Emily Rossum is perhaps one the most talented Beautiful Creatures in Hollywood!
Not only does the 26-year-old actress have a plethora of films – blockbuster and critical acclaim – but she does a stellar job playing the role of Fiona Gallagher in the Showtime hit series Shameless.
But if you’re curious about what it took for Emily to channel her seductively dark and bewitching self, no worries, because Global Grind caught up with the actress to discuss Beautiful Creatures, Shameless and some other magical things you’d definitely like to know.
Check out our exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: How was the auditioning process for Beautiful Creatures?
Emmy Rossum: I only had to audition once. But I got the script a couple months before we went into production. I was still shooting season 2 of Shameless, and it was so different than what I was doing at the time that I just loved it. It was this bad girl character that had so much fun with being evil. And was so glamorous, kind of campy, over the top that I really wanted to audition. Then, I read the first book, and kind of got more into her and her backstory. It fleshed out the reason for the curse, and all this other stuff you had to know; kind of the rules for the story. Then, I went into the audition – it was a 14 page audition – it was like from the time that my character gets out of the car at the track field to the end of the autumn harvest dinner when you get sucked out of the room. It was like this big epic audition scene, and I remember that I practiced it so many times because it was such a long scene. I was saying it in my sleep the night before the audition, and I went in and really felt as I was doing I’m totally nailing this. I’m totally getting this part. And on the last page I had a whole monologue that I completely blanked. I was so into how well I was doing that I forgot all of the words and blanked. I was just staring at the casting director…it was funny. I guess I did okay because she fed me the line, and then I got it. And I was back on it. After I got the part, Richard sent me this nice e-mail: “Congrats! You’re our Ridley…we’re excited, and I just wanted you to see what you did to get the part.” So he sent me the audition tape, and I got to see it. It was really good until the last moment where I completely fell apart…I made some weird facial noises and I had this look of desperation; sweat coming out of my forehead. But I guess they knew I wanted it, so I got that part.
Can you talk a little bit about the costumes? You wear some really beautiful gowns in the movie. Did you have any input in that?
A lot of it had to do with Richard LaGravenese and Jeffrey Curley – our costume designer – who’s worked with Woody Allen on so many different amazing projects. And it was definitely different than it is in the book. In the book, she’s much more like a punk Harajuku girl in daisy dukes with a lollipop. In this we’re adding a level of – because she’s travelled all over the world – a worldly, throwback sophistication to her, which is right in line with my sensibilities. But I actually had nothing to do with it. It was really fun, and the only thing I really collaborated on, was the hair and makeup. Also, I was in charge of the manicure.
You like playing bad girls?
I guess you would think from my recent choices. It’s fun for me to add a humanity and emotional understanding to these kinds of characters. I think it would be easy to just play them as one-note evil, or like my character on Shameless, as just the bad girl from the bad neighborhood. But for me it’s interesting to add a backstory, to add a sensitivity that will hopefully allow the audience to get on the bad side with me. Because it’s kind of more fun over there!
Richard was talking about the spinning scene, and how some people got nauseous. Can you tell us how you were feeling during that scene?
I didn’t think I was going to have a problem. But because everyone said I was going to have a problem, I took Dramamine – it should be called, sleep medication – but apparently it’s for seasickness. It should be Ambien, because I was really falling asleep, the same time I was trying to act in 6-inch heels, while strapped to a spinning room. So it was definitely a different experience for me, but it was very fun. It added to the level of…I felt like it added to the level of insanity that was actually happening emotionally in the scene between these two characters.
Was that one of the more challenging scenes to shoot?
Yes, because of all the elements. But the most challenging scene for me to shoot was at the end, because I was in that massive dress with that tight horrendous corset – basically, in a turtleneck dress with all these petticoats in a 120 degrees – the dresses were so large that to transport me in Emma Thompson to the set from the trailers that they had to take all the rows of chairs and seating out of a 15-passenger van, and seat us on individual apple boxes: One per van! And it was 120 degrees, so we would get in the van in air conditioning, and get out and do the scene. I didn’t know my body had so much water in it. There was just sweat dripping down my body and my legs. It was just vile. On top of that, I would take off the petticoats at the end of the day. On one lovely occasion, a vey hairy spider crawled out my under carriage.
There are a lot of British actors that have such a knack for American accents that once you meet them, you’re kind of shocked that they’re British. I’m sure you get a lot of people that are shocked that you aren’t British?
Yes!
It must happen a lot.
It does because of The Phantom of the Opera. But nope, I’m New York. Although, my mom was actually raised in the Bronx, and originally from Louisiana, near St. Franksville…I felt like I was in my mom’s old hood.
You obviously have a knack for accents.
I think that’s because I grew up singing at the Opera. We would have to sing in different languages, and train our ear in that way. I think I got used to it that way.
