Exclusive Interview: Briana Evigan (Sorority Row)

Briana Evigan is on the fast track to becoming a scream queen, not that there's anything wrong with that, as scary movies have paved the way to stardom for more than a few talented and aspiring actresses. The 22-year-old – who gained her first real measure of fame as the leading lady in Step Up 2: The Streets – has already appeared in House of the Damned, a segment of the TV horror anthology Fear Itself, and the DVD sequel S. Darko. And to that list add Sorority Row, Burning Bright, and Mother’s Day.

Opening nationwide on September 11, Sorority Row is a redux of the 1983 film The House on Sorority Row. In the new film, a group of sorority sisters – played by Evigan, Jamie Chung, Audrina Partridge, Rumer Willis and Leah Pipes, among others – must contend with the fallout of a prank that turns deadly. One of the girls dies and the others ditch the body and promise to keep their mouths shut forever. Cut to a year later, graduation nears and the secret seems safe. Or is it? Oh, and someone starts offing the remaining young ladies and their boyfriends.

ScreenStar recently caught up with Evigan – who's the daughter of veteran actor Greg Evigan – and came away with the following exclusive interview.

How did you land your role in Sorority Row? Was it an offer or did you audition?

They actually came to me for that one, which was pretty cool. I was shooting another film and I got a call saying they wanted me for the role of Cassidy in Sorority Row. And it was an offer. I checked out the script and really liked it, and I got to meet (director) Stewart Handler, and he was just amazing and I knew he'd be fun to work with. I was a little bit worried at first because this was going to be a big chick project. There were going to be a lot of girls in it and I thought it could be crazy.

And?

And it was the complete opposite. Once I decided to do it I went to Pittsburgh and got along with all the girls on the first night, at dinner, and we're still all close friends now.

Tell us about shooting the scene in which you fall into a mineshaft and end up covered in rats?

They threw the rats all over me. They were regular rats. When I met them, they were white. The guy introduced me to all of his rats. It was a pretty funny process. He was like, "Are you scared of them?" I didn't want to sound too scared, but I personally don't like rats. So then I came out on the set. I'm all covered in mud and laying in water, and it's freezing cold. Now all the rats are painted dark brown like sewer rats…

And they tossed them onto you?

And they threw eight of them all over my body. I didn't expect that, and I flipped! It worked. It worked perfectly. But they were crawling all up my legs and I was freaking out trying to throw them off me. I didn't want to touch them, but then I didn't want to hurt them. So I really screamed, and I never scream. That freaked me out.

If this film's a hit -- assuming you survive -- you could be playing with more rats in a sequel. How interested would you be in returning for a second Sorority Row film?

I'd be really interested. I would love to do the sequel. I'd be so bummed that not all the girls would be there. But I can't tell you who survives. I can't even tell you if I can be in the sequel.

You've wrapped another film called Burning Bright. We saw the trailer for that and it's a little freaky. It’s basically just you and a tiger, right?

It's me and a tiger. Everyone laughs when they hear that because it's so hard to explain this one. It sounds so hokey and silly, but this is my favorite film I've done so far. This movie was really just me holding up the whole thing. So it was a lot of work, really hard, and it was the biggest challenge for me so far. It's me stuck in a house with a Bengal tiger, and since there's a hurricane going on, the house is boarded up, which is why I'm trapped. So there's that suspense and tension the whole time, knowing that I'm trying to get out and that there's a very hungry tiger in there with me. I've seen the film and it looks so real. And the tiger is real. It's a 700-pound Bengal tiger.

OK, but wait, there's no way you worked with the tiger…

The tiger is real, but I didn't work with the tiger. We shot two films, basically. We shot one with me in a house and then they shot one with the tiger in the house, and then they edited it all together. And they had to use some CG, of course, to do all that. But besides that little bit of CG, it's all real. I had no scenes with the real tiger. I got to see the tiger in a cage. They sent me home while the tiger filmed and I went back and forth until we finished. So I had tape on the wall as eye-lines. That's another reason why it was such a cool challenge, because I had to act with nothing.

And what's next for you?

I’m doing Mother’s Day with Darren Bousman, director of a few of the Saw films.

Mother's Day? That's a remake of a really sick horror flick…

I guess so. I found that out yesterday, too. I'm like the remake girl. This script is pretty messed up. It's pretty disturbing.