Ben catches up with versatile young actress Sara Foster (“The Big Bounce”, “Entourage”, “D.E.B.S”, “Bachelor Party 2 : The Last Temptation”, TV’s “90210”) at the Charlotte Street Hotel in London to talk up the new thriller “Psych : 9”, co-starring Cary Elwes and Michael Biehn.
Sara Foster (SF): Hi! I’m Sara. How are you?
Ben: Hi Sara. I’m very well, thankyou and you?
We’re led to a small sofa, where we sit down next to one another, watched in one corner by Sara’s manager, Brad, sat in a high-backed chair and in an opposite corner by Wendy PR, propping herself up amongst cardboard tubes containing posters of the movie, Psych9.
An odd bell rings from within the hotel someplace.
SF: What was that?
Ben: This is like a speed-dating experience. I hope I get longer than 3 minutes because I can’t believe my luck.
Sara beams a smile. Despite the time of night and exhausting past few days, she’s surprisingly full of energy, with her eyes brilliantly aware and alive. Instantly captivating.
Ben: That was a good, little movie, Sara. Well done.
SF: Thank you. I was a bit nervous with everyone watching.
Ben: Was that the first time you saw it?
SF: No. I saw it about a year and a half ago.
Ben: No way?
SF: Ah huh. Yeah.
Ben: So when did you film it?
SF: About two years ago.
Ben: Okay.
SF: I had a really rough.. I saw a rough version. That’s what I first saw. Yeah, so going back and seeing it all edited and coming together..
Ben: And you shot it in Prague?
SF: That’s right. You caught all the credits, huh?
Ben: Of course!
She smiles and chuckles.
Ben: Was that your first experience of Prague and Eastern Europe?
SF: Oh yeah. That was my first experience of Prague. Sure. Like ever. I’ve never been to the Eastern Block. Estonia, Latvia, Russia.
Ben: I went there last year.
SF: Really?
Ben: There’s a great zoo in Prague.
SF: Shame. I didn’t get to explore it as much as I would have liked to cos we were a little busy. (she laughs).
Ben: Was it Winter or Summer when you were there?
SF: Winter.
Ben: Cold eh?
SF: Freezing! I mean, we actually had a pretty mild winter, but yeah, it was cold. Dark and cold and the sun would go down and you’d think it would never come up again.
Ben: Man, that sounded extremely gloomy.
She laughs and points at my iphone.
SF: Is that recording us?
Ben: Hopefully or I’m going to have to remember a lot of chitchat.
SF: Ha, so is it on now?
Ben: I think so.
SF: I don’t think it is, but hey, you’ll remember it all I’m sure, right?
Ben: Maybe. Okay, so, moving on. You carved yourself an incredibly successful career as a fashion model.
SF: (she squirms, modestly) Er.. I –
Ben: D’you not reckon?
SF: I wouldn’t say incredibly successful, but I did some big campaigns.
Ben: What age did you start?
SF: 18. I worked steadily, for sure. I don’t know if I was incredibly successful, but compared to how it could be.. yes. I was successful.
Ben: What designers were you working for?
SF: Oh gosh, um.. Tommy Hilfigure, Ralph Lauren, Guess..
Ben: Did you not want to stick to fashion or move into design at all?
SF: It was never really known. I mean I went from modelling to hosting a show on MTV and then bit parts. It was sort of a gradual thing.
Ben: You were in The Big Bounce of course. Was that the first movie you did?
SF: Oh yeah.
Ben: Not DEBS?
SF: DEBS was after.
Ben: The Big Bounce had Owen Wilson and Morgan Freeman. Did you learn anything from them at all?
SF: Oh my gosh. Morgan I never really worked with, I just had one or two scenes with him, but yeah.. just being in his presence and just watching him, you can learn a lot, yeah. But Owen.. forget it. The way he is. He’s so comfortable in front of the camera. He would just ad-lib and that was something I had never experienced. So obviously with him, we did a lot of that.
Ben: Sure.
SF: I just became really comfortable with just saying whatever came into my mind! And then.. and then feeling safe enough to do it. It was great.
Ben: So that was six years ago and then you went into TV and gained some good roles. Like in Beverly Hills.
SF: Yeah, that’s been like little over a year now.
Ben: It’s Jen Clarke isn’t it?
SF: That’s right.
Ben: And you don’t really know how to take her either, do you?
SF: No no.
Ben: D’you tend to go for those types of characters?
SF: No. No way. I wasn’t really looking for her. They found me. I read it and I wasn’t drawn to 90210, but the character.. Well, who wouldn’t wanna be the evil villain, right?
Ben: Too right.
SF: I worked hard to get it. I auditioned many times. And yeah, it’s been fun.
Ben: And with this film, Psych9, it plays with your mind a little. It has that mini-Hitchcockian feel about it.
