Rihanna Talks Battleship

As brain candy blockbuster, Battleship, steams towards its much awaited DVD release, FilmJuice caught up with its star, Rihanna, and technical adviser, Jacqueline Carrizosa, who helped prepare the singer for her much talked about movie debut. Join us as the ladies talk bad asses, BFGs and why it’s important to be better than the guys …

As brain
candy blockbuster, Battleship, steams towards its much awaited DVD release,
FilmJuice caught up with its star, Rihanna, and technical adviser,
Jacqueline Carrizosa, who helped prepare the singer for her much talked about movie debut. Join us as the ladies talk bad asses, BFGs and why
it’s important to be better than the guys …

Rihanna,
did you enjoy playing a ‘bad ass’?
RIHANNA: 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.

Jacqueline,
it was your job to train Rihanna. How much did you have to teach her?
JACQUELINE: There was a little bit of physical stuff, because
the captain and I would joke around and try to make her do push-ups when she
was on the set … But most of it was on-the-go training. Initially, when I first
went over the script, I tried to explain stuff. Then, from there, it was pretty
much just technically teaching her how to salute and stand at ease and all
that.

Rihanna,
did your experiences shooting music videos help with the transition into
acting?
RIHANNA: 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.

Is there a
particular scene you’re proud of?
JACQUELINE: There’s a part where she’s being a smartass and
Jesse keeps talking and she’s, like, ‘shut up!’ and the way her attitude came
off. The scene where she makes a joke and has to re-word it because an officer
caught it. She’s pretty fearless in the film and I liked how she came out.

Did you
tell Rihanna anything about what you got up to during your own naval career
that helped to inspire her character?
JACQUELINE: I gave her the weapons safety rules and the
deadly force meaning and the 11 centuries of the sailor. I also told her that
being a girl working with all guys, you have to be tough all the time! It’s not
because you have to be the toughest. You just can’t be a pushover. If they find
a weak spot, you have to act ten times harder, as though it doesn’t exist. It’s
not a matter of proving yourself. It’s more you’re making your spot there
known. Telling them you can do just what they can. I’ll run around with the 50
calibre guns that are 91lbs and that’s your job and you pull your weight. It’s
like anything else. Like in football, you hold your position. If you don’t, it
cracks and crumbles.

What would
you say that Rihanna took to most naturally?
JACQUELINE: She has an aggressive personality in the movie,
which she obviously took to very well. There’s a scene where (Taylor) Kitsch
falls down and she has to run out and grab him and she did it really well. It
was in water up to her knees and she was running through that and grabbing him.
She did better on that than the stunt double.

Rihanna,
is it hard to go back and forth between music and film?
Rihanna: 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?
Rihanna: 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 Rihanna
a naval enthusiast now?
JACQUELINE: I definitely think her interest in the stuff
went up. But I don’t think she’ll be enlisting just yet!

Battleship
is out on DVD on 20^th August.