Interview: Odette Yustman Talks “Unborn,” Underwear Modeling and Bugs Up Her Shirt

“The bugs, obviously, were horrible. They were biting me. They were real bugs. Huge potato bugs. They were all over the place and crawling up my shirt. They eat each other, too. It’s horrible.”

Odette Yustman made a splash almost exactly one year ago with the release of Cloverfield as the damsel in some serious city-stomping distress, although she made her film debut as a pig-tailed moppet in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Kindergarten Cop. One year later, she’s taking the lead role for the first time in David Goyer’s Unborn, a horror flick about a young woman terrorized by a the spirit of her twin who died at childbirth - also known as a dybbuk, which is a creature in Jewish mystic folklore. She recently talked about the pressure of headlining a film featuring stars like Gary Oldman, Jane Alexander, and getting her eyes pried open.

So did you have fun doing this movie?
Odette Yustman: I did. I had a blast. I was terrified to start because I’m in the whole movie, and as an actress it’s like “wow I’m gonna have to carry this whole movie. What if it’s not good? What if I mess up? What if they don’t like it?” So that was really scary, but everybody just kind of embraced me. David Goyer was unbelievable. We just really clicked and got along really well. So we had a great relationship and we started building this character a lot and we were really passionate about what was going on. So hopefully people will really enjoy it as much as I did. We had a great time. We were in Chicago and it was really cold but other than that it was great.

How did you land this role?
OY: I read the script because my agent said “you have to read this you have to go in on this.” I read it and I loved it and I loved David’s work already. So I went in and I had to audition quite a few times. It wasn’t just like “great, you have the role.” I had to read for Michael Bay. I had to have meetings with all of the producers. I had to read with other characters. So after I got it I was so excited. I was just like “wow I can’t believe David is trusting me to lead this whole film. Me. Why me? There’s so many other great actresses that could lead this role.” But it’s really cool that I got that experience.

Did the audition process discourage you at all?
OY: Absolutely. It’s really a hard thing to begin with in Hollywood because there is so much competition. You have to be prepared for rejection because it’s inevitable. You move out to LA and you need to know that you’re probably going to get rejected a lot. You have to be okay with that and you have to bring your A-game. And if you’re not right for the role then it is what it is. There’s going to be something else out there. If you keep working hard for it and if you’re being serious about your work then it will happen for you. I’m a big believer in that. I would say to any young people that are watching “just keep going. If you fail, pick your head up and keep going. Because it will happen.”

And you can be rejected for many reasons that don’t necessarily have to do with the quality of your work.
OY: Absolutely. Sometimes they can’t visualize you having another hair color. It could be anything. It’s not necessarily that you’re not a good actor or that they don’t like the way you look.

Did you have a sigh of relief when Gary Oldman came on board?
OY: Absolutely. It’s kind of strange to say you worked with Gary Oldman and Jane Alexander and all these people and be in a bigger role than they are. It’s really surreal. It’s like “what did I do to deserve this?” But I’ll tell you I really learned from them. Working with Gary Oldman, he’s unbelievable. He’s such a great actor. He’s so professional and so funny and he gave me great advice. And Jane Alexander was unbelievable and she gave me great advice as well. Seeing these people and watching how they work and how professional they are just really inspired me. It was really great. Hopefully it will turn out the way we wanted it to.

When you work with big actors like that can you allow yourself even a moment of being star struck?
OY: Oh yeah. I mean I don’t want to be that girl that’s like “oh my god I’m such a big fan.” But after a while I let Gary know that True Romance was one of my favorite movies. And working with Ellen Barkin I let her know that I was such a big fan of hers. And Jeffery Tambor – Arrested Development is so great. Of course I get star struck and of course I get super nervous, but then you just realize that they’re just normal people. They do normal things. You are just like them.

This is an effects-heavy film. How hard was it to react to something that wasn’t there?
OY: A lot of times had to scream to nothing. I have a great imagination and that’s what carries me because if not, you can get blocked and you can get in this stage where it’s like “what am I doing? How am I going to scream and be terrified of that wall?” So you kind of have to find inspiration any way you can, whether it’s from music or looking back at old memories. Everybody has their own process but I feel like just taking your own time and doing the steps you know and you’re comfortable with and then stepping out of your comfort zone is the way to go.

What about working with Atticus Shaffer, the little creepy boy who follows you around? Watching it all, you really want to smack him. He’s such a bad boy.
OY: Which is the complete opposite when you meet him. He’s so sweet and so like “hi how are you? How’s it going today?” You know? He’s so eager and just couldn’t be nicer. And when I watched the movie, it really works. He really is a little shithead. You know what I mean? So that’s good, I guess.

