Odette, we know that your character has some feelings for House but how is it working withHugh Laurie?

Odette Annable: Hugh is fantastic. I couldn’t help but to be nervous at first really for the whole thing but to be working with Hugh and just to get to know him as an actor and as a person and he really blew me away. I mean, he might be one of my favorite actors that I’ve ever worked with. He’s so generous and so talented and so easy to work with so it’s been a pleasure so far.

Can we expect to see you around for the full season?

Odette Annable: I’m around for most of the season, yes, and I guess that will be determined later how many episodes I will actually be in but yes you’ll see me stick around for a little while.

We’ve seen House angry, hurt and depressed but never so overwhelmingly sad as in this season opener and the sense of sadness seems to have taken a lot of the fire out of him. Can you discuss House’s mindset in this episode and if he’ll be emotionally better further into the season?

David Shore: Yes. I didn’t think of him as being overwhelmingly sad in this. We threw him into a different environment and different environments call for different reactions. He’s got it more or less under control but unlike in any other situation he does have to behave himself. He’s in prison and that’s a challenge for House and so playing with that challenge was challenging. I did not think he was overwhelmingly sad. I thought there were clearly issues there but going forward we want to-we’re going to get him back into the hospital quickly, and we are going to get back to kind of the fun at the root of the show.David, will you be writing an episode solo this season?

David Shore: Maybe, yes, maybe. The last couple of years my job is to make sure the scripts are all up to the level we expect on the show and I rewrite every script to a greater or lesser extent and I’ve been quite happy in that role. This show requires a lot of research and I don’t have a lot of time for that research so for that simple reason I haven’t been writing a lot from scratch. If it turns out that this is a final season, which is yet to be determined, I may well write the last one. I will probably write the last one.

The series has been a lot about House sort of rehabilitating in some way or forming his behavior in any kind of backsliding. Are we going to see permanent changes in his behavior from his stay in prison?

David Shore: One of House’s sort of mantras is nobody changes. I think that’s largely true. I think the show has been about a guy who’s striving to change and failing for the most part and that is human nature and it’s really about the striving to be different. You’re not going to see a different House this year. On a very fundamental level I don’t want to do that. I like him and I think the audience likes him. And I think what happened was last year he tried to change and I think this year he’s going to say that was stupid on a certain level. We’re not going to get bogged down about that. And I’ll tell you, by the way, yes I just opened myself up to being misquoted. I’m not saying last year was stupid. I’m not even saying that the relationship was stupid. I think the relationship was great but I think it didn’t work out and so House’s reaction to that is to not go down that path again so fast.

Odette, David was talking about all the research and stuff. Did you have a big adjustment playing a doctor, and learning medical terms?

Odette Annable: Absolutely. At first I got the script probably a few days before shooting so I didn’t have time to throw myself into that world but we do have some great researchers on the show and some great medical techs. They’re on hand every single second whenever you need them so I will prepare with them. I will do my own research just sort of episode by episode into what we really do because we really don’t know where our characters are going and what we’re going to be doing per episode so we’ll take it sort of on an episode by episode basis. But yes there are a lot of medical terms that I have to learn and this isn’t the type of show where you can just show up and wing it. You really do need to know your things and prepare so it was very challenging and still is, working on it.

Odette, could you talk a little bit about how you’ll juggle both roles now that you have the great fortune of being on House and having Breaking In picked up for a second session. How will that work?

Odette Annable: Fox is killing me. I actually have no idea. I’m very excited that Breaking In got picked up but my number one priority right now is House and working on that. So I will be doing double duty at some point. I don’t know when that will be yet. I do think the show Breaking In will start probably early in the new year so we shall see how that goes. I’m willing absolutely but I guess that needs to be worked out with my bosses so maybe that’s more of a David question.

David Shore: We’ve been very good I’d say. I pride myself on being quite good, on our team being very good at making accommodations and working with other shows and movies over the years to make sure that our people get all the opportunities that they’ve earned.

David you said on the call and you also said in the letter you sent out that you won’t keep him in prison for long. Can you expand on that a little bit like how many episodes will we see him in the slammer?

David Shore: You see we wanted to do two things this year. We didn’t want it to be trivial. We wanted him to be appropriately punished but we also didn’t want to do a prison show so we had a bit of a dilemma. He will be out in episode two. That’s episode two but what we did was we had it take place over time which has been helpful for a number of reasons because a lot has changed in our hospital, which I think is great. So the first episode takes place months after the end of last session, six months. We didn’t really define it, and then the next episode takes place a decent amount of time after the first episode. So House’s world has changed and in the second episode we throw him back into his revised old world.

And you also said this could be the last season of House. How do you feel about that if this is the final season?

David Shore: It’s always sad in some ways but this has been eight years, nine years, ten years, whatever it turns out to be it’s been a tremendous luxury. It’s been way more than I could have possibly imagined. It’s been unbelievable. I’ve been extremely lucky as a writer to have been able to explore this character for one year never mind eight so I’ve got to focus on the positive, and it’s just a question of when is the right time to go out before it becomes later.

How did you kind of come up with Odette’s character and that angle for House?

David Shore: Well, once we put him in prison and once we knew that we had this challenge this year, bringing in some new characters, those two thoughts kind of went together, and then our casting people and Katie Jacobs brought us Odette and and things fell into place.

Last season my favorite episode was “The Dig” which was obviously the 150th episode and it kind of ended with Thirteen sort of hinting that she’ll need House’s help. And it’s also been so speculated Olivia (Wilde) won’t be sort of here in full capacity this season. So I was wondering where that story’s going to go and are you going to hold off for it for a while because potentially this is the final season or will we see any continuity with that at the start of the season?

David Shore:Olivia will be in very few episodes this year. Very, very few episodes not because of particular creative reasons on our part but because she’s got a very thriving movie career and has asked us to allow her to do that. We had a great association with her and we do have an episode planned which is kind of the goodbye episode. Not just planned we’ve got it shot. I think it’s very nice.

A couple of years ago we had a couple episodes, one focused on Wilson and then there was the “Five to Nine” with Cuddy. Is there any chance we could see some episodes maybe devoted to like Foreman or Chase or Taub where we’re seeing their workday from their perspective rather than House’s?

