Rumer & Jamie On "Sorority Row"

Someone needs to give Rumer Willis a break. Hey, so she has famous parents. She went out and got a retail job until she scored some movie parts and so far, playing off-center misfits in House Bunny and now the horrorflick update of Sorority Row has worked well for her. Beautiful, butt-kicking (martial arts-wise) Jamie Chung is on the road to avoiding a Disneygurl label after her Samurai Girl Teleflick by going a bit more adult in "Sorority" and her upcoming all-gurl actioner Sucker Punch.

In Sorority Row, the girls play Theta Pi sisters who must live with the horrible consequences when a prank to teach a two-timing guy a lesson, goes very wrong. Rumer's character Ellie is super smart and super freaked by all the murder and mayhem around her. Jamie is ultra loyal to the sorority queen bee until she sees just how sick and wrong the blonde, bossy babe really is. For our sit-down in Beverly Hills, Rumer looked ultra glam in low-cut, black Diane Furstenberg cocktail dress and ultra high sandal pumps. Jamie rocked a short green skirt, low-cut white tee and Zac Posen beige jacket.

So, how did a bevy of young Hollywood actresses get along on the shoot in Pittsburgh? Was it a diva-fest or a true bonding, gal-pal experience? How did Rumer perfect her totally awesome screams for the film? What was it like having the iconic Carrie Fisher play their house mother? What are these two strong young actresses really scared of? Read on....

TeenHollywood: Were either of you familiar with the original House on Sorority Row film?

Jamie: We were advised not to watch it. Just so we wouldn't ruin the new vision for the revised script. We're saving it.

Rumer: We're going to have a slumber party.

Jamie: I know it sounds weird, but that's how much we love each other. We're going to watch it together.

TeenHollywood: That's great! Speaking of the cast bonding, we heard about a night after dinner where you went down to the hotel piano and were tinkering around.

Jamie: Oh yeah, second floor, all of us.

Rumer: I think we had come in late one night after work and Briana (Evigan) and I and all of us were kind of messing around and it was really funny because the security guard just came over and we were like 'Oh no, here we go...'

Jamie: 'He's going to kick us out.' And he was kind of just hanging out and listening.

Rumer: He just stood there and we were like "Okay."

Jamie: These girls are very talented. They can sing. She (Rumer) has a voice. Briana can sing and Margo (Harshman) has a great voice. And, Briana and Rumer can play the piano so...

Rumer: We should start a girl band or something.

TeenHollywood: Jamie, your character has some real trouble in and around a hot tub full of escaping bubbles. What was that like to shoot?

Jamie: Oh, the bubbles? You would think it's fun but the bubbles were chemicals so they tasted awful. It was bizarre. But, the scene where I'm dragged across the porch, that was fun. It was terrifying for my character but it was fun for me during rehearsals.

TeenHollywood: Jamie, your character has a real arc because you start out supporting the evil sorority queen, and then you start seeing the pain around you and you start changing. Was that something that attracted you to the script?

Jamie: Absolutely. The character, she does have a change of heart and you really see it throughout, even in the hot tub scene. Like you think she's being promiscuous trying to get some action in the hot tub but really she's just filling a void. I think that's what a lot of girls in college with insecurities do. They'll fill it with sex and boys and superficial things and things but really she was just trying to keep herself distracted. You know, she has a breaking point. Yeah, that did attract me to that role. What also attracted me to that role was that it wasn't written for an ethnic girl. They really wanted to think outside the box, which was pretty cool.

TeenHollywood: Rumer, what made you want to play cute bookwormish Ellie?

Rumer: I had read the script and then I went to go meet (director) Stewart (Hendler). I was a little hesitant about doing another sorority film (after House Bunny) because I just didn't know what it would be like but the way that he talked about it, he wasn't trying to take it so seriously. Stewart just really had a good vibe about him and the way that he talked about wanting to do it just interested me even more. So, I went in and auditioned. I don't know. The group of girls that they brought together, just the casting, I think, is absolutely perfect. It just ended up working out so well for all of us.

