Fonseca plays Iris, a bespectacled mental patient with an artist's touch, who (along with Amber Heard, Laura-Leigh, Danielle Panabaker, and Mamie Gummer) finds herself tormented by a sinister force. It's a far cry from the toughened Alex of Nikita, and different still from Fonseca's recent work in Hot Tub Time Machine (as John Cusack's totally '80s girlfriend) and Kick-Ass (as Aaron Johnson's oblivious crush); she next appears in the Lifetime movie Project Five as a stripper-slash-breast cancer victim.
Movieline spoke with Fonseca, days away from her return to the Toronto set of Nikita, about her first meeting with John Carpenter, her brush with Gary Ross's Hunger Games adaptation, and the legacy of the 1990 French cult film that inspired the Nikita franchise.
The Ward is John Carpenter's first film after a decade-long break, which already earns it special note. What else about it appealed to you?
Well, I read it and immediately liked it because I liked all the distinct characters. And it's John Carpenter, obviously -- I really respected him and was a fan of his old work. So I met with him at Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset Boulevard, and he was easy to talk to. We just instantly got along. He knew exactly what he wanted and there wasn't any question about it, so there was a kind of a sense of ease about the whole thing.
Hamburger Hamlet -- that's his spot.
I think that's where he met all the girls! But he was just honestly the most down to earth person.
What was your initial take on the character you play? She's the nice girl in this group of mental patients, but then every one of these young ladies has some secret to hide.
It was really cool because of the nature of the film -- each personality is really about one thing, and what they're trying to get out of their situation in that ward. My character was an artist in every sense of the word; she thought of everything as a painting or a drawing, and it was kind of cool that there was a simplicity about that. If there was anything I was ever confused about, I could always go back to that. Just draw, or look at the lighting and thing of it in an artistic way. That's kind of what Iris is, she's very committed to getting out and she'll do anything to not be stuck in there.
The Ward was filmed in 2010, which was a big year for you; Nikita premiered and blew up and you had more and more film roles in the same relatively short span of time.
I had done The Ward after Hot Tub Time Machine, and Nikita hadn't existed yet.
Do you feel like Nikita has changed the way people see you as an actor -- what you're capable of, the kind of range you can play?
Gosh, I hope so! I don't know, but it definitely helps me with opportunities that I probably wouldn't have been able to have, just because of the audience it reaches. It's not an independent film that you just hope people will find and love. Nikita just internationally reaches a bigger audience, so I feel very fortunate for that. And it's a really fun show!
It seemed like once Nikita hit the airwaves it showed people that you could really do action, and then the next thing you know you were being championed to be cast in The Hunger Games.
Yeah! That was really, really, nice of everybody. It was incredible.
How far into the audition process did you actually go?
I went to Gary [Ross's] house and read with him -- he's just a lovely man. You know, there were just a few of us girls by that point and Gary has a studio in his house, we worked on it for a little bit. But I was just lucky to get that far, to be honest. It was cool to meet with Gary.
Now, Nikita in itself is an interesting concept because it's -- let me get this right -- a remake of an adaptation of a film remake of a French movie.
[Laughs] You know, it's just simpler to say that it's a remake of a famous franchise, but we're taking it into our own. Craig [Silverstein] has a very different voice from the original film, and I'm such a huge fan of the original film -- that movie blows my mind. We're not trying to be that movie, because nobody can touch it. It is what it is. We're just hoping people will love the characters and the story enough that they'll go on the ride with our take on it, you know?
As a fan of the original film, was it particularly thrilling when you get to do pay homage to Anne Parillaud's character in the first Nikita?
Oh, yeah. And there are a ton of similarities, with my character even moreso than Maggie [Q]'s, because they wanted to show Maggie being years later, already gone rogue, with my character trying to escape. So there are more similarities with my character and the original film but at the same time, I didn't have the pressure of it already being an iconic character, so I didn't have the freak out of, "Oh my god I'm not going to do it justice!"