David Shore: Yes. Nothing is firmed up on that but that is something we talk about on a regular basis in the writer’s room. I believe the Wilson one was first right, and we liked it a lot and Wilson was first and then we did the Cuddy one. We like that to. I think it’s a great way to still be our show and yet get a different perspective on it so absolutely we would love to do another one with somebody else.

With Cuddy gone and Wilson staying away from House, at least for a little while in the beginning of the season, as we may have expected, shall we expect House to push more boundaries or is someone going to be as conscious this season?

David Shore: Yes. House is always going to push boundaries with or without Wilson. He’s going to have to earn Wilson back but he will. I’m going to give that away, spoiler alert. He will win Wilson back. House is going to be House. House is always going to be House is the short answer to that question. Doesn’t matter what environment he’s in, it’s just a question of whether he can get away with it and to what extent he can get away with it without going back to prison.

You’ve now filmed several episodes of season eight and being part of House and seeing how does working with House change Dr. Jessica Adams’ way of practicing medicine?

Odette Annable: Well, I think she’s used to being really the smartest person in the room, and now she will be the second smartest person in the room, and she knows that when she meetsHouse. She doesn’t have his experience or wisdom or knowledge yet but she’s truly fascinated by him as a doctor. The interesting thing about her is that she’s fortunate enough to be in a financial situation that she doesn’t have to work but she wants to. She’s there to learn. She’s very passionate about medicine and he sort of changes that in her. He revives something that she was maybe losing for a second, and she’s sort of an overachiever with a cause and her cause is to help people. I think her relationship with House-they’re going to be playing sort of on that line and towards the end of the first episode you’ll see that they help each other. Yes, so it will be definitely a very interesting relationship.

Who do you think influences the other the most?

Odette Annable: Oh, boy. I think they both will influence each other in many different ways. I wish I could tell you where my character was going and how that sort of will develop but that’s really the beauty of television. You’re sort of going to take the journey with the audience and it’ll be as much of a journey for me as it will be for the audience and we’ll see how that relationship develops. I have no idea where it’s going.

David, I had one follow up for you. Did you always think that House would end up in prison when he drove his car through Cuddy’s House or was that something that came to you guys over the summer when you knew about the different cast changes that were happening?

David Shore: We never know anything for sure. We knew he’d wind up in prison. We had some debate internally about whether we’d keep him away for a while but we quickly got beyond that, and we kind of want to get back as quickly as possible to the roots of the show so we streamlined the process a little bit.

And I know you’re going into your eighth season. You’ve written this show for so long and run this show for so long but how challenging is it or how different is it to write the House character or to write the show without him having Cuddy as a love interest, boss, challenger, all the different purposes she served for him on the show?

David Shore: I miss her. I miss her personally. I miss her as a writer but as always is the case, new challenges mean new opportunities and we’re embracing those opportunities.

You kind of alluded to it but am I understanding correctly you think House will not be pursuing any kind of romance this season?

David Shore: Certainly not initially but he’s a human being so things-well, he’s actually not a human being which is a big secret but in my mind he is a human being and we will treat him accordingly.

I just have a quick question about where this season we’re going to see House’s Vicodin addition, and I apologize if that question’s already been asked.

David Shore: No, it hasn’t been asked. I’ll take that one. That has been something that has been a challenge from day one. A practical challenge and a dramatic challenge in the sense that … as a human being. From day one we have wanted to be honest about that. I made him a Vicodin addict in the pilot and it’s something that could be played comically and there have been opportunities for that and there have been opportunities for amusement. We’ve done some of that but it was also extremely important that we treated it honestly. He is an addict. It is a problem and that we explore that honestly. Having said that, the practical issue is just it’s not entertaining to watch a guy dealing with addiction every week of the year. That’s not what the show is about so it’s alive. It’s in there. We discuss it. We will have certain episodes where it’s more of a story than in others but it’s not at the center of the series, at least the beginning. There are other issues at the center of the series at the beginning of this season.

House returns for Season 8 on Monday, October 3 at 9 PM ET with Episode 8.1: Twenty Vicodin.

House M.D. episode 8.1, ”Twenty Vicodin” stars Hugh Laurie, Odette Annable, Robert Sean Leonard, Tony Alameda, Thom Barry, Damon Christopher, Jude Ciccolella, Jeannine Cota and is directed by Greg Yaitanes.

Source: Movie Web

You have to be sweet and sympathetic for a good chunk of this movie, but you also get to be bad. Is that more fun?
Oh yeah! I feel like Joanna is the first time that I was actually able to play a character, because previously, I’ve played people who were more like me that I could relate to. Joanna is really layered, so I had a lot of fun drawing from memories of a couple girls who were… [she makes a face]. So I thought, this is my opportunity to channel this sort of person I used to know, and it was so much fun, but it was also challenging to make the audience feel bad for her. It’s difficult because she was such a mean girl, and if she could just apologize [to Kristen Bell’s character], it’d be great and done.

Is there a limit to how mean you can make her, or does the audience enjoy that? You watch a movie like Mean Girls, and it’s almost like the audience prefers the bad behavior.
They’re ready for it! Absolutely. There were a couple of times where I thought, “Wow, I seem like such a bitch, and I’d better be careful — I’ll walk away from this movie and people are going to hate me!” But then I thought exactly what you just said, that this is what they’re expecting and you just have to let everything else go, because it’ll make it even more worthwhile when you have to be sympathetic at the end. Hopefully, it works.

You mentioned channeling some mean girls in school, and you did a little bit of acting when you were growing up — you even appeared in Kindergarten Cop. Did that affect how your classmates treated you?
Yes. Kids are horrible! They can be so mean, and I never really experienced it until I was in high school. I went to a really small school with a class of 67 kids…

Wait, you grew up in Riverside, right? They have classes that small in California?
Crazy, right? And everybody knew each other, so it almost made it worse, because you were this big family, but like in every school, you had your bullies. Of course, I was really lanky and pretty awkward, and this one girl did not like me so much. So yeah, those memories stuck out and it was easy to draw inspiration from that, because I’ve been there. I know how those girls treated me, so it was easy to pretend to be them.

You initially pursued a totally different career in college. Did you have second thoughts about acting?
Well, here’s the deal. I did grow up doing it, but I really wanted to focus on school and have a normal childhood. Growing up about an hour and a half away from Los Angeles, the commute was really brutal, as you know.

