Amanda and Danielle: Jason's Darlings

In the re-make of the classic horrorfest Friday the 13th, Danielle Panabaker (Sky High, Mr. Brooks, TV's "Shark") and Amanda Righetti (Role Models and TV's "The O.C." and "The Mentalist") play Jenna and Whitney, two gals out for a fun vacation in the woods and we know how that always turns out!

We met with the two pretty brunettes in Beverly Hills to find out if they were fans of the "13th" horror franchise, how hard it is to do a television series and then be stalked by hockey-mask-wearing Jason Voorhees while on their TV breaks, did they suffer any injuries on the grueling shoot and just how much fun did the friendly cast have at the Four Seasons hotel in Austin anyway?

Picture Amanda in teal blue, low v-neck dress with rose gold jewelry and Danielle in black jeans, white tank and cute black vest with a knit flower. Maybe someday we'll learn the secret of how both gals can wear such very high, black pumps all day!

TeenHollywood: Were either of you a fan of the original Friday the 13th films?

Amanda: How can you not be? It's Friday the 13th. Yeah, to a certain extent but I don't particularly seek going to see horror films. It's kind of a once in a blue moon kind of thing for me.

Danielle: I'm a bit sissy. I can't watch horror movies, so when I first heard about this I had to run out and find Friday the 13th but insisted on watching when it was daylight out, and I had all the curtains open for fear that I would be traumatized and have nightmares.

TeenHollywood: Did being in one desensitize you?

Danielle: I don't think so. We just saw the movie the other night and it's still pretty scary, even though I'd read the script, I'd been there when we were shooting, I knew when the scares were coming, but I still screamed and I still jumped, so I don't think I was desensitized at all.

Amanda: Yeah, I don't think I was either. I jumped a few times, things definitely got me.

TeenHollywood: Amanda, we can't say too much about your character or we'll give things away. So, uh, what can you say about her?

Amanda: The best I can really say is that my character is Jared Padalecki's sister in the movie, and her mom's been sick and I've been taking care of her, and then my boyfriend kind of drags me out to the woods for a camping trip and that's about the extent of it, the rest I'm sure you can assume from there.

TeenHollywood: But it might not be what people think. Can you say that you have a great moment with Jason in the beginning?

Amanda: There you go, I do, I do have a great moment with Jason in the beginning.

TeenHollywood: Both of you plus Jared were or are doing TV shows in addition to this film. Was that difficult?

Amanda: I personally, was going back and forth between L.A. and Austin in the beginning, because we were shooting the pilot for 'The Mentalist'. So I was kind of back and forth, and then once 'The Mentalist wrapped, I was in Austin for good, and we were all sort of waiting to find out what was happening at May sweeps.

TeenHollywood: Danielle, were you on "Shark"?

Danielle: Yeah, we wrapped 'Shark' on a Friday and I flew to Texas on a Sunday, so it was that quick. But, I think Jared has it the worst because he's got so much pressure on him through 'Supernatural' and all that.

Amanda: Yeah, there's just him and Jensen [Ackles] so it's not like a big ensemble cast where they can give you a few days off. It's a lot of work for them to carry.

TeenHollywood: But was it a good break for you?

Danielle: Yeah, usually it's like two and a half to three months for hiatus. It's enough time to squeeze [a movie] in.

TeenHollywood: Did you see this film at a public screening or was it private screening

Danielle: No, it was just a few of us there. I'm excited for the premiere with hundreds of people and see how infectious the screaming and the laughing is.

TeenHollywood: I was wondering how an actor might feel about seeing himself get killed on screen and then this big cheer.

Danielle: It's great, if the audience is so enthusiastic and so enraptured with the film, I love that.

TeenHollywood: When you saw the movie you did you actually watch the kills?

Danielle: I, kicking and screaming, watched them. I was sitting there next to my manger grabbing her arm and wincing in terror, and that, I think, is what's really great about this movie. I was around for so much of those kills and had seen them made, I've seen people put the units on but they're still scary. I knew it was fake, but was still scared.

TeenHollywood: I heard Danielle that you got knocked out cold on set. How the heck did that happen?

Danielle: That was the scene that literally is on film for maybe five seconds where I'm running between Jared and Travis from upstairs to downstairs. It doesn't look like it would be anything but it was a doozy. We were fighting the sun coming up, we were rushing and Travis ran into me by accident and I blacked out and cut my chin open. All very dramatic and ugly bruises later, but I felt like I was one of the guys after that, like I had my battle wounds.

TeenHollywood: Did they just have to shut down?

Danielle: No, but I went to the emergency room and got great medication and got a day off to recover and have all the swelling go down, but it was dramatic. They had to cover it up and they shot around it, and the DP was really great about lighting so you didn't see the big like honking bruise and the scab on my chin.

TeenHollywood: Ouch! Amanda, did anything like that happen to you? Did you get hurt?

Amanda: I just like had really massive damage done to my knees. Yeah, I had a lot of bruising stuff on my knees and hands from crawling around but I didn't have any open wounds, more physical therapy kind of wounds.

TeenHollywood: When the original Friday the 13th came out it was considered misogynistic; against women. Was that a concern for you? Were you scrutinizing the script?

