The Secret Circle: Britt Robertson

Aug 30, 2011

Tags: Britt Robertson, The Secret Circle, CW, The Family Tree, Lux Cassidy, Life Unexpected, Cassie Blake

Britt Robertson is starring on a new show, The Secret Circle. Based on the books by The Vampire Diaries’ L.J. Smith and produced by Kevin Williamson, who also worked on the vampiric show, Secret Circle already has a bewitching fan base before it’s even on air. Last week Robertson was driving to the set at 3 PM for an evening shoot. She had a new movie opening and wanted to get the word out, so through the crackle of her cell phone we got an interview.

The Family Tree is an edgy indie dramedy about the Burnett family. Robertson plays Kelly Burnett, a provocative teenager who uses profanity to push her mother’s buttons. She even takes off her shirt at the breakfast table, though classily this scene is filmed from behind. Mrs. Burnett has an accident that gives her amnesia, so while the family deals with that drama, Kelly also gets involved with a fellow student and teacher’s secret relationship.

Robertson has been playing teenagers for some time, even though she’s now 21. She’s got one of those faces that still passes for 16, which can be an asset in casting calls. Her most visible role has been as Lux Cassidy on The CW’s drama Life Unexpected, which lasted two years. She also had a cameo in this year’s Scream 4.

On The Secret Circle, she plays Cassie Blake, who moves to the town of Chance Harbor after her mom’s death. There, the children of the other five witch families try to expose her to the secret past from which her mother always tried to protect her. Five episodes into her new show, this is still a new world for Robertson, so after discussing her new movie we caught up on the witchcraft of The Secret Circle.

SuicideGirls: When did you shoot The Family Tree? During Life Unexpected?

Britt Robertson: No, it was actually a long time ago. I turned 18 on the film. So it’s been quite a while now.

SG:

Even though you’re in your 20s now, you’ve gotten to play a lot of teenagers and they’re all so different. Even in their look, like Kelly has straight hair and dark eyes.

BR:

Yeah, exactly. Well, it was interesting when I did this film because it was the first time I’d actually gotten to play my age. I was so used to playing younger. When I booked this role, I was like, “No way!” because I was actually supposed to play 18 in the movie and I hadn’t even turned 18 yet. So it was my first opportunity to play someone who was actually older than I was on the time, a cool opportunity to do something new and different with my look. The wardrobe designer, Kelle Kutsugeras, was so great and she had such a vision for my character as well as all the hair and makeup people because they just wanted to give her a very different and cool style where you could feel that she was outspoken by just looking at her. My character Kelly very much expresses herself with her look.

SG:

Do you look for that in roles, even if they’re similar ages, that you can make them look different and be different?

BR:

Yeah, I think it’s important for me at this point in my life as well as then, when you have a career that spans over a few years and you’re constantly playing teenagers, you don’t want to just play the same old bratty role or look the same. You don’t want an audience to get tired of you so I think that it’s always important to find an individual style for your character just so an audience can identify with you as that person as opposed to the last character they may have seen you as.

SG:

Kelly is a very edgy teenager. Have you ever been asked to play something you were not comfortable with?

BR:

Not really. Sets are a funny place. You always feel like people think it’s real life and you’re actually experiencing these things. Even make-out scenes and heavy sexual scenes, everyone’s like, “Oh wow, how romantic” but they’re actually the most unromantic, non-glamorous environment. There are grips everywhere and it’s hot. They make it so that it’s such a comfortable environment, it’s all your friends and it’s never what you see it to be on screen. For me, the workplace is what it is. That’s where I go every day and I do my job. I’ve never been put in the position where I feel uncomfortable at all. Not saying that that isn’t going to happen, but at this point it hasn’t.

SG:

Could you ever imagine taking off your shirt in front of your family like Kelly does?

BR:

No. No, I could not. It’s so funny, I went to a film festival last year for The Family Tree and my grandparents went to see the movie and I couldn’t sit with them because I was like this is a little too much for me. I couldn’t even be in the same room while they were just watching my back. I obviously don’t get topless in the film but there is a lot of suggestive behavior, so I was not comfortable with that. It’s such a funny moment in the film and it just totally shows you who that character is, that she’s the type of girl who would do something like that just to make a statement. So I think it really shows you who she is and I’m very different from that, that’s for sure.

SG:

With the language too, what did your grandparents think of the film?

BR:

At this point, they just learn to accept every project that I do as a project of its own. Ultimately I’m sure they enjoyed it.

SG:

I was wondering if The Family Tree was a way to be seen as not so innocent as Lux, but was it actually the reverse where you played Lux after this movie and wanted to play someone more innocent?

BR:

I think when I did Life Unexpected, it was just such a great opportunity to build a character in a television setting, to be part of a show that was so well written. I really connected with that character and I thought that she had so much depth and there was so much more to her than what the eye would typically see. When you first see her, you see her as this innocent young girl who hasn’t really been through a lot but then as the series progressed, you realize that she actually isn’t so innocent and she isn’t naïve to a lot of the world and is in fact a little more mature than her parents. So I thought that that was such a great challenge because I was able to play a little young girl who definitely wasn’t the character I play in The Family Tree but also it was a great opportunity to build on that character and see what more she had to offer. Ultimately, the writers gave me that. They gave me so many different opportunities to develop as a young actress.

