Inside 'The Image of You' with Sasha Pieterse: A Double Role Journey

[00:00:00] Sasha, thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged.

[00:00:13] I so appreciate it.

[00:00:14] Thanks for having me.

[00:00:16] The Image of You, I watched it a few nights ago with my wife.

[00:00:19] What a ride and a psychological thriller.

[00:00:23] You have to pay attention because it gives things away while you're watching this movie,

[00:00:27] which I enjoyed.

[00:00:28] I like those type of movies where you can just put your phone away and pay attention

[00:00:30] to every little detail of this type of movie.

[00:00:33] I really appreciate that.

[00:00:34] I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[00:00:35] And it's true, we do give little Easter eggs and it all kind of makes sense at the end.

[00:00:40] And that twist is something that I didn't see coming when I read the script initially,

[00:00:44] which I loved because that's rare for me.

[00:00:46] Usually I like I understand it.

[00:00:48] It's predictable, but this wasn't.

[00:00:50] And playing two characters was just even more fun.

[00:00:52] So I really love that you loved it.

[00:00:54] It makes me really happy.

[00:00:56] So the first question I want to start off with is if Anna and Zoe had to describe each

[00:01:00] other in three words, what do you think they would say?

[00:01:04] I think Anna would say that Zoe is damaged, over sexualizes and has trust issues.

[00:01:15] Yeah, I think Zoe would say Anna is naive, lovey dovey and maybe princess.

[00:01:29] I mean, I think it's one of those things where they love each other so deeply, but they're

[00:01:32] so polar opposite and they both think each other is a little unreasonable.

[00:01:38] What drew you to these roles?

[00:01:40] Because you play two different characters, Anna and Zoe.

[00:01:42] Like how did you approach portraying them pretty much with these characters?

[00:01:47] Yeah, I mean, I think my first and it was natural and it was exciting, but my first

[00:01:51] obstacle was creating them.

[00:01:53] You know, in order for it to be believable on screen, they need to be different people,

[00:02:00] even though obviously we look the same.

[00:02:01] So it's like creating a different tone of voice, creating a different walk, creating

[00:02:05] different reactions, different likes and hates towards things.

[00:02:10] As silly as it sounds, like creating a favorite color for each of them.

[00:02:12] Like you really need to know these characters so well in order to be able to flip those

[00:02:17] switches back and forth.

[00:02:19] And I mean, they're both so fun in their own ways.

[00:02:22] And there's, you've seen it.

[00:02:24] I don't know, like no spoilers for everybody else.

[00:02:25] But because of that twist at the end, it needs to have so much personality throughout

[00:02:32] in order for it to be as effective and fun at the end.

[00:02:37] Yeah, I can see that.

[00:02:38] I like how the storyline revolves around like deception, desire.

[00:02:42] Like how do you like, how would you describe each character's journey?

[00:02:47] Yeah, I mean, I feel like Anna is just she sees the good in everybody and she's a hopeless

[00:02:55] romantic.

[00:02:56] So she wants to find her person.

[00:02:58] She thinks that will be, will make her life perfect.

[00:03:01] And it's like she throws blinders on because she doesn't want to see the fact that the

[00:03:08] world can be a crappy place and that things aren't necessarily great in her life completely.

[00:03:14] And I think her journey through, I mean, a lot of it is grief.

[00:03:21] Her journey is grief.

[00:03:23] It's trying to understand situations, trying to cope with the fact that she's been hurt

[00:03:30] before and her perfect world crumbles.

[00:03:36] Everything that her idea of what her life could be and should be dissolves.

[00:03:42] And I think it's tragic for her.

[00:03:45] She doesn't know how to handle it.

[00:03:47] And Zoe on the flip side doesn't trust anybody.

[00:03:51] She's extremely cynical.

[00:03:54] She doesn't fall for people because in her opinion, she thinks that people can't fulfill

[00:03:59] anything for her.

[00:03:59] She thinks that there is no perfect man.

[00:04:02] There is no happy ending.

[00:04:04] And so she needs to be her own.

[00:04:07] She needs to be her own everything.

[00:04:09] And when she falls for Nick, I think it shocks her and it surprises her.

[00:04:14] And it's devastating in lots of ways.

[00:04:18] Devastating for her psyche, devastating for Nick, devastating for all parties involved.

[00:04:24] And poor Nick.

[00:04:28] Can I swear on this?

[00:04:29] Yeah, go ahead.

[00:04:31] I really do think that at the end of the day, he is a fuck boy.

[00:04:33] He was one.

[00:04:34] When he meets Anna, I think it changes.

[00:04:37] It definitely changes.

[00:04:38] He sees that, OK, wow, I didn't think that I could want to settle down.

[00:04:43] And this girl is amazing.

[00:04:44] And this is what I didn't even know, but this is what I was looking for.

[00:04:48] And when tragedy strikes in his life with his family, I think it becomes evident that

[00:04:53] he was missing this in his life.

