Leighton Meester portrays a jealous and unstable college freshman named Rebecca in the new thriller “The Roommate.” So how would her Gossip Girl alter-ego react if she was forced to live with Rebecca?
“Blair Waldorf would probably b*tch slap her,” Meester told Niteside last night at The Apple Store.
“I feel like “Gossip Girl” and “The Roommate” are two very separate realities,” she added. “But yeah. B*tch slap.”
Meester took part in a Q&A along with Minka Kelly (“Friday Night Lights”), her co-star in the film. Kelly’s character Sara is randomly assigned to live with Rebecca in a college dorm room, where she soon becomes the object of Rebecca’s obsession.
Kelly said another famous movie about roommates inspired her to sign on to the film.
“I thought it was a great idea to bring back the story of “Single White Female” again,” she said about the 1992 thriller that starred Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
“I mean, there’s a whole generation of people who haven’t seen that and don’t know about it,” she added. “But in no way at all are we trying to recreate it, because it’s genius on its own.”
Meester said she spoke to doctors and psychologists as research for playing her character, who suffers from a chemical imbalance that causes her to act psychotic. Her own life experiences helped prepare her as well.
“I have a pretty firm grip on sanity, for the most part…[but] I’ve been lucky enough to know a lot of crazy people,” she said.
Kelly and Meester also acknowledged their remarkably similar appearances. When the actresses first met on a commercial shoot eight years ago, Meester said she was slow to notice the resemblance.
“I didn’t even really think, ‘Oh, we kind of look like each other,’ but then I saw [Kelly’s] mom, and she kind of looked like my mom, and it was very strange,” she said.
Since then, fans have often mistaken the two for one another, they revealed.
“Over the years, people have come up to me and been like, ‘Minka!’ I think it’s a lovely compliment,” Meester said.
“I agree, I think it’s flattering that anyone would even [associate me] with you,” Kelly added.
“But so many people see me and shout ‘Blair!’ and I’m like, ‘No! Minka! Minka, damn it!’”
