit. I had to take one for the team. This movie differs in the fact that . . . she’s definitely in the vein of the classic femme fatal, and that is what drew me to this movie. Also, the fact that she really gets lost in her psychosis and to understand what happened to this woman and how she could kind of go down this path of believing one thing, when another thing is probably true. For me, it was really interesting to figure out the complexities of her and what makes her tick . . . You get to see the three different points of view of people in the same situation, so I thought that that was an interesting, fresh take on this. And also that the movie is color blind and not once is race mentioned, and that, to me, and I think with Idris [Elba] also, is one of the things that we found most appealing about it.

MUSE: What kind of training did you have to do in preparation for your fight scene with Beyonce?

AL: We do a lot of physical stuff on ‘Heroes,’ and it seems that I always end up getting in some kind of fight in whatever role I’m playing, so we start off with getting the best stunt doubles that we can find, and I have an amazing girl that I work with, but the other side is that I also like to do as much as I can. I think that you can really tell when the actor is in there, so we spent about a week really breaking it down and we just had fun.
Watching Beyonce charge you is one of my favorite moments, so I really hope that comes across on the screen that people really see that we tried to make it so it’s believable and not fall into all the clich’eacute;s, but, at the same time, deliver what the movie promises to deliver.

MUSE: Now it was what, a little over ten years ago that you were in Varsity Blues and now, ten years later, you’re kind of in similar states of undress. Is it tougher now to get in shape?

AL: You know what? I love playing sexy characters. This character is definitely in the vein of the classic femme fatal. And, for me, this woman kind of uses whatever she has to get what she wants, and she’s in love with this man, and she has fun with herself. She doesn’t take herself that seriously. For me, that was just a really fun role, and I loved playing her.

MUSE: What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of your character?

AL: The most difficult thing was that I was shooting ‘Heroes’ at the same time, so for a couple months, I was working seven days a week, like 12 hours a day, and that was by far the most trying thing because I’d be going from one character and kind of one tone and hopping into another one and sometimes I would be driving from one set to the next. For me, it was just a very trying time.

MUSE: What past experiences did you draw from for this character?

AL: Lisa Sheridan is a bit delusional and she becomes a bit of a psychopath, but you can’t play someone that way, you have to play it from the rational point of view because the things that she’s doing she thinks are completely normal. For me, it was really about drawing about things in my own life and trying to take the circumstances and understand, if something like that happened to me, how I would react, so a lot of substitution went into this role to try to make it believable because you have to ‘- when you watch this movie, that is ‘- you know, the movie fails if you don’t believe that she’s in love with this man . . . so I did everything I could to kind of make sure that people saw the kind of characteristics within her and were able to understand that this woman fell in love with this man.

MUSE: Did you ever find it difficult to act out any of the crazy things your character did?

AL: You know, it’s like every time I go into this, and I have those scenes coming up, I am petrified, I’m sure I can’t do it. I break myself down, and it’s just this terrible cycle. Then you just show up that day, and you bring everything you have. . . I am such a normal human being, like I have the same fears and kind of stresses, and so I just try to take those and really focus them into what this character is going through. Even though it may not be a linear line, I can use substitution to make it rational for the character that I’m playing.’
Yes, I mean, it is difficult, but for whatever it is, I just love these women. I love getting a chance to play girls and female characters that really have just this hunger and this desire.

MUSE: What are you working on right now? Is your next project going to be a femme fatal character, as well?

AL: I’m about to actually go start a movie with Ed Burns, which I’m really excited about. She’s not a femme fatal, but there are slices of it. For me, it’s like I just love intense women. I love strong women. I love women that go after what they want and don’t always worry about the consequences. There’s a free spirited nature in that that I really am drawn to and a driven side of it, too.
In the future, there are lots of different things I want to. I actually would love to do a comedy. I would love to laugh. You know, when you’re on the set of movies like this, days where we’re shooting the fight scene couldn’t be more amazing. We’re just having a blast, but days where we’re actually shooting scenes where there’s this intense altercation between me and Derek, I mean these are really difficult scenes to do, and they’re painful, and so there’s really two sides of it, so I think that I’m ready to lighten up a bit.

MUSE: Did you draw upon your superhuman, alter ego character, Jessica, in ‘Heroes’ for some of the crazy things that Lisa had to do in the film?

AL: Not really because with the powers of Nikki and Jessica and the different characters that I’ve played on ‘Heroes,’ it’s more of a metaphor for what they need in their life. So I think of it as the opposite side of themselves are the power that they’re displaying and they go into their shadow side. I always thought that was a very interesting way of approaching the characters on the show.’
With Obsessed, it has to be done from a completely straight point of view. You can’t play delusional. You have to play rational. You have to play it very, very straight. For me, it was making sure that the things that Lisa did, the situations that she’s in, are believable, that you believe that this woman would misinterpret situations the way that she does.

MUSE: Has the sort of blurring of fantasy and fiction ever happened to you like it does to your character in the film? Do you have any obsessions or, alternatively, have you been on the receiving end of any obsessions?

AL: I definitely remember when I was younger, you know.’ I remember, and I think a couple of other girls I’ve talked to have been through this where you’ll sit by the phone all night long waiting for the guy to call you. I mean, this is more when I was in high school. And if you could will that phone to ring, I tell you, I would have done anything. And so those games that you play in your head — that’s something that we’ve really tried to tap into in this movie. For her, she definitely takes it a level too far, but I think the ‘obsession’ part is the stories that you tell yourself. Someone may say one thing, but it’s how you misinterpret it to hear what you want to hear. And I think that’s really the key into this character.

MUSE: Do you have any obsessions of your own?

AL: Lots of them. I love Wheaton Terriers. I love to cook. I love to watch old movies. You know, for me it’s like what am I obsessed with?’ I’m obsessed with just trying to live every moment to the fullest.