Christina Milian talks Pulse

Q: Tell us about your character in the movie, Pulse.

Christina: My character is Isabell. Isabell is more of the free spirited friend that is definitely out to have a good time. Probably the only reason that she's in college is because of Mattie, her best friend. Mattie is, of course you guys know, she's a smarty pants. I mean Isabell's there to just enjoy herself and she's trying to break the ice all the time so she's definitely got some good moments. I like being Isabell.

Q: Did you do a lot of your own stunts in this?

Christina: I did! I don't know what stunts I did. I did a couple, I mean with this particular scene where I'm a... you know the laundry scene, all that stuff. It was all very, very real when all that was going on.

Q: I heard it was very scary.

Christine: It was! It was a very scary moment because I put myself... Whoever did the set did a beautiful job, because it was a very dirty looking laundry room that would probably naturally be in any dorm room. I myself, in my old apartment building, had been inside the laundry room and it's scary in there by yourself no matter what's going on in the world. I have actually dealt with that so I kind of put myself back into that position when I was in the scene in the movie. The makeup that they did on these people was incredible and on top of that the effects that they did were in person. A lot of people think they were CGI but it was actually in person. They had, I think four or five people inside of the washing machine and they were all painted all like arms and legs and everything. The moment where I walk up to the machine, they all, the timing was in fact cool it was incredible. They all came out at the same time. Hands! Legs! Head! All at once, it was so scary! I was actually freaked out real quick. In a moment, and it put me into the scene.

Q: And we haven't been washing since.

Christine: No! That's why I've got a housekeeper. No, just kidding!

Q: Sending out the laundry!

Christine: Exactly! Exactly!

Q: Now where was this film actually shot?

Christina: Oh gosh, Romania.(laughter) Now it all makes sense! Nowhere in America! It has a very dark look to it. Prague and those places have a very similar look too. It was actually shot in Bucharest, Romania.

Q: What was Bucharest really like?

Christina: You don't want to ask me that question! It was... I don't want to put it down because you can't blame people for being the way they are sometimes. I did meet some very nice people, I will say that. Then I did meet some people that were disrespectful and ah. You deal with it you know - this is their home. You keep going on about your business. The weather was nice when I was there um but you're very... It's all about safety. You know especially if you're an American coming into their town. They know that you're coming with money, they know that you're walking around and you don't know where you're going. They definitely take that into account and they know that that's going on with you so it's scary. There's like gypsies everywhere.

Q: Did you have a bad experience?

Christina: Yeah, we did have some experiences that were not nice. They were not nice. I mean racism that I had dealt with that was just direct in your face. Like ha ha you're this, you're this, you're that. Laughing in my face. I couldn't believe it! I had never experienced that in my life, but it's like you can't even say anything. It's like what am I going to say? I'm not going to change your mind overnight. There's people around you that feel the same way.

Q: Depending on how your Romanian was.

Christina: Yeah, I didn't know too much Romanian either so yeah, that made a difference too. I didn't speak the language. There is gypsies, a lot of gypsies out there and they actually exist and there's seventy thousand wild dogs running around everywhere. Yeah, just wild dogs and they're just everywhere. So it was different but I'm just happy I've gotten home safe. That was my whole thing, "Please let me get home!" Those two months felt like two years.

Q: So I noticed you have your Sidekick there. Do you think that, after doing this movie, do you think that we are really slaves to technology now?

Christina: Oh, absolutely! I think we are, I think we definitely are. I mean you see people driving on their phones, there's no way. I think about it now, I'm a slave to it because think about it now and think about it ten years ago and I'm like "I don't believe, how did I get... I just got that pay phones all the time and I had to do this and that to communicate with people. I think it's a great thing actually to be able to communicate thru e-mail and everything. I do think it does have it's downfalls. I think that people don't actually have a connection anymore. I've found that people, guys especially, for me, guys will try to have an ongoing relationship over a sidekick or e-mail. They have so much character through their paging and texting but when you meet them in person they're nothing like it! Nothing like that! People don't go on dates anymore, it's like, people are very reliant on it and it's crazy! I'll admit I'm just as reliant on it, I don't even talk on the phone as much anymore because I tend to text or write on my e-mail. I'm like "Get the message across. Ok, that's what's up? Ok, good!"

Q: What do you do to encourage the personal interaction?

Christina: What do I do to encourage it? I take a little time, I put it on silent. I think people don't know to put it on silent, sometimes. Especially for me family time is important, so I do put the Sidekick or phone down and I turn it off for a while so I can hang out with the family and be with my whatever, my boyfriend or my sisters you know, you gotta let it go.

Q: Fifteen minutes a day without the sidekick?

Christina: About half an hour.

Q: Since you were in Romania for two months, did you and Kristen or the crew... Did you guys hang out?

