Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: exclusive, interview, mira sorvino, Nestor Carbonell, paramount, Parker Young, Republic Pictures, Sasha Pieterse, The Image of You

The Image of You Star Sasha Pieterse on Taking Dual Roles in Thriller

Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars) spoke to Bleeding Cool about playing dual roles in Republic's psychological thriller The Image of You.

Sasha Pieterse has always wanted to challenge herself, even as a child star. Since her debut on the WB's Family Affair, she's landed roles in some of the biggest franchises across film and prime-time television, including Stargate SG-1, CSI: Miami, Heroes, Medium, X-Men, and Hawaii Five-0 and her time in the Pretty Little Liars franchise helped her prepare for the Paramount Republic Pictures' psychological thriller The Image of You. Based on the bestselling work by Adele Parks, the film follows identical twins Anna and Zoe (both played by Pieterse) as they find their bond tested by Anna's new love, Nick (Parker Young). While the trusting Anna is head over heels, her skeptical sister Zoe senses a web of deceit. But as Zoe digs for the truth, they're all pulled into a dangerous game where honesty could prove fatal. Pieterse spoke to Bleeding Cool, working with director Jeff Fisher, how writer Chris Sivertson helped adapt Parks' work to the screenplay, tackling the challenge of playing dual roles, and how the chaos from the Freeform series helped prepare her for the film.

The Image of You: How Sasha Pieterse Distinguished Anna & Zoe

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Image of You' working with Jeff's directing and the writing from Chris's script and Adele's novel?
When I first got sent the script, I thought it would be one thing. I hadn't read the book yet, so I expected it to be predictable. I liked that they were twins, but I wasn't expecting it to be anything surprising, and it did. I did not expect the twist. It was fun, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it. I felt this gut feeling that I knew who these characters should be. I knew how I wanted to portray them, and I was intrigued. Speaking to Jeff and hearing about how passionate he was about it and his plans made me excited. Chris collaborated with Adele and adapted it well, which was neat. We all collaborated well. We built these characters. Adele is so incredible. I adore her because she's so talented. It was great having her on set and having that influence. We made a great team that created something fun. It's a fun ride, and I loved the fun challenge of creating the two characters every step of the way.

What are the challenges of playing both characters and not losing yourself in the process?
Every actor has a different way of approaching these things. I was focused on creating many physical physical differences from how they walk, their loves, hates, styles, personalities, and tone of voice; those all need to be different for it to be convincing. They are very opposite on paper, but you want the audience to feel that as well. It's a great challenge as far as not losing myself, and at the end of the day, it's so much fun. I was never concerned about that. I focused on enjoying the process, but you're thrown into it. You have 15 minutes to become one person and then change into the other. It's an exciting way of filming, and you don't get to do it very often, so I savored every second.

How did you work with your chemistry with Parker? Were there notes you cut from for yourself when doing a scene as Anna or Zoe?
Parker was lots of fun. We had a great connection, and we have a lot of similarities in life, which made it easy. Playing two different people and establishing two different relationships with another character is also interesting. One character is more controlling with him than the other, and you roll with the punches and make it feel more real because one second, I was one person, and the other second, I was somebody different. We had a lot of fun, laughed a ton, and enjoyed that process. I took so many notes, and I was in my head in a good way. I was so focused, but I also enjoyed this process.

Did you search for any external inspiration to play both characters, or was everything in the script?
So both times in PLL [Pretty Little Liars] and with this movie [The] 'Image of You,' I was told not to read the books yet. I believe the reason behind that is that both projects were different from the books in so many ways, and you might not establish somebody the same way. I was getting told many things, and I was implementing things I loved. When I read 'The Image of You,' I was like, "Oh my gosh! I'm obsessed with it," but I'm glad it works that way because it's such a unique situation; you must forge your path. If I were led or going astray at any point, somebody would bring me back, but at the end of the day, it was creating two different, believable, and entertaining people.

The Image of You, which also stars Mira Sorvino and Nestor Carbonell, is available in select theaters and on digital on May 10th.

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