I hate that drive to Riverside.
It’s ridiculous. It’s not fun, especially when you’re seven years old and all you want to do is play with your girlfriends, but you’re in a car for two hours to go to an audition that you don’t even know if you’ll book. So it was a little difficult, but I really did enjoy acting, and it wasn’t my parents pushing me. They’re not stage parents at all — they said, “Do whatever you want to do, but maybe go to [college] for a year.” So I went to a community college for a year and a half and then I thought about going to Loyola Marymount for business finance, but I thought, “You know what? That’s not what I want to do. What am I going to do with business finance? That’s a joke. I want to act, and I’m not going to half-ass it and go to school at the same time. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it.” So I moved out to Los Angeles at 19 and that’s when I took it seriously and said, “Parents, friends, everybody: This is my goal, and I’m going to do it. And if I don’t, I can fall back on school and have a back-up plan.”

Did you feel embarrassed to actually admit “I do want to be an actress”?
Yes. When you have all of your girlfriends and they know they’re going to school and they’re going to be a doctor, a lawyer, a housewife, or whatever, to say, “I’m going to be an actress,” like, who _does that? Really? “You’re going to be anactress? OK sweetie, go on and see what happens.” But whenever I put my mind to something, I’ve been able to do it — sort of like with You Again. I read the script and thought, “This role has got to be mine. I’m going to make this happen.”

When did you shoot this movie?
I want to say last July?

So it kind of predated this huge Betty White wave, right? You’ve been able to see that happen since you shot the film with her?
I have. I think The Proposal had just come out then, but yeah. Wow!

Obviously, people have always had a soft spot for her, but why do you think this surge came from out of nowhere?
Out of nowhere! But that’s just who she is. She’s just got this thing, and she’s so witty and funny. I don’t know anybody that’s as vivacious and energetic and on it as this woman. What is she, 88?

Yeah.
I mean, it’s unbelievable. She can school me in two seconds.

Let’s talk about Jimmy Wolk, who plays your fiance in the movie. I keep hearing from people who’ve seen his new show Lone Star that he’s the next Jon Hamm.
Wow! Jimmy Wolk, he’s such a sweetheart — you’ll never find a nicer guy than Jimmy. He’s so excited to work, and I appreciate that, because that’s how I am. I’m still learning and making my own path and I feel like that’s who he is. He’s really sweet and really funny and he can do drama, too — I can’t wait to see Lone Star. I feel like he’s going to be a huge star.

Odette, you appeared in a Marc Webb-directed video for Weezer. Have you shot him an email to say, “Hey, Mr. Spider-Man! How you doing? Any roles in there for me?”
[Laughs] You know, I knew that Marc was going to be big. Even working with him on that music video, he’s so smart and he just knows what he’s doing. I’m so proud of him and happy for his successes. No, I haven’t talked to him aboutSpider-Man, but I have a feeling I’m not the right girl for the role, so I’m not going to push it too much. I want him to still think good thoughts about me. [Laughs]

You speak fluent Spanish, and you’re gorgeous. Why are you not on Pedro Almodovar’s radar?
Oh God, are you kidding me? I’m trying to stalk him at this point, I really, really am! Yeah, Spanish is my first language, so I’m into that idea. That’s my next challenge: learning French, and [meeting] him. “Pedro Almodovar, please! I’m in!” [Laughs]

Source: Movie Line

So your first movie was Kindergarten Cop?
[Laughs.] Yeah, it’s kind of weird. I never realized it would get the hype that it did. I was 4 years old, I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know who Arnold Schwarzenegger was. I had a great time, you know, I was with 30 kids my own age, just hangin’ out.

Were you one of the kids with a hilarious line?
I actually said something really creepy in Spanish. I said, “My father works in the house and plays with me a lot.” I mean, really? [Laughs.] That’s what I said!

Tell us about your character in The Unborn.
I play this girl, a normal girl, you know, normal life. And all of a sudden, creepy things start happening to her. She starts hallucinating and having these recurring dreams. She finds out that she’s a twin and her unborn twin died in utero. So there is basically this spirit that’s haunting her. The movie is her finding out how to get rid of it and what is really wrong with her. It’s a psychological thriller. It gets in your head; it’s pretty creepy.

What was the scariest part to film?
We were shooting in this insane asylum. The wing that we were shooting in had been shut down for years. So we’re shooting in it, and this huge light just starts flickering and then during another scene, it just kind of exploded. Then I was going down a stairway and it was dark, and I took a picture and [in the photo] you can clearly see this face thing. Crazy things were happening! I was terrified.

So do you believe in ghosts now?
You know what, I really never did. I kind of didn’t ever open myself up to that, but I mean it was kind of just obvious something was happening.

What’s rocking your iPod these days?
I definitely always have my few favorites: Damien Rice, a little Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Amos Lee, Ben Harper and recently, Katy Perry.

CHEAT SHEET >> Odette Yustman got up close and personal with the Governator when she was just a tot in Kindergarten Cop. Since then, she’s guested on TV’s Quintuplets and Life On Mars, and took a pipe through her shoulder in Cloverfield. This month she does mental battle with her dead twin inThe Unborn.

This time around she’s playing a woman stalked by the spirit of her unborn brother. I know, typical dead fetus fun. But if the actual film is half as scary as the stellar trailer (watch) we’re all in for many sleepless nights.

PopWrap: I haven’t gotten a chance to see the movie yet, but I hear it’s super scary.
Odette Yustman: I hope it’s what everyone expects. I haven’t seen it either though. Well, I saw a rough cut, but without the music and everything. I’m going to try and catch it in theaters today.

PW: Do you prefer seeing your movies that way, filled with an audience of honest reactions?
Odette: I think that’s the most exciting part. When “Cloverfield” came out, that’s what we did. Just to see their reaction is such an adrenaline rush. I’m kinda terrified about it though.

PW: What initially attracted you to this movie?
Odette: As an actress, playing this role was a very exciting prospect. It’s an emotional roller coaster for me, and being able to carry a film is really exciting. There isn’t one scene I’m not in … which is terrifying at the same time. And knowing that David Goyer wrote the script, well, I’ve just been a fan of his for so long. Plus, this isn’t a remake. It’s a completely original script. PW: So rare for Hollywood horror these days. Are you a big fan of the genre?

