411 Movies Interview: Briana Evigan of Step Up 2

Posted by Tony Farinella on 07.22.2008

411's Tony Farinella sits down with Briana Evigan of Step Up 2 for an exclusive interview!

Briana Evigan is the daughter of 1970s and '80s television icon Greg Evigan (My Two Dads, B.J. and the Bear). Recently, she played Andie West in Step Up 2, which was directed by USC's Jon Chu. In my interview with Briana Evigan, we talked about Step Up 2, which is currently available on DVD. I hope you enjoy my interview with Briana Evigan.


TONY: At this stage in your career, what did this opportunity mean to you, and how nervous were you going into this project?

Briana Evigan: Step Up has been the start of my success for me, so it feels great. It will always be that movie that I remember of that. It's gotten me a lot of work since then, and I was very nervous going into it because it was my first feature, so I didn't know what to expect, but I had a lot of comforting people around and great energy from Jon Chu and everybody to make me as comfortable as possible.

TONY: What was it like working with director Jon Chu? I couldn't help but notice his passion and his energy when I interviewed him a couple of days ago. Did you feed off that?

Briana Evigan: I'd say we all fed of his energy all the time, and he kept a very good attitude throughout the whole thing no matter what was going on. He made the film what it was and picked each character so well to make everyone be who they were in the film.

TONY: When you signed on for this film, what kind of advice did you receive from your family? I know that you come from a family full of actors.

Briana Evigan: I sat down and talked to my parents about it and laughed about some things, and my dad just told me to make sure I always keep my head on straight and make sure I'm always doing what I'm doing for me and that I really want to be doing it and to put all my effort into it and never give up and just keep going the best I can.

TONY: You've worked with Shane Sparks in the past, and I've had the pleasure of interviewing him, so I have to ask you, what did you learn from him? He seems like a very serious guy who really knows what he's doing.

Briana Evigan: Shane was my first dance teacher, and he really gave me my style. He helped me break out of my box and become a bigger dancer with myself. He always had a great energy, and I loved taking his classes because he was fun and would help me as an individual if I needed help rather than somebody who would just kind of push me along to the back and say figure it out.

TONY: What aspects of your character did you relate to the most, and what aspects of your character did you really have to work at?

Briana Evigan: I'd say Andie West and I are both people that have a dream ahead of us or something that we love and want to continue pursuing and make more out of. She's a little bit of a rebel, which I'd say I was in high school, and you want your way and you're gonna get your way and be tough about it. But the things that were different: I have a very close family, and Andie West was always looking for a family. She was adopted into a family, so I think she was missing that feeling of support and was always trying to find it, which I, fortunately, have been able to have.


TONY: After you performed a certain dance on camera, did you know right away if you nailed it or not?

Briana Evigan: I can say that right when you're done, you know if it was a good take or a bad take.

TONY: What was it like working with Robert Hoffman? Did you guys find your chemistry right away?

Briana Evigan: I'd say we had the chemistry right away. Robert and I just became very good friends right away, so it was very easy for us to work together and communicate and talk about what we had to get done.

TONY: What do you need in order to make a good dance movie?

Briana Evigan: Yeah. I mean, half of it is the cast and half of it is the people filming. The other part is the director and how they all put it together as a piece, and I think Step Up 2 definitely conveyed that and was able to combine a lot of old dance movies and put 'em all together to make what we made.

TONY: What did you learn from this whole experience?

Briana Evigan: I definitely learned that acting is something I want to pursue more than anything, which I did not know before, and I really saw how much hard work it takes and how much studying and research that you really have to do. You really have to put your mind to it and turn into a completely different person for a month or two months or three months or however long it is.

TONY: What was it like training for this film? You mentioned on one of the special features that you guys were training for eight hours a day. How do you deal with those long hours?

Briana Evigan: Well, if it's what you want to be doing, it never gets to the point where it's too overwhelming. If you can just keep yourself in that state of mind where you know this is what you want to do and this is what you're here for and this is why they picked me because they know that you can do this. It's kind of like giving yourself a little pep talk almost. Dancing wise, I would sit in a bath of ice at nighttime to get my body back together, because my body was falling apart more than anything, not my head or my mind or anything. I was so sore, I was having trouble dancing the next day.


TONY: What's your most vivid memory from shooting this film?

Briana Evigan: I'd have to say .... one was the rain sequence at the end. That's for sure. Because it did take us a month of rehearsals before we actually started filming it. It was the last week of filming, it was a great ending, and everybody was really happy to be there and everyone's hearts were into it. And then the people, the cast, that's the most memorable thing to me and how cool it is when we all get together again, because it's all just good people that like to have fun and love what they're doing.

TONY: What is it about acting that you enjoy so much? You mentioned earlier that you discovered your love of acting during the course of this movie. Also, what kind of work do you want to seek out in the future?

Briana Evigan: Acting, the reason I like it so much is because you get to become this character that's nothing like you or this character that is a lot like you and you can portray your own characteristics. I love that you get to pretend to be somebody else or something else that you would never be and not be judged for that as a person. You're not judged as a person for how you portrayed this character. It's just so fun that you can be playing different kind of roles all over the place, things that maybe you want to say sometimes to somebody, but you never would because that's not like you. But then when you have an acting role, you get to be that person for fun. So, acting wise, that, to me, that's what it is. Some roles in the future that I'd like to get to is some kind of love story like The Notebook or an action movie like Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2 .... something like that. Something real fun and tough, but, at the same time, has some comedy going through the whole thing.

TONY: In terms of your career, have you learned to expect the unexpected and just go along for the ride and see where it takes you?

Briana Evigan: Yeah, I mean, I think people start putting expectations on you, but I'm going for the ride as best I can.

TONY: Finally, if a young actress is reading our interview, what's the best advice you can give them?

Briana Evigan: I would say just never give up, because if you're in this business, you gotta expect to get rejected most days of the week. And if it's what you love to do, just keep going, and somebody will think you're right for whatever it is you're going up for and just put all your heart into whatever you're doing and whatever it is that you love and the best will come out of it.