Sara Paxton's In the "House"

You probably remember gorgeous, blonde 20-year-old actress Sara Paxton as the beautiful mermaid in Aquamarine or the snooty sorority girl in Sydney White. Well, get ready for a whole new grown-up Sara as she plays a very unlucky teen who is grabbed by a group of evil spree killers in the re-imagining of the classic horror/suspense film The Last House on the Left. (Warning!: This film is R-rated for extra gore and a sexual attack scene so make your filmgoing choices accordingly). On the flip side, her fans will be happy to know that the versatile Sara has a guest-starring role in the upcoming Jonas Bros TV series "Jonas" in May.

Sara is quite amazing in The Last House on the Left and we sat down for a casual afternoon at a Beverly Hills hotel to ask her about this transition to a strong, dramatic role, what it was like to be "assaulted" by a character played by an actor she's been friends with for years and lighter stuff like blowing off steam off set while clubbing in South Africa and jumping on a trampoline with her cute 21-year-old co-star Spencer Treat Clark.

Sara talked about her injuries on set and also had some advice for teens who just go along with the crowd or a BFF when they do risky, illegal stuff. (Her character Mari is abducted by killers when she goes to a motel with a pal who is buying weed). The actress, who was earlier wearing very high heels and a black leather jacket over her cute Dolce and Gabana, print dress, sat down with us, ditched the painful heels for cute, more comfortable black ballet flats and the chat was on.......

TeenHollywood: When you were younger did you ever go along with a more adventurous pal and do something that you wouldn't normally do? Did you get caught or in trouble doing it?

Sara: I've definitely gotten caught in a group where all that kind of stuff is happening but I was always the one going 'I'm calling my mom right now!' I'd be like 'what are you guys doing?' I think that's why I wasn't accepted into the popular group when I was younger. I was never willing to go along with whatever. They'd all be doing stupid things and to me, I'd be like 'why would you want to do these dumb things when it's only hurts you?' I'd always be complaining and not wanting to do anything too scary. But, I've been in a situation like that where people are trying to convince you.

TeenHollywood: So what would you say to a teen who is tempted to do some pretty stupid, risky stuff?

Sara: Make smart choices, always go with your gut. Just think before you act. You're going to be in a situation where you're out with friends, you've got to make sure that there is somebody responsible [in the group]. I was always the one who was like 'guys, no. We should leave right now. Stop playing around'. You should have one of those around.

TeenHollywood: Your director on this film said he picked you for the part because he saw a vulnerability, great intelligence and an innocence in your eyes. Do you think the roles you've played in the past helped you with that?

Sara: Probably. It's pretty funny because my whole life people have thought I was pretty gullible and guileless I guess so maybe he saw a little bit of that. I was always the girl that was one step behind the cool crowd, not even with them so I guess he saw that. Even now, I sometimes feel like I'm twelve. I revert back to childhood a little bit. I could definitely relate to Mari.

TeenHollywood: You are obviously trying to mix it up with totally different parts in your career. What's your experience been so far in terms of doing auditions and being a young actor?

Sara: It's really hard auditioning because once people get an idea of who you are, they think they know you and they only want to see you in that way. When I auditioned for The Last House on the Left, I didn't even think I had a chance in hell of getting this part. I was like 'They only see me as Aquamarine and in Sydney White. They're never going to give me this part'. And they did and I was just flabbergasted. I was shocked and of course ecstatic. That's why it's hard. I hope when this movie comes out, more people can see that I really do want to do these types of roles. I like doing it all. I don't just want to be stuck in one box.

TeenHollywood: You worked with actor Garret Dillahunt before on a lighthearted TV pilot. He is really a nice guy so when you heard he was playing the awful guy who would brutally attack you in this film, was that great or horrible?

Sara: They said 'Oh, Garret Dillahunt is playing Krug and I said 'What? Oh, my gosh, I know Garett. I love him. He's so sweet and thoughtful and nice and so gentle' and I was so happy it was him. You never know until you are on set with actors. Sometimes, it's like, 'oh I'm sorry. I can't form a relationship with you'. They don't want to get to know you because then they can't be mean to you. I was worried it would be somebody who didn't want to get to know me or didn't like me or thought 'ewww, I don't want to talk to this Aquamarine girl'. But, I could be open and honest with him and we could talk about what we were doing in the scene. The best part was I felt safe with him. I trust Garett so much.