Odette: I grew up watching horror movies, I love being scared. My favorites are “The Exorcist,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and this movie about killer porcelain dolls that no one ever knows called “Dolls.”

PW: Oh, I know “Dolls!”
Odette: It still scares me to this day. I was terrified, and to make matters worse, I had porcelain dolls in my room growing up and I literally took a hammer to each and every one of their heads after I saw it.

PW: They could have been possessed – are you a big believer in the supernatural?
Odette: I never was to be honest. I never opened myself up to it. Like my neighbor told me that my new apartment had a ghost and it didn’t phase me. But after the weird things that happened while shooting this movie, I’m more of a believer than I ever was before.

PW: Like what?
Odette: I’d be shooting and all the lights would flicker on and off or we’d hear voices so loud that we’d have to call cut so we could see where they were coming from but we never found the source. One time we took a photo and you could clearly see hands coming out from behind trying to grasp somebody. Strange things happens, so now I’m definitely more open to it, for sure!

PW: So you think the set was haunted?
Odette: That’s the only explanation. We were shooting in an insane asylum that was up and running, but the wing we used had been shut down for a while, so it was already creepy with the dark halls. You just felt a sense of something. A supernatural element that was there and didn’t want us to be there.

PW: So when we’re seeing you scared on screen, you really were?
Odette: There wasn’t much acting involved, you’re seeing genuine fear.

PW: One thing in the movie I am terrified of are the potato bugs, which I hear are littered throughout.
Odette: They are really ugly and horrible creatures. Literally, you have them in a box and they start to eat each other. They crawl on you and bite you. I just feel like they’re just so insignificant. I mean, they eat potatoes. That’s all they do. I wanted to kill them, I really did.

PW: I’ve heard another scene in the film pushed your limits – something involving your eye and a speculum?
Odette: Oh yes, I didn’t know that was going to happen. It wasn’t written in the script that I would have a speculum shoved into my eye. It is a metal tool the eye doctor really uses, so they put numbing drops in and told me we’d do one shot and that would be it. Of course we did it 10 times. I’m a trooper though. Go big or go home!

PW: Sounds like this was a really grueling experience for you?
Odette: Absolutely. Physically and emotionally demanding. Some days I would have such intense days I couldn’t go to bed right away, I’d have to wind down. Really long days of intense scenes filled with really emotional material. My character is really tortured throughout this film. I really was tortured throughout the whole movie, but I wouldn’t trade it.

PW: So did you take a vacation afterward, or do something relaxing?
Odette: I wrapped “The Unborn” and started shooting another movie, so I didn’t have a break. Which is fine, I’m a workaholic. I’d rather be on set than not. But I do need a mini-vacation soon.

PW: I saw an interview where the reporter brought up your role in “Kindergarten Cop” and you seemed genuinely surprised. Why?
Odette: I didn’t think anybody would know about that, I guess it’s on IMDB so you can figure it out pretty quickly, but I didn’t think they’d bring it up since I was 4 years old. But it was a milestone, and a great movie.

PW: It’s on TV a lot too. You ever flip past it?
Odette: I do, once in a while when I’m flipping around, I’ll stop and laugh. I can’t believe I was in this movie, I was so young and it was my first acting job ever. My first audition ever. My first anything. I had so much fun doing it though. That’s what made me want to keep acting.

PW: What made you want to start?
Odette: The story is that I was really introverted as a child and my parents had a family friend who did commercials so they thought maybe that would make me come out of my shell. They were never stage parents or anything but they said, “if you wanna keep doing this, we’ll keep taking you on auditions.” So I did, but, I focused on school for the most part. Once that was over, I moved out on my own and took acting really seriously.

PW: Did you ever consider another career in school, or was acting always it for you?
Odette: I went home a couple of weekends ago and was looking through my old things. I saw this book we made in eighth grade that was titled, “Who Am I?” One of the questions was, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And mine said, actress. We did them every year and every single one I ever did said that, so it was always in the back of my head. I loved school, but I’ve always wanted to act.

PW: Tell me about your next movie, “Rogue’s Gallery”
Odette: It is so witty and funny, plus coming off “The Unborn” and “Cloverfield,” I wanted to do a comedy. I read this and even thought it’s got a lot of action and is kinda gory. It’s hilarious. It’s this really dry comedy about a group of assassins who get locked in their underground offices and it’s hilarious how they end up killing each other.

PW: The cast is insane – Jeffrey Tambor, Ellen Barkin, Maggie Q, Ving Rhames, Zach Galifianakis, Rob Corddry
Odette: I know, it’s like the all-stars. Working with them was awesome.

PW: Do you get cool assassin costumes?
Odette: Everything is really undercover, so it’s like business suits. But it’s funny – our real weapons are under lock down, so we improv with office supplies. I get to kill people with a paper cuter blade. It’s really kind of like a dream role. It’s the kick ass Angelina Jolie part where you get to be a bad ass and have some really great comedy thrown in there.

PW: You say that’s a dream role. What are some other parts you’d love?
Odette: I would love to do a period piece, a really great family drama and a romantic comedy. I’ve done enough screaming for now. I want to make people laugh.

“The Unborn” is in theaters now

Source: NY Post

GALLERY LINK:
- News Segment: 2009: Daily 10 [The Unborn]

We’re each here at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills to talk about her latest foray in the horror genre, David Goyer’s The Unborn (opening January 9th). And the threat she’s up against this time is not a towering beast of unknown origin (Cloverfield), an alien robot steering wheel (Transformers, in which she had a “blink and you’ll miss it” role) or a drooling, Google image searching, obsessed fan. Instead, Yustman’s being stalked by a demonic presence vexed that she was born and her twin died in utero. Because of this, she is plagued by possession and outlandish, dreadful visions, from eyeless creatures with gaping maws that look inspired by Dick Smith’s work on Ghost Story to dogs with wonky heads.

“I definitely wanted to stay away from the horror-thriller thing,” Yustman says explaining her initial post-Cloverfield plans. “I couldn’t pass this up because of David Goyer and his script was so good. I loved the character and the story was original, it wasn’t a remake. I got to tap into things I haven’t been able to do yet. I think it’s essential to take baby steps and to prove yourself.”

