INT: Autumn Reeser

Last Updated on July 27, 2021

To be honest, I wasn’t terribly familiar with Autumn Reeser’s work. I never watched “The O.C.” or her other television work. And the fact that I still have yet to see
THE LOST BOYS 2: THE
TRIBE, made me a little nervous as I prepared to interview her. I was however a fan of the original… in fact, that was the time that both THE LOST BOYS and NEAR DARK made me love vampires again. So am I excited for the long awaited sequel comedy horror hit of little boys lost? For the most part, yes. I’m not sure how my reaction will be, but I am looking forward to checking it out. I’m just hoping for some good times tonight… rock and roll music gonna play all night…

As I mentioned, I was a little nervous to chat with Autumn. But when she called, it happened to be such a pleasant conversation. We talked movies, we talked family and we just talked about all sorts of stuff. She is absolutely charming and pretty damn beautiful, all rolled into one. I might even have to check out “The O.C.” just to see the role that made her famous. So check it out, and when THE LOST BOYS 2 comes out on July 29th… you might want to check it out also.

Well, I’m sure you know this, but I have not seen THE LOST BOYS 2: THE TRIBE as of yet.

I did know that, I don’t know that anyone gets to see it.

I know… they’re being all secretive.

It’s a secret.

Now, were you a fan of the original film?

I really liked it, but I only saw it less than a year ago for the first time, right when I was offered the part.

So you had auditioned before or did you even have to audition?

No, I didn’t. I didn’t audition.

Wow. Look at you [Laughing].

I know [Laughing]. I’m a lucky girl. Yeah, they offered it to me and I said, let me watch the original and see. And I really enjoyed it because, I like that it wasn’t just one spooky thing right after another, which to me gets a little tedious. I like that it was humorous, funny and a little tongue-in-cheek. So I read the script and I just decided I’d like to do it.

How closely does the script follow the original? It almost seems like it is very, very similar.

It’s very similar to the original. Yeah, I basically play the Jason Patric character from the original. There’s not a lot of changes just because you take a story about two brothers and turn it into a story about a brother and his sister, you know, that changes the dynamics of everything. So I thought it was a very good way to adapt it.

When you first signed on, obviously there was a lot of talk about whether it should go theatrical including a petition…

I saw that.

What is it with you? Every show you’re on has some petition.

I know. No kidding [Laughing]. It’s really funny, “The O.C.” one is still going around.

Are you serious?

I’m dead serious. People want it back and they still have that petition. And there’s like a site for it too. And I’m just like, it’s not coming back, maybe you should do something else with your time, it’s not coming back [Laughing].

They just love you guys so much…

Like, flip on over to “Gossip Girl” [Laughing]. There ya go… It’s funny, I love that people are that passionate about shows. What was the show that they saved by sending peanuts… “Jericho” or something. They just mailed a ton of peanuts to the network. It was so creative.

Well, occasionally it will save a show.

Yeah, it’s pretty rare because so often there are so many reasons going on why the show is ending. It’s not just the ratings are down, there’s a lot of political reasons why a show ends.

Well looking at your resume, you’ve worked a whole lot in television.

I’ve worked a lot. Yeah, I started auditioning at nineteen. And I’ve been working really steadily ever since. I’ve been very lucky.

Has it been kind of a tough transition for you, finding the right film roles?

No, not at all. I enjoy acting and I like to work, so I just… I see what’s out there and what comes to me. And because I started in television, a lot of people on the television side of things know me, so that’s how that happened. Of course I’d love to do more film. And I’ve done four films this past year which has been great. But then I’m also doing “Pushing Daisies”. I think the industry has changed where you don’t have to choose one or the other now. And I think a lot it is because a lot of the better roles out there are on television. There are a lot of great, great projects this pilot season, especially for women. And I’m so pleased to see that, because I find a lot of times what happens with film roles that I go out for, a lot of them are the “girlfriend” part, and there’s not that much to it sometimes. Kind of like, her purpose is just to be the trophy for the guy. And honestly those roles don’t tend to be that interesting. I just like to do projects that I find intriguing for whatever reason. And that’s why I was excited to be a part of this because I was really interested in wearing vampire fangs. I think it would be fun [Laughing].

How much do you get down and dirty with the vamp in you?

A lot.

Cool.

Yeah, it’s really fun because… its basically this girl and she starts off as a girl and ends the movie as a woman. And she really goes through a whole transition in the film. It was just really fun.

