I felt that Claire’s vulnerability to her situation and circumstances makes her human. When her husband (played by John Corbett) cheats on her with another woman, she feels unworthy, undesirable and dismissed. Her attraction to Noah (Ryan Guzman) stems from his coming in at this time and making her finally feel attractive and wanted.
I can relate. I’ve been through divorce (to singer-actor Marc Antony). I’ve been cheated on, just like every other girl in the world. So you sympathise, you understand the emotions. And I’ve dated a younger guy (her former back-up dancer Casper Smart) once in my life, so I could definitely understand that part, too... the attraction.
You have quite a few intimate scenes with Ryan Guzman...
Those scenes are embarrassing!
They are uncomfortable, but your job as an actress or an actor is to make it believable. And this movie in particular hinges on if that was believable, that it was enough to make this guy go insane.
We knew that it was such a challenging role for any young actor, but Ryan came in and rightaway showed us he knew what he had to do to play this character. We did make him read several times, because going from the boy-next-door to a sociopath is no small feat for an actor of any age or experience.
What was it like to associate with a director like Rob Cohen?
Once Rob came on and started adding more elements, it took everything to another level. With his experience on action movies, we were able to take this character-driven drama and create a roller-coaster ride of a movie that’s not only scary and disturbing, but also exciting.
A singer, dancer, actress, producer, writer and designer. How do you juggle these various roles?
Timing is everything. It’s all about where we are in our lives and what we have to offer and the experience of coming where we came from. I want to prove to everyone that I can do everything and be a superwoman. But I have to take time for myself. I think a lot of people just don’t understand what I’m about. They see me laughing, having a good time and they may think, ‘Oh, she’s so ambitious and everything’, but the thing is that I’m just a creative person. If I could describe myself to somebody, that’s how I would do it... I’d say. ‘I’m creative and that’s what drives me’. I think people think I’m driven by the money. They get it so mixed up that they forget that’s not why I started doing it. I started doing it because I love to perform.
You have plenty of young, aspiring artistes who look up to you. What’s your message for them?
Don’t expect anybody to hand you anything. We have to work for everything in this life. It’s one thing to sit back and say, ‘There’s not this and there’s not that for us’. If I would have said that, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I’ve gotten. Be creative... do it yourself... make it happen.
