INTERVIEW: CHELSEA EDMUNDSON (ARMY OF THE DEAD)
Chelsea Edmundson has most recently been seen as The Bride aka Misty, the cause of the zombie apocalypse in ARMY OF THE DEAD. Here she talks about zombie weapons of choice, playing guitar, working with ZACK SNYDER (director/creator), and a future project with THE WALKING DEAD’S Jon Bernthal.
LORETTE: WHAT GOT YOU INTO ACTING?
CHELSEA: I always wanted to do it, from when I was a kid. I was bitter as a young teen because I just couldn’t understand why our entire family couldn’t just move to California. It sounded like a good idea to me!
LORETTE: WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST GIG?
CHELSEA: My first paid job was as an Irish step dancer in a commercial for ESPN sports. Brian Wilson was playing for the San Fransisco Giants at the time, he had this huge beard and I was dancing in it. It’s strange and trippy, I think the YouTube video is still out there somewhere!
“Also, I don’t really know how to Irish step dance, I feel like I should be honest about that, but I faked it well enough.”
LORETTE: WHAT WAS THE WORST SURVIVAL JOB YOU EVER HAD TO DO?
CHELSEA: Working at LA Fitness.
LORETTE: WHAT WAS THE BEST GIG YOU’VE HAD? YOUR RESUME MOSTLY LEANS TOWARDS HORROR.
CHELSEA: I love all kinds of movies, including horror. I didn’t really choose to be in the genré specifically when I started. I think it kind of chose me but it’s given me a wonderful start to my career and I’m very grateful.
I’m not sure what my favorite job was because sometimes they’re great for different reasons. This one has been the best for my career so far, certainly and I’m very proud of it and very grateful.
I’m also very proud of an independent film I did called Thunder Road, directed by Jim Cummings. It’s a beautiful, hopeful movie.
You can stream it on Amazon Prime. That movie went to a lot of festivals. I was able to go to SXSW with Jim and the whole team.
We won Grand Jury Prize, and being able to share that with my husband and the team at that time was very special and a milestone for me.
I also got to go to Tokyo once for a job, which was incredible, I’ve been so lucky. I’ve met some of my best friends working in this industry and working on movies and have been able to travel to really interesting places.
LORETTE: SO, ZACK SNYDER.
CHELSEA: My first round was a self-tape audition, and I was so excited when I saw it was for a Zack Snyder movie.
“Just wanted to crush it and be memorable! I always try to find a little way to stand out or be memorable if I can.”
I have a wonderful taping partner I work with who is one of my best friends.
So we played that day and I felt really good about what I sent in. I thought the scene was sexy, but also really funny and I really wanted the part.
Then I had a callback with the casting directors and Zack in the room. When I left the callback, I was pretty sure I’d closed the deal.
We just had so much fun, a lot of improv. It was a good time and I member making him laugh and thinking that had to be a good sign!
I blasted Prince in the car all the way back to the house with the windows down. I just felt so good. And a few weeks later, I got the call! 🙂 I was and still am so grateful.
“Show business is a tough business and big gigs like this are such a gift. ”
Working with Zack and his wife Debbie and the whole team was very exciting and not something I’ll ever forget.
I was nervous of course, but the fun kind of nervous with the butterflies in your stomach. I love that feeling and I hope I always have it when I step on a new set for the first time. It’s like that feeling when you’re about to go on a rollercoaster. I love it.
LORETTE: WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING THE CAUSE OF THE APOCALYPSE? MISTY, MISTY, TSK TSK.
CHELSEA: I’ve had a blast engaging with fans of it on Twitter and I’m very proud to have started all of the zombie shenanigans. 😉
LORETTE: WHAT IS YOUR WEAPON OF CHOICE IF MISTY SURVIVED?
CHELSEA: I got to be in a Snyder film with a weapon I think my weapon of choice would absolutely be a hatchet somehow affixed to my body for hand-to-hand combat and my gun would be a sawed-off shotgun.
Shotguns just look cool in movies. You can’t not look cool with a shotgun.
LORETTE: AND THE BLOOPER REEL?
CHELSEA: Honestly, Steve Carona my partner, and I couldn’t really afford to have bloopers. I’m sure we messed up a couple of times but the window of time we were shooting in was very narrow because of the light, so when it was go-time we had to be ON.