Again, I haven’t seen the film but how much did you get to work with the Coreys?

Yeah, I worked with Corey Feldman.

What was that like?

It was great. He’s great, he’s been acting his whole life so he’s a real pro.

Oh yeah. FRIDAY THE 13th PART 4: THE FINAL CHAPTER.

Really?

You didn’t know that?

No [Laughing].

You need to see it.

Oh funny.

He’s the kid that kills Jason (sort of).

I don’t know that I’ve seen any of the FRIDAY THE 13th’s.

Oh, you’re missing out. They’re great.

I get scared a little easy.

[Laughing] And here you’re doing a horror film.

[Laughing] Yeah… it’s different though, when you’re actually doing it, it’s really fun. It’s not often actually terrifying. The only thing that was really terrifying for me, was being covered in blood. The end result of it is awesome. I look at it and I’m like, okay, it was kinda worth it.

Now does your brother in the film have a Rob Lowe poster up?

What???

[Laughing] If you watch the original film, Corey Haim has a poster of Rob Lowe lifting up his shirt.

Oh my God, he does! That’s right!

I think they should’ve brought that back.

I don’t know if they did but you’ll find, fans of the original, there’s a lot of really great throw backs to the original that you really only are going to know if you are a fan of the original.

Can you name a couple of those?

No.

Oh, you’re killing me [Laughing]!

I would spoil it for you. Can’t you wait until you watch it?

Oh, I’m totally going to watch it. You said you had four films coming out, looking at IMDB right now, I see POSSESSIONS…

Yeah, and I did one back in… about a year ago that aired in September called NATURE OF THE BEAST, a werewolf movie. I did a werewolf movie and then I did an episode of “Ghost Whisperer” and then I did LOST BOYS. So I had ghosts, werewolves and vampires, oh my.

That’s kind of cool though.

It was, it was really, really fun. But I’ve never done anything like that. I got a kick out of all of it. And then I have a movie coming out August 11th called “The American Mall”. It’s a musical with the “High School Musical” producers. And it will air on MTV, and I play the villain.

Was it fun being the bad guy?

Oh, I love it. I love playing villains, I really do.

It does seem like your career is really taking off.

Yeah, I’ve kept really busy, which has been great.

Now, backing up just a little bit, what are your thoughts about the LOST BOYS going straight to DVD. Were you disappointed at all by that?

I don’t think that most people expected that it was going to go theatrical. When I took it on, I was told it was going to DVD. I think it’s a better market for it, I think it’s a better place for it. Because I found that is how most people want to watch it. They want to watch it in a group setting where they can pause it and talk about it. So I think it’s very smart of them to go this direction.

Let’s talk about your director, P.J. Pesce. Was it nice to work with a director who acts also? Was he an “actor’s director”?

Oh definitely. He definitely understands working with actors, and the notes to give you that are going to work won’t confuse you. He challenges you. He doesn’t just come in and say, ‘Okay, here’s what it says on the page, so here is what we’re going to do.’, he comes in a says, ‘Okay, what’s the best way we can do this to tell the story?’ And [he] trusts that as an actor you will be able to do it. It makes it much more fun and exciting to come to work and be like, ‘Okay, well we’re going to do it like this today. Okay, so it’s like you’re a junkie suddenly!’, you know, it’s a lot more fun to be put to a challenge like that, working with a director who trusts you.

Now going into a film like this, and recreating a lot of memories for a lot of people… except for the Rob Lowe poster [Laughing]… I was fascinated by the fact he actually had that up…

I was fascinated by their shirts.

Oh yeah! Of course huh? I always felt that Jason Patric was really cool in that film.

I think most dudes did. I think most dudes were like, ‘He’s the coolest guy ever. I can’t wait to grow up, I’ll be just like him.’

Well him or Kiefer Sutherland. Going in to this film, were you a little nervous about the fans reactions?

Well, I think going into anything like this, it just goes along with the territory. If you’re going to make a sequel or something inspired by or a remake, it just comes with the territory. People are going to be skeptical or pay extra attention to it because it’s important to them. It’s important to them that its done right and its important to them that they like it. Or they’re just pissed off that it’s being done at all. It wasn’t anything I really thought that much of, once I took the part. You know, it has nothing to do with me really. My job is to tell the story as best I can. That’s all that my job really is.

Let me know what you think. Send questions and/or comments to [email protected]