To commemorate this exciting time, Movieline met up with the 25-year-old in a deserted party mansion, much like the one in this weekend's film, to talk about trampoline sex, happiness and the '80s -- a decade that Palmer barely remembers.
Take Me Home Tonight was a very convincing '80s film. I really felt like it was filmed in that decade.
Thanks. We wanted to make it feel like we shot it in the '80s, put it in a time capsule brought it out, wiped the dust off of it and pressed play.
It seemed like the writers and cast really respected the time period. There weren't any tongue-in-cheek gags about huge cell phones. No one was wearing comically over-sized shoulder pads or turquoise eyeshadow.
No! We really wanted to celebrate that time. It's such a beautiful, magical era. So why not immerse ourselves in the culture as much as possible and just explore what was great about that time rather than what was silly about it.
You filmed this movie long before I Am Number Four, right?
Right. We filmed Take Me Home Tonight in 2004 and I Am Number Four last year. Both were wonderfully different experiences. To play a character like Number 6 [pictured below] in I Am Number Four was such a privilege because she is such a strong, dynamic, edgy, mysterious character.
Number 6 definitely had a little bit of Angelina Jolie to her -- that strength that so few actresses are given the chance to really explore.
That's such a compliment. Thank you so much. I channeled Angelina Jolie. She was one of my references for Number 6. I watched all of her movies and all of her earlier interviews from when she was a teenager. I wanted to try to encapsulate that mysterious quality and also make her as enchanting as she was intimidating. I think Angelina Jolie is exactly that.
An edginess. A confidence. A complexity to her character but also a hint of tragedy which was really interesting to watch. There's this underlying sexuality to her earlier interviews and I think Number 6 has that too.
Was it easy for you to tap into that confidence and sexuality?
Yeah. It was. I think I'm drawn to really complex characters like that. I think there is a darkness in everyone and it's so interesting to explore that.
Conversely, you play the object of Topher Grace's affection in Take Me Home Tonight -- which is a dangerous part because in a lot of cases, that character, usually female, ends up seeming very passive. How conscious were you of making sure that Tori Frederking was not just another girl on a pedestal?
It was imperative to get that right. I didn't want to do a disservice to the character by making her a typical popular girl. She's so much more than that. She has vulnerabilities and insecurities like everyone else. In some '80s movies, the lead female seems very unattainable. I didn't want Tori to be that way. She might start off that way in the movie but she progresses to a point where the audience feels like she could be their best friend or they could date her.
In this movie, Topher's character lies to Tori about his job to impress her. What's the worst lie that a guy ever told to impress you?
Let me think. I mean, guys have lied to me a ton. I think everyone is always the best version of themselves on the first date and it's not until the fourth or fifth date that they slowly start to reveal their true identity. I'm definitely guilty of trying to be the best version of myself on the first date.
In some cases though, the other person doesn't want to see the flaws in the person sitting across from them though on those first dates.
That's true. I'm guilty of that too.
I liked that both your and Topher's characters realize each others imperfections during the course of this movie which takes place in one night.
Right. It's nice that Tori admits that she wouldn't have talked to [Topher's character] Matt in high school. She was that girl and she owns it. I think Matt Franklin really appreciates that and at the same time, he's been lying to her all night and can't get the nerve to tell her until they're on the trampoline.
I think this movie contains the only trampoline sex scene I've ever encountered.
Wasn't that great? That was actually a re-shoot we did last year! So a few years had passed before we shot that. By then the cast was so close and Topher and I knew each other so well that it was very fluid to film. We threw in a lot of unscripted stuff. It was a very endearing scene. That's one of my favorite moments of the movie.
Where did the original love scene take place?
It was in front of a fish tank in the little boy's bedroom of the party house.
What else changed in the re-shoot?
We wanted the crux of the film to be a little bit stronger. We didn't have the whole Truth or Dare game in the first version and that is such an iconic '80s thing. Also, we wanted to draw out the kiss a little bit longer.
Once you're done promoting this, I read that you're making a documentary about happiness.
I am.
How did that idea come to you?
I was in Boston visiting a friend of mine. I was walking around on my own while he was filming a movie. I had my iPod on and I was looking around at this crowd, really studying people and I could kind of hear a buzz of negativity around me. People were angry or yelling at someone on the phone or walking around looking stressed and angry. It kick-started this thinking process about where all of this negativity comes from in a privileged country like America. From there, I realized that I wanted to do the opposite which was go to a third-world country and experience what that was like. I went to Kenya and worked with these AIDs orphans and local people. The spirits of these people who were sick and had no material wealth -- was beautiful. But what was so lovely about them is that they may not be rich materially but they are rich in other things, like community or love or spirituality. I realized that I was learning so much from them that I wanted to capture that. Hopefully I can release that someday.
So not only are you emulating Angelina Jolie onscreen but a little bit off screen as well.
I love her philanthropic values so much. That is really something that is dear to my heart. It's always been a great part of my life. My mum actually named me after Mother Teresa because my mum's a missionary. She's given up her life to look after others and she always told me when I started acting that I could really use the power I might have to help a lot of people and the greater community. I've always had that in the back of my mind and as I further my career, I think a lot about how I can help people in the good way. I'm in a blessed position to be able to do that.