Claire Sloma on How Audrey Hepburn Influenced Myth of the American Sleepover

David Robert Mitchell's Myth of the American Sleepover is the anti-teen movie teen movie. It's American Graffiti by way of mumblecore; it's Kids by way of Norman Rockwell. The film follows a group of moderately well-behaved teens on the last night of summer, and features enough awkward inter-sex interactions to fill up a battalion of big studio teen comedies. The one difference? The cast is filled with many new performers and -- at the time of filming in 2008 -- actually teenagers. Like Claire Sloma.

Now a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, Sloma shot Myth of the American Sleepover in her native metro Detroit area after her freshman year of college. As Maggie, Sloma is one of the de facto female leads in the ensemble piece, a young girl on the cusp of high school who is ready to spread her wings -- but unsure what to do once they are apart. It's a tricky performance, one Sloma succeeds at by going minimal; Maggie has a lot of internalized feelings that Sloma spells out without being ham-fisted. "Claire has natural talent and enough screen presence for two actresses," director David Robert Mitchell told Movieline via e-mail. "Having never made a movie before, she confidently carried her storyline, and made me very proud."

Sloma's big debut almost didn't happen: she only responded to an open casting call for the film after her mother's friend pushed her, knowing that Sloma performed on stage throughout her school years (mostly in musicals). The new star rang up Movieline last week from Los Angeles to discuss her big break in Myth of the American Sleepover, what Audrey Hepburn has to do with an impromptu dance scene in the film, and just what the hardest part of the moviemaking process has been for her thus far. Hint: it involves the Sleepover screenings.

What was it about Maggie that spoke to you as a performer?

I identified with her in a few different ways. Going into high school, I was kind of the same way as her, as in I wanted to branch out. I didn't want to be seen as a kid anymore. I wanted to hang out with the older people and stuff. Reading the screenplay and seeing the kind of things that Maggie was going through -- this transformation -- but that there was still this underlying insecurity within her character about certain interactions with older people, especially with boys [interested me]. I definitely understood that because I feel a lot of girls feel that when they're going into high school, because it's a completely different atmosphere than middle school, per se. I also liked that she was unique. I don't know if I would have had the guts, when I was going into 9th grade, to do a dance like that at a party, but I really liked that about the character. It showed this side of her that made her even more intriguing to me. She definitely has a special quality to her.

You mentioned that dance scene, and it's kind of a show-stopper. Maggie dances in front of a party full of older teens to win a bottle of vodka from the guy she's crushing on, and closes it out by jumping in a nearby lake. Was that just ridiculously intimidating to shoot?

We worked with one camera -- this red-eye camera -- so to get different angles we had to shoot it quite a few times. I would jump in the water a few times, then blow-dry my hair, and go do it again. I felt kind of bad for the extras -- like, 'Oh, you poor guys, you have to keep watching me do this over and over again and pretend you're enjoying it.' [Laughs] It was definitely a cool scene to film, but a challenge. I actually hurt my back that night, so I was a little nervous going out on the dock, and it was slippery. But that's what made the whole experience so cool, doing the stuff like that. In theater, it's completely different. You don't do stuff like that.

You have a theater background from school. Was it hard for you to transition to being a film actress?

It definitely was! In my first audition, I was just so theatrical, because I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't realize the subtlety in film. And David was like, 'OK, I like what you're doing, but film is a lot more subtle.' It was like, 'Oh!' So that was a little bit of a challenge for me. But David was just so completely supportive and encouraging and would talk me through some scenes before we would do them so I could get a better idea of what they were looking for. It turned out OK, I think?

It did. Maggie has a lot of subtlety to her, and I think you do a good job of getting that across. Were you free to improvise within the role once you got the hang of what they wanted?

In all fairness, I loved the script itself. I didn't feel the need to bring in different things in dialogue as far as what I was saying. The way David wrote it was very real to me and very true to awkward situations between guys and girls. The very minimal conversation and whatever else. For me and a couple of other actors, we just took that dialogue and said it the way that we thought would be the most fitting, and worked with it that way. There was no real improvisation. You don't have to have improv for it to be spectacular.

Watching Myth of the American Sleepover, I couldn't help but think of Dazed and Confused and American Graffiti. Were those films a reference point for you at all?

To be quite honest, I didn't go out of my way to watch those films, but I've seen Dazed and Confused so many times, that it's an easy enough reference in certain situations. But I feel like David was trying to do something else -- he worked on that screenplay for so many years and it was really special to him, because he grew up in metro Detroit just like I did. So, I feel like he didn't want us to be acting our situations off other films, even if they may be comparative. But! What I did watch for the dance scene to kind of get a feeling of what he was looking for was Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn, with her little jazz-alternative dance that she does. He loves that scene. The producer's younger sister actually choreographed that dance, she had me watch that quite a few times just to see what she does. Have you seen that dance scene?

I have!

That was definitely a reference for that scene.

You're a young actor, this is your first film; what was it like to watch yourself onscreen?

The first time I watched it -- I mean any time I heard my voice my head immediately went down. 'I can't watch Big Me do this!' It was in Cannes, and it was so surreal. I'm watching our film for the first time at one of the biggest film festivals ever. The second screening I went to, I was like, 'I need to watch this, because I want to watch it so bad.' I actually paid full attention to that one, and didn't shy away from it, and I was just so happy with the finished product. The cinematography and the editing were beautiful, and the songs they picked fit in so well.

Do you think you'll ever get used to seeing yourself onscreen?

No! I haven't been used to that since I played Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz in the eighth grade and my mom had it on tape. I was like, 'Seriously? I can't watch this.' I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Maybe I'll get more of a stomach for it, but we'll see.

You shot Sleepover in the summer of 2008. Is it weird to be doing press for the film three years after making it?

I wouldn't say it's weird. Sometimes I'm like, 'Oh, right. Our film is premiering. This is fucking awesome!' Excuse my language. [Laughs] It's so exciting for all of us. I'm so happy for David, because this is a project he put his whole heart into. Everyone who worked with him on this film -- the editor, cinematography and producer -- all went to film school together, so they have this really tight connection. I think that helped make it what it is, too. Doing press now, I'm like, 'Hell yeah!' I want this film to do well for him and everyone who did their part. I think it's exciting.

It certainly is. Have you caught the acting bug, then? Do you want to continue to pursue this as a career?

I just graduated from the University of Michigan in April with my German degree. I just moved out to LA -- it'll be three weeks tomorrow. So, I'm out here and I'm trying acclimate myself to this totally different situation. But I've always loved acting and the fact that this film has given me the opportunity to pursue it is a fantastic thing. I guess, at this point, I don't want to let that opportunity pass me up. If I could maybe, in the future, get another role in anything, it would be another wonderful experience for the books.