Rihanna in Battleship
Rihanna made her big screen debut earlier this year when she lined up alongside Taylor Kitsch and Brooklyn Decker in Battleship.
The movie is about to be released on to DVD & Blu-Ray and the singer turned actress chats about her role.
- Who do you play in Battleship?
My character is named Raikes and she’s a bad ass. She’s really tough and she’s one of the boys. She can play just as hard as them, if not harder, although 'Hopper' [Taylor Kitsch] is even more bad ass than she is. She’s really intense, but nobody is as intense as Hopper.
To me, he’s a bit of a rebel. He does things that aren’t very safe. He takes chances. He’s fearless, and that’s where the tension comes from. I really enjoyed making the movie.
It’s a really cool role and we had a very excellent director. It was my first film and to be in such a big film, as a freshman, it was really helpful to have such great direction. The fact that Peter Berg has been on the actors’ side of the camera also helps.
- Did you enjoy playing a ‘bad ass’?
Definitely! It’s like my everyday life! No, seriously, I had to push even more than I expected. I couldn’t just be tough on the surface, I really had to work hard on connecting my mind to my character all the time and to keep in that frame of mind.
For me, that was the hardest part, but once you have that down, your actions become like the person you’re portraying.
- Did your experiences shooting music videos help with the transition into acting?
Not at all, it’s way different. When filming music videos, I’m Rihanna, and that’s easy. But for the movie I kind of had to get rid of all things Rihanna, in order to be Raikes.
- Had you ever played the board game, ‘Battleship’?
Actually, I didn’t even know of the game, because in Barbados that game doesn’t even exist. Production gave me one of the board games when I first came to set. They had all these toys in there, which was really cool.
- Is it hard to go back and forth between music and film?
No, it was fantastic, and with the movie there was no pressure on me. I thoroughly enjoyed that. The experience was so different compared to music. Every day it’s a lot of routine, which I am not used to.
I’m used to getting on a plane every day or being in a different time zone every day. But on a film set you are just in one place for a long period of time, you start work every day at the same time, and you end every day at the same time.
You get the weekends off, but it’s very routine, which was very different for me. I liked it. I don’t see why I can’t do both acting and music. They are definitely both things that I love.
- What kind of films do you like?
I love comedies and I love action. I love anything that’s a suspense thriller. I love horror too, but I don’t think I would want to act in a horror film. There’s too much screaming!
- Is fashion one of your creative outlets?
I love fashion. I love anything creative, so fashion is definitely just another outlet for me. I love designing and I love modifying, changing things up, and really I just enjoy the thrill of daring yourself to make things work. I like risky fashion!
Battleship available on 20th August on Blu-Ray Ultraviolet, DVD and digital download
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