A day at the office sounds like a whole lot of fun for actress Alexandra Daddario. She’s patrolled the beaches of Florida in Baywatch, braved a massive earthquake in San Andreas and gone on the holiday of a lifetime with Kate Upton in the road-trip comedy The Layover.
Speaking to marie claire over the phone, the Los Angeles-based actress confirms that shooting The Layover was just fun as it looks, especially during one rowdy dance scene.
“At one point we actually broke out a bottle of wine secretly because I am particularly bad at dancing, so I sometimes need a little bit of wine to get rid of myself self-consciousness,” she recounts. “We did have a lot of fun just sneaking wine and dancing, it didn’t feel like work.”
Ahead of The Layover’s release on DVD in Australia, Daddario talks on-set shenanigans, dating rumours and who she’d love to work with next.
You’re hilarious on Twitter. A recent favourite was: “My friend just told me that telling men I love them, throwing a potato at them and then telling them about my mortgage and the sex dream I had about my dog isn’t going to work?” How close is your Twitter voice to your ‘real-life’ persona?
I think it’s close, I mean it is my sense of humour. I’m a little nonsensical, I’m a little absurd and I don’t take myself too seriously.
While shooting The Layover, was it fun acting out that constant one-upmanship with Kate Upton?
It was, and we had really good chemistry while we were shooting and I think that really comes across in the film. And having William H. Macy direct was completely fascinating and amazing too, he’s such a kind and incredible human being. Being an actor he was able to really put himself in our shoes in a way that some directors can’t.
Some reviewers criticised the film for pitting two women against each other. How do you feel about that view?
I understand why people would see that. We like to think about it as instead of a competition between the two of us over a guy, it’s more that we are struggling in our own lives and putting it on this guy. It’s really a story of two women that are growing up and figuring themselves out and figuring out their love lives. I think that’s really where the rivalry came from.
Often when you’re in a movie with a handsome co-star like Zac Efron, everyone suddenly assumes you’re dating. How does that feel?
It’s only happened a couple of times, but it happens. The fact that people think that I can get someone as hot as Zac Efron, it’s cool, I feel like I’m getting back at all the boys in high school that wouldn’t date me.
Do you have any high school dating horror stories?
I went to an all-girls school, so I didn’t really date. But one time—oh it was so embarrassing—I sat in front of a mirror when I was 15 for like, two hours putting on makeup for this date where my friend was setting me up with her friend, and we were going to go to the movies. I thought I looked so gorgeous, I had put on all this eyeliner and had gone through my mother’s makeup. We had this date and it was really awkward and he was like, “Bye!” Then the next day my friend calls and said that he had called and said that I was wearing too much makeup and that I looked weird. I must have looked like a clown or something, I didn’t know what I was doing! So that was a sort of sad date.
Do you keep touch with your previous costars? Is there a group chat with you, The Rock and Zac Effron?
I have a group chat actually going from San Andreas, it’s some of the crew members and myself! I keep in touch with people from Baywatch, San Andreas and Percy Jackson.
Who would you love to work with—and maybe add to the group chat?
I would love to work with Steve Martin. Charlize Theron seems like such a cool chick to hang out with and John C. Riley, I just love John C. Riley.
Many women have joined the #MeToo conversation and have spoken out about sexual harassment and abuse. Is that a movement you support?
Yes, I do and I support it… Women, we know that there’s even just subtle things in society that we have to put up with, that I don’t think we should put up with anymore. We should feel confident to have a voice and we should feel confident to speak up. There is too much fear, and I understand because I have been a victim of that myself, being afraid to speak up, blaming myself. I hope that young people and young women now feel the confidence to speak up in a way that I and others couldn’t.
If you feel comfortable sharing, what are some of those moments where you felt like you couldn’t speak up?
There’s nothing really that I’m really comfortable talking about yet, but I think that it is everything from small to big. Sometimes men can be abusive and speak to young women in a way that they feel they can because it is a young woman and they feel more powerful than them. And even if it’s just someone speaking that way to someone, knowing that you can speak back is important. Everything from that to the more severe things that have happened—and can happen—I think that it is just about empowering women. I’ve had a whole variety of different things over the years happen. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, but it is very encouraging to me and I do feel empowered by what’s happening.
Lastly, you always make amazing fashion choices on the red carpet. How would you describe your personal style?
I think I’m still trying to grow into my fashion sense. I really Rag and Bone, and I love Dior. I like sophisticated but sexy, I am still sort of figuring out what I love.
The Layover is out now on DVD.
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