TeenHollywood: When you knew about the assault scene, were you worried about how graphic it would be? You only see your fanny I think.. No body parts but its pretty intense.

Sara: I talked to my mom about it. I was nervous that it was going to be difficult. I was set to have a meeting with [the director] Dennis to talk about the character and was adamant about having that scene not be sexual in any way but just violence. I was ready to go into that meeting with guns blaring and right when I got there, he was like, 'Listen, Sara, I don't want that scene to be sexual at all.' We agreed right off the bat.

TeenHollywood: On the total flip side, you shot a guest appearance on the new Jonas Brothers TV show. How was that?

Sara: I have friends on the show and they wrote a character for me so I got to go in for a few days and have fun. The guys are really, really nice. Genuinely nice, normal people. Very respectful. I was shocked. People, when they're that successful, you don't expect them to be that down to earth but they really are.

TeenHollywood: You sing. Did you get to sing on the show?

Sara: No, I didn't sing. They do all the singing.

TeenHollywood: Any plans to continue with music some day?

Sara: I really don't rule anything out. I would love to do a movie musical. They're really popular right now. It's always great to incorporate music.

TeenHollywood: Back to "House". Your character Mari has lost her older brother and we never learn how he died. Did you build up how it happened in your mind as part of building your character?

Sara: Yeah. During the rehearsals when we first got there, a lot of it was to discuss the character so we knew, in depth, what was going on. We kind of formed this backstory that Ben (the bother) got sick and died. We don't talk about it in the movie because it's not relevant to the story. What is relevant about the brother is you find out why his family is kind of down in the beginning. They are apprehensive about going to their lake house. They're going to make new memories and start fresh after the loss of the son... and they get worse memories.

TeenHollywood: If someone did something horrendous to a friend or family member of yours, would you seek equal revenge? How would you handle it?

Sara: It depends. Are they stuck in my house, in the rain with no electricity? [we laugh]. I hope I would never have to be in one of those situations, pray to God. When it comes to people you love, especially when you have children, I know, if someone ever did something to me, my mom would be on rampage so who is to say what you're capable of once that situation comes into play?

TeenHollywood: You are being called a real trooper for crawling around in your underwear in freezing rain. Were you often shooting all night?

Sara: We filmed a month long of night shoots. We really became vampires for four weeks. We would all wake up at three P.M. and then go to bed at eight A.M. so we would hang out during the day a little bit but it was rough at night.

TeenHollywood: Was the dirt and bloody make-up cool or just awful?

Sara: It was definitely cool at first. I was like 'yeah! Make the cut bigger. More blood!' Then, as the process went on, we all realized that it's not comfortable wearing that. The [fake] blood is sticky. It feels like you're in honey all day long. Also, they used so much make-up every day to cover up all of our injuries. Every single one of us had something bad that happened to us injury-wise and so make-up had to cover it up. So, if you look really carefully in the movie, when everything is fine and normal, if you look at my legs, they're purple but nobody seemed to notice that.

TeenHollywood: Yikes! So you got pretty beaten up in real life?

Sara: Definitely it was the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. I have so many scars. I remember this one scene where, in the car, we have a huge fight sequence. There were a couple nails sticking up and I'm fighting with Riki (Lindhome) and she's pulling my hair and it got so intense and real that I landed on one of the nails and it went under my knee cap and I screamed out and Dennis [the director] was like, 'Cut! Print that! That was the best one! It was so real! How did you do that?' I was like, 'Ahhhhh! (in pain) It was real, it was real!'

TeenHollywood: Sounds gruesome! This movie is so intense. Did anything funny happen on set to lighten all this up?

Sara: Well, I called Garett 'Sharpie eyebrows' because they would dye his eyebrows and it just looked so funny. 'You're like Sharpie eyebrows'. (Laughs)

TeenHollywood: Oh, I get it. It looks like they're drawn on by a Sharpie.

Sara: Yeah. Because he's blonde. He's so fair. When we started filming, he had the beard but Dennis made the decision, 'let's go black, let's make him scary!' So, the first day after they'd dyed it, it just looked like 'Eerk! Eerk!' (sounds of eyebrows being drawn on by a Sharpie). I definitely made fun of him for that.

TeenHollywood: Can you talk a little about working with Spencer Treat Clark (a cute 21-year-old actor who plays the teen son of horrible bad guy Krug)?

