Exclusive Interview with Sarah Fisher

 

Talk Nerdy With Us had the pleasure of chatting with Canadian actress, model and singer, Sarah Fisher. Sarah is best known for portraying the religious Becky Baker on the hit drama Degrassi: The Next Generation.

To find out what new projects Sarah is currently working on, read our interview below!

You have a lot of projects that are coming out. Can you tell us a bit about Lost After Dark first?

“Absolutely. Lost After Dark was a movie that I did. It was my first scary movie. It was so much fun. At that time I was actually on a hiatus from Degrassi, so I didn’t have a lot of open time to film. I actually got brought in as the main girl’s sister and I’m not going to give away what happens in the movie, but it was so much fun. I wouldn’t say the stunt work was too aggressive or intense, but I do it by myself and I had so much fun.

I will tell one small story that is just so funny because it was on the set of a horror film. I was waiting to do one of my scenes and I was kind of standing in tall grass before we were shooting and I felt something bite me. It hurt and I kind of stayed because I wanted to be professional; I only had one day on set. I kept getting bit by this thing and I ran away and I looked back and I was standing in a hornet’s nest.”

Oh my god!

“I had a lot of funny stories from that movie because it’s hard not to get hurt a bit when you’re out in the wilderness. They put down mats for you because in scary movies people always fall. I missed the mat several times. [Laughs]. I loved it. I had such an amazing experience and everyone on set was so nice. I had a really great time. I think there’s actually a screening in Toronto for that. That’s something I’ll have to Tweet about because I don’t know all the details yet.

They’ve had a few screeners. They did the festival thing already, actually, so I think they’ve gone around. I just know I put in my calendar some sort of dates, saying Lost After Dark screenings, but I do not know if that is still a thing, so I will let people know if it is, for sure.”

How long ago did you film it?

“I think roughly a year ago. It was a while ago. It was my first thing after doing Degrassi. It was the second thing that I did.”

Are you a big horror fan?

“I honestly am. I have loved scary movies since I was so young. I was watching House of Wax and that’s the kind of stuff that I used to love. I think the reason is because you can never get bored in a scary movie, because you’re always waiting for something to pop out, so you can never not pay attention, and you’re always on your feet, if it’s a good scary movie. There’s a thrill about watching them. I love them.”

Lost After Dark is an ensemble cast. Had the situation been real, who do you think on the cast would live the longest?

“One, I was only on for a day, so I actually didn’t meet a lot of the cast. My first day was the last day they filmed the movie. I do know one of the cast pretty well, Justin Kelly. He was on Degrassi too. I think he’d survive.

I feel like if anyone was about to kill him, he’s so funny that I think he could find a way to just make them laugh and run away and not want to kill him, because he’s just so nice. Hopefully he’d be the one to live.”

Your movie Full Out, just came out on NBC, and it’s airing again.

“Yes. Full Out just aired on NBC. Apparently our screening and views went very well, so there’s very exciting upcoming news with our relationship with NBC. That’s something I can’t quite talk about though. I’m very excited that Full Out is coming out in September. I think on September 11th it comes out. 

I believe we’re going to be played on Family Channel quite a few times, so we might even have some events with meeting the cast. There might be a couple of fun things coming up. We’re very excited that the movie has been such a success because it’s on such a really inspirational girl.”

Did you meet Ariana?

“Ariana was on set every day and we just fell in love. She loves Friends and anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed in a very dangerous way. I watch at least one Friends episode a day. It’s ridiculous. She’s obsessed with it too, so we clicked right away. She’s such a sweetheart. She was just in so much shock that her story was being told and what an amazing story to tell. I’m so happy I was a part of it.”

Which episode of Friends did you watch today?

“What did I watch today? I was half working when I did it. [Laughs]. What was I doing? It was the one where Phoebe changes her name and she changes it to Princess Consuela Bananahammock. Then her husband, Mike, calls himself Crap Bag just to get back at her. It’s so funny. Paul Rudd’s great. I love him.

Paul’s fantastic. He is such a brilliant actor. I think he’s so funny. If you ask anyone in my family, they’ll tell you that I need to stop watching because I watch it so often. The actors are so good and the writing is amazing. I always laugh before the jokes, but they’re just so funny.”

Have you ever played Friends Scene It?

“Absolutely. I won! [Laughs].”

Are you always the winner?

“Not always. A lot of people know Friends really well. My sister’s husband, he quotes it with me all the time. I feel like every one’s at least seen one episode, in this world. I am convinced.”

