By: Izumi Hasegawa September 26, 2017
Addison Timlin has been working as an actress since she was eight years old where she performed every orphan role before taking over the title character when she was 9 years old in the National Tour of Annie. Now at 26 years old with television and film credits under her belt, she has fallen in love with what tomorrow might bring her. We chat one on one with the 5’ 1” actress on her new role as Lucinda in Fallen
Q: How are you related to your character in the film?
The part of me that relates to Luce the most is her unwavering belief in love and that it is very much the biggest driving force in her life. She believes in it so fully and it makes her who she is. It compels her to become a better version of herself. It makes her look at herself. I relate to that the most because I am definitely a romantic in my real life and I believe in true love. I think that’s where I related to her the most and bringing her to life was the simplest in that way.
Q: Who is the best kisser, Harrison or Jeremy?
The truth of it is they are both really wonderful kissers. It’s like apples and oranges. Both of them as people, both of them in my friendships and both of them in real life and also their relationships, Cam (played by Harrison Gilbertson) and Luce their relationship versus Lucinda and Daniel (played by Jeremy Irvine). I think even the kisses are different. It’s not about the best of kiss it’s about the kind of kiss. The kiss with Harrison or with Cam is really dangerous, it’s really exciting. The kiss with Jeremy or with Daniel is a kiss that feels like coming home.
Q: For the more intimate scenes, were you cautious of what you were eating prior to filming? No garlic?
I think that there were some pranks and stuff we would play on each other especially in the days where Jeremy and I were harnessed to each other when we were doing the wire stuff of him and I flying together. We would joke to each other about having eaten a particularly garlicy lunch that day or a tuna fish sandwich. In general, and in everything you do, just like in real life, if you are on a date you want to make sure you brush your teeth or you have mints with you just in case there is a kiss at the end of it. It’s the same thing when you are doing a scene that you know going into it that you will have to kiss a person. I think you try to be as respectful to your co-stars as possible. Use some Listerine and have a mint before. We ended up all became such good friends that by the end of it swapping spit was the same as high-fiving really. We just got used to it. When you are working together and do those scenes over and over again you kind of get immune to it.
Q: You started acting at 8 years old?
Yeah, when I was about eight years old. I had been interested in performing. I sang in talent shows from the time I was five years old and then I started doing musicals theater professionally and on Broadway when I was eight to fourteen. I think my first film I was thirteen years old and it went from there. I have been really lucky to do different kinds of projects, film and TV and theater. I have been doing it for a long time.
Q: What is the secret of staying grounded when you start so young?
Part of it is that I’ve got a really great family and I’ve got really great friends that are really supportive. I think it’s really unfortunate with a lot of actors and actresses that are young and living under a microscope. There’s often times a lens or paparazzi or someone’s cell phone or fans that there are times in which actors are now having to be performing in public constantly because you don’t know who is watching or what is being captured. I think that is a pretty unfortunate thing. The only thing I can speak to as far as staying grounded while being in this industry or even being at the center of any sort scandal is having good friends and a good support system and good family.
Q: What’s your most memorable audition?
Truly my audition for this. It was my screen test for this movie with Jeremy. The two of us, we had met the day before for coffee just because we knew that we were going to do this test and we have never met before. It was a really brief meeting that we had for coffee. We were kind of in between things, like hi, hello, nice to meet you. Both of us were so excited about the idea of doing this movie. We were really going in with our fingers crossed. It was just a magical experience because it was myself and Jeremy and multiple cameras and they had it lit nicely and the director was there and he was really directing us. It felt like a glimpse into what we could possibly do together. Our chemistry was immediate and the kind of comfort that we both felt with Scott (Scott Hicks, director) and that communication was really truly like magic was in the room and I know the feeling was so gigantic when we left and I remember hugging Jeremy good bye and we didn’t know that we were going to be cast but I think we both felt that something really special just happened in that room. I think we were going to have a shot to do it for real. It was a really memorable experience. You really only remember your best auditions and worst auditions. Every actor would probably say that there are probably millions of good auditions that we’ve all have that we never would think about again but we’ll remember the ones for the big jobs we want and wanted so badly and the ones we face planted and we were so embarrassed and went horribly.
Q: Most embarrassing audition?
Oh man, I don’t even like to think of them. One of them was really embarrassing. I misread the town in which the character was from. I ended up doing the entire audition with a southern accent and they then told me that I misread it and the character wasn’t southern at all and I was so mortified. It was definitely a choice that I made on purpose that made no sense and everyone was like what part are you auditioning for because it’s not this one. I just felt like such a goon. I laugh about it now.
Q: The last time I spoke to Anton Yeltchin, we talked about his Karaoke go to song. He was such a good man. I know you two worked together in the 2013’s film, Odd Thomas. Any memories you can share about him?
It’s hard to talk about him without crying [we both had tears on our eyes]. I love him so much and I miss him so much. I know that he had so much more to offer the world and so much more creatively. His photographs and his music and his mind and his writing. He was going on to make movies. It’s something that I feel sad about everyday but I also feel inspired by the fact that I’m still here with the opportunity to create things and be alive and share my thoughts and feelings and passions with the things that I am creating with the world. 
I am constantly inspired by the fact that I am still here knowing that someone was taken too soon who had so much to offer. I feel like it’s a responsibility I have that maybe without his passing I wouldn’t have realized, maybe I would not have seized that opportunity in the way that feel like I am. I do feel his presence in my life always. I think that he is very much in the fabric of the universe looking after all of the people that he loved. I know that we feel connected from him in ways that we didn’t know before. I also have this little tattoo on my arm is a drawing that he drew on the first birthday card he ever gave me. I think it was for my twentieth birthday. He drew on that card and I have had that birthday card on my refrigerator for years and years and years. It was one of those things that I am so happy I never got rid of it. I just love that it’s there every day.
Fallen is currently playing on VOD.
For more info, visit the film series’ official Facebook page at,
https://www.facebook.com/TheFallenSeries/
Interview by Izumi Hasegawa – @HNW_Izumi
Edited by: Jody Taylor – @RealJodyTaylor
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