Chloe Bailey<\/a> as Laila, left, Romy Woods as Zuri in \u201cStrung.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIlze Kitshoff\/Blumhouse<\/p>\n
\t\tAnd you do your own violin-playing in the film. How much training did you have to do for that?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tYeah! So, I played the violin in fifth and sixth grade for school, and then my last year before I got homeschooled, I gave it up for choir. I had about a week and a half to prep my fingerings and all the pieces Laila would be playing throughout the film, and oh boy, I was nervous! I\u2019m that weird person who will stare at the movie and be like, \u201cOh, her lip-synching is off\u201d or \u201cOh, the playing is off, they\u2019re just pressing any chord.\u201d I couldn\u2019t produce anything I didn\u2019t want to see, so I have to give a big shout-out to Stephanie [Yu], who was my tutor in L.A. and Tony who was my music tutor for the film in South Africa.<\/p>\n
\t\tYou have excellent chemistry with Lucien. At what point did you realize that you two had sizzling chemistry together?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIt just kind of hit! We hit it off really easily. He\u2019s such an amazing guy, inside and out, and our personalities are quite similar. We\u2019re both very goofy, bright, positive people, and even after filming I consider him a great friend. We never did a chemistry test, it just happened, and it worked. I\u2019m really grateful that I was able to do the intimacy scenes with someone like Lucien because we both made ourselves very comfortable.<\/p>\n
\t\tWas it difficult shooting that sex scene in the shower? Because I imagine you two are just in there for a really long time with the water hitting you.\t<\/p>\n
\n\tYeah. It was freezing. It was freezing. It was not hot. And it was late at night in this cold warehouse, so it wasn\u2019t a sexy setting! We were freezing.<\/p>\n
\t\tThere\u2019s an edit I really enjoyed in the film where your and Lucien\u2019s characters are having sex and then it cuts to a sprinkler going off.\t<\/p>\n
\n\t[Laughs] That\u2019s their great editing!<\/p>\n
\t\tI feel like there aren\u2019t enough sexy-thriller movies. This film almost feels like a throwback to the \u201890s, in a refreshing way. And I know the younger generation is always complaining about how much sex there is in films, but I think they\u2019re conflating TV and porn with Hollywood movies, because I think there\u2019s a lot less sex in movies nowadays.\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWell, art imitates life. We had to be honest. And we didn\u2019t show any parts, so we wanted to make sure that it still gave that feeling of sexiness without showing anything, per se. That\u2019s what I appreciated. What I love about shows and movies today is that it\u2019s honest. Even if it\u2019s not sexual, it\u2019s becoming more honest, and you can create a scene like that without making it feel too vulgar.<\/p>\n
\t\tWould a guy leaving you origami notes by the bed like Lucien\u2019s character does be weird to you in real life?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tHonestly, I am a sucker for corniness. I would have fallen for the origami. I would\u2019ve thought that was super cute!<\/p>\n
\t\tHow was it to film that sequence where you\u2019re slapped around by Lynn? I\u2019m curious what it was like for you to get worked over by a screen legend like that.\t<\/p>\n
\n\tOh, absolutely it was fun. Are you kidding me? She is just legendary, and I\u2019m so happy that I was able to work with her in that way and do our stunts together. I\u2019m just very honored that I got to do that with the iconic Lynn Whitfield. I\u2019m so grateful for her. She really cared about this movie and put her stamp on it, and I learned so much working with her.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\t\tI also found it refreshing that the film treats the hip-hop artist as the virtuous one looking out for his daughter and not some lazy stereotype.\t<\/p>\n
\n\tYeah. I\u2019m happy we\u2019re able to show Black people in places of power and don\u2019t feed into the stereotypes. From the rich family I\u2019m working for down to the business manager Lucien plays or the rap artist who\u2019s Zuri\u2019s father, and how he didn\u2019t die due to the stereotypical ways you think a rap artist might have died. It was a tug of war between power and money.<\/p>\n
\t\tAnd you and Coco are friends in real life, right? It made your playing friends on screen feel so authentic.\t<\/p>\n
\n\tYes, we actually are! And when I found out that they cast her as the best friend I was like, \u201cWow, we\u2019re not even going to be acting!\u201d We\u2019ve known each other since I was 12 and my sister and I played choir girls behind her in \u201cLet It Shine.\u201d To see how we\u2019re both growing in our careers and who we as women is pretty cool, and to join back together in this movie is pretty dope. She was just cracking me up! She\u2019s always cracking jokes. She could recite the A-B-Cs and I would laugh.<\/p>\n
\t\tOne of my favorite lines you deliver in the film is, \u201cHow you like my Prius now?!\u201d What was it like filming that fight sequence by the cliff, because it\u2019s intense and super violent? You\u2019re jabbing an EpiPen into someone\u2019s eye and slamming their head with a car door.\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was freezing! We were by the beach, and it was so cold that in the car, I had heat warmers all over my body. I was pumped and ready to go! I love doing stunts; I love the adrenaline rush of it. When we got to it, it was so much fun and I had sand all over my hair. The moment where you see the close-up of me and there\u2019s blood splattering, that was the first take of it. We could only do a one-and-done of that because we couldn\u2019t really get all that blood off of me. It was funny because the first two takes, the fake blood wasn\u2019t squirting out, but when it finally did it was so, so intense. I\u2019m happy it got the job done!<\/p>\n