Any mistakes we made weren’t very memorable to me because we had to just get back into the scene.
Zack just kept reminding us to keep our energy up and we just ran the scene as many times as we could before we lost that beautiful dusky light. I think a blooper reel from the movie would be so fun to see, though! Maybe they’ll release something like that eventually.
LORETTE: ARE YOU AWARE OF THE ANIMATED SERIES AND WILL YOU BE INVOLVED WITH IT?
CHELSEA: I would of course love to be a part of the animated series as Misty or another character. I like doing different kinds of voices so that would be so fun!
ON STAYING COMFY.
Plus I love the idea of wearing sweatpants all day at work, which you can do when you’re a voiceover actor.
LORETTE: AS A WOMAN IN THIS INDUSTRY AND WITH THIS LEVEL OF POPULARITY, HAVE THERE BEEN ANY NEGATIVE THINGS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
CHELSEA: I’ve had some men that have been inappropriate for sure but I tend to ignore that kind of thing.
I don’t let a lot of negativity like that affect me, life is too short and I’ve got things to do.
I don’t answer a lot of DM’s in general, I try to engage with people more in public spaces and I think that’s helpful.
As a general rule of thumb to anyone talking to anyone else on social media, I would say, if you wouldn’t say it to someone in person, why would you say it on social media?
If you would feel uncomfortable saying something to me if we were eye to eye, it’s probably best to keep it to yourself.
LORETTE: HOW DO YOU STAY GROUNDED IN THIS INDUSTRY?
CHELSEA: Truthfully, I don’t think I’ve reached a level of success yet that would call for me to not be grounded.
“I have a long way to go and there are jobs I get and jobs I don’t. I’m still at a point in my career where I’m very much in the arena fighting for work, and I think that keeps you very humble.”
I’m also a Missourian and we’re humbled by nature. Braggarts and stuck-up people aren’t well-liked in the Bootheel of Missouri, which is where I’m from!
LORETTE: WHAT’S ON YOUR i-POD AND NIGHTSTAND?
CHELSEA: I’ve been listening to a lot of music from the 70s lately. Dolly Parton, John Denver, Fleetwood Mac, Cat Stevens.
I find music from that era to be my comfort music.
I also really like listening to film scores when I take a shower! I’m really into the score from “Meet Joe Black” right now.
Really, anything Thomas Newman.
I’m reading a book by Mitch Albom right now called the Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. A dear friend lent it to me.
LORETTE: WHAT ARE YOUR DREAM PROJECTS?
CHELSEA: I have so many dream projects!
This is so hard. I like to sing and I play guitar so if I had to choose one I would say I’d like to play some kind of a singer/songwriter, maybe a cowgirl that’s a little bit of lost soul like Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!
It would give me an excuse to put a lot more time into playing guitar which I would really enjoy, I always feel like I don’t make enough time for it.
LORETTE: YOU ARE ALSO A PRODUCER, IS THERE ANY INTEREST IN WRITING/DIRECTING?
I directed a few music videos for an extraordinary singer-songwriter actually! Her name is Sinead Burgess.
She’s insanely beautiful and talented and they’re on YouTube. “Praising God and Raisin’ Hell” is my favorite of the series I directed her in.
Seriously, look her up. You’ll thank me. My focus is definitely acting, though. And producing when it fits into that.
Acting and producing go hand in hand and I really admire actors who create their own opportunities in that way.
Reese Witherspoon has been a huge inspiration to me. She’s a boss! She’s goals, for sure.
LORETTE: CAN YOU TELL ME A BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW PROJECT THE BUNKER?
CHELSEA: Yes! I play a microbiologist named Dr. Michelle Riley. It’s very exciting. It’s an alien invasion-style movie with some aspects that I think are really unique.
I really hope sci-fi and horror fans love it! It’s a very exciting cast. We have Tobin Bell (Saw) Tony Todd (Candyman) and I’ve been reunited with one of my favorite co-Stars, Chad Michael Collins.
“We made this movie in the pandemic, which was really challenging. But our producers and our director really pulled through and I’m very proud of the whole team.”
LORETTE: WHAT’S NEXT?
CHELSEA: I also shot a pilot called American Gigolo with the brilliant and very kind, Jon Bernthal and am attached to a new feature film that I’ll have more to say about very soon. 🙂