Blythe Auffarth

Movie The Girl Next Door

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0830558/

KR: Were you initially intimated playing the role?

I’ve played Anne Frank, Helen Keller, and a young girl who murdered her own father. Each role was tremendously demanding and its successful execution intrinsically rewarding. I welcomed the challenge!

When I was on set, I saw that you would come out of the make-up room blindfolded, walk to the set that way and never took it off until the scene was done being shot. I assume this is to get into character. Can you talk about that whole process?

The day you visited set, we were filming a scene where David pulls a blindfold from my eyes after me not seeing the light of day for some time. I wore my blindfold while Paula finished my hair and continued to wear it to set, so that my initial reaction to the light would be as real and truthful as possible. It was also an attempt to remove myself from the bustle of set and create a more controlled, focused environment where I could prepare. The circumstances surrounding the scene and the scenes leading up to that moment were so intense; I couldn’t just jump into it.

KR: Have you filmed any scenes that have completely freaked you out?

If you’ve read the book, you know there are a lot of difficult and off-putting scenes in The Girl Next Door. But if you haven’t read the book, I don’t want to give anything away by describing my experiences with those particular moments. My mouth is gagged; no pun intended! Now I’m not going to say this role was a piece of cake; far from it. But I was able to maintain a sense of self and reality throughout the whole thing, which helped. Greg and I also communicated regularly on the phone and in person, which helped assuage any fears or misgivings I had about what was being shot. I trusted him entirely. He was great.