Sara: He was in Unbreakable, Double Jeopardy and he was the kid in Gladiator. We decided that Justin (Spencer's character) and Mari, had this tragedy not happened, would have probably become good friends and really bonded because they both have had hard lives and deaths in the family. Spencer's such a college boy. He gets excited about everything. 'Dude, we're going rock climbing! Dude, we're going windsurfing!'

TeenHollywood: So did you go with him?

Sara: Actually, I injured him. It was our first day at the cottage hotel and I was like, 'Oh, do you see a trampoline? Let's go play on the trampoline.' And Spencer was like, 'No, Sara. It's only one person at a time on the trampoline.' And I was like, 'Oh, who cares?!' So we both jump on the trampoline, my tooth collides with his head, splits his whole forehead open! I'm a bad influence on Spencer. I'm telling him to lie, 'Say you fell and slipped in the shower.' He was like, 'Wouldn't it look weird if we said we were in the shower together?' I was like, 'No, not together! Say you weren't wearing your glasses'. He still has a scar. He's like, 'Sara, when I'm 80 years old, I'm gonna tell my children that you bit my face.' That's why his hair is in front of his eyes the entire movie.

TeenHollywood: Funny! Were you guys way out in the boonies where you couldn't go into town to blow off some steam or did you get to hang out in Cape Town?

Sara: It was strange because when we first got there, they put us in these lavish condos on the marina and I'm like, 'Yeah, this is going to be great.' And then they're like, 'No, no, no. When we're filming, we're going to go way out into the forest and you're going to be living there.' We were literally staying in these 18th century wooden cabins with bugs. It was beautiful historically, but it was really crazy actually staying there with the cast. We definitely had to blow off some steam. After a day of filming, we would all call each other and just be like 'let's go to the one restaurant in town'. Literally one restaurant. (laughs) And we would just go to the same restaurant every night and just relax and just talk about the day because I think we'd all go insane if we didn't have each other to talk to.

TeenHollywood: Okay, you are isolated with your fellow actors but a lot of them are playing really horrible, evil characters. Is it hard to play opposite actors who play despicable characters and then you're all going out and just having a good time. How weird is that?

Sara: I think it definitely became harder for the bad guys because I think they started to feel bad about what they were doing [to us] because we were all really good friends. I know that they felt protective of me and I totally respected them. I think that it brought out the best in everyone and we all had a real chemistry. We would go out. We would go dancing. We went dancing all the time. We were dancing fools. We had to blow off steam. We were so tense and stressed during the work week.

TeenHollywood: Speaking of music and dancing, what band or artist are you into now?

Sara: I'm all over the place. I like rap, classic rock, classical music. I really like Adele right now. I just bought her new CD. I work out to Britney Spears. That's great work out music.

TeenHollywood: So do you exercise regularly?

Sara: I think it's really good to be healthy and exercise because if you exercise when you're young, your body remembers and it'll be easier for you to be healthier when you're older. I'm not an exercise freak. I'm way too lazy.

TeenHollywood: But you're not a champion swimmer like your character Mari?

Sara: I'm not a swimmer in real life. Some of it was me in the movie but some wasn't. It was so hard for me to maintain. There are so many long shots of me just continually swimming. So we'd stop and go back and continue. That water was freezing. In the audition, Dennis was like, 'So how's your swimming ability?' And I was like, 'I played a mermaid [in the film Aquamarine]. I'm an amazing swimmer. You have no idea. I'm great.' And then I actually got on set and I just remember emerging from the water and hearing 'cut! Oh my God, she is drowning! Somebody get her some floaties, something!' So I guess I wasn't that good. I was more talk.

TeenHollywood: Any interest in writing, directing or producing?

Sara: That's my ultimate dream. Producing, directing. I want to take a writing course and start learning how to do that. I have so many ideas in my head all the time. It would be great to get them on paper.

TeenHollywood: Did you get to attend any college classes?

Sara: I was accepted to different colleges but I made the decision not to go because I had opportunities presented to me at that time. I figured I could always go back. I almost went to NYU.

TeenHollywood: What's next for you?

Sara: I'm possibly doing a movie called Gravy. It's kind of a horror movie too, but not really. There's comedy in it. I don't know what genre that would be.

TeenHollywood: What would you like to say to a movie audience or your fans?

Sara: I don't want people to think that because I did this movie, I don't like doing comedy or things like Aquamarine. I want to do everything, to be able to jump back and forth from comedy to drama. I don't want them to feel like I'm leaving them. I'll be back.