Catch A Little ‘Luck’ This Spring: An Interview with Taylor Schilling

With her latest project only weeks away from release, Taylor Schilling was more than thrilled to sit down with the MUSE to talk about the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ The Lucky One. Schilling seemed nothing short of elated to make a major big-screen appearance

The works of Nicholas Sparks, author of the works such as The Notebook and The Last Song, are more widely recognized by females and often elicit a label of sappiness from male audiences. Sparks’ novels do make for the perfect chick-flick to drag one’s boyfriend to on a Friday night, but Schilling believes this next chapter in Sparks’ work reveals another side of himself as well as his audience.

“It’s really exciting when guys like [The Lucky One] and respond to it. There are parts of this movie that speak to people universally,” Schilling said.

Schilling said she praised Sparks’ ability in this story to not only capture emotion, but to truly feel it.

“There’s something about Nicholas Sparks that works so well. He just embraces it. When you can fully embrace the experience of it, there’s kind of nothing like it,” Schilling said.

Schilling said her character is not a typical love-struck sweetheart, but rather a deeper, more mature person.

“There is a lot going on with Beth,” Schilling said. “There’s a lot happening for her in every scene. I never felt like I was just sort of filling time.”

Schilling said that the character of Beth reaches out to a much more relevant demographic of women in today’s society, tackling issues that reach far beyond the entertainment level of the film itself.

“She is a woman dealing with things that I think women right now are dealing with,” Schilling said. “It’s quite current.”

Complimenting the work of Sparks again, Schilling said, “She’s an actual fully fleshed-out woman. You don’t see that for women a lot. [Sparks] gave a beautiful opportunity to tell a female story.”

And with such a deep story, it’s difficult not to become invested.

“We were all so immersed in the world of the story,” Schilling said, recalling that the emotional themes brought the cast and crew together.

Schilling said she became particularly close with Zac Efron, the protagonist of The Lucky One, who offered a pleasant, workable environment for the whole cast.

“Zac is just a dear friend. He’s really, very easygoing. He’s just a real pleasure to work with,” she said.

Developing friendships on set can be an integral part of producing a finished product that really speaks to audiences, and creating this bond with Efron really added to the whole experience, Schilling said.

“I think that as we [Zac and I] became better friends, that just got easier and easier,” said Schilling. “There are worse things in the world than to stare lovingly at Zac Efron.”

Schilling also gushed over her other A-list co-star, Blythe Danner, of Meet the Parents and What’s Your Number? fame, who provides some much-needed comedic relief throughout the film.

“The second most exciting moment of this process was finding out that she was going to play my grandmother,” Schilling said.

With a wonderful cast to surround her, Schilling dished a bit on the experience of filming on-location in beautiful Louisiana for a few months and what letting go of metropolitan life during that period was like.

“Shooting in Louisiana, I really made a conscious effort to let that culture seep in and let go of New York and Boston as much as I could,” Schilling said.

Schilling returned to nurturing her hometown roots, however, during her recent appearances in Boston. The Massachusetts native called the chance to promote a film back in her hometown a “dream come true.”

In summarizing The Lucky One as a whole, Schilling became deep.

“There’s a really nice message in the movie that we can find our voice and walk through what scares us the most. By walking through your fear, that’s where the treasure lies. Exactly as we are right now, exactly as you are, you’re worthy of love. That’s a message I will stand behind forever and ever.”

Despite her definite summation, Schilling stressed that many things can be taken away from this film, but that that’s the beauty of it.

“I think the cool thing about a film like this is for it to be however you want to interpret it,” Schilling said. “However you interpret it is totally cool.”