Amanda: I don't think I really scrutinized it in that way. You walk a fine line as an actor. You don't want to judge too harshly what you're doing, because then you start to get into trouble, but for me it really was a leap of faith because I hadn't seen the script until a week before I went to Austin. So I kind of went, 'okay, well these are great producers, great director, it's a good cast, let's just hope that it all comes together in the end'.

Danielle: And I feel like with this movie everybody gets it; man, woman, child. If you're going to get it from Jason, you're going to get it pretty hard [we laugh]. So I don't feel like any special treatment was given to the women in this movie.

TeenHollywood: Can you talk about working with Derek Mears who plays Jason? Did he keep to himself so that you didn't get to know him and laugh with him and then have to be afraid of him on camera?

Amanda: Derek was amazing. He comes from a stunt background so he's very aware of your personal space and he was very adamant about rehearsing things so people wouldn't get hurt, and it was really refreshing to have somebody like that. He knows he's a big guy, and some people have no sense of their space or how they relate to other people within the stunt world, and he was really great about it. And really lovely about always asking, 'Are you okay? Is this okay for you? I want to make sure that you're not getting hurt.' So he was brilliant in that way, and also just a really sweet guy, we used to have stupid giggle fits, and it was like, 'Okay, shut up, focus.'

TeenHollywood: Giggling with Jason. Hard to picture that.

Danielle: But, he's so funny, and in addition to his stunt background he comes from a comedy world as well, so he's a really wonderful man to be around.

TeenHollywood: That's hilarious, a funny, friendly Jason. Did he play any jokes on you on the set?

Amanda: No, but we did to (Jonathan) Sadowski (who plays Wade). We were shooting the campfire scene in the beginning and they would have this sort of portable bathroom, but you'd have to walk forever to get to it, and you'd have to walk on this really dark path. So Ben Feldman (who plays Richie) decided it would be really funny to have Derek go hide in the bushes when Sadowski went to go to the bathroom and he jumped out and scared the piss out of him It was pretty funny.

TeenHollywood: I would have loved to have seen that.

Danielle: Sadowski and Feldman are so funny in the movie together, they are like an old married couple.

Amanda: And they are in person too, it's pretty funny.

TeenHollywood: When was the first time you guys saw Derek in the Jason make up?

Amanda: For me it was when he chases me down finally at the campsite, and I remember when he first walked out with the full garb on I had chills down my spine.

Danielle: He's terrifying because he's a big guy as it is and then they put more on top of it. And his mobility becomes limited and so he becomes this big, hulking monster, which is scary -

Amanda: But don't call him a monster, he doesn't like it.

TeenHollywood: What did you find scarier, the hockey mask or the sack over his head with the one eyehole?

Amanda: They're both scary.

Danielle: One's a bit more primitive, but then I think the mask is almost more premeditated and terrifying.

Amanda: I think even without the mask that the make up that they did to him was really frightening.

TeenHollywood: We don't get to see that very long.

Amanda: They don't show much, but there was some stuff that was cut out that we had shot with him without the mask and Scott Stoddard (special makeup effects artist) was amazing, I mean the guy's so talented. And what they did to Jason's face, to Derek to make him look so dilapidated and vile, it was really frightening.

Danielle: But I think even that glimpse of him through the broken mirror is scary enough to give me nightmares.

TeenHollywood: What are you guys scared of in real life?

Danielle: Spiders. Any size, any kind.

Amanda: Yeah, I'd say spiders, but cockroaches that are bigger than my hand. They skeeve me out, creepy, crawly things. Like when you find centipedes in your bed in Hawaii. Hawaii is big on the big bugs.

TeenHollywood: From what we gather, the cast really bonded making this film.

Danielle: There's an incredible chemistry between all the cast members. I'll be watching the Super Bowl at Sadowski's house tomorrow, after we finish, so there is a great chemistry between everyone and I think that translates well. Aaron Yoo and Arlen Escarpeta are amazing together and a lot of their dialogue is completely improv-ed so I think it's great.

TeenHollywood: Did you guys hang out in Austin? What did you all do?

Danielle: I had the best time. I feel like everything involved water, wake boarding, tubing, which is my new favorite pastime.

Amanda: I wasn't there for the tubing day, but the wake boarding was a lot of fun. Checking out Austin, Austin's a really cool city.

Danielle: I feel like it was great for our cast too, because it's a younger cast and being able to hang out in the college scene and if you've been to Austin, sixth street and all that.

TeenHollywood: So Derek went with you?

Danielle: Of course.

Amanda: We were all one big happy family. It was kind of stupid.

Danielle: It was summertime at the Four Seasons in Austin, you can't really complain.

TeenHollywood: Danielle, don't you have another horror film coming up?

Danielle: Prodigy feels more like an action movie. There's at least four to six weeks of fight training before we go to Spain, so it is action but there's also that suspense element to it. It takes place about 40 years in the future and it's about this high school where the kids are essentially bred to be the best of the best, and given all the medication and when someone tries to take advantage of all that power, the whole system comes crumbling down.

TeenHollywood: Amanda, do you have something scheduled for your next hiatus?

Amanda: I'm still working on it; it's been tough with the TV schedule.

TeenHollywood: What sort of fighting are you learning, Danielle?

Danielle: It's actually quite an ordeal to pick the specific stuntmaster, because everyone, from what I understand, has their own style and vibe, so that will be up to the director to find. I think there will be martial arts in there. I'm excited. We're still a couple of months away from really getting going on that, but I can't wait.