BGG AFTER DARK: Firstly, let’s talk a bit about Cheerleader Massacre 2 – which is such a fun flick! Do you remember how they pitched that to you originally? I imagine the title alone would’ve brought a smile to your face?
JULIA LEHMAN: Cheerleader Massacre 2 was such a blast to work on. I actually didn’t come into it until right before we started shooting!! My manager at the time, Marv Dauer, had another client working on the film. They had a different actress lined up to play Anna (my role) but last minute something fell through. I remember I was leaving class (I was at USC at the time) when I got a call from Marv asking me to drive to Beverly Hills to meet with the producers of the film including Rob Polgar and the director Brad Rushing. We read through some scenes and that was it!! I started the next day. The whole thing was such a beautiful whirlwind. I was smack dab in the middle of finals, so between filming I was studying and going to class when we had night shoots. The cast and crew were super supportive and very fun to work with. We all knew we were part of creating a sequel for a Roger Corman cult classic so we wanted to do it justice.
BGG AFTER DARK: And I always wonder, when doing a film like that, is it hard to keep a straight face? Because you are supposed to play it seriously, right?
JULIA LEHMAN: Ha, yeah. I know what you mean. There were definitely parts of shooting when we would laugh through some of the “campier” moments. That being said, the only way the audience can really enjoy watching the movie is if we all commit to the circumstances of the story. When you look at it that way, we’re all at a cheerleading camp out in the middle of nowhere and people start dying. If you think about something like that actually happening, it’s scary. Also, we shot out in the woods in this creepy old house, mainly in the middle of the night, so that made the acting part really easy. There was a rickety old rope bridge that we had to cross to get to where we did a majority of the “horror” scenes. I am not amazing when it comes to heights so that walk alone helped me get in the mood before we even got to set.
It also didn’t hurt that we had Adam Lima involved with the visual effects. He created some pretty genius additions to the ambience. Brad and Rob were great about making sure the set itself felt safe and intimate which really helped us all to let loose and commit to what we were doing.
BGG AFTER DARK: In some respects, I guess The Burning Dead would’ve been a similar experience – silly stuff going on, but you have to treat the material very seriously? You bring real humanity to your part in The Burning Dead. Do you think that’s important with genre films like this?
JULIA LEHMAN: Thank you!! And, absolutely. As silly as the premise can be perceived to be, it only works if the whole cast is in it one hundred percent. We all want to be a part of a fun film that people enjoy watching. If any of us are winking at the material within it or not living it like it’s happening, the audience won’t have a good time. And that’s why we do this, right?
BGG AFTER DARK: Did you know the filmmakers beforehand? How did you end up getting the part?
JULIA LEHMAN: Mark Sikes cast me in a Rolfe Kanefsky film called Pretty Cool 2. He contacted me when he first started casting The Burning Dead and asked me to come in to read for Eve. They hadn’t released the script and the sides didn’t actually address the Zombies, it only talked about volcanoes so I had no idea what the movie was about. It wasn’t until the callback that I heard the entire premise of the film. I loved it and was lucky to have Jeff Miller and Mark offer me the part.
BGG AFTER DARK: Was there a lot of green screen or special effects work for you, requiring you to use your imagination a lot in scenes?
JULIA LEHMAN: Working on Constantine was an incredible experience. It’s awesome to come in at the beginning of any show because everyone is still getting their footing as far as what the show is going to be. There was so much excitement around the set about what was being created. Working with talent like Neil Marshall, David Goyer and Daniel Cerone, who have all created things that I admire, was in itself a dream. Also, I don’t normally get to be the bad guy, I’m always running from the bad guy. It was so fun to be in all that makeup and know that I was going to be a part of scaring the audience as opposed to just being scared with the audience. I had a wonderful time working on Constantine. It was a very special experience and now I can cross playing a demon off of my bucket list.