[00:04:54] And so he holds on tighter.

[00:04:56] But at the end of the day, she doesn't fulfill everything that he wants or that he's used

[00:05:02] to or that he needs, let's face it, sexually.

[00:05:05] And so when he sees Zoe and the fact that she is essentially the love of his life, except

[00:05:12] with the rest of it, she's a whole package.

[00:05:15] She completes the package.

[00:05:17] Let's say that she's not the whole package.

[00:05:18] He completes the package.

[00:05:19] And this love triangle is so complicated.

[00:05:22] And I think that Nick, Nick gets himself into quite a pickle and and he just he he loses

[00:05:30] the battle.

[00:05:33] Speaking of Nick to Parker Young, if I wasn't working with him and I got to believe because

[00:05:36] like I've seen him in other films, too, and sitcoms like he's got to be funny behind the

[00:05:42] scenes or some kind of blooper that's happened during this movie.

[00:05:46] We laughed so much on set.

[00:05:47] I we laughed a crazy amount for multiple reasons.

[00:05:52] I mean, the circumstances, you know, the situations we were in and just in general, he is a very,

[00:05:56] very fun person.

[00:05:57] And he's he's I think always also looking for humor in things which which definitely

[00:06:02] helps.

[00:06:03] And especially with our intimate scenes, it's it's a weird thing as you know, it's a weird

[00:06:07] job to have.

[00:06:08] And our intimacy coordinator was incredible.

[00:06:11] And and it really worked between the three of us.

[00:06:13] We created and choreographed things and and then still had room for it to be natural and

[00:06:18] spontaneous, which is really what you need.

[00:06:20] You need to have that base friendship line.

[00:06:22] You need to have a certain level of trust before you even turn into your character.

[00:06:28] And I think we had that and we have a lot of similarities.

[00:06:31] You know, we're both both been married and with our partners for a long time.

[00:06:34] We both have little kids.

[00:06:36] And I think there was nothing to necessarily explain on that level or we just kind of went

[00:06:41] for it and playing two characters.

[00:06:43] He had to respond to two different women and and to make sure that that was believable for

[00:06:48] him.

[00:06:49] And and I think we just we had fun with that.

[00:06:52] But he is a very, very fun person.

[00:06:54] And he's very dedicated to what he does.

[00:06:56] He's so passionate.

[00:06:57] And so we aligned on a lot of things and it was such a good experience.

[00:07:01] I think it would have been weird to have done, you know, that movie with anybody else.

[00:07:06] It just felt right.

[00:07:08] Also, this is based off a book also like did you go back to read the book to try to get

[00:07:12] an idea how you want to put these characters or did you go in like with the way you wanted

[00:07:16] to do this?

[00:07:17] I went in blind on purpose.

[00:07:20] But Adele, who is absolutely brilliant, Adele Parks is the author of the of the book.

[00:07:25] She was on set and that was the perfect combination because I I wanted to do these

[00:07:30] characters justice.

[00:07:31] They are so loved.

[00:07:33] And I wanted to make sure that even though I was creating them in my mind that it would

[00:07:39] fulfill her vision, her fans vision.

[00:07:43] And and, you know, there's such special characters that have so much depth to them.

[00:07:49] And so as long as I was accomplishing that and as long as she had a great reaction, we

[00:07:53] really were creative in the same way.

[00:07:56] We see things very similarly.

[00:07:58] So it felt fun.

[00:08:00] It felt like having this this really cool, wise buddy on set that I could just kind of

[00:08:04] lean on and make sure that I was going in the right direction.

[00:08:08] And yeah, it really, really helps.

[00:08:10] But yeah, there's a pressure that comes with that as well.

[00:08:12] But I think we did.

[00:08:14] I think we did.

[00:08:15] We had a lot of fun and I think it shows on camera.

[00:08:18] Last question.

[00:08:19] What are you hoping for when the viewers are going to watch this film?

[00:08:22] What are you hoping they get out of it?

[00:08:23] And what are you hoping like everybody thinks while they're watching this?

[00:08:28] I hope it's a warning.

[00:08:30] I hope it's a like, you know what not to do.

[00:08:32] But ultimately, I just want you to be entertained.

[00:08:34] I want you to be open minded and really, you know, immerse yourself in it.

[00:08:39] But yeah, I mean, I never online dated, but so many of my friends do and have.

[00:08:44] And inspecting dating profiles.

[00:08:46] I think it's kind of that like warning that maybe you shouldn't dive into anything too

[00:08:50] quickly.

[00:08:51] Maybe you should figure out who these people are before before you get serious with anybody.

[00:08:56] I mean, that's that's a silly way of thinking about it.

[00:08:58] But ultimately, this is fun.

[00:09:00] I want you to have fun.

[00:09:01] Amazing.

[00:09:01] Sasha, I want to thank you for giving me this today.

[00:09:03] This is great and good luck with the film.

[00:09:05] Thank you so much.