We fall in love with the people who might not be best for us: After star Selma Blair
On her character as “Carol Young”
I play Carol who's our lead Tessa's mom, and for me this was so relatable to play mom because I think any caring mom is kind of a universal thing, and Carol just wants so much for her daughter. Her daughter is beautiful and has promise and they've worked really hard to get her to go to school and this is really a defining moment in Carol's life and of course in Tessa's life but this is her first time we see her kind of struggling on how to let her daughter be her own person.
What brought you to the movie ‘After’
You know this book is so huge and I'm kind of out of the loop of a lot of the things that are in this site-gist of public consumption that everyone loves because I'm so busy being a mom and now trying to go back to work but this was so amazing because then I get to go back to work and be in the midst of something that is so beloved by so many. I got a call couple of days before I came to shoot asking if I was interested in this and I had worked and known Jenny, the director. We did a photo-shoot right when I was starting out, as the first celebrity she had ever shot and I loved her movie all this panic and so I was invited on board and I hadn't read the books but I immediately went and downloaded them as billions have done. I've heard and I was like this is great to be a small part of something like this, I love this and it's kind of a throwback for me also to Cruel Intentions when I first started and I'm kind of playing the mom that Christine Baranski was but much more toned down, we played it in a much more kind of not-as-heightened way but then I was told okay don't read the books and we were just there working on the scripts but I'm really excited, I love when something has an energy already around it and people really want to see it already.
Your views on the story of “After”
It’s a really flawed love story and it's the kind that we all have when we fall in love with the people who might not be best for us and you know that this girl grows up with her first love, and she's forced to grow up with her first experience with a really kind of mature complicated love.
Your reactions on Josephine Langford being “Tessa Young” as your daughter.
Josephine Langford is playing Tessa young and again I'm so out of it that I didn't know who this exceptional creature was, and I'm so flattered that people would think we are very similar but we really are! She has the juiciness of youth that is so perfect of course for this young love story but I mean we're really so similar the way we walk , our broad shoulders were really goofy, we got along truly instantly, we laughed the same way, I let my natural hair color grow out and everyone's like wow I always think of you as brunette - I've dyed it for years, that's not even my color but it's really nice when it just gets to work like that but I was like wow! I don't have to really copy your mannerisms to make something more realistic, we're already there so that's just a nice bit of wonderful kismet and I happen to adore her really, she's very innocent and pure in real life it seems but also really wise and it's really nice to know someone like that.
Watch the incredible love story ‘After’ on 3rd May in your nearest PVR cinemas.