We could talk about Friends all day, but back to Full Out, did you do any gymnastics training? Do you have a background in gymnastics at all?

“I was on a gymnastics team for a year when I was younger. I couldn’t do the first thing that they ask you to do. [Laughs]. I am probably the last person you would call flexible. I’ve done diving though. I did do diving for two years and I loved diving, so that’s probably the closest thing in terms of how you present yourself. 

People don’t notice, gymnasts go through a lot of pain before they don’t feel it as much anymore, I guess, and they become very flexible. Just to present themselves, when they put both of their hands in the air, kind of in a V shape, that’s what you do for diving as well.

I didn’t realize that I had really lost that ability because I dove in high school. I did do some training for the movie. I did probably about four or five sessions with gymnasts and they helped me. I loved that kind of stuff for Degrassi. We did cheerleading and I’ve never been happier in my life. It was so much fun. I love being as involved as I can. 

I wouldn’t say I don’t believe in doubles; I absolutely do. We had amazing doubles, including Ariana, on Full Out. She was her own double. However, I do love to do as much as I can, because I love learning new things. I did try and learn gymnastics. I tried to learn the bars because that was my character, Isla’s, that was her main thing. I like trying to be fearless. I got right on them and I did as much as I could, but there’s no way I’ll look half as good as the doubles looked.

Basically for me, they just took my run up and jump onto the bar. The rest was my double. We loved each other. She is such an angel and she’s 22 as well. Ariana I think is a bit older; she’s 27. The point is, these two girls, to be able to do the things they both did, apparently a gymnast’s career is done at 18, 19, and they’re both in their 20s and they were killing it. They did an absolutely amazing job. 

I tried to train, I tried to learn, I did classes, but there’s only some much you can do. I’m just naturally not flexible. I really tried. I loved the opportunity of trying something new like that and the movie, all of the dancers and the gymnasts who were in it, are so talented. They’re very talented.”

Ana [Golja]’s also in it. When did you guys film Full Out?

“We filmed Full Out, I believe it was last November, so almost a year ago. It was about a 20-day shoot. It’s crazy how quickly these can get done. So many people are shocked because it’s under a month, which is insane, but the movie looks fantastic. Everyone did such a great job. 

It was very cool for me and Ana because we both auditioned. I actually went into the audition room right after her and we both started freaking out, saying how great it would be if we both got it. She heard back before I did, so we were so sad and then I heard I got it, and we were really pumped. 

Apparently they didn’t know we were on Degrassi together. They just put our audition tapes back to back to watch a scene that was done between us and they really liked it! We were really excited to work on this together. It was so much fun.

Did you watch Degrassi growing up? Have you seen the entire series?

“Honestly, I feel like I did not watch that much television growing up. My main thing was Family Channel. Even Stevens, That’s So Raven; those TV shows are my favorites. I watched a couple of episodes. I remember the first person I saw on the show was Melinda, which was so weird because then we went on the trip together and got really close. She’s a sweetheart. The episode, I remember watching her. I didn’t follow it religiously, [laughs], Becky Baker pun. I didn’t follow it very religiously, but I definitely did see some episodes.

The funny thing is I got more attached to it once I got on the show. I wanted to see all the people that I was acting with in their first seasons. I started watching some season 9 or 10. I think sat down for seven hours one day and just didn’t get up, not once. It’s so addictive. It’s really hard to stop watching. It’s one of those shows that they just reel you in. 

They don’t shy from the truth, that’s why I love Degrassi so much. They talk about the things that people are too afraid or nervous to talk about and I think that makes it much more than a TV show. I think it’s a movement. I think it’s a family. That’s why I’m so honored that it was the first thing that I ever got to do.”

Do you have a favorite Degrassi episode?

“My favorite is not a happy one. My favorite, in terms of being Becky, my favorite episode is actually when they took my brother away to go to prison. I know that’s really dark and not a happy thing, and it was one of Becky’s lowest points. I think that’s why I loved it so much. You see her up and happy all the time, but I think it’s so cool to see someone like that finally break that shield she has. 

I was crying for like two weeks straight because I had a lot of days back to back at work. I was just bawling every day because I had to. I just like people being able to see the vulnerable, really deep side of Becky. When they took her brother away and she just broke and her family left, it’s so depressing, but I think that was one of my favorite scenes.

