Interview: Jillian Murray of Wild Things: Foursome

Actress Jillian Murray has certainly done a good deal of work in family fare, most notably her appearances in such movies as Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh and the Disney Channel’s Sonny With a Chance. But it’s her most recent and decidedly more mature material that has captured our eye of late. In the DVD premiere Wild Things: Foursome (Sony, DVD $24.96, Blu-ray $30.95, released on June 1, 2010; Read our review), the latest film in the titillating thriller franchise from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Jillian eschews her pretty and peppy image and shifts to sexy and spirited mode for her role as the deliciously deceitful Brandi Cox.

DD: You were 14 years old when the original Wild Things was released. Were you a fan?

Murray: Oh yes! I saw the original on video and loved it!  I loved Neve Campbell and Denise Richards and I wanted to be them. Really!

DD: Which of their roles most appealed to you?

Murray: I wanted to be both of them! It’s kind of obvious who’s a “bad girl” at the beginning, but then you’re fooled and you find out that they’re both bad. [For Foursome], I originally read for Marnette [Patterson’s] role — we couldn’t decide what character I should be — but then I went with Brandi, who was the real bad girl, which was very appealing to me. I liked being the manipulative one behind everything!

DD: As Brandi, you take part in some pretty steamy sex scenes, including the “foursome” that the title refers to. It looked like one of the three actresses in that scene had a no-nudity clause in her contract! Not you, though…

Murray: [laughs] Yes, that was something that happened the day of the shoot. A lot of people get nervous when it comes down to it and you have to shoot the scene. And when we were shooting it, there were certain rules we had to work with to make sure everyone was comfortable. You never know how they’re going edit the scene, which, for me, is the only thing that was scary about doing it.

DD: But you were a trooper, hmmm?

Murray: Well, I thought about the film and the part and if I was ever going to get a chance to play someone like Brandi again. I thought, “Why not?” and I went for it. I’m young and in shape, so I might as well do it now.

DD: How did the rest of the shoot go?

Murray: Out of all the films I’ve done, this one went the smoothest. We knocked out scenes right on time. Everything was so structured and moved along perfectly. When you do studio projects on a schedule like this, you don’t get a lot of takes. It’s a time crunch thing.

DD: Shooting in Florida couldn’t have been all that bad, either.

Murray: We all really enjoyed it! My room at the W Hotel [in Fort Lauderdale] was right on the beach, and it was breathtaking. Definitely the sexiest location. It was always hot!

DD: That reminds me: When I was doing some research before our interview, I stumbled onto lots of pictures and gossip reports of you and your co-star Ashley Parker Angel having a great time during the shoot. How do you feel about reading about your personal life online?

Murray: That’s part of the deal and people know that’s how this industry works. If you don’t put yourself out there, wel … let’s say that I’d rather be talked about than not! Everyone bullshits you in this industry. They all love the premieres and the red carpets and all that. And if they say they don’t, they’re bullshitting you!

About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.