Christina: Oh yeah. Oh, we absolutely did. All we had was each other. So we spent a lot of time watching the Anchor Man, and any funny movie like Kristen can give you every line from the Anchor Man, she's hilarious! She's actually very cool. It's so funny because going into the movie, I thought I booked the movie last minute. I literally like two days before they started shooting is when I got the movie and they flew me out to Romania and everybody was there already. So to them they were like "Ok, is this going to be some like egotistic singer that's going to come to the set and come to the set late and she's going to be like this and that?" For me I was like "Oh gosh, they're a bunch of actors that speak, you know, the actor language you know." but actually, you know there's those people that just quote everything out of the book and your like "Ok, can you act at the end of the day?" Actually everybody got along really well. Cool, like probably the most humble group of people other than people on Deep Pool. Actually, people on Deep Pool were like that. On this set they were just as humble, very cool, down to earth. Ian is adorable. Ian Somerhalder is... to break the ice the first day he brought a bottle of something called absinthe. Oh, yeah! Kristen and I, we beat the guys on that one. The first day! The guys definitely liked us and we hung out with the guys and Jim was adorable too, he's a great guy too.

Q: Was he the green fairy?

Christina: I think I did [see that]. It tasted disgusting. I think I saw the Grouch or something, it tastes like garbage.

Q: Were there any clubs to go to or anything?

Christina: They did have some clubs. They had like two. They had a Spago. We ate at Spago's but it wasn't the real Spago, it was just named Spago. So we went there, we partied there but it was actually owned by somebody who was American. I don't know what brought him to open a club over there but it was actually a decent club. Another night we went to a couple clubs. There was this one very, very ritzy, ritzy nice club but supposedly it got burned down. Like everybody knew about it. It got burned down that night but everybody thinks it had to do with the Romanian mafia. They were there.

Q: Did you contribute a song to the soundtrack on this one?

Christina: Oh, no. No, I didn't think my music would have meshed. I mean it was a good thought like if I did some... I don't even know if they have a soundtrack though. If they did like rock music it'd be cool. I'd do it too.

Q: Your parents are Cuban, so do you speak any Spanish?

Christina: I do speak some. I fluently understand it more so than I speak it. It was actually my first language but when I was young I got lazy. Well when I have to I definitely speak Spanish yeah.

Q: You mentioned earlier the actors, but you've done a bunch of movies. Do you feel like you're getting that language yourself? That you're feeling more like that?

Christina: I am. I definitely feel a lot more... I spent a lot of time reading this book called In Character when I was in Romania because I just felt it was... I wanted to learn a new way of... You know I didn't want to act. People say "Oh, acting does..." to me I just wanted to learn about actually becoming your character. So I was reading this, somebody had given it to me when I did Be Cool and so I read that when I was there. I kind of understand the language way more. When it comes down to all that Shakespearian talk, that's what I'd like to do. I'm still not in that league yet. Not in that league yet. I will be someday.

Q: Is that something that interests you? Possibly taking some sort of acting class?

Christina: Absolutely, that's something that I want to actually go into taking acting class and just learning the different aspects of becoming a character and the future as well. I mean scripts that keep coming along, they're going to get more challenging so I think it is a great thing to actually go to a coach and try something new.

Q: So you'd like to do Shakespeare?

Christina: I loved Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio. That was amazing so I don't know how they... I think they're brilliant for doing that. Wherever I watch it and I see the language and everything, incredible! I would like to do something like that one day.

Q: What's the balance between film and music for you right now?

Christina: The balance is more teetering over to my movies. It's definitely more in film right now. I'm reading scripts and moving on into that a little bit more because I see that more as my longevity and something that I would really like to dominate more. So I think I equally have the same type of career with my acting and my music career. If anything I think my acting is just... maybe professionally, from the look of it, it's had more success to me than either my music career. My music career I think has been a great thing to put my name out there and it's been a great thing for me as far as like, "Ok, that's her personality. This is Christina Milian's personality." It's been a great showcase for me. I think in the future it's probably going to be more film. I still am doing music. Right now I'm actually in the process of moving into another record label and working on new music. It's going to be a fresh start for me. It's going to be new, of course when you sign a record deal, cause they keep you on for another seven years. Seven years doing this music industry...you've got to be young for it. It takes a lot of work, I don't understand how some people do it forever.

Q: What advice would you give for a young performer?

Christina: For a young performer, ummm, focus is so important. I think that you can never stop learning, no matter what it is, books are always out there, you can learn from experience. I try to stay out of the crowd because I think it keeps me focused.

Q: What do you mean stay out of the crowd?

Christina: Some of these girls party to death but they still manage to work. I don't know how they do it. For me I can't stay focused...I've never been much of a partier anyway. So to me when I have a job that I'm doing, even if it's just a photo shoot I focus.. I'll go to the gym and work my butt off. It's all about discipline, so even at a young age when I first started I had to make choices and sacrifice. I'm happy with the choices that I've made for sure but it definitely takes some sacrifice and you have to be willing to do it if you really want to do it successfully.

Q: Are you looking at scripts?

Christina: Right now I'm kinda looking for something more...I wouldn't mind doing something independent or something a little bit more on the dramatic side, just to challenge myself. I love doing comedies, you can't go wrong with a comedy. I've never done like slapstick comedy though, something similar to like the Adam Sandler's or Ben Stiller's ...those types of movies. I love watching those movies but I've never gotten the opportunity to go in for one. If one comes up I'd love to do it.

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Staci Layne Wilson reporting