Did you find out during the table read that it was going to be Luke [Baker] that did it? Did they give you any heads up that, “Hey, it’s your brother.”

“They gave me no heads up. I so wish and want the fans to come to a table read because we react! When we react, it’s so funny to see because we don’t know what’s coming, so I had no idea. My jaw dropped. I was trying to hold in screaming. I was crying … all these emotions hit me at once, I felt everything at once. It was insane because I had no clue. 

I literally just took the shock in the table read. That’s what everyone does. You don’t know until you read it. Some story lines you think you see it start to build, this one I had no clue. Once they said it, I thought it was well done for such a serious topic. I think it was done very well.”

You all were phenomenal during that arc.

Becky has had a couple of relationships. Do you have a favorite couple that she was a part of? Is there somebody that you think she actually belonged with?

“I think she belonged with Adam! I think she learned a lot from that relationship. I know that she learned the most from that relationship because she had no choice but to find herself. Especially since it was a relationship that her parents did not necessarily approve of. Her battle with that and choosing to stay with Adam made me so happy. I was fighting for that relationship for her because I think it really changed who she was. She just grew and she matured. I think they really loved each other.

I thought Drew and Becky, we always would make a joke, me and Luke together, because we kind of thought they’d be better as best friends in a brother-sisterly way. Both of them lost our brothers … We thought it would be nice if they had that kind of relationship, which we started having, and then it turned into a relationship. I think she learned something from all of them.”

Do you remember your last scene that you filmed for Degrassi?

“The last thing we filmed was all of us in our grad outfits, jumping up and down, yelling, “We’ll miss you Degrassi!”, but we kept saying, “We love you Degrassi!” I don’t even remember which one it was because we all started realizing, all of us together started chanting the wrong thing. I think that actually was the last one we did, but it was amazing. 

It was one of those moments where every one’s looking at each other, we had the biggest smiles on our face, and it wasn’t acting. We do love Degrassi, we do miss Degrassi. It was high school for all of us. It was a really nice moment that they made our last scene; the actual last scene. It was really sad. Everyone was bawling, but it was a really beautiful moment, to end on that.”

Your single Girl Code is on the Full Out soundtrack! 

“I’m so excited that Girl Code is in the movie Full Out; that’s going to be really exciting. It actually plays during one of my scenes, in the background, which is very cool for me. I loved it. It was a really cool thing to see happen. 

I co-wrote Girl Code about two years ago in New York with a writer and pretty good friend of mine. We loved the song so much that I babied it until now, wondering when to put it out or what to do with it. When I would play Girl Code, my friends and family friends would get up and start dancing. I was like, this is what music does to people and that’s why I’m so in love with it. 

I loved that song so much that I really held onto it. I’m glad that I did because now it’s being used for this movie! It’s going on the movie soundtrack, which I’m really excited about.

I did a music video for Girl Code and part of the clips from the movie may or may not be in it. [Laughs]. We’re very excited. We also got to use the clothing, Wildfox, for that music video and I’m obsessed with Wildfox. It’s primarily an American company, but their clothes are the cutest things ever. We got to use them for the shoot. It was a lot of great partnerships all in one video, so I’m very excited for people to see it.

It was so much fun to shoot. Everyone had a great time and I think it’s going to be very cool for people to see it!”

What’s the biggest difference between shooting for television or movies versus a music video?

“Part of it would be your schedule because, especially for television, it’s a very, very tight, specific schedule. If you don’t get your scene, if you keep wanting to go over and over again because you’re not feeling like you did your best work as an actor, a lot of the time it’s just, “No, you were great. Let’s move on.” You have to finish your day at a certain time or it’s going to cost a lot of money. It’s a very tight schedule and as long as you’re on it, things are good and things are moving. Once you get behind schedule, that’s something that no one wants to be.

The difference would be that on a music video, you do have a bit more freedom because it’s on your own schedule. You’re your own boss. You, as a team, figure it out … at least that’s how we like to work. We all make decisions together. If we need to film another day, like we did for Girl Code, they said, “We’re going to need you to come in next week.” I said, “Great, let’s find a time.” We made it work. 

For TV, you don’t really have that luxury. You get the shot done in that day, you get your scene done that day, or else the schedule is going to be off. It works very well because so many shows that have been on for many years, they’ve worked this schedule this way since the beginning and it clearly worked well for them.