When you began the series were you aware of what would happen to Alex by the end of the first season? She ends up in such a different place than she begins.
Craig was really cool, and I really respect how he's dealt with telling us everything because he really does think ahead. He knows where the season's going to go -- maybe not how fast or slow, because that always depends on the audience's reaction -- but I didn't expect to be graduating Division so soon. I definitely thought I'd be spending the first season as a recruit. So all of that happened a lot quicker but what I did know was Alex's family back story. Craig and I thought it was important that we were on the same page about that, so he told me about my father and my family and Nikita's involvement in it and stuff like that.
You mentioned that the season's pacing depends on the audience -- how so?
Well, I think the writers, the studio, the network, the fans, were in agreement that we kind of had done everything we could do with Alex as a recruit. We had kind of played all those options. There really wasn't anywhere else for her to go as a recruit, and we needed her to be out in the field for any kind of story line to progress. Her relationships with everybody, we kind of played everything out. I definitely didn't think that was going to happen in the season, I thought it was a season two kind of thing. But I was really excited about it.
How different will Alex's relationship with Nikita be in Season Two?
You know, I think what they went through in the first season, I don't think that kind of bond will just go away overnight. It's not going to be like, Season Two -- we're immediately enemies! But things have switched, because obviously the betrayal is more than she ever could have imagined. It's just going to be complicated as usual, as female relationships go.
I personally nerded out when Devon Sawa started guest-starring on the show. Were you in that generation that semi-worshiped him when he was a child star?
I think I was a little too young! I think I missed it. If I had been maybe three years older I think I would have been really star-struck. I knew him as a child actor but I didn't really remember, really. It's sort of like when I worked with John Cusack and everybody was freaking out and I was like, "What, he's older Thanks for coming!"
Have you gotten any word on Kick-Ass 2 happening?
I don't know! We hope it happens, but as of right now I have not seen a script. I think right now, Aaron [Johnson]'s got two movies, Chloe [Moretz]'s got a bunch of films -- it's kind of hard to get everyone together.
Right, and Matthew Vaughn just opened X-Men: First Class this summer. Now that you've established your action potential in other projects, would you like to see your Kick-Ass character get into the mix more whenever a sequel comes along?
Oh, totally. I would love that! That would be way fun.
What do you consider the most valuable skill you've learned, action or otherwise, from the different films and shows you've done?
When I was a dancer, I felt this great sense of knowing my body and being in my body, and I think it's really easy as women to lose that and not really be one and loving it. It doesn't matter what size you are or anything like that, but when I started doing stunts again I really felt that feeling again that I did as a dancer, because you're so connected to it and you're so in tune with it and what your actions are, how you move. There's definitely a confidence that comes with that. I totally tell people now, go take martial arts classes! Go take karate or jujitsu! Go out there and get in tune with your body because as a woman it gives you this crazy confidence that is unlike anything.
Are you going back to Comic-Con this year?
I am, yes! I'm scheduled to be there and just waiting for a confirmed schedule because we're going to start shooting and I'll have to fly from Toronto to San Diego so we'll have to make sure it all works out.
What do you make of the craziness of Comic-Con? I love it because it's so, so nerdy.
I think it's awesome! I mean, it just kind of reminds me of Burning Man without the sand, and with more nerds. It's so fun. Everyone there has got a great spirit because they're true fans.
Are you focused on Nikita for a while or do you have other film projects in mind?
Definitely the next ten months, this is what I'm going to be doing. But I did finish a television movie recently called Project Five, with an incredible cast and a topic that means a lot to me. It's about breast cancer and it'll be out in October on Lifetime. I play Cheyanne, who is a stripper who gets breast cancer and has to get a double mastectomy. Patricia Clarkson and Rosario Dawson are in it, we've got an incredible cast and every story is about the relationships that are affected by cancer. It was quite an incredible experience.
Read Movieline's Interview with John Carpenter here. The Ward is in theaters July 8.