The "Inviting" Emily Browning

You would remember beautiful Aussie actress Emily Browning from her role as Violet Baudelaire in the dark comedy/fantasy film Lemony Snicket's : A Series of Unfortunate Events or as the unfortunate, creepy little girl ghost in the movie Ghost Ship. She's been finishing high school and now, at age 20, is back in films with a freakishly creepy role as a young woman twisted by her mother's gruesome death in the thriller The Uninvited, now out on DVD. Emily is rumored to be one of the bevy of A-list young actresses signed to hot 300 director Zack Snyder's upcoming all-girl action-fest film Sucker Punch as well.

Since we'll be seeing a lot more of Emily in the near future, we got on the phone with her to chat insider scoops on her horror movie shoot, personal life (her boyfriend is a hot photographer/bartender), her "Uninvited" on-set fun with pal Arielle Kebbel, what a guy must never do if he wants to date her, her young teen memories of acting with Heath Ledger and who she'd like to work with some day! It was 5 P.M. in L.A. when I made the call and 10 A.M. the next day in Australia. Read on for our friendly and fun gurlchat.....

TeenHollywood: Are you home now resting or doing a film?

Emily: I'm home now having a little bit of a break at the moment.

TeenHollywood: When you were about 12 or 13 you got to hug fellow Aussie Heath Ledger in the movie Ned Kelley and all your friends were texting you about it. I got to interview him several times for various films. He was very sweet but just not comfortable with publicity it seems. Was that your impression of him?

Emily: I'm personally not very comfortable with publicity either and, before I met him, I kind of felt really guilty about it. I'm not meant to do this because I'm terrified of it. Over the phone is fine but if I have to be all dolled up and sit there for camera and be myself and talk as myself and not act, I was always really nervous and then I met him and I remember being at the Ned Kelly premiere and he was just really nervous as well and I kind of thought that was very cool. I thought 'wow, he's this massive star and he's terrified of this as well so it's okay. Maybe I can handle this'.

TeenHollywood: Cool story. On to The Uninvited. When you first read the script, did the twist ending just blow you away or had you seen the Korean film it was based on and already knew it?

Emily: I've seen the Korean film but I was kind of confused by it. Obviously, the twist in our version was kind of different. I was still kind of surprised by the twist. I didn't know exactly how they were going to do it.

TeenHollywood: Your directors [there were two on the film] say that they picked you because you have an "other-worldly, dark edge". Do you agree with that?

Emily: I don't know. I've heard that from a few people so I guess it's true. I've been working since I was pretty young and, when I was eight, nine and ten, I would audition for kids' TV series and I would always get told that I wasn't perky enough. 'Smile a bit more' and 'be more up'. That was just never really me so I guess it's got something to do with that. I'm not sure.

TeenHollywood: This role puts a lot of pressure on you. You are basically carrying the picture. Can you talk about getting a handle on that or how stressful was it?

Emily: It's pretty stressful and it hit me very quickly because I originally had the part of Alex [eventually Arielle Kebbel's role] so this is my first film back since I took a two year break to finish high school. I just thought 'I'll ease myself into it by doing kind of a small role' and all of a sudden, I was with the directors helping them audition other people to play Anna and they just came up to me and they were like 'well, we're not going to audition any more people. We're going to start auditioning people for Alex'. And I thought "Are you telling me that I'm fired?' 'No, we want you to play Anna'. 'Oh, god, okay'. It took me a while to realize 'okay, I'm the main character and in every scene and it was pretty intense'.

TeenHollywood: Was there any fun between takes on set or did you and Arielle or other cast members go anywhere to explore while on location?

Emily: Yeah. I guess the good thing was the directors had some pretty big set-ups so we could have a little bit of time in between scenes. When we were off-set we pretty much just slept to be honest after working all day but we had a look around the [location] house. It was such a beautiful location and there was this huge swing. It was tied to this really massive tree that Arielle [Kebbel] and I would always go on like little kids. It was on Bowen Island off the coast of Vancouver. Luckily Arielle and I got along really well and we could joke around a lot. If I'd had to stay serious the whole time, I think I would have gone insane. We were just being completely loose when we weren't filming so that was a little break for us.