And you just put out a CD of 40’s standards?
Yeah. That’s the kind of music that I grew up with, and grew up hearing. My mom was a single mom, and she would leave to travel to work – she was a photographer – to take pictures a lot of the time. So she would leave all these records for me to play – the music she grew up with – when she was home, she would sing these lullabies to me. Oldies were a big part of my youth.
You never rebelled against your parents’ music?
I liked Spice Girls for a hot second! Otherwise, no. I wanted to ziggy, zig, ah.
How does your hair work in the movie? Obviously, you didn’t chop off all your hair in the movie.
It was all wigs.
Wigalicious!
It was very wigalacious! I actually dyed my own hair blonde because we actually thought we’d use my own hair. But then, it turned out to be completely wigged. So I dyed it blonde for nothing. It kind of put me in the headspace, even on my days off, of being a character unlike Shameless – which is a character I’ve been doing back-to-back for a few seasons. For me, it was almost like a wake-up call for another thing that can get me into character: Changing how I dress and look in everyday life to kind of influence my way of getting into the character. I might use that, and change my appearance in the future. Even, if it’s not need for the movie.
Let’s talk about the relationship between Ridley and Link. Your scenes don’t have much dialogue.
Who needs dialogue when you have heat! We had a lot of fun. In fact, we decided to go on a couple foe dates…one of the first nights that we were in New Orleans, we decided to explore New Orleans together, one night after rehearsal. And we were just walking around Bourbon St., that area. Then we walked out to the Mississippi. It started kind of lightly misty and lightning and it was very romantic. We’re both thinking it’s good. We’re both thinking we’re totally building chemistry right now. And we decided to b a little rebellious…dangle our legs over the Mississippi. I did that. We were kind of sitting on these wood beams on the other area. It was misty and I’m snapping all these pictures on my iPhone because of how romantic it was. Then there was this thing out of the corner of my eye that started to scurry away. I was like “Oh how cute. Look at that little bunny rabbit.” And he’s like, “That’s a rat!” Then, we looked down and realized that below us – about two feet – were tons and tons of rats; filthy disgusting moist, rained upon rats with large teeth and fangs. They were probably giving us the Ebola virus. I could quickly got the hell out of there, and he walked me home. It was not a romantic experience at all.
Are you looking forward to another season of Shameless?
I am! We don’t go back until September into production. But I’m really excited. I think we’re going to have a winter season again. We did our first season in winter; our second two in the summer. I like seeing the Gallagher family in winter. I think it adds a level of gray harshness to the lifestyle of Chicago that’s kind of a character in itself. And I love coming back to a character that’s challenging and fun. I’m kind of starting to appreciate the idea that maybe, the show will be on for a while now. I’m kind of starting to embrace the idea because I’m very skittish about being like “It’s a hit!” But I’m finally think that yeah, maybe we’ll get a few seasons, so I’m really excited.
How has the experience changed over the seasons for you? Do you start to miss her [Fiona Gallagher] a little bit when you’re gone for a little while? Does it get easier to step back in?
It does. I feel like after you’ve played a character for a little while, they like live in this little suitcase that you carry around in the back corner of your head. So if they were like “We go back in next week,” I’d be like “Clip, clip, tease, tease, unwash, scrub, scrub, scrub, yeah!”
Tell us a little bit about working with British actors, Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson.
It was incredibly fun to work with her, just in terms of creating the idea of our backstory. And we worked with the dialect coach together to kind of create a similar way of speaking – this kind of honey-soaked Southern witch thing – that was really fun. She seems to always find the humor in scenes as an actress, and I think that’s a really interesting aspect that I could add; that I could steal. As far as Jeremy, he’s obviously very dapper. Perfect for his role. I know the writers were envisioning him when they were writing the novel. He’s a perfect Megan. He’s dapper and smart, protective. I think he’s fantastic. He’s over on the side of the set, wearing all silk, hand-rolling cigarettes. It’s very glamorous.
Did you have a chance to explore New Orleans?
Yeah, we did. We were down there for quite a while. I think we tried all the cool happening restaurants, all the spots. There were a bunch of movies being made down there at the same time – like Django Unchained – It’s a very film-friendly community now. It’s just a fun experience to experience a new place as a blonde…it was just a really interesting, fun time. As well as a time, where I was making a record at the same time, and was very influenced by the street music and jazz that was down there. It was really educational for me to hear the street music, the street musicians.
Do you know what’s in store for your character?
I’ve read all the other books. I hope they adhere to them because I’m in them, but you never know. In the second book – spoiler alert – she loses all her powers – she’s really pissed because she’s not that cute anymore, and not powerful anymore. She’s just a normal chick. And she really doesn’t like being normal.