At the end of the day, I really love what I do, so no matter what set I’m on, I’m absolutely in love with it and having a great time. It’s so great to be around creative people and such smart people. They are quite different, but at the end of the day, every one’s really having a good time, which is nice.”

Do you have a release date for the music video?

“I do not have a specific release date. I can tell you it will be early September, which will be a week or two before the movie airs on Family Channel. I will definitely be Tweeting that out a ton once we know the specific date.”

Do you have plans to release an EP?

“Yes! I know that people say this so often about finding their sound, but… I wouldn’t call it a struggle because it’s a very positive thing, but it does take a lot of time. I’ve been doing a lot of writing, a lot of co-writing, and I am working with someone and we’re really excited about the songs that we’ve been writing. 

It’s very different from what I have written in the past and what I’ve sung and the type of music that my songs are now. We’re going in a really interesting direction that I did not expect, so there will be a lot of exciting things coming up in music. 

I am working on an EP with someone and it’s going really well. It’s not something that people will hear about quite yet; it’s very much in the works still, but we’re really excited about it. I can’t wait for people to hear it; I just don’t know when they’ll be able to hear it, but it will be next year sometime.”

You’re working with Sean again! Besides that, do you have any other projects that you can tell us about?

“Absolutely. I just finished shooting a movie. It’s temporarily called The Stepchild. I was the stepchild. It was so much fun. We shot up in Sunbury and I was shooting with some incredible, incredible actors. Al Sapienza is someone I was shooting with, he’s been in House of Cards, which was really cool. I also shot with Lauren Holly and we just are in love. She is so wonderful. She used to be married to Jim Carrey. She was in Dumb and Dumber and played the step mom. She was absolutely amazing to work with. It was a really great, great shoot. I’d call it a thriller. I also worked with Paul Johansson; he was from One Tree Hill, the dad in One Tree Hill.

Paul’s so wonderful. He’s one of those people where when you look at our relationship you’ll just … We make so much fun of each other but we love each other. Paul’s a great guy. It was so wonderful. I had never really worked with primarily an adult cast and it was a lot of fun. It was great. I know there is very high hopes for that movie. We did just finish filming in June, so it’s in the editing stage now.

There will be tons of more news coming about that. I will be talking about it all over the Internet. I have posted a couple of pictures, but it’s still very much in the early stage, so I don’t know where you’ll be able to see us on TV or where you’ll be seeing us. There are definitely high hopes for Stepchild. I will let you know once I know more.

Me and Sean are working on a new feature film together. I pitched an idea to him. I can’t tell you too much, this is very top-secret, but because I love you guys and all the fans, I will tell you a bit. I pitched an idea to him about a very inspirational person in my life. I pitched the idea a couple of months ago. 

We are already starting to film, really soon. Usually it takes about a year, from my understanding, so we’re very excited that there’s a lot of magic happening because we’re already moving ahead and almost ready to film! It’s crazy. We’re very excited, we’re very passionate about this project. It’s already looking extremely promising. 

Lots of people are showing interest and we’ve barely started. We have very high hopes for this next one. I wish I could tell you so much more; I’m so excited about it, but there will be so much coming up. Especially in the fall, people will know a lot more about it, I think. I’m thinking we might be started filming then, that’s all I will say. You will definitely see behind the scenes pictures and things. There’s a lot to come on that. It’s moving quickly, so we’re really excited about it.”

Are you interested in working behind the camera more?

“I think it’s really interesting how people slowly, in the creative world, you find every one’s job is so interesting because it’s all in the arts. It’s all creative thinking and you get pulled into different jobs. On this project I am working behind the scenes as well as possibly in front of the camera. 

Right now I’m doing all of the work behind the scenes with Sean. He was the director of Full Out. He’s a great friend of mine. He’s so wonderful to work with. I’m learning a lot. This is really my first time really doing the stuff behind the scenes, as well, so it’s been a huge learning experience for me and I just can’t wait for people to start hearing more about it. It’s going to be really exciting.”

We played this game with Luke as well, and I know you guys are really interactive with your fans on social media, so we wanted to ask you for two truths and lie that we can post and have the fans vote on which they think is the lie.

“For Luke: He makes extremely weird noises and faces, at least 20 times a day. He is obsessed with writing. He loves Leonardo DiCaprio.

For me: I am obsessed with musicals. My favorite meal of the day is breakfast. I have a very masculine sense of humor. ”

[polldaddy poll=9024777]

Remember to stay tuned with @TalkNerdyWithUs on Twitter to find out the lies!