TeenHollywood: Did you two have any misconceptions about each other at first?

Emily: She was the first person that I read with when I found out I was Anna not Alex. When I'm nervous, I become really shy and withdrawn and she very much overcompensates by being very loud and kind of over the top so when we first met, I was like 'oh my God, we're just not going to get along at all. This is ridiculous'. I think, she was worried that I was just going to be really quiet and I was worried that she going to just be really loud. But when we went up to Vancouver, we met for dinner and we ended up staying out for like six hours because we got along well.

TeenHollywood: Do you still keep in touch?

Emily: I have seen her a couple of times, and whenever I go to L.A. I'm going to catch up with her. I'm not good a phone calls but we stay in touch in e-mails and FaceBook and that kind of thing.

TeenHollywood: Are you tweeting on Twitter yet?

Emily: It took me so long to just go from MySpace to FaceBook that I don't need another one. FaceBook is enough for me.

TeenHollywood: We're been told that some teens are thinking, maybe that's just putting out too much personal information on their every move.

Emily: Yeah I know. Go out and make some new friends in real life!

TeenHollywood: What was the most challenging scene for you as an actor and what was the most fun scene to shoot?

Emily: I can't say much about it but the final scene, the reveal, was very tough especially because they did like 36 set-ups or something . That was the only time through the film when I wasn't cracking jokes between takes. I thought 'I just need to be kind of quiet here and figure out where she was in that situation'. And most fun? I had a lot of fun filming the fight scene with Elizabeth Banks. I don't think either one of us had ever done a fight scene before so it was just kind of funny with these two little females [trying to hit each other]. It was a lot of fun actually.

TeenHollywood: Who was the prankster on set and who was the person saying 'okay, enough, back to work'?

Emily: I think Arielle and I were the people who were the ones who screwed up the most and laughed in the middle of the scene and the directors would think it was funny and go along with it and then after two hours, it was 'okay girls'. We'd be working such long days. We had the crazy hour, nine o'clock at night we'd be just delirious and we couldn't not laugh.

TeenHollywood: There aren't any bloopers on the DVD but do you remember a lot of goofs or flubs?

Emily: I actually have a blooper reel but I can't remember any specifically funny anecdotes that would be amusing to you. Just laughing and screwing up. Quite a lot. It might end up on YouTube.

TeenHollywood: Did anything actually frightening happen on set?

Emily: Not really I don't think. Everyone wants to know if there was a point where I was scared on set and there wasn't anything weird that happened specifically but the only thing that freaked me out a little bit was the part when Matt [her character Anna's boyfriend in the movie] kind of comes back and his back is broken and he's crawling toward me. They got a contortionist to do that and I had a bit of a shock with that. I was like 'I can't watch you do that!' I had a friend tell me 'nothing looked fake except for the part where the broken back guy was crawling. That looked really fake' and I'm like 'that was a real person!'

TeenHollywood: You've worked with Jim Carrey on Lemony Snicket who is noted for just going off script and kind of way out there. Was there anyone like that in this film?

Emily: Welllll, I think I was probably the worst at sticking to the script. I think the directors were actually okay with it but, sometimes, I'd just be in the moment of doing a scene and about to say something that doesn't feel right and just kind of change it but I don't think it's anywhere near the level that Jim Carrey changes things. His is obviously more for comedic effect but there were times when both Arielle and I would be coming in and changing the script around. Generally, before we would shoot. We should have gotten a writing credit to be honest. We are the age of the girls so we related.

TeenHollywood: Had you been a horror film fan? When you were a kid you were in Ghost Ship, right?

Emily: Yeah but I'm not so much into really gory, slasher films. That's not really my style but I do like horror/thriller films. I like zombie movies as well like Dawn of the Dead. I kind of like those. I don't know what it is.

TeenHollywood: You'll be 21 at the end of the year. Any plans for a big birthday bash already?

