Interview with Brooklyn Sudano from the MTV original movie ‘Turn the Beat Around’

<<< FOR PART ONE OF THE INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

Starcasm: You’ve acted in a lot of television shows – do you have a favorite experience?

Brooklyn: Oh, my favorite experience… It’s kind of hard to pick one in particular because every show, every experience, every set is different and you learn something from that. I think as an actor you always want to grow, you always want to stretch yourself. You don’t ever want to be too comfortable, and I’ve been really lucky to be in a lot of different kinds of circumstances, whether it was starting on Wife and Kids, which was kind of my big break, and really being thrown into the world of comedy with this huge comedic family and really learning a lot from that, and then going towards the more dramatic – I’ve done a couple of pilots and a lot of indy films that were much more dramatic. I think it’s learning from all of them more so than any one particular favorite.

Starcasm: Other than your parents, who has been your biggest supporter or mentor?

Brooklyn: Besides my parents, my biggest supporter is probably my grandmother. (laughs) You can do no wrong with grandma, you know? She’s my dad’s mom, my Grandma Madge. She always, since I was a little kid, taught me many, many life lessons. She’s a feisty woman, she’s outspoken, she’s really loving and she’s a hard worker. I think all of those characteristics taught me and she’s been a really supportive factor in my life. She’s one of my best friends. So other than my parents, I would probably say her.

Starcasm: What’s her name?

Brooklyn: Her name is Madge. Margaret Sudano. I call her Gramma Madge. (laughs)

Brooklyn shakes what her momma and Gramma Madge gave her as Malika!

Starcasm: Do you have any advice for young girls trying to break into the entertainment industry?

Brooklyn: My advice to young girls, or just to young people in general that want to get into entertainment, whether it’s singing or acting or dancing or writing or whatever, it would be to really learn your craft. I think a lot of what the media focuses on is the fame and celebrity element of it, but the people that are successful work really, really hard and work with whatever talent they have. Some have more, some have less, some have different gifts, but they work really, really hard. So I would say develop a strong work ethic and learn your craft. If you love it then you want to know everything you possibly can about it. Discipline, working hard and really learning your craft – be the best singer you can be, you know? You might not sound like Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston or people like that, but be the best singer that you can be, be the best dancer you can be, and try to find yourself in that.

Oh, and don’t give up! Which is what Turn the Beat Around is showing you I think. Romina D’Ugo’s character Zoe shows that. She’s different than Malika, but she is amazing at Zowie. She is a great dancer and she doesn’t give up no matter what tries to stop her.

Starcasm: So besides learning the craft, “don’t give up” is the most important thing?

Brooklyn: Right! Exactly. Dont give up. A lot of times when they are saying, “Oh she’s a rising star!” they’ve actually been putting years and years of work into it. So don’t let the hype fool you! (laughs)

Starcasm: So what do you think you would be doing now if you weren’t in the entertainment industry? Have you ever thought about that?

Brooklyn: There are definitely times where you say to yourself, “Wow! This is a tough industry,” so it is something I’ve thought about. In college I considered studying international affairs and diplomacy, so there’s that side of me that is really interested in culture and how nations work together and that kind of thing. That’s sort of the nerdy side of me. I’ve also thought of being a psychologist or a counselor. That’s something that really interests me and I think it’s part of why I like acting because you’re always trying to figure out why people do things as a character, you know? You have to figure out what their motives are why they are the way they are. People really interest me and I think that’s why I like acting so much.

Starcasm: International Affairs? Do you speak any other languages?

Brooklyn: Un pequitos Espanol perro yo necessito practica mucho mas. (laughs) I know a little bit of Spanish but that’s definitely one of my life goals is to master Spanish as well as Italian. I have Rosetta Stone on my computer for Italian and I’ve gone through the first couple of lessons, but I haven’t been very diligent about it.

Starcasm: Yeah, I just know English (laughs) I would love to “brush up” on my Spanish and Italian.

Brooklyn: I was in Italy filming this past November and the language is just so beautiful. They could be cussing you out and it still sounds amazing. (laughs)

Starcasm: (laughs) Yes, it’s a gorgeous language.

Brooklyn: Spanish is almost necessary. So many people in our country speak Spanish so it’s becoming more and more important in order to be able to communicate.

Here’s Malika being her usual hard-to-impress self:

Starcasm: So what’s on the horizon for Brooklyn Sudano? Do you have any big projects coming up?

