By Emma Brown
Indiana Evans has been running. She’s been in trouble and this is all she’s saying.
But the 19-year old actress isn’t fazed – it’s just another sign of her burgeoning success after a hard day’s work spent filming a special guest role in new TV series Cops LAC.
Her career appears to be heading for the big time.
Fresh from a four-year stint on TV series Home and Away, she recently auditioned for director Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland – where she was shortlisted – as well as for Stephen Spielberg’s I Am Number 4.
"If you get close it’s a good sign,” she tells INSIDEFILM while drinking a coffee in a Coogee Beach café. The easygoing, almost shy, actor bears no
hard feelings towards her fellow actors. Another Australian, Mia Wasikowska, eventually landed the lead role as Alice.
“It really depends on what it is and who gets it – if they seem right or deserving, it’s a lot easier to take,” she said. “If it’s someone who doesn’t make sense, that can be frustrating.”
Her breakthrough film role is instead the latest offering from one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite directors – Brian Trenchard-Smith – famous for his Australian Ozploitation genre films from the ‘70s and ‘80s.
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Indiana Evans
Evans plays the lead role although she says filming the thriller about a family’s response to an environmental catastrophe in Tasmania was intense.
“I was there for three or four weeks by myself in this little hotel. It was kind of bizarre but really good.”
Her career has already spanned a diverse range of projects including last year’s telemovie A Model Daughter – The Killing of Caroline Byrne, as well as in the third series of global hit H20 – Just add Water, where she played singing mermaid Bella.
“To sing was something I wasn’t comfortable doing in front of people [but] when you have to do something it’s amazing what you can do,” she said.
“I wasn’t singing on a rock – she gets up and sings in a band. She’s a fun, bubbly character, that has no fear and I’m quite the opposite.”
She now plans to head over to LA, where she recently acquired an agent, for more auditions. Still, she credits long-running Seven series Home
and Away for her training – and making her fall in love with acting.
“You’re not just learning techniques, you’re performing on the job. You learn… how to technically do it and how to learn scripts quickly and how to fix them quick.
“You can tell how well-written it is by how easy it is to learn.”
With Hollywood directors like Burton and Spielberg calling – watch this space.
Arctic Blast will premiere at Dendy Opera Quays on August 4 and H20 – Just add Water Series 3 will air on Channel TEN in early 2011.