The outspoken Grimes -- who is sworn to secrecy about her role in Scream 4 -- rang up Movieline on the way home from the set of 90210 to discuss why Hollywood is too obsessed with franchises, what types of movies she'd like to see the industry tackle, and the alarming lack of positive female roles available to actresses today.
Let's start with 90210. Your character Annie has really gone through the emotional wringer during the last three seasons. Do you enjoy getting to play with all that angst?
Not particularly. I went through all that many years ago. So it's just dredging up old 14-year-old drama that I don't really care about or find relevant to my life at all, but it's what teens want to see, right?
I guess. Much has been made recently about teen shows like Skins pushing the boundaries of what the genre can allow to a point of no return. On 90210, though, you guys stay edgy without going over the top. How does the show strike that balance?
I don't know -- I've never seen Skins myself, I've only heard rave reviews. I think you make impacts by taking risks. I'm not sure that anyone is learning life lessons from 90210, but I don't think that's why anyone tunes in to watch the show either. It keeps it entertaining. It's like a soap at night with a bunch of hot teens. Who wouldn't want to tune in? It's very fun.
Do you have fun? It's been three years. Are you kinda over it or is it still fun for you?
I feel very fortunate to have the job that I have, and I enjoy going to work every day, but I think we've all been ready for the next chapter for some time. And for me that doesn't mean the next acting chapter. I'm just itching to have some time to go to school again and do other things with my time.
Obviously one of the things you're doing is Scream 4. I would imagine that you aren't really allowed to say anything about your role though.
Yes, I have been sworn to complete secrecy by Mr. Bob Weinstein. He warns me not to open my mouth, and I have not since the day we spoke. The first day on set basically, he literally before -- it was not even my shooting day, I was just going to meet everyone -- and the first thing he said was like, "No, it's great, I'm so glad you're a fan of the originals! But: If you tell anybody what happens, you're dead." I was like, "All right, I will stay quiet."
How did Scream 4 come about? Were you looking to star in something like this?
I had no intent on doing a project like that. I don't really know -- I basically got a magical phone call one day that was like, "Hey, do you want a part in Scream 4? Cause they offered it to you." Which never happens. I've auditioned for like hundreds of projects that I've never even called back for before. To get a straight offer was crazy, but it's a very tiny cameo. It's not like Emma Roberts role or anything like that; those girls were there for months and months.
But yeah, you know, a horror film and another remake and all the rest was just like, "That can't be the first major step for me." So I could never audition for the lead role -- when those auditions were taking place -- but I know a lot of people did. I just didn't think it was the right step for me. But a cameo in one of my favorite movies of all-time? I was like a kid on Christmas. The original Scream is one of those classic things, but it totally pokes fun at itself too. It's never taking itself too seriously, which is why I think it's such a cult classic.
And breaking even further away from 90210, you've got the indie film Sugar.
That is my baby. I'm super excited about it. I auditioned for this director [Rotimi Rainwater] for another one of his projects over hiatus last year, and he wasn't interested. "Who is this girl? Get her out of here." I was like uber-determined to not take no for an answer. So over the weekend, I took self portraits of me being a trashy whore. It was supposed to be a weathered and aged prostitute. I took a few pictures, and I'm not very good at coming off trashy -- so I don't know if I did a good job -- but because I was so crazy about it, and so passionate, the director was like, I owe this chick a coffee at least. And then we had dinner, and started talking about the types of movies we like, and three hours later we were like, "OK, we need to work together eventually." We met for dinner again a couple of weeks later, and the name Sugar came up, and this idea of a film about homeless kids. And it developed over the past eight months and it finally got made last month. It was the most exciting thing in the world for me.
You definitely sound excited. What's the endgame for Sugar? Are you hoping it gets into some festivals this year?
Oh, no! I don't think in terms of that when I do things. If I did, I would have done a lot of crap by now. I don't know where it will go, but I pray to God that people see this film, if for nothing else than to expand their minds and perceptions and stuff. It's a crucial, real epidemic that's going on right next store. Everyone focuses on charitable causes in all these different countries, and sometimes we lose sight of -- or pay no regard to -- what's going on right next door in our own homes. For me, I grew up in a house doing charity work for homeless people, and my parents had a lot of homeless friends. We were always taught to not discriminate and not judge. I think America has developed in so many ways -- with racism and homophobia and this and that -- but it's just another major source of discrimination that people completely overlook. So I hope people see it for that.
You're obviously really passionate about this project. Is finding that kind of passion for the material tough to balance with being a working actress?
I don't define myself as an actor at all. Nor is that my greatest passion in life by any stretch of the imagination. I am happy to have time on my hands to do other things, like write and think and be creative and not be someone's pawn all the time. Unless a project with an acting role allows me to be creative, to have control, to really feel motivated and challenged and feel stimulated, then I have no interest in doing it because it's really just not the most stimulating job out there. Very few roles that are out there for young girls, particularly, really make an impact, in my opinion. I don't want to waste my time doing something just so i can look pretty on camera in front of millions of people. I'd rather write an article for a magazine that 20 people will read, if I'm passionate about what I'm writing about.
So then would you want to write a great role for yourself?
I have no idea. I would never act in something that I wrote, or was directing. Because I can't imagine truly being unbiased in directing myself. I can't even imagine. You have to be able to look at it objectively as the general audience when you're directing, because those are the people you're trying to provoke. I feel like you're far too subjective and far too invested in your character's perspective as an actor -- or at least you should be. I find it so brilliant when I see actors -- like Ben Affleck in The Town. It just blows my mind; I can't imagine having to juggle those two worlds at once. So I would never do that. Writing screenplays, I don't know. That's a greater challenge for someone else who went to school for that. But I would love to find good material and direct it.