Brooklyn: I have a few indy films. I just finished the one that I was talking about in Italy and that’s called Five Hours South. They’re wrapping up filming on that one now. That’s actually another dance film that’s set in Italy. And then I have another film called Five Star Day that was finished this last year as well. Julianna Guill, who was the lead in the last MTV movie My Super Psycho Sweet Sixteen, is in that. Jena Malone’s in it too, as is Cam Gigandet. It should be hitting film festivals and hopefully be out in a theater near you sometime soon.

Starcasm: Sounds great! You say you did more dancing in Five Hours South?

Brooklyn: In Five Hours South I played a choreographer again, which was funny because I did these projects back to back so I was like, “Oh! I’m back in a dance studio.” So yeah, I did do a little bit of dancing in that one as well.

Starcasm: So what’s the plot for Five Star Day?

Brooklyn: Basically Cam’s character has a very tumultuous birthday where a lot of things go wrong. He has a horoscope that says he is going to have this amazing day on his birthday, but actually it’s awful and all this bad stuff happens. So he goes out and tries to find the other three or four people that were born that same day at the same hospital that he was to see if they had a bad day or a good day like the horoscope said. It’s about that journey and trying to figure out if things are written in the stars or if we create our own destiny. The film deals with all those kinds of themes.

Starcasm: That sounds intriguing!

Brooklyn: Yeah!

Starcasm: Going back to Turn the Beat Around, how did you get into that?

Brooklyn: Its funny. I auditioned a really long time before it actually came around and then all of a sudden I got a call saying, “Hey they want you to come back in.” I did a chemistry read with Adam Taylor Brooks, who plays Chris in the film, and I think we really hit it off. He’s a great guy who’s super-talented. One thing let to another and I was up in Toronto for a month.

Starcasm: (laughs) And what did your mother think of the film?

Brooklyn: My mom is like a stage mom, even though she’s not actually there – a stage mom in all the good senses: she’s really supportive and wants to know everything that’s going on and what auditions I’ve been to and all that kind of stuff. She’s really supportive and happy that I’m “carrying on the family legacy” in a cool way.

Actually, both her and my father did a lot of theater. My dad studied with Stella Adler when he was in college and my mom got started in musical theater, so they’ve got those acting roots as well. They’re super happy and proud like I think most parents would be. (laughs) They’re really happy that I’m working and that I’m not waiting tables, which there’s nothing wrong with that! They’re happy that I’m doing what I love to do.

Disco meets Rave in this climactic dance scene from Turn the Beat Around

Starcasm: What about the disco element of Turn the Beat Around?

Brooklyn: It was kind of a funny thing at first, like “Oh gosh! Here it is again!” (laughs) It was actually really fun. The music supervisor who put all the music together, his name is Evan Bogart, his father is the one who really broke my mom out in the States. His name was Neil Bogart and he signed my mom to her deal out here at Casablanca Records. It was kind of a full circle moment in a lot of ways.

The thing about disco music per se is that it’s really dance music. It’s happy, feel good music and I think that’s what this film tries to take from that genre. It’s music that the whole family can get up and dance to and have fun. Turn the Beat Around is the remixed version. It’s classic songs but there’s also new songs by Cobra Starship and Jason Derulo so it’s a really good mix of old and new. I feel like teenagers’ parents will have fun watching it too, you know?

Starcasm: Right! I really enjoyed the musical element, the whole idea of disco as timeless because I think sometimes it gets stereotyped into being just a dated novelty genre, but it’s really not.

Brooklyn: Yeah. I think it was really popular for a reason. I think people at that time – and people now with the recession and the state of affairs with the country – just kind of wanted to let loose and have fun, you know? Just good, clean fun dancing! I think we could really use that again.

Starcasm: I guess I should wrap it up. How about 5 things that you can’t live without?

Brooklyn: Five things I can’t live without. Hmmm. this is tough.

Starcasm: (laughs) I didn’t mean to spring that one on you, sorry.

Brooklyn: (laughs) Being a girl, probably mascara and my eyelash curler I guess. That’s one and a half. I would probably say my iPod. I love music so that would definitely have to be on an island with me. I don’t think I could just pick one or two albums so I think I’d have to bring the whole iPod with me. I would then say, obviously, my family – my husband, the people that I love and are the closest and dearest to me would have to be one of my five things. Then I would probably say… Oh gosh. What would I say five? I should have thought about this prior. I would say my Bible and then I would say my Blackberry! (laughs) That’s a hard one to live without!

Starcasm: That’s really taking the world with you!

Brooklyn: Exactly! That might even be more necessary than the iPod at this point.

Once again we’d like to thank Brooklyn for taking time out of her busy career right before the world premiere of the MTV original movie Turn the Beat Around, which will air Friday, February 26 at 10pm EST. Just in case you needed one more little push, here’s the trailer:

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