Alison Folland is not conventionally pretty like her doe-eyed, baby blonde co-star Tara Subkoff in the Sichel sisters' All Over Me. Neither is she a chip off the old cheerleader block, complete with silicone breasts and permanent glossy pout, nor a radiant brunette in the mould of a Liv Tyler. In fact, Folland is closer to one of those riot grrrl chicks in baggy attire who doesn't give a damn about perfect measurements but does give a damn about substance.
The funny thing though, this 19-year-old Massachusetts actress would dearly love to portray "a Bond girl", or for that matter one of those silent screen goddesses whose witty dialogue and unearthly beauty mesmerised the studio bosses and their formative audiences back in the '40s. This comes as a surprise when you consider the calibre and nature of the performances she'd accrued in the very short time she's graced the big screen. There's an unforgettable scene - in which Folland appears - in Gus Van Sant's black comedy To Die For when Nicole Kidman visits the school where Folland is seconded. Kidman asks whether any of the students have ever appeared on television and Folland deadpans: "Yes, on one of those security cameras at an electricians store..." The rest of the class whoop in unison at her obvious slovenly repose, rebellious edge and her inherent sarcasm.
Ally Sheedy, one of the brighter and yet more addled of the Brat Pack springs to mind when contemplating Folland's performance in All Over Me, yet there's a much softer and vulnerable edge that few of the actresses her age embody. This is perhaps what director Alex and screenwriter Sylvia were searching for whilst dangling their rods in the casting pond for the role of Claude in their "coming of age" portrait. "We wanted to go into the centre of this feeling - the exact moment when a girl has to make choices for her own survival. These choices are often at the cost of her best friend - the person who has always been more important to her than she is to herself."
Folland strides wearily into the lounge of the Gateway Apartments in Melbourne's central business district. Bleary-eyed businessmen take little notice of her arrival, whilst trains thunder across the Flinders Street line. Devoid of make-up, jewellery, hair concealing her face and looking much as she did within the story that takes place in the bowels of Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, Folland could have stepped straight off centre stage of an all girl indie gig.
She sips a much needed latte: "Claude," she notes while rolling her eyes, "she is someone who is morally intact and a degenerate. She is funny at times and she's got a real strong spirit. She's not extraordinary, she's more of your average girl. But what I really loved about this film was that it was about an experience similar to one that a lot of women are familiar with.
"It's something that women are familiar with yet it's not something that is ever really shown. People never talk about those feelings and those fuzzing boundaries between you and your best friend, where love and need begins and where friendship and sexual love leads. Just those thin lines. I don't think a lot of people have ever thought of making a film about this because it's not in the typical male's interests. You know, with the hard driven plot line where everything is perfect and tied together at the end. All Over Me was kinda rugged and I think that's half of its charm. It had a beat to it, a feeling to it," she says, "it definitely struck a chord and caused a reaction."
Contradictions feature highly in the Folland persona, although this is not immediately discernible. She seems at ease in front of the camera, yet is shy and unassuming in real life. There's a freshness and restlessness that is impossible to capture as she alternates between a typical teenager who likes to hang out and ham it up at The Cigar Bar and wander through the labyrinth of Melbourne's Brunswick Street to the highly articulate young woman who has contemplated the complexities of characterisations.
She is a Jane's Addiction die-hard junkie, the kind of fan who would stand stage front at the feet of her idol shaking her small fist in the air in synchronicity to the songs of alienation, but she is also someone who enjoys the challenges of moving from the studious expanse of Massachusetts to the hustle of big city Manhattan.
"It was a huge transition to make filming All Over Me and trying to get into the mind of a girl who grew up within the confinements of New York. I grew up in suburban Boston, which was really different from Claude's upbringing," she explains. "You know, I don't think I would have got the role if I hadn't grown up where I did because the sisters were doing searches in smaller towns across the east coast.
"Despite the location I think the role of Claude was a pretty easy one to step into because, like her, at 17-years-old, I was pretty confused and lead a dual life and I think that confusion translates onto the screen." She grins, "Tara and all of the other actors provided a really good web around me though; they created something that was worth watching and something worth being confused about ...
"I still don't know what I want and moving to New York hasn't helped me to figure out what I want because I grew up in a town with a whole lot of colleges and everything seemed to be about college and going to school, and it only confused me even more."
The daughter of a travel agent mother, Folland wove the latter part of her academic years between acting, rowing for her Massachusetts school team and slipping into troubled roles that revealed the pain of teenhood. She laughs when she remembers the surreal edge of one day standing on a film set delivering her lines and the next lining up at the school canteen with everyone's eyes upon her.
But she seems to have taken it all in her stride, even if there is a tad of anxiety surrounding the unpredictability of the future. She pulls her hair back from her eyes and grimaces, "The worst part of all this is the not knowing what's around the corner. It's completely out of my control and it's so annoying. It's like if you work for yourself, run your own business, which was something that I wanted to do at one point in my life, then you are in control of what your horizons are.
"But with acting your future is really in someone else's hands. It's so visual you know, you go out on auditions, you come into their office and they know immediately whether they wanna cast you, but then they insist on leading you on by the nose anyway," she sighs. "I remember when I auditioned for Barbet's film Before And After and I didn't hear anything for about a week afterwards, and then I got a phone call a while later from the director and he was like, 'you got the part!' And I'm like, 'what part?'"
Folland is soon to audition for a Robert Rodriguez slasher/horror film, a part that will quash any stereotypical leash that is in danger of being lassoed around her neck, and if she has her way, then the future may be paved with parts that are similar in stratospheres to her heroine Judy Davis's turf. "I love every single thing she's done. She's so energetic and so deranged ..."
All Over Me; let's quietly hope that is the mantric beat that directors will soon be casting in Alison Folland's manic direction ...