TeenHollywood: One of the running jokes in the film is Ellie's screams. Did you study scream queens or go look at a bunch of people screaming in old movies?

Rumer: Well Stewart put together this kind of care package for all of us that had Scream, Heathers and Mean Girls. I think we all watched them in the trailers just during lunch time. Yeah, we definitely watched that, but I don't know if I was consciously thinking about what I wanted to sound like.

TeenHollywood: Well, it was a good scream.

Rumer: (big smile)Thank you.

TeenHollywood: Jamie, I heard you're the only one in the cast who has actually been in a sorority.

Jamie: Yes.

TeenHollywood: Did it help you in any way?

Jamie: No, not really. We just hung out. It was great. We bonded, you know, just like sorority girls do and like in meetings, the girls are clapping like (she claps) and I said 'no, no, no....sorority girls, we snap (snaps her fingers)'. I think that was my only contribution to being in a sorority, so there you go.

TeenHollywood: Can you both talk about working with the great Carrie Fisher as your house mom?

Rumer: Unbelievably professional and so intelligent and witty and I think deserves so much more credit than people give to her because everyone just immediately goes to Star Wars and Princess Leia but there's so much more to her than that.

Jamie: She has a very interesting life history. You know, her parents and her life struggles growing up. She has a biography out which is fascinating.

Rumer: And she has her one-woman show as well. 'Wishful Drinking', it's called.

TeenHollywood: Well, we opened the can of worms by mentioning Carrie's famous parents so, Rumer, was it always a given that you were going to go into this business?

Rumer: I think so. It just honestly was something I always just kind of knew that I wanted to do and that I was interested in continuing. I've been on movie sets since I was a little kid.

TeenHollywood: What are the pros and cons of having famous parents when you're trying to establish a name for yourself?

Rumer: I'm really neutral on it because at the end of the day, if I'm going in to audition, my parents aren't going to be the ones acting in the movie so, if I suck, they're not going to give me the job. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, it really comes down to the work that you do. Just like Jamie said, if you go in and you audition for any role, if you're good and you fit what they're looking for, then that's why you'll get the job, not really for any other reason, because, at a certain point, people have seen everything. 'Oh, I know this person and I know this person.' Casting directors don't care. You could be anybody.

TeenHollywood: Do you feel any different from the other young actresses around you?

Rumer: I think the only difference is just that the amount of work that I've done is not necessarily equal to the amount of attention I get. But, if that can help bring more awareness, or whatever it may be, to a project that I've worked on and that I'm proud of and that I support, then that's great. But, other than that, again, to me, if people like it, it's in the work. You know what I mean? If you do a good job, then people notice that and I hope not what tabloids say.

TeenHollywood: This film is about an elaborate prank that goes wrong. Play any pranks?

Rumer: We were talking about it the other day that we wished we'd thought about it then more and tried to pull one over on a couple of people while we were there, but no.

TeenHollywood: Did you have any trouble with the stunt work? Jamie, I know you do stunts all the time and martial arts. Was it interesting or fun? Rumer, you're pumping a shotgun at the end? Anything different that was challenging in the stunts?

Jamie: No, I can handle it all. (Laughter) Bring it.

Rumer: You do most of it in a short dress and heels.

Jamie: Yeah, that is a challenge. That's one of the challenges - doing it in scandalous clothes and in my heels. There you go.

Rumer: I don't think I could do that in heels. I'd probably fall or trip in the first second.

Jamie: It was difficult with heels.

TeenHollywood: Rumer, you don't get too messed up in the film. Were you at all disappointed that you didn't get a cool death scene in the movie?

Rumer: I love that kind of stuff, you know, getting to do the prosthetics and things. I would love honestly to be in a movie where I just got to totally transform myself and look entirely different. I mean, you know, just do something crazy where you have to get your whole body painted or something. You know, just out there.

TeenHollywood: Jamie, do you have any aspirations to work behind the camera; to direct or produce or write?

