Imagine two of television's hottest young actresses bunkingtogether in a small dorm room.
The plot of the new movie "The Roommate," however, may not beexactly what you have in mind.
"Friday Night Lights" cheerleader Minka Kelly plays a good-natured Midwestern freshman at a fictional, Downtown L.A. collegeand "Gossip Girl's" social enforcer Leighton Meester is the localrich kid who welcomes the new arrival with open arms.
Trouble is, Meester's Rebecca is nuts, and Kelly's Sara doesn'trealize the extent of her roomie's psychosis until it's probably toolate.
"I didn't want Sara to just be the nice girl, but to be anoptimistic person that believes the best of people until she'sproven wrong," Kelly explains. "It takes a lot for her to finallybelieve that Rebecca is crazy."
Meester, who also has a supporting role in the current musicdrama "Country Strong," took the opportunity to really dig into herfirst major motion picture part.
"Luckily, a lot of it was already on the page," says Meester, 24,who models and makes music along with acting. "I read, I watchedmovies, I talked to a lot of psychiatrists who specialize in suchdisorders and they gave me a lot of helpful information. Then,overall, the mood on set was perfect for me, everyone was reallysupportive."
Which wasn't always easy for them.
"It was challenging a lot of the time to watch Leighton becomethis crazy person," Kelly admits. "There were times on set when Iwould not know whether it was her or the character. She really keptto herself, and it was a matter of giving her her space.
"But we are absolutely friends," 30-year-old Kelly insists."We've known each other for years before we did this movie together.I have very much respect for her."
"I give Minka a lot of credit for dealing with me," Meesteracknowledges. "She was very supportive and very kind, and she addeda lot of levity on set, which was nice. But I did feel bad sometimesbecause I love her, and doing all of these things to her was lessthan kind, I'm sure."
Both actresses feel that "The Roommate" should find anappreciative audience, given that it exploits a pretty commonexperience and fairly universal fear.
"I myself haven't had many roommates," says Kelly, who afterbeing raised in New Mexico by her mom (her dad is ex-Aerosmithguitarist Rick Dufay), returned to her native L.A. to pursuesimultaneous acting and medical careers. "But I do know that it is aconcern when you're moving in - especially in college - if you don'tknow who you're going to be living with."
"I've had roommates before and some were great, some were not,"notes Meester, whose peripatetic childhood led from Texas throughFlorida to New York and L.A., where she attended Hollywood andBeverly Hills highs. "I think a lot of people can relate to this. Idon't know anyone who hasn't had, if not a roommate, a friend who'sjust a little too close, a little too nosy and in your business.
"I've had roommates who take your clothes and eat all your food,stuff like that. Not ones who are like this, though, with a realdisorder."
Neither Kelly nor Meester will be needing a roomie anytime soon.
Since leaving "Friday Night Lights," Kelly did a stint on the"Parenthood" series, filmed a small part in Adam Sandler's upcomingcomedy "Just Go With It" and got herself declared the sexiest womanalive by Esquire magazine.
"I really don't think about it every day," Kelly, who's datingbaseball superstar Derek Jeter, says of that latter achievement."It's very, very flattering, but I also take it just as seriously asI would someone giving me a negative. I enjoyed it for a day andthen I moved on."
She's more charged-up about just getting cast as one of the newCharlie's Angels for a TV reboot of the well-known film and networkseries.
"I'm very excited," Kelly says. "It just became final, so it'sall pretty new. It's such an iconic thing to be a part of; I justhope that we do the history of it justice."
Meester, meanwhile, has two more movies coming up, the comedy"Monte Carlo" and indie character piece "The Oranges." And there'sstill "Gossip Girl's" snooty Blair Waldorf who, despite Internetreports to the contrary, Meester says she plans to keep on playing.
"She is complex," Meester says of the character who's made herfamous. "I'm really lucky with how she's written and how she's grownover the past few years. She's very dramatic and manipulative andconniving, but I think she does come from a good place, which isenjoyable for me."
If they ever have time to take breaks from their snowballingcareers, there's a chance that the roommates may meet up again - atthe multiplex.
"I actually love psychological thriller movies," Kelly reveals."I love movies that keep me on the edge of my seat and wonderingwhat in the world is going on. And I like trying to understand thepsychology of someone like that, and what the next move is and thisdisbelief you have seeing what they do."
"While this isn't necessarily just a 'scare 'em' movie - it'svery much psychological, and appeals to me in that way - I likethose kinds of movies in general," Meester concurs. "To prepare forthis I watched 'Fatal Attraction,' 'The Crush,' 'Single WhiteFemale' and 'A Woman Under the Influence."'
It may be awhile before you see her in another one, though. Or,maybe, she'll just hold out until something even crazier comesalong.
"It was intense and very involved," Meester admits. "But the mostuncomfortable part for me was when Rebecca was just normal, whenshe's got that facade of normal; the parts where she's got all thesewheels turning inside her."
bob.strauss@dailynews.com
Bob Strauss 818-713-3670
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