SF: Yeah and you just don’t know what’s going on. Is she crazy? Isn’t she crazy? What’s wrong with her!
Ben: That’s right. Is it Michael Biehn? Is it Cary Elwes?
SF: Is it the nurse?
Ben: Yeah and I’m thinking is it your husband?
SF: You thought that, Ben?
Ben: Yeah. There’s this scene where he grabs your face and is shouting and he headbutts you.
SF: He was violent. Yeah.
Ben: You’re wondering why I your character so stressed out.
SF: All the time.
Ben: So was it a more of a physically demanding role or an emotional draining one? You’re going to say both, right?
SF: It became physically because it was so emotional draining that inevitably your body start breaking down. You know what I mean? Your bones start hurting and you’re tired and it all starts working together. Yeah, it was emotionally draining.
Ben: You’re in practically every scene.
SF: And on the edge in pretty much every scene.
Ben: Absolutely and so do you have any psycho memories you reverted to or (laughter erupts from us all) or nutty friends that you drew from because it was a great performance and like you said, you were on the edge.
SF: To be honest with you I started to go a little crazy. I really did. After week five, I was like at the end of my rope. Like there was this one scene. I didn’t even tell anybody this, but well, it’s no big deal, but I’m coming out of this elevator and I’m crying and crying because I just got into a big fucking fight with Andrew (director Andrew Shortell) and I’m crying and I’m like FUCK YOUUUUU! And he’s like “C’mon, you gotta give it more.” And I’m like “I’M GIVING YOU EVERYTHING!!” and yeah, it’s all real and then we rolled the cameras and yeah, it was great.
Laughter erupts from us. Sara giggles, like she’s relieved she actually spoke about it.
SF: Seriously, I officially lost it. Second to last day of shooting. I really lost it.
Brad: You could see it in her eyes.
Ben: I know. You looked –
SF: Jesus! That wasn’t make-up by the way, Ben. Those bags under my eyes were real.
Ben: Yes. Oh and there’s this other scene where you set fire to a bunch of stuff.
SF: Files?
Ben: Yes and you dive through something.
SF: A chute. A laundry chute.
Ben: I thought that you were committing suicide.
Sara covers her mouth and widens her eyes. She reveals a big smile of surprise.
SF: You did? Wow.
Ben: Maybe it’s how my mind works.
SF: I like that. I do. That would have been cool. And then what? It ends there?
Ben: Well, then my mind started racing and you know what?
SF: What?
Ben: My cinematic mind then had me thinking that you get all burned up and become.. a female Freddy Kruger.
SF: Ooh, interesting. I can see that. I can see me as that. You could believe me as that. A murderer. I could do that. Can you see a little psycho behind the eyes?
Ben: I’m trying not to look now because I’m starting to believe it.
We discuss the plot and ending a little more in depth that would most certainly warrant a spoiler alert, but no, we wouldn’t do that.
SF: I think your idea would be so creepy. What do you think of Ben’s idea, Brad?
Brad stops fiddling with his Blackberry and looks up, nodding his head, taking it all in.
Ben: Well, there’s not been a female horror figure like in terms of the Freddy factor.
Brad: Sounds good. I’ll be back in the Stares tomorrow. I should pitch this. We’ll split it, fifty fifty, make you a producer on it.
SF: I might have to go back to the dark hair for that.
Ben: It’d all be worth it.
Brad: It would.
Ben: So, a couple more, if that’s OK. Hey, Sara, is this true? Apparently, you famously introduced Ashton Kutcher to Demi Moore. It has to be true as it’s on the internet.
SF: I did not.
Ben: I was going to say, did you not think of me first?
She laughs.
SF: Well, I did, but it wasn’t like it’s all been written about. I mean, I facilitated it, sure. I wasn’t like concocting the idea for weeks at a time. It wasn’t an intentional set up. I was the catalyst. I was the facilitator.
Ben: Maybe I’ll Twitter him later and get his version of the story.
Brad: Will he message you back?
Ben: Who knows? He seems to be always on it. I’m always on it. Our time differences are bound to cross at some point. Are you on there, Sara?
SF: The Tweeting? No. I’m like the only person who isn’t, I think. You know, I’m pleased that my name is associated to a couple who are just so amazingly in love.
Ben: Brad? You’re Sara’s Manager, right?
Brad: Yeah.
SF: Well, he likes to think he’s my boyfriend, but I’m engaged to a very hot man.
Ben: I’m sure you are. It’s on the net, so it’s got to be true.
SF: Ha. That’s right, so are we done? Are we all going to the party?
Ben: In the rain, on the other side of town. Sara, thank you so much. Brad, thanks, man.
Brad, Sara, Wendy and I head off to the Psych9 after party at Kanaloa, a club owned by Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding, who was also present.
A big thank you to Wendy, Brad Marks, James and of course Sara Foster for being such a laugh.
