Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: exclusive, interview, Kate Lister, rlje films, Saskia Archer, shudder, Teressa Liane, The Reef: Stalked, Tim Ross

The Reef: Stalked Star Teressa Liane on Survival Film, Prep & More

Teressa Liane has had a knack for action and drama since making her debut in 2011's The Cup. Since then, she's starred in several TV series ranging from the long-running Australian soap Neighbors, AMC's Into the Badlands, The CW's The Vampire Diaries, NBC's Days of Our Lives' miniseries Last Blast Reunion, Freeform's Stitchers, and CBS' Magnum P.I. reboot (now on NBC). The actress spoke to Bleeding Cool about her latest survival thriller in The Reef: Stalked, where she plays Nic, who travels to a tropical resort with her friends for a kayaking and diving adventure. Only hours into their expedition, the women are stalked and then attacked by a great white shark. To survive, they will need to band together, and Nic will have to overcome her post-traumatic stress, face her fears and slay the monster.

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Reef: Stalked?'
Teressa Liane: I liked it as an action shark genre film, but it's also a story of sisterhood with these young women and the trauma that they're dealing with. There's a strong emotional story going on, which was pretty cool.

BC: How do you describe working with writer-director Andrew Traucki and the set he ran?
Liane: [Andrew] was pretty good at letting us know before filming that it would be a really quick set. Once we were out there, he entrusted we had done the work, and we knew what we needed to know so that we could operate on our own with the actors having the conversations we needed. We had about a week's rehearsal with him overseeing the script and making changes. He was great at being open to changing any dialog we felt suited the character once we'd worked on it. Once we were out filming, it had to be, at more times, a technical set. When it was more of an emotional scene, we could rely on the crew and our fellow actors.

BC: What was it about the role of Nic that resonated with you?
Liane: So much, really, there was this strong need for her to face certain fears and step up for those she loved and cared about. That is how I operate. I'm always keeping the people that I love in my mind. That's who I'm trying to look out for and make sure they're safe and well. I really connected with her, and I loved she also had this strength to her, this ability she had. She was skilled in many things. I grew up more as an athlete into basketball and stuff like that. Knowing that was going to be something I could use and learn an additional skill with kayaking and getting to use that other muscle of mind, not just emotional, while I'm out there was a really big draw for me.

BC: How much prep work you were able to do before filming? Was there any particular scene or stunt that was more difficult than others?
Liane: I got just under about two months' notice before we started filming. We were supposed to start sooner, but COVID lockdowns were happening as well as we were filming in Australia. I had that luxury of time, so I did a lot of physical prep, which involved more swimming. Emotionally, I prepped by looking into the symptoms of someone living with PTSD and trauma; understanding domestic violence and its different aspects were really important. I tried to familiarize myself with the families and how they also respond to living with someone that challenge.

BC: How would you describe the camaraderie on set with your co-stars? Did you bond, or is it just kind of business as usual? Did it feel like work?
Liane: It felt more like an ordeal. Nic was always emotional. Sometimes, I would be so exhausted. Getting to meet the girls who were playing these other characters was this instant clicking of friendship. We were really lucky because that cannot be the case on so many things. We were working out there because we had that support network. We always stepped in when the other person may need a little pep talk or something like that. We really became close. I didn't particularly know any of the girls except for Ann Truong. She was out in Melbourne as well. We'd met once, I think, before this shoot, so it was really cool getting to know everyone much better, and yeah, I love them.

RLJE Films and Shudder's The Reef: Stalked, which also stars Saskia Archer, Kate Lister, and Tim Ross, is currently in theaters, digital, on-demand, and streaming on Shudder.

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