SG:

Is Cassie on The Secret Circle a senior in high school?

BR:

They haven’t really defined her age but she’s more like I think a junior in high school.

SG:

So you could still be in high school for a while, even though you’re 21.

BR:

True, it’s very true. But it’s funny because when I go out, constantly people, even on airplanes people will be like, “Oh, are you traveling alone?” I’m like yeah and they’re like, “How old are you?” I’m like, “I’m 21.” They say, “You look like you’re 13.” It’s funny, like “You’re 21, how are you playing so young?” versus “This girl shouldn’t even be playing high school. She should be back in middle school.” For me, I’ve pretty much taken it upon myself to put myself in a position where people feel a little bit more comfortable with me as a 16-year-old as opposed to a 26-year-old because it’s just not realistic. I look so much younger than I am and I doubt I’m going to be playing characters in their 20s for a

little while. I’ve come to terms with that. It’s pretty funny.

SG:

Will Cassie change her look as she develops more power?

BR:

It’s possible. The great thing about the supernatural world is things are constantly changing. The world as you know it is evolving always so my character could change drastically from one day to the next, or she could stay the same and keep to her roots. I guess that’s the fun part about it is I never know what I’m going to get.

SG:

Does playing a witch make you feel powerful?

BR:

It doesn’t make me personally feel powerful but I think it gives me a lot to do in the show. It never gets old, my character on this show. There are so many new things that I’m able to develop and work with and new things that I’m learning and constantly challenging myself. I think just as a normal human being, it’s cool to be able to play with all these elements, but it’s not like I come home and expect to be able to move water by myself or anything.

SG:

Could The Secret Circle get into any real Wicca mythology?

BR:

It’s possible. I think our writers are really trying to make it as real as possible and I think they’re trying to add a mythology that’s different from The Vampire Diaries or anything else that you’ve seen on television so that it can really be a new show and become its own identity so you aren’t confused as to if it’s linked with any other show. I think we’re really trying to define who we are as a separate show from all the other supernatural shows. I think they are adding elements of Wiccan mythology if you will, but that’s not really my department. That’s a whole other bag of tricks that I’m just trying to figure out as I go along.

SG:

I know you’re not the writer, but it’s an interesting possibility. How far into the show are you shooting?

BR:

Right now we are on episode 5. We just started episode 5.

SG:

Having also done Scream 4, did you have an interest in horror?

BR:

I did. Doing Scream 4 was really my first touch with any genre type world. So it was such a brief encounter. I only worked on the film for two days so it was such a short-lived project for me. It sort of left me thinking, “Could there be more for this in my life?” or “What exactly is this world?” When this opportunity came along to work with Kevin again, it was such a great opportunity and I thought it would be such a fun thing and a challenge as an actress to be able to do something completely different from my character in Life Unexpected and work in this genre type world again.

SG:

Does Cassie have sort of a reverse of Twilight because she and Adam (Thomas Dekker) have a natural connection, but they're trying to resist because Adam's dating her best friend?

BR:

Exactly. There’s something to be had about two people who were meant for each other but they’ll never be able to be together. I think between the yearning and the lust for that relationship, it’s really going to intrigue an audience and want to watch how their relationship develops and if it develops.

SG:

What interaction have you had with Secret Circle fans so far?

BR:

We went to Comic-Con which was really cool. Our show hasn’t even aired yet, so just to have fans at all and people who are excited about the show is really cool. I was overwhelmed at the amount of people that came to our panel. We had 2000 people at our panel and I was like they haven’t even seen our show, why are they here, why do they even care about us? It’s so great just to have that fan base from the books and then also Kevin’s fan base alone, people who follow what he does and are interested in what he has to offer furthermore.

SG:

How overwhelmed do you get with fan questions on Twitter?

BR:

There’s the occasional Twitter. It’s fun. Right now it’s not overwhelming at all. If anything, it’s just flattering and it’s great to know that we’re working towards something. We’re just trying to make the fans happen and make a show that people will enjoy watching.

SG:

When did you change Brittany to Britt?

BR:

That was a weird change. Basically, no one really calls me Brittany. No one’s ever really called me Brittany except for myself sometimes when I’m speaking in the third person. My family’s always called me B and my representatives always call me Britt. It was a strange thing when fans started calling me Brittany. It was just a weird disconnect. My manager came up to me one day because actually the director of Dan in Real Life had asked him if I’d ever thought about changing my name. My manager was like, “Well, no, we don’t really want to worry about it.” Then finally my manager was like, “Maybe you should change your name.” I was like, “Whatever, dude. Just let me know what you want to do.” He was like, “What do you feel about Britt?” I was like, “It’s just a name. People are going to call me Britt, people are going to call me Brittany, people are going to call me B. They’ll call me whatever they want to call me regardless of what I’m credited as so whatever you think is going to be best for me in the future is great.” So we just made the change. I’ll go by whatever you want to call me, but I think we’re sticking with Britt for now just because there are so many Brittanys out there. It was the most popular name the year I was born so I think my manager was just trying to separate me a little bit.

SG:

It seems like it’s worked out for you.

BR:

Yeah, I guess so.

The Family Tree is now playing. The Secret Circle premiers Thursday, September 15 at 9PM.

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