AnnaLynne McCord – Fired Up!

What made you want to play the character Gwyneth?

I actually really was turned onto the role simply because it was a comedy and I did a lot of dramas and I didn’t do anything too funny, so I wanted to be funny, and I got a chance to do that on “Fired Up!”  It was a lot of fun.

Since “Fired Up” is a comedy, I wanted to know how you would describe your sense of humor. What makes you laugh?

As far as my sense of humor, well, actually in life itself, personally, I laugh at myself, but pretty much on this film I was really a straight shooter and super serious and that can always be funny when things are a light matter and someone takes it way too seriously. Gwyneth is very serious about her cheerleading, so it’s pretty funny.

Did you have to audition for the role?

Yes, I did have to audition for the role actually. I went in and it was quite a funny story.  I went in and I did the whole audition process, and there is a part in the film where I do a little thing with my hands and I make a call and I say “Panthers” out [loud], and my whole team does it with me. And the director actually said can you just do some kind of claw thing while I was in the audition process. I did my little – I beat my hands together and put my claw out and he said, “That’s great!” Fast forward to the rehearsal process, once I had already been offered the role, he was like what’s that thing that you did in the audition?  And I showed him again what I did and it became throughout the film, something that my team, the Panthers, do every time we end a conversation. So it gave us a pretty funny process.

From “Nip/Tuck” to “90210” to now “Fired Up!,” how do you approach the role of antagonist differently?

It’s an interesting process playing the bad girl. It’s actually a lot of fun, because I get an opportunity to really play around and do some fun stuff and build extra layers. But it’s also a problem if it is something that you step into and you make sure that you step out of because you don’t want to be that person in real life. I listen to music. I have my I-Pod. Especially on the set of “Fired Up!,” I was pretty set in who I wanted Gwyneth to be and I wanted to stay serious. It’s a funny film, so a lot of times, the actors in between takes, are making jokes, and it’s important for me to stay serious in that time. So I would listen to music. I would go off by myself. I keep clear on what I want to do and just really separate myself from the rest of the cast, so I was a loner on that film. On “90210” and the other shows are obviously different in the way my characters are different levels of bad, but on “Fired Up!” I was definitely a bit of a loner.

Some people might argue that [cheerleading] isn’t a sport. Why do you consider it one?

Personally, I label it a sport because a lot of times people don’t label it a sport and I don’t think that they give the credit that’s due to cheerleaders and to athletes who are cheering and doing the work that they do in order to just do a minimal stunt. It’s incredible the amount of athleticism that goes into being a cheerleader, and the reason that I label it a sport is because you have to be a true athlete to play a sport, and you certainly have to be a true athlete to be a cheerleader, so I label it in that category for that reason.

Did you do your own stunts, and if so, did you encounter any injuries?

Yes, I did do my own stunts. I was very proud of myself actually. I didn’t have as many days training as the rest of the cast, because I was actually doing a project in New York at the time. I came in a couple of days late and I walked in and they said alright, you’re ready to go, let’s throw you up in the air, and I was like oh, my God, here we go. That was insane, but I actually learned three air stunts, two of which were cut out. I was very bummed about it that they deleted scenes later, but I definitely really loved the fact that they let me do my own stunts. Sometimes they don’t like the actors to do that because you can incur injuries, but I did alright. I had one incident where someone else fell and hit me, and I saw stars for a few seconds, but other than that, I was alright, so it was a good time.