\t\tLaila struggles to balance her musicianship with her social life. Did you feel that way growing up? You were thrust into the spotlight at such a young age.\t<\/p>\n
\n\tAbsolutely. I would be lying if I said it didn\u2019t affect my childhood. I am proud of who I am, and I\u2019m proud of the woman I\u2019ve become, but of course you look back and think, \u201cI wish I\u2019d experienced that\u201d or \u201cI wish I\u2019d experienced this.\u201d Now that I\u2019m 27 and going to be 28 in a couple of weeks, who\u2019s to say that I can\u2019t experience it now? I\u2019m grateful for the sacrifices that I have made because I get to live my dreams and have a career of making my dreams come true. There are pros and cons to everything. I think that\u2019s why I have such a childlike spirit and am such an adrenaline junkie and daredevil. I love exciting things that really get your blood pumping.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat are some adrenaline-junkie things that you like to do?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tI love rollercoasters. I love boxing with my trainer. It\u2019s very therapeutic but also builds up your stamina. And it\u2019s really great when you have aggression built up because you get to take it out then. I\u2019m not a violent person \u2014 I don\u2019t really raise my voice or anything like that \u2014 so that\u2019s the time when I can get any feelings close to that out. I love ATV-riding, and even though I\u2019m a girl I\u2019m always faster than the guys. I love ziplining upside down. Those types of things make me so happy. I think that\u2019s why I love performing so much, too, because it gives you that same heart-out-of-your-chest feeling as when you\u2019re going up on a rollercoaster and nowhere near the ground.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tSingers Chloe x Halle perform onstage during the 2018 MTV Movie And TV Awards.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty Images<\/p>\n
\t\tA lot of child stars don\u2019t make it out alright, but you and your sister seem to have such good heads on your shoulders. How did you manage to get through it OK?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWell, we had each other. We were never going through anything alone. We would act together, sing together and were each other\u2019s best friends. Knowing that you constantly had someone to lean on, who knew exactly what you were feeling and going through, that was a saving grace. Even though she\u2019s my little sister, I looked at her like she was my child and I was mama bear, so I would always make sure nothing was ever going to happen to her. I\u2019m grateful that we had each other growing up in this industry. You know how they say to never walk down the street by yourself and always have a friend with you? It was almost like that.<\/p>\n
\t\tWas it tough for you as the mama bear to see what your little sister went through with \u201cThe Little Mermaid<\/a>?\u201d There was all this ridiculous \u2014 and racist \u2014 backlash to her casting. \u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\tOf course. Absolutely. It broke my heart. Seeing her put so much hard work and time into an iconic role, I just wanted people to see how incredible she was in it, because this was all happening before the movie even came out. But my sister is resilient and I\u2019m happy she proved all the naysayers wrong.<\/p>\n
\t\tIt\u2019s incredible to be discovered by Beyonc\u00e9. What kind of a mentor has she been for you, and what\u2019s the best advice she ever gave you?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tI have always been the biggest Beyonc\u00e9 fan since I was a little girl. Meeting her when I was four, and how kind she was to me on the set of \u201cThe Fighting Temptations,\u201d only sparked a greater love for her. She had such a pure spirit that my 4-year-old self clung to. Being able to study her performances and being a true BeyHive fan and then being able to be signed to her and actually have intellectual conversations with her about life, the industry and music is something I\u2019ve never taken for granted. I really appreciate her ear.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne of the first pieces of advice she gave us was the \u201cno scroll\u201d rule: don\u2019t read the comments, don\u2019t read what people are saying and don\u2019t even let it fill your head up.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat about her approach to the media? Beyonc\u00e9 has had a unique approach where she doesn\u2019t do much media. Did she give you guidance along those lines?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tShe\u2019s mastered that and I love that about her. To get in her mind about it you\u2019d have to ask her, but just from observing her as a fan, she has made it into her own lane. She\u2019s the reason that music comes out on Fridays now. When you have talent like that, you can make whatever rules you want and break whatever rules you want. She\u2019s earned it.<\/p>\n
\t\tDo you and your sister have any plans to get the band back together, so to speak?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tYeah! Well, the band never broke up! We just had different endeavors happening at different times. I\u2019m so proud of her and I know she\u2019s proud of me. We\u2019ve both been strengthening who we are as individuals, so when the music comes back as a duo it\u2019ll be even better. We\u2019ve strengthened the two halves of the heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This article contains mild spoilers for \u201cStrung.\u201d Nostalgic for erotic thrillers of the \u201890s like \u201cSleeping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[10941,236,22164,88,123463,312921],"class_list":["post-727682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-beyonce","tag-celebrities","tag-chloe-bailey","tag-entertainment","tag-halle-bailey","tag-the-little-mermaid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}