"Paranormal Activity" |
The demonic suffering has paid off for "Paranormal Activity" actress Katie Featherston.
APA has just signed Featherston for representation as the bare-bones, $11,000 horror flick has ballooned into a $62.5 million grossing phenomenon-and-growing through the weekend.
The Texas-bred Featherston studied acting at Southern Methodist University (and shed that pesky Texas twang) before moving to Los Angeles and scoring the role of Katie in Oren Peli's ultralow-budget creeper.
"I remember telling my mom, 'If I don't get this role, it's because of some spiritual reason,' " she said of her improvisational audition. "Because I had so much fun that it seemed wrong for me not to get it."
Since the film's slow rollout by Paramount a few weeks back, youth-oriented audiences have flocked to Featherston digitally through her Facebook and Twitter accounts -- some even worried about her well-being.
Featherston is a fervent fan of horror films, counting "The Exorcist," "Jaws" and "Candyman" as favorites. She's also filmed a part in a friend's forthcoming horror movie, "Walking Distance," but she's not worried about getting pigeonholed.
"I just need to focus on promoting this movie as much as I can and doing whatever they need from me," she said, "and also taking a bunch of auditions and just working hard. Because I don't have any control over how people will see me. I'm hopefully going to do a wide variety of things. We'll see."
Featherston, also managed by Elevate Entertainment, admitted that the response has been overwhelming. But she's grateful for a turn of events as unpredictable as those in the film.
"This movie has really just opened up so many doors, and I'm meeting good people and reading scripts and getting auditions that I wouldn't have had otherwise," she said. "I just want to work with smart people so that I can learn from them."