Emily: Not yet. I worry that I might actually be overseas and that I might not be able to celebrate my birthday with my friends which would suck. But, in Australia, 21 is big but 18 is kind of the biggest birthday because that's the legal drinking age so that's everyone's favorite birthday.

TeenHollywood: What would you like to do for a career if you weren't acting?

Emily: I have a million things. When I was younger I always wanted to be a fashion designer. But so many people now are like 'oh, you could do a fashion line with someone'. But, no. I don't mean like that. I mean actually go and study fashion and go make the clothing myself, not just put my name on a label. I think maybe I'll study fashion one day but I'm also interesting in writing.

TeenHollywood: Are your younger brothers actors?

Emily: No [laughs]. They're in high school and play basketball and are really into it and no, they couldn't care less. I remember saying to them, because we had a screening down here for a few of my family members, "Well boys, do you want to come?" They're like 'eh. Okay if I'm not busy'. I think it's a good thing. I think it would be really crazy if you had family members in acting. They're just like 'no, that's my sister. She's kind of cracked'. They don't care at all.

TeenHollywood: What band or musical artist are you loving listening to now?

Emily: A million different bands. I recently went and saw M-83 and that was really cool and I love Arcade Fire and Adam Green. I could go on and on.

TeenHollywood: Those are good. What must a guy never ever do if he's going to go out with you?

Emily: I've been with my boyfriend for two years so I can't remember the last time I've gone on a first date. It's really stupid and a bit shallow and I've made him feel bad about it a few times but I can't stand people chewing with their mouth open or talking with their mouth full. If I having dinner with someone and they're talking and have got food rolling around in their mouth... ewww and you wouldn't believe how many people do it. [laughing] I've made my boyfriend really nervous because he doesn't like to eat unless I'm eating. He'll be like 'I'm really hungry. Can we have breakfast?' 'Sure we can have breakfast'. 'Okay I'll go and eat it out in the kitchen'.

TeenHollywood: He's afraid to chew in front of you [we laugh]. I assume he's not an actor?

Emily: He's not in the business. I don't think I could date an actor. It would just be too much. It wouldn't work. He's at university at the moment studying photography and he's also a bartender. I don't have too many friends in the business. It gets boring when you're talking about your job and their stories are kind of the same. That's what it's like in L.A. I prefer to have a big group of people who do a lot of different things.

TeenHollywood: Very wise. What actor do you most want to work with some day?

Emily: Oh wow! Female, I'm in love with Julie Delpy as a director as well. She's really cool and kind of strange and Miranda July as well. She's only acted in one film but I think she's really great. For actors, it sounds so obvious because of the recent Oscars but, ever since I was a little kid, Sean Penn.

TeenHollywood: Any historical character or character from literature you would like to play some day?

Emily: When I was younger in my primary school we did a lot of Shakespeare. I went to an alternative, kind of weird primary school and one character that really stuck with me was when I was about 11, I played Lady Macbeth. Honestly, to be able to play that character again as an adult... I love Macbeth.

TeenHollywood: Are you still in the cast of the upcoming Zack Snyder film Sucker Punch?

Emily: Well, as far as I know, yes. I don't really want to go and talk about it and get excited about it because, honestly, with every single film, until I've signed the contract and I'm on the set, I'm not totally sure I'm in the movie. But, as far as I know it's happening.

TeenHollywood: You would play a character named Baby Doll, right?

Emily: Yeah, but I don't want to confirm anything.

TeenHollywood: It's interesting that it's kind of a kick-butt action film with all young women.

Emily: Definitely. That's what drew me to it for sure. It's a cool kind of formula that hasn't been really used before, well, anytime recently I guess.

TeenHollywood: There are a lot of hot young actresses rumored to be in it.

Emily: It's a revolving door situation. Everyone is going in for it.

Note: We've been told Vanessa Hudgens is Blondie, Emma Stone is Amber, Abbie Cornish is Sweetpea, Evan Rachel Wood is Rocket and Jenna Malone and Jamie Chung are also in the cast but hey... they might be caught in that Hollywood revolving door!!