(Long pause) Winter's Bone was one. I didn't see Black Swan yet, but I can only imagine what Natalie Portman did with that, and I've obviously heard all the rave reviews. So I'm sure that was amazing. (Long pause) I don't know. I don't like a lot of female roles, period. Let alone young female roles. I say Natalie Portman, but she's a handful of years older than me, and also has a much more mature look than I do. I could never get cast in something that she was going for. It's a completely different ballgame. When you look 14, it's also really hard to break out of the child genre and the teen dramedy thing. That seems to be what gets made in Hollywood. People don't want to take risk on a lot of great material nowadays. That's why Sugar -- we did it because we loved it, but we made nothing doing it and no one may ever see it. That's the bottom line. You're going in with that understanding because people don't want to take risks. The prequel or sequel or this horror flick or that action flick is all that gets made nowadays. Except like the odd one, like Blue Valentine, or any Danny Boyle flick that comes out. There are fortunately some great ones that get made, but just too few and far between.
I think I know the answer to this, but how frustrating is that for you as an actress? You want to take risks, but there aren't many Hollywood executives that share your enthusiasm.
Again, I just see it for what it is -- I don't think of myself as an actress at all. I've never called myself that and I would never describe myself as that to anybody else. For that reason, I think you can't put too many eggs in one basket. And for me, again that is one of the lesser stimulating things that I'd like to do in my life. C'est la vie, I'll just, again, try to take some half-assed script and make it something amazing. I think direction is like 85 percent of the battle. You're only given what you're given nowadays, and investors only want to invest in a very small category of things. But you can change the way audiences perceive it and you can change the way that the message comes across, based on how you break a film down and the choices you make. And that's direction. That interests me much more than just acting in it. I'm not willing to sit and wait around for that long is the bottom line (laughs). I just can't; I'm too ADD to sit around and wait for the decent role to come, and I don't like being an "actress on camera" enough to just do anything to be on set. I'd rather hold out for a few years, and direct projects that I'm producing and that no one is seeing, except for on YouTube, and that still fulfills me more than doing some cheesy film.
Do you see Sugar as a way to show people that you're capable of more than you've shown as an actress?
That's the ultimate goal. That would be a dream come true. But at the end of the day, the reason why I did this -- again, with the mindframe that no one will ever see this -- I just needed the confidence to know that I could do it. That's it. I just needed to know that I could do it for myself, because I've been fortunate enough to get really great jobs really quickly. I started working at 14 in Canada, then Degrassi fell into place, and things just kind of kept coming, kept happening, then 90210. "OK, great. I guess this is a career now, and I guess this is what I do." But I don't know how the hell I got here. All I've done is play a teenager on camera. That's not very hard, that's not a big challenge for me at all. I show up, I do my thing, and I think, "Wow, look at me having the easiest job in the world." I really do.
Sugar was not an easy job. At all. By any stretch of the imagination. That thing ran me ragged, and it was worth every tear and hair pulled out of my head. It was awesome, but extremely draining. But I needed to know that I could do that. And I was really proud of my performance, so even if everyone hates it, c'est la vie.
What are you planning on doing during your next hiatus from 90210?
Definitely not acting. I have gotten my fill this year. My manager will sh*t on me for saying that out loud, but -- I mean if some brilliant opportunity presented itself, who am I to turn it down? But that's not what I'm going out and searching for right now. I came up with this idea for a documentary, and I'm trying to see if that's an idea that can be developed. I'm also co-writing with a friend my first short to direct with dialogue. Because the last two that I did last hiatus didn't have dialogue in them. It was a good beginner run at directing and running a set and making sure you had all the details accounted for. And now I'll get to get into the beef of really working with actors and communicating. It should be very informative.
Do you think creative risks are headed to the Internet?
I believe so, which is just the biggest joke to me. I don't understand why a film like Blue Valentine -- get over it people, it's not that controversial; it's just reality. People are so terrified of real life, that I think that is why they constantly distract it with bad action and bad horror and bad prequels. It's easier -- you get to go nod along. Generally speaking, all of my friends and peers, obsess over the rare quality films that are out there. Those are the ones that everyone is talking about and raving about. When is the rest of the world going to catch up? I don't know. When are the money people going to catch on that people do want to be stimulated, people do want to think, people do want to be provoked? That's why we go to the movies -- to get invested in something for a couple of hours and learn something new about life, about a story, about a character. So, I pray that money people will start catching on and this won't have to stay on the Internet; won't have to stay free. It's hard to make a movie, man! It costs a lot of money. For films like mine which is great, but no one will pay any mind to -- it's really hard to work that hard and watch everyone make no money around you. It's really hard to survive like that. I'm lucky that I have a job that pays the bills, but if I didn't have that, I couldn't go around the rest of my life making great films for nothing. You can't get by like that. So, I really hope it does become a more substantial part of the industry. It's just a big joke -- and it has been really -- that's not where the money is going.
On the bright side, at least two films you mentioned -- Black Swan and Blue Valentine -- are doing well at the box office. Black Swan more than Blue Valentine, but you know what I mean.
They usually do well! It's just getting them in the box office. That's the problem. So many of these things -- they go to festivals, and even the one's they get acclaim at festivals still are never heard about by anyone, until someone thinks it's cool. Or hot. Or hip. I just hope people catch up. And I think they will. Because I think people are bored to death, and no one goes to the movies any more because the movies that play in the movie theater suck (laughs). That's the truth. I'm sorry, it just is.