The actress endured a frigid two and a half months in Chicago lensing the Platinum Dunes/Rogue production facing lengthy night shoots, contact lenses that impaired her vision and voracious potato bugs. “They were huge and that big,” she exclaims measuring their length for me with her fingers. Yeah, they’re apparently pretty big. “Horrible creatures with no purpose in this world. They bite, they eat each other. They eat potatoes? Wow, great,” Yustman laughs followed by a painfully cute, “Assholes.”

With that our conversation stays on track yet turns to some of her other projects including a possible sequel to The Unborn, should the film hit the big time, to a picture called Rogue’s Gallery in which she gets to exercise her action and comedic chops. A Cloverfield sequel? Tough call. She doesn’t sound rather optimistic about her character’s fate.

I had the chance to speak to both Yustman and writer-director David Goyer earlier in the day on camera about The Unborn. Below Yustman offers her take on the scariest canines in the film and Goyer dishes the dirt on some of his inspirations and explains how the Dark Knight helped him shoot in Chicago.

Source: http://shocktillyoudrop.com

Yustman made her mark starring in J.J. Abrams’ groundbreaking action-thriller “Cloverfield” and recently starred as college graduate student Aubrey Diaz on the critically acclaimed ABC television series “October Road.” Her other film credits include The Holiday, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Transformers, and Dear God.

Odette Yustman turns in a strong performance in The Unborn and we really appreciated her time. Here’s what she had to tell us about her character’s nightmarish journey:

MoviesOnline: How did you feel when David snuck up on you with the eye speculum and didn’t tell you about the bugs?

Odette: Oh, my gosh. I was about to kill him. I really was because he said “I have an idea for this scene.” I’m like “What do you mean you have an idea for this scene?” He’s like “Well, there’s this thing. It’s called a speculum and it kind of goes in your eye but you numb it so you’re not gonna feel it and you only have to do it once.” I’m like “Okay, but if I have to do it, then you have to do it.” He’s like “Sure, no problem.” So, we do it and it’s horrible and then “Don’t blink! Don’t blink!” I’m like (scared voice) “Okay, okay.” And then, he’s like “Wow, that looks really cool! I want a cross shot right here. I want a shot right here. I want a shot right here.” So we ended up doing it like six times and he didn’t do it at all. Great. But it was horrible.MoviesOnline: He didn’t warn you about the bugs either?

Odette: No, not at all. The bugs, he was like “There’s potato bugs. I found one in my backyard. It’s not really a big deal. They’re harmless.” I’m like “Whatever.” So they showed the potato bugs and they’re huge. They’re like this big (indicates about two inches long) and he was like “So we’re going to put some on you but they’re fine.” And they’re crawling up my shirt, going into my boobs, one caught onto my arm and started biting me.

MoviesOnline: They bite?

Odette: Yeah, “You told me they don’t bite!” “I don’t know!” (laughs) Great, they were eating each other. They’re horrible bugs.

MoviesOnline: Was there a potato bug wrangler?

Odette: Yeah, there actually was. He was from South Africa I think. He couldn’t have been sweeter but he was so serious about his bugs. He was losing them and one was caught on my arm, “Ewwwww.” He’s like, “It’s okay. Don’t harm them.” I don’t care about the bug right now. But they have regulations.

MoviesOnline: How long did you have to shoot that bug scene?

Odette: They put me through the wringer, a while. We had to do multiple shots of one on my hand, one crawling on me, a bunch on my whole body. We got really well-acquainted.

MoviesOnline: Did you actually watch exorcisms on You-Tube for research?

Odette: Yeah, that’s exactly how I did research. I figured I can go buy the books and do research that way, but I really wanted something visual that I could see so that I could create my own idea of an exorcism, so I went on You-Tube. I’m like “Let’s check it out.” Amateur videos, exorcisms, that’s what I searched and I found really crazy things. If you search that, it’s actually really terrifying. You have people all over the world. Some parents think their kids are possessed and take them into churches, “My kid is possessed, you need to do an exorcism,” and some of the kids are terrified. I don’t know if the parents are crazy or these kids are actually…you know, whatever. But people react so many different ways. Some are screaming. Some are completely still. It’s really scary and I watched it by myself at night. I was petrified! I couldn’t sleep. It’s the scariest thing because it gets in your head and, for me, psychological thrillers really just terrify me. Like The Exorcist is absolutely my favorite horror film and I watched it when I was like seven years old with my mother for the first time. I don’t know why my mom let me watch that. I couldn’t go to the bathroom by myself. I couldn’t go upstairs by myself. I couldn’t sleep. It just got in my head and Linda Blair did an amazing job.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about working with Gary Oldman and Jane Alexander?

Odette: Absolutely. It’s so weird when somebody says, “Okay, we’re letting you be the lead of this movie and you’re going to be opposite Gary Oldman and Jane Alexander, but you have a bigger role than them.” It’s like “what?!” These are the greats. These are ACTORS. These are people you admire and I was really nervous at first and, to tell you the truth, they couldn’t have been better. They just took me under their wing and gave me great advice. Gary sat me down one day and he’s like “This is how you have to deal with the business. This is what you have to do.” He started telling me stories about The Professional and about Sean Penn. It was just like “You’re Gary Oldman! You call me by my first name. This is so weird!” And I learned so much. They’re so professional and just so “on it.” It was great.

MoviesOnline: Were there contacts for the blue eyes or was that CGI?

Odette: Contacts. And, I’ve never work contacts ever and I have super-sensitive eyes so how in the hell am I going to get through this? I did it. I was like “Don’t think, just do it. Don’t complain.” Just like anything else, you just have to get used to it and I did. There were different stages of the color so certain ones didn’t hurt as much as others, but it was irritating after a while.

MoviesOnline: Did you get a lot of horror scripts after doing Cloverfield?

Odette: Here and there, yeah. I guess more so than anything else. I guess I don’t want to be stereotyped, but I never say never so when I saw The Unborn script, I loved it so much and I was like “It doesn’t matter. I have to do this. This would be a great opportunity.”

MoviesOnline: What stood out about this script?