Jamie: I think it'd be fantastic, especially if there's a project or a topic that you're really passionate about that someone hasn't made yet because movies are so powerful. I know it's a little silly but they really can sometimes educate people on past events that kids kind of skim over in history class.

TeenHollywood: What are each of you actually scared of?

Jamie: It's having labor pains. That's scary or like being a bone marrow donor? Oh, I saw the needle. That was scary.

Rumer: I'm honestly not a girly girl about a lot of things but I see bugs and I flip out. I hate bugs so much. I don't know what it is.

TeenHollywood: No movies set in the Amazon for you, right?

Rumer: I mean, honestly, I might be able to do it but I'd probably have to have one of those nets surrounding me at all times and also, anything for me having to be trapped under water. That's one of my worst fears, of not necessarily drowning but being trapped in something underwater.

TeenHollywood: What are some of your favorite horror movies?

Jamie: The Shining, Psycho, Birds. Drag Me to Hell, lots of humor.

Rumer: I can't watch those movies, the ones that they've made in Japan and they're the remakes, like Shutter.

Jamie: The Grudge.

Rumer: Shutter and The Grudge. I mean, I'm like this the whole time (hides her eyes behind her hands).

Jamie: Who do they hire? Contortionists? It's creepy.

Rumer: Just the way they move like that (she hunches down like she's crawling), that's just...I don't know.

Jamie: It's creepy.

TeenHollywood: Okay, what's next for both of you? Jamie, you're doing Sucker Punch and Rumer, you're working on 90210. Can you talk about your characters in those?

Jamie: I also just finished a movie with the biggest cast ever, The Grown Ups, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, Steve Buscemi, the list goes on. You should see the star trailers. I was like, 'What is going on?' Assistants, private drivers, I was like, 'Man, it must be nice.' That's a family comedy that comes out in the summer and I play one of Rob Schneider's daughters. I'm currently in pre-production for Sucker Punch. It's a fantastic story that Zack Snyder co-wrote with Steve Shibuya and it's fantasy. It's 300 meets Alice in Wonderland meets Girl Interrupted with a little bit of Moulin Rouge. It's insane.

TeenHollywood: Who do you play in that and how was it working with him?

Jamie: For someone so nice and kind and smiling all the time to come up with something so twisted and dark blows my mind. But, it's the happiest set in the world. It's safe as an actor. There's lots of physical training involved. It's the same guys that trained and did the fight choreography for 300 so you can only imagine the level of intensity in that and they're not going soft on us just because we're girls. No way. Abbie Cornish is deadlifting 210 pounds. She's insanely strong.

Rumer: What?! I want to come visit.

Jamie: Those girls look amazing. I mean, I'm proud to be a part of the project. It's a fascinating story with an interesting twist. I play Amber, one of the four girls that helps our lead hero escape the insane asylum. It's great.

Rumer: On 90210, I've shot two episodes already and, right after Sorority Row comes out, I start shooting the third one. It's been really fun, honestly. It's always a little scary when you're going in to a cast that's already worked together for awhile, but they were so welcoming and just so sweet and really just fun, you know. I'm really excited.

Jamie: What's your character?

Rumer: Her name is Gia and she is a journalist so she's kind of pent up, right? (Laughter) I'm doing all my research today talking to (the press).

TeenHollywood: Yikes! Okay, we'll end on two annoying Bruce and Demi questions. Rumer, what are your favorite Bruce Willis and Demi Moore movies?

Rumer: The Fifth Element, Nothing But Trouble, Twelve Monkeys, and The Butcher's Wife.

TeenHollywood: Good choices. What do you think about your mom opening up about your private life on Twitter?

Rumer: You know, honestly, I think my mom brought this up to me because I didn't really understand it at first and I was like, 'Do people really care that I'm doing my laundry or something?' It's the first kind of forum to really connect to fans just straight from you, because the majority of the time the only way that people really get to know you is through other people's opinions or just through the media. So, I think it's a great way to be able to not only control your own media but talk to people and have them really get to know you. So that's been a really cool thing. It helps all of us to just keep putting ourselves out there.