In this movie you have your eye pried open, you get tied down and gagged, and you have to be covered in bugs. So was there one thing that was particularly difficult?
OY:You know what? It was all kind of crazy. I knew from reading the script that it was going to be just physically challenging. She’s a runner and I knew that would be really hard in the winter in Chicago. I also didn’t realize that I would have to wear contacts throughout the whole movie. I’ve never worn contacts and my eyes are really sensitive. So getting used to that was another challenge. The bugs, obviously, were horrible. They were biting me.

They were real?
OY: Yeah, they were real bugs. Huge potato bugs.

They don’t have any sort of venom, they just bite?
OY: No, they just bite. They eat each other, too. It’s horrible. They’re horrible animals and I don’t even think they serve a purpose on this earth.

That’s a real safety concern though isn’t it?
OY: Yeah, no kidding. David Goyer was like, “they’re fine. They’re really great, I mean I’ve held one.” Yeah, right. They were all over the place and crawling up my shirt. It was really bad, on top of having to cry hysterically and scream and be terrified, I had to deal with bugs and speculums in my eye and all that stuff. But it doesn’t matter because I’m not complaining at all. I’m lucky to be where I am and to have David trust me to be the lead of his movie is really unbelievable.

And you had to sit there for the eye thing and take it. Did it hurt?
OY: Yeah, absolutely. I didn’t even know we were going to do that. David was like “I have an idea. We’re going to put this thing in your eye and it’s not going to hurt at all and we’re only going to do it once.” I’m like “okay, fine, I’ll do it if you do it.” And he’s like “of course I’ll do it.” So they put these numbing drops in my eye, they put it in, and it hurt. You could feel it and it was so uncomfortable. And David was like “oh man this looks great. We gotta do a close up; we gotta do this angle and this angle.” So I ended up doing it like five times. It hurt, it was horrible, and then he didn’t end up doing it at all. Of course not.

After doing a movie like this that is so physically demanding, do you feel like you’re kind of done with the action/thriller for a while? Or is it more encouraging, like you did it and your ready for more?
OY: Well, never say never. I defiantly want to maybe do something lighter. Maybe a comedy. You know, make people laugh this time. That would be really great. Or like a great drama. Or a period piece, steering away from the sci-fi genre, but hey, if something really great comes up, absolutely. I really enjoy it and it is what it is. You can’t really be that picky and I really loved the script. If there’s something that’s great out there, then absolutely.

Do you have any actresses whose careers you admire?
OY: Absolutely, I would love to have any one of these actresses’ careers. I love Jennifer Connelly, I think she’s unbelievable. Kate Winslet, she couldn’t be better. Cate Blanchett, she’s great. Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, Jane Alexander who I worked with, Helen Mirren, the list can go on and on. And even younger actresses my age - I think Natalie Portman is outstanding and Rachel McAdams is great. There are so many great actresses out there and I’m making my baby steps. I definitely admire all of these actress’ careers and I’ve watched them and I can learn from them.

“It’s horrifying for me. I mean, everybody has their insecurities, as do I. I think that I’m way too skinny. It’s hard to see those scenes but you gotta do it, I guess. You’ve got to compromise and just go with it.”

You look fantastic in this movie. Very sexy and it was almost respectful in a sense. How conscious do you get when you’re in your tighty whiteys?
OY: It’s horrifying for me. I mean, everybody has their insecurities, as do I. I think that I’m way too skinny and so I was like “wow I have to get in my underwear, what am I gonna do?” And they’re like “well, gain weight.” I’m like “okay it’s really hard for me.” So it’s hard to see those scenes but you gotta do it I guess. You gotta compromise and just go with it. They showed me an array of choices, and it was a g-string and then those covered the most. I was like “we’ll go that way.”

What do you remember about Kindergarten Cop?
OY: A lot actually. I remember all the kids going to Arnold’s trailer, knocking on it and running away while he was sleeping. Just causing havoc and playing jokes on everybody. I don’t know how they finished that movie, we were everywhere. They were just like “where’s this kid, where’s this kid? Climbing a tree.” I spoke Spanish actually. I had the little pig tails. It was so much fun.

How did Arnold handle the little kids?
OY: I think he was really annoyed. I think after a while he was over it. But what are you gonna do? It’s a movie with kids and that was the focus of the movie so he had to put up with it.

So what do you have coming up next?
OY: I just finished a movie called Rogues Gallery. It’s a small independent movie. It’s a super dark, dry wit comedy about a group of assassins that the government has hired to kill people off but instead they end up killing each other. It’s a really great comedy and I got to work with unbelievable actors as well. Ellen Barkin, Jeffery Tambor, great comedians like Zack Galifinakis and Rob Corddry, and Ving Rhames. So hopefully it will be playing in some festivals. I’m playing Temperence. We’re all based on tarot card names. I’m Temperence and I basically go to the big guys like Putin and I get intel. It was fun.