Odette: I think one of the main things was this isn’t a remake. It’s a horror film. That’s a new idea, a completely new concept, an original story and that really stood out to me because, nowadays, I don’t think women have such great opportunities to play a character like this and to be able to carry a whole film yourself. So, I was really fortunate to have that role and to be able to hit every single emotion because she really is a tortured soul and she goes through so much throughout the movie. As an actress, you kind of look forward to those roles. Would I do it again? Yes, but it’s a challenge. You have to know that you’re going to be working all day long. You’re gonna be in bad weather conditions. You can’t complain. You can’t get sick. You have to be on it. You have to do it. And, that’s what I loved the most and I’m really grateful that I even get to do this.

MoviesOnline: How was working with David Goyer?

Odette: Great. He’s such a great director. I was such a fan of his work even before I even got the script. I knew about his writing. And just working with him, sitting down and creating this character and what we wanted from her, we just became really close and had this really great relationship. We joked around all the time on set so it was really fun. It was a great experience.

MoviesOnline: What about working with Cam Gigandet and Megan Good? Did you guys hang out off set at all?

Odette: Yeah, absolutely. Cam was actually shooting Twilight before The Unborn and I was shooting another movie as well so we contacted each other through e-mail. We communicated that way and through the phone so, while he was shooting and while I was shooting, we were doing that. And then when we got to Chicago, we forced ourselves to hang out with each other, not that it was such a bad thing (laughs) so we would go out together. We would go to dinner, we would talk about the character and we would rehearse just because we wanted a real relationship. And, when you get to know somebody, you know what to do in a scene to make them laugh, just certain things. If you know somebody, that works so much better that way.

And with Meagan (Good) as well. Actually, Meagan and I got along well right from the moment that we met each other, it was really great. We had met probably two years before and we got along super well, so when we both found out we were doing the movie together, we were like “This is perfect. We don’t even have to act.” So we didn’t even need to rehearse together. It just kind of flowed naturally for us. Every time we see each other, we always hang out and we’re really buddies off screen so, hopefully, that showed.

MoviesOnline: How did you react when there was a real earthquake on the exorcism set? And did anything else weird happen?

Odette: It was unbelievable how that happened and so many different weird things happened. The lights would go on and off. There was an earthquake in Chicago. There was this picture that was taken of this guy going down a stairwell and these hands grasping him. It was a crewmember, a grip or something, and they took a picture and you could see hands coming out. I was like “What is going on here?” It was in that old insane asylum, yeah.

MoviesOnline: I was looking at your IMDB listing and found two that were very odd; on Transformers it said “socialite” and on Walk Hard it said “reefer girl.”

Odette: (laughs) Yeah. That’s my favorite. With Transformers, I’m pretty good friends with the casting director and she called me in. I was auditioning for something else and she said “Hey, before you go, we just have this small role. Do you want to do it for Transformers?” and I’m like “Yeah, why not? That would be cool.” So I did it. And, for Walk Hard, I think I also knew the casting director and they were like “Will you come in and just play around with this and see what comes out?” and I’m like “Sure.” So, I ended up doing it and working with John C. Reilly and Tim Meadows was awesome, but what wasn’t awesome was having to smoke those herbal cigarettes all day long. My fingers were yellow and it was like “Ugh.” It was so bad.

MoviesOnline: But you got the name “reefer girl” out of it.

Odette: Exactly, I was happy about that.

MoviesOnline: Where was the socialite in Transformers?

Odette: I’m in the car and Shia LaBeouf is coming toward me and he hits my car and I say something like “Did that guy dent my car?” and then the Transformer comes up.

MoviesOnline: You look like Meagan Fox (of Transformers). You two could play sisters.

Odette: I get that a lot. I met her while I was shooting Transformers and she was really nice but I get that comparison a lot which is fine. I’ll take it. She’s beautiful.

MoviesOnline: Any work on a possible Cloverfield sequel?

Odette: I did have dinner with one of the producers and he kind of toyed with the idea that maybe they would be coming out with a sequel. I haven’t heard anything yet. I don’t think any of the original cast members would be in it. My guess is that they would probably go with the perspective of another group of people that experience the same event, but I haven’t really heard so don’t quote me on that.

MoviesOnline: As an actress, how do you keep your energy up all day because this has got to be exhausting?

Odette: I have this thing, and I don’t know how any other actor works, but I feel like the actor, especially the lead actor, kind of sets the tone for the whole movie and I think it’s really important as an actress to be on set, even though you’re so exhausted and you hardly ever get any sleep, it’s still really important to come in with a smile on your face and put everybody in a better mood because, if not, what are you working for? We’re all here to have fun. We’re not curing cancer, we’re trying to entertain people. It can get really intense on set sometimes so trying to ease that up a little bit is an actor’s job. I know a lot of people wouldn’t agree with me, and maybe other actors do their thing and then leave, but I want to embrace everybody and make everybody feel comfortable.

MoviesOnline: So you don’t need to stay in character in between shots?

Odette: I’m not really Method, no. I definitely, if it’s a really intense scene, people will know. I’ll have my i-Pod in and listen to music and I’ll have my head down and they know not to (bother me), but usually I can pretty much just be me when I’m not shooting.

MoviesOnline: What was actually there on set for you to react to? Were the dogs real or CGI?

Odette: There was a real dog. Her name was Mattie. She didn’t listen at all. (laughs). She was horrible. It was like “Come on. Figure it out.” Literally, the dog wouldn’t move or it would walk away or it would not do the right thing, but it was a real dog. It was kind of scary when the mask would go on. They would put the mask on it and it was like “What is going on?”

MoviesOnline: What was it like working with that creepy little kid or I guess the actor wasn’t creepy?

Odette: He (Ethan Cutkosky) actually wasn’t creepy at all. He was the cutest little thing, well there were two kids, Barto and Matty (Atticus Shaffer) and they were both so adorable. Barto, in one of the scenes, it was so funny. I was on the gurney for the exorcism scene and he was like (high, child-like voice) “Hey, hey Odette, howz it goin’ today? I’m excited about this scene because I get to like scare you.” And David Goyer would say, “Now, Ethan, when I say ‘action’ you have to open your eyes and don’t blink” and he’s like “Okay, guys. I got it. I got it.” And they go “Action” and he’s like (she demonstrates immediately blinking) “Is that good? I think that was good, right?” (laughs).

