Dianna Agron -- I Am Number Four -- On Set Interview

More interviews from Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub on the way, starting with his chat with I Am Number Four's leading lady, Dianna Agron.  Dianna plays Sarah, the ex-cheerleader from Paradise, Ohio, who befriends and eventually falls in love with John Smith (Alex Pettyfer).  In the interview Dianna talks about taking on the role, how it differs from Glee and working with director D. J. Caruso.

Here are a few excerpts:

Collider:  What about this particular film interested you?

Agron:  It was funny.  There had been this kind of push within my team to find a summer project.  I said first and foremost “I don’t want to do something if not’s right just because it fits into my schedule” because it’s so hard as an actor to really engage with a character and a script if you don’t love it.  It’s very difficult.  So this project kind of came full circle because in January I had met Steven Spielberg.  He had said “You know, there is this awesome script and we’re interested in you   But you’re not available because it shoots in October.”  And I was just flabbergasted that he knew who I was.  Then it came back around and it had pushed.  My manager, love her, was like “We can shoot for this.” and I said “You’re crazy.  The shoot goes too long and it’s not going to match with the break.’  Luckily, I read the script, and I loved it.  I met DJ and we just bonded so quickly.  Both the film and the show worked around each other.  So I’m here because of very many things, people, luck, patience, and my manager being persistent.

Collider:  What do you say is very defining about your character in this movie?

Agron:  I’ve been describing this movie to a lot of my friends as “Its very much The Breakfast Club, Rebel Without a Cause.”  It’s those movies.  The underdogs, in a very different way than Glee.   Glee is also about…it kind of has the underdog theme.  But this is more about these very adult teens, who are kind of on this journey and they don’t quite know for very different reasons why they don’t quite fit in, or they are starting to realize why they don’t quite fit in.  With Sarah, she’s smart and she knows what she wants.  But she’s not going to compromise herself anymore within her high school to be “accepted”, or popular, or anything like that.  She’s found her niche in photography and it’s something that really drives her.  She’s just kind of holding out until she can leave town, and kind of go on her own, and blossom even more.  But until then, she meets this character John.  And it’s almost like a chance to start over with him because he’s from out of town, there’s something kind of mysterious about him, but he’s kind to her. They very quickly form this very serious relationship and then when things get somewhat crazy…

Collider: You find out that he’s from way out of town.

Agron:  Yeah! It’s Rebel Without a Cause…with aliens.  Didn’t you know?  That’s the tagline.

You can read the rest of Collider's interview with Dianna here.

I Am Number Four hits theatres February 18, 2011.