Scott told us that when Tom Wilkinson rehearsed with you for the first time, he turned around and said, this is gonna be good!
But I heard permission to play, and I like to play, so… And I thought that could hinder some people, make them scared to jump in.
Scott said very early on if something doesn't look new, it's not going to be in the movie. You're reading stuff where you're asked to be the bubble gum girl next door, and I really wanted to be a part of making this. JC: It's such a solid script, and such an amazing opportunity. And of course, as soon as I read it I was on a plane. So it was a really quick decision to decide if I was even going to be able to come back to LA to try to have a shot at it. And in fact, I was late in the game, they'd already been auditioning people. JC: I never would have seen the script had it not been for Laura. We heard that she recommended you for the part. You must be very grateful to Laura Linney. In the scenes in the barn, the exorcism, is Emily Rose even around? Is she even sure of what's happening? Or what her body has done? And what does someone look like when their will is not there own? I'm not even sure. Emily rose truly believes that she's under attack. JC: I played Mary Warren in The Crucible, and she's acting affected.
Is your performance similar to what you did in The Crucible? How willing they are to take inventory of their beliefs and see how much new information and possibilities they're willing to take in. JC: I think it's kind of irrelevant, where I stand, because I think it's about people who are courageous enough to watch the film. I know apparently there's a head spinning around and stuff like that, but this movie's not saturated with special effects which makes it even scarier, because there's that part of you that thinks, this could really happen. JC: I've never seen the Exorcist, and that might have worked to my advantage. Have you seen The Exorcist? Did you draw any inspiration from that film? I looked at tapes on epilepsies and seizures so that I could play that truthfully, and then the physicalities that came out of people who were going through seizures and stuff were so amazing and unique, things I hadn't seen, so I tried to thread some of those into the possessed state so they might mirror each other. It was a hard thing to figure out where to start, so I tried to look at the prosecution and the defense and make sure I could provide really strong cases for both of them. And as far as the physical stuff goes, I watched a rough cut not long ago and saw my body bending all sorts of ways and thought, I didn't know I could do that! So I think a lot of times I was just running on adrenaline and that took me wherever I needed to go. JC: I tried to come to it at a really neutral place, so I could stay on the fence along with the audience as long as possible. I did as much homework as I could, and then, on the day forget it all and hoped all the dots would connect. I guess I know it looks really crazy and out of control at times, but there really was a method to the madness. We heard your audition was pretty amazing. The pair had previously worked together on stage in The Crucible. Jennifer was recommended for the role by co-star Laura Linney. She delivers an accomplished and brutally physical performance as the title character. Jennifer Carpenter is not a household name, but certainly has the stuff to be a good film actress. Jennifer Carpenter delivers an accomplished and brutally physical performance as the title character in the new horror flick, The Exorcism of Emily Rose The actress delivers an accomplished and brutally physical performance as the title character in the new horror flick.