MoviesOnline: Did he have to wear the contacts too?

Odette: He did. I think he got used to it after a little while but we were both like “Oh, great. We have to put the contacts in.” So it was kind of a joke between us. But he was fantastic. Just such a little trooper.

MoviesOnline: You bounce back and forth. You’ve done some TV shows and now you’re doing a lot more movies. Are you interested in doing another TV commitment?

Odette: You know, TV is really bittersweet for me because I had such a great experience shooting “October Road.” It was like I had this great family and I have these mentors, the creators of the show, they just guide me with everything that I do now. I definitely would if it was the right character and if it was a great script, a great pilot. I would, of course, toy with the idea, and especially if it was with the same creators of “October Road.” I would do anything for them, of course.

MoviesOnline: Were you at the screening last night? Have you seen the audience reaction to this?

Odette: I wasn’t, but I saw it with about fifteen people. I saw a really rough cut. The music wasn’t done and I think they were gonna add a few more scares so I’m really excited to see it when it comes out. I think I’ll go to the theater and maybe sit in the back and watch the reaction. Hopefully, they’ll like it. What if they’re like, “Wow, this movie sucks!”?

MoviesOnline: At our screening, the audience really liked it and people were jumping at the scares.

Odette: No way! That’s awesome.

MoviesOnline: What other scary movies besides The Exorcist did you like?

Odette: Rosemary’s Baby and there’s this movie Dolls, I was petrified of that movie because I had porcelain dolls growing up in my bedroom so, after I saw that movie, I grabbed a hammer and took off their heads. My mom was like “What are you doing? Those are expensive!” I’m like “They have a brain. I know it!” She’s like “You are the weirdest kid ever.” I can’t even look at a porcelain doll the same even now. I was so scared. I was probably like eight or something. I just love scary movies. I love the thrill.

MoviesOnline: You were in an episode of “Life on Mars.” Who did you play on that show?

Odette: I played a prostitute. It was actually the creators of “October Road.” They were the creators of the American version of “Life on Mars” so they called me up and they’re so great, “We want to get everybody on ‘October Road’ on “Life on Mars” and we have this role for you. Do you want to do it?” And I was like “Sure!” I didn’t read it and then, when I read it, it was like “She drops her dress and she is making love to this guy” and I’m like “Oh my God! What are you having me do?” But, it’s ABC, so it was very tastefully done. I never watched the British version but I heard that it was really great. Jason O’Mara is awesome and working with Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli is also a plus. God, I’ve worked with some great people! This is really good. I played this undercover prostitute that is getting information from one of the cops from the lead, Sam.

MoviesOnline: Has the episode aired?

Odette: Yeah, I think it did like three weeks ago.

MoviesOnline: What kinds of music are you into?

Odette: I love all sorts of music. I’m really into Damian Rice and Amos Lee. I love Jack Johnson and I also love the new T.I. and Rihanna song. Josh Radin, he’s a great musician and Katy Perry is one of my dear friends so it’s so cool having your friends do so well. I remember her sitting in my living room playing the acoustic guitar and just singing and now she’s this huge music star and it’s like “Katy, are you kidding me?”

MoviesOnline: How is The Unborn unique from other horror films you’ve seen?

Odette: Did I say that it’s not a remake? Okay, well that is what I think is so unique about it because it’s not a remake. It’s a new story. It’s a psychological thriller. It really kind of does get in your head. I used to have recurring dreams and it’s not an easy thing for a kid to go through, especially being a twin and not knowing it and having your mother kill herself or so she thought. So there are so many things that are so real that I think that not only kids, but anybody can relate to. So, hopefully, it clicks with audiences and people really enjoy it.

“The Unborn” opens in theaters on January 9th.

I’m sure this is something you have discussed a million times before, but how did you feel when David Goyer sneaked in the eye speculum scene?

I was about to kill him. I really was. He said, “I have an idea for this scene.” I said, “What do you mean you ‘have an idea’?” He said, “There’s this thing, it’s called a speculum… it kind of goes in your eye, but you numb it, so you don’t really feel it, and you only have to do it once.” I said, “Fine, but if I have to do it, you have to do it.” He said, “Sure, no problem.” So we do it, and it is horrible. They told me, “Don’t blink, don’t blink.” David thought it looked really cool, and wanted all these different angles. We ended up shooting it six times, and David didn’t [wear the speculum] at all.And he didn’t warn you about the bugs ahead of time either?
Not at all. He said, “Yeah, they’re potato bugs, I found one in my backyard, it’s not really a big deal.” So they showed me the potato bugs, and they are huge! Then David said, “We are going to put some on you, but they’ll be fine.” They start crawling up my shirt, going into my boobs, one caught on my arm and started biting me. David told me they don’t bite – then he just shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”
Was there a potato bug wrangler?
Yes, there actually was! He was from South Africa, I think. He couldn’t have been sweeter, but he was so serious about his bugs. He was losing them. One of them was caught on my arm, and I didn’t know what to do. He told me, “It’s okay, don’t harm them.” I just wanted to fling this thing off me – I don’t care about the bug right now!

How long did you have to shoot with all that?
They put me through the ringer. It was a while. We had to do multiple shots of one on my hand, one crawling on me, a bunch on my whole body… we got very well-acquainted.

I heard you did your research by watching exorcisms on YouTube.
Yeah, that’s exactly how I did my research! I figured I could go buy the books, but I really wanted something visual so I could create my own idea of an exorcism. I found a lot of amateur exorcism videos. I found really crazy things. If you search for exorcisms, it’s actually a terrifying thing. You have people all around the world, parents who think their kids are possessed, so they take them into churches for exorcisms, and these kids are terrified! I don’t know if the parents are crazy, if these kids really are possessed, or whatever. Some are screaming, some are completely still. It’s just really scary, and I watched it by myself, at night. I was petrified! I couldn’t sleep. It’s the scariest thing because it gets in your head and, for me, psychological thrillers are really terrifying. The Exorcist is probably my favorite horror film. I watched it for the first time when I was seven, with my mother. I don’t know why my mom let me watch that. I couldn’t go to the bathroom by myself, I couldn’t go upstairs by myself, I couldn’t sleep… it just really got in my head.

Can you talk a little about working with Gary Oldman and Jane Alexander?
It’s so weird when someone tells you you are going to be the lead of a movie, and you are going to be opposite Gary Oldman and Jane Alexander. But you have a bigger role than them. It’s like, What? These are the greats. These are actors. These are people you admire. I was really nervous at first, but they couldn’t have been better. They just took me under their wings, gave me great advice. Gary sat me down one day and said, “This is how you have to deal with the business,” and he’s telling me stories about The Professional and Sean Penn. I was like, “You’re Gary Oldman. And you are calling me by my first name. This is so weird.” I learned so much from them. They were so great and so professional.

Throughout the movie, there are some subtle color changes going on with your eyes. Was that CGI or were you wearing contacts?
Contacts. I’ve never worn contacts, ever, and I have super-sensitive eyes. I had no idea how I was going to get through this. I just couldn’t think about it, didn’t complain. Like anything else, you just have to get used to it, and I did. There were different stages of color, so certain contacts didn’t hurt as much as others. But it was irritating after a while.

Have you been getting a lot of horror scripts after Cloverfield?
Here and there, yeah. I guess more than anything else. I don’t want to be stereotyped, but I also don’t ever say never. When I saw The Unborn script, I loved it so much, I decided it didn’t matter –I had to do it. It was a great opportunity.

What stood out about this script?
One of the main things was that this isn’t a remake. This is a horror film with a completely new idea. An original story, and that really stood out to me. Nowadays, I don’t think women have such a great opportunity to play a character like this, to be able to carry a whole film yourself. I was really fortunate to have that role and be able to hit every single emotion. My character, Casey, really is a tortured soul. She goes through so much throughout the movie. As an actress you look forward to those roles. Would I do it again? Yes, but it’s a challenge. You have to know you are going to be working all day long, you are going to be in bad weather, you can’t complain, you can’t be sick, you just have to be on it. It’s what I love, and I am really grateful I even get to do this.

What was it like working with David Goyer?
He is such a great director. I have been a fan of his work even before I got this script. Sitting down with him, working on this character and what we wanted from her, we developed a great relationship. We became very close. We joked around all the time on set, it was really fun.

What about working with Cam Gigandet? Did you two hang out off-set?
Yeah, absolutely! Cam was shooting Twilight before The Unborn, and I was shooting another movie as well. So [before shooting began] we contacted each other via email and the phone. Then when he got to Chicago, we kind of “forced” ourselves to hang out together – not that it was such a bad thing! We would go out together, go to dinner, talk about the characters, rehearse together… we wanted a real relationship. When you get to know someone, you know what to do in a scene to make them laugh. And Meagan [Good], we hit it off right from the start. We had actually met about two years before this movie, and we got along really well. When we both found out we were doing this movie together, we were like, “This is perfect! We don’t even have to act!” We didn’t even need to rehearse together, it just flowed naturally. We’re really buddies off-screen.

How did you guys handle the real earthquake that took place during shooting?
It’s unbelievable how that and so many other weird things would happen. The lights would go on and off, there was this earthquake in Chicago, there was a picture taken of this guy going down a staircase with hands grasping him…
You are going to have to elaborate on that one.
Someone took a picture of a crew man coming down the stairs, and you can see these hands coming out [to grab him]. This was in the insane asylum we shot in.

As an actress, how do you manage to keep your energy up all day?
I feel like the lead actor sets the tone for a movie. I think it is really important as an actress to come in with a smile on your face and put everyone in a better mood. Because if not, what are you all working for? We’re all here to have fun. We’re not curing cancer, we’re trying to entertain people. I know others would disagree with me, and some actors just show up, do their part, and leave, but I really try to embrace everybody and make everyone feel comfortable.

So you don’t need to “stay in character” between shots?
I’m not really Method, no. If it’s a really intense scene, people will know – I will have my iPod on and my head down, and they know not to disturb me, but for the most part I can pretty much just be me while not shooting.

What was actually there on set that you saw, as opposed to things that were added digitally? Like, the dog with the upside-down head – was he really there (without the upside-down head, of course)?
There was a real dog. Her name was Maddy. She didn’t listen at all. She was horrible. The dog wouldn’t move when she was supposed to, or she would just walk away when she wasn’t supposed to. It was kind of scary, though, when the mask would go on her.

So the dog was really wearing a mask?
Yeah, they really put a mask on her. The dog was like, “What is going on here?”

Can you talk about acting with that creepy little kid?
He actually wasn’t creepy at all – he was the cutest little thing. I was on the gurney for the exorcism scene, and Barto [played by Ethan Cutkosky] came up to me and said [excited voice], “Hi! Hi Odette. How’s it going today? I’m really excited about this scene because I get to scare you! I can’t wait for this!” And David would say, “Ethan, when I say action, you have to open your eyes and don’t blink.” He would say, “Okay guys, I’ve got it!” And he would go… [opens her eyes really, really wide – then blinks rapidly].

Did he have to wear contacts too?
He did. I think he got used to it after a little while, but we were both like, “Oh great, we have to put the contacts in again.” It was a joke between us. But he was fantastic – such a little trooper.

You frequently bounce between TV and films. Would you like another TV commitment?
TV is really bittersweet for me because I had such a great experience shooting October Road. I had this great family [on set] and the creators were my mentors. They guide me with everything I do now. I definitely would be interested if it was the right character with a great script, a great pilot. And especially if it was something from the creators of October Road. Anything for them.

Have you seen The Unborn with an audience?
I saw it with about 15 people. But I saw a really rough cut – the music wasn’t done, and they were going to add more scares. But I’m really excited to see it when it comes out. I think I’ll go to the theater, sit in the back, and watch people’s reactions. I hope they like it!

What are some other horror movies that you like?
Rosemary’s Baby. Oh, this movie called Dolls. I was petrified of that movie. I had porcelain dolls growing up, so after I saw that movie, I grabbed a hammer and I took off their heads. My mom freaked out – she said they were expensive. I just said, “They have a brain! I know it!” My mom said, “You are the weirdest kid ever.” I didn’t care. I was probably like eight years old or something. To this day, I cannot look at a porcelain doll the same way. But I love scary movies.

Source: FEARnet