Q&A: Jessica Belkin Is A Star On The Rise

Forbes

3 days ago

Singing In My Sleep is one of those unsung movies that sneaks up on you with its rich relationships, strong characters and overall humanity. Starring Malin Akerman and Jessica Belkin as a mother and daughter dealing with the twentieth anniversary of the debut album from their late partner/father, it has the same kind of heart and soul as the brilliant Waking The Dead, with Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly.
Though the relationship between Akerman and Belkin is the pivotal one in the story, the movie is told through Belkin's eyes. Belkin, who has lots of connections to music, including wanting to be a child pop star and playing Lady Gaga's daughter on American Horror Story, absolutely shines in the complex role of an aspiring singer with a famous father she barely knew.
I spoke with the versatile Belkin, a star very much on the rise, who will be seen next year in the Amazon Prime Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle, about the film, how it reignited her music dreams, reuniting with Akerman on Netflix's Hunting Wives and much more.Steve Baltin: For you, do you feel you have that one role people identify you with?
Jessica Belkin: No, not yet. I think people will associate me with the show I'm doing right now when it comes out. That'll be a fun role and it's in such an iconic IP already with Legally Blonde. But so far, no, I don't think so. American Horror Story, when I was like 13, people sometimes try to remember me for that one, but it was so long ago, and I feel like I'm ready to have a fresh start and a blank slate for all of that.
Baltin: What did you do on American Horror Story?
Belkin: I played a recurring role. I played Ren who is an ancient little Victorian child vampire, Lady Gaga's daughter. I didn't speak for a lot of the season and then when I finally spoke it was like, 'Wow, so much to uncover.' And by the end of the episode, I had offed myself.
Baltin: Do you take parts home with you or is it easy to step away from?
Belkin: When I was younger, I think it was easier to step away from it, especially seeing how a horror type of movie set works. It's all pretty make-believe to me. But as I've gotten older, I take a lot of my characters home with me now, which sometimes isn't the best. But yeah, it takes a second to separate from them.
Baltin: This was an intense movie, and I thought it was really well done. Did you take the character home, or were you able to leave it behind?
Belkin: Thanks. Charlotte always lives inside my heart. And I think I relate to her in a lot of ways; I've gone through grief, I've gone through nonlinear grief, and I feel like I relate to her on the musical element. Growing up all I did was play music, my parents put me in piano lessons, guitar lessons, I tried to make my own music, I tried to be a pop star growing up and then I pivoted into acting. But Charlotte is really interesting and vulnerable, and I didn't feel like I needed to let her go too much so she's still with me.
Baltin: If you could be a pop star, what pop star would you have been?
Belkin: When I was younger, I wanted to be Britney Spears. I wanted to be Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson was also there. I also loved the Pussycat Dolls. I would watch MTV as a six-year-old child because my parents wouldn't let me watch SpongeBob, but they let me watch MTV. But I think that's what gathered my interest into wanting to be a pop star, wanting to be on the TV. I think the SpongeBob stuff would have drowned all that out.
Baltin: From the movie, you said you started making music again.
Belkin: Yes, I did start making music again, and that's been really fun too. My first single I was nine years old and now I'm trying to get into music more and more, but I haven't necessarily found my own sound yet. And until I release a song I don't think I'll know it for sure. But Amyl and the Sniffers, that's the kind of rock star I would be right now if I could. I don't know if my music would necessarily be like theirs, but a girl can dream.
Baltin: Now I'm curious, what was the best concert you've ever seen?
Belkin: I saw Guns N' Roses at the Hollywood Bowl like two years ago, and I really enjoyed that. Everyone was singing along and nobody was really worried about taking videos or photos. People were really present, so I enjoyed that concert a lot. And I was right in the middle, not nosebleeds, that was a good day for me. And it reminded me of my first ever concert I went to with my dad. I was 14 and it was AC DC. It's definitely a really great memory for me.
Baltin: I have a different perspective on this movie than most people will having interviewed Sean and Julian Lennon, Jakob Dyan, all the Marley kids, the kids of John Coltrane. So, I understand whether it's an accurate depiction of what it's like to grow up with the pressure of the last name. And I think that's one of the things the movie did really well, it's hard when there's that specter that never goes away, because it's so public.
Belkin: Yeah, and she has been dealing with that for years and years. Even to the point where her guitar lessons that she's trying to just make enough money to get out of her small town, moms are coming up to her and being like, 'I tell everyone who my son's teacher is, and it's all because with that last name.' So, yeah, it's a lot of pressure. It's constant.
Baltin: The character in the movie was reminiscent of Jeff Buckley.
Belkin: I could see that, yeah, Jeff Buckley is a great example, especially with that new movie coming out.
Baltin: Were there any children of musicians you looked at or how did you approach the role?
Belkin: I definitely talked to the director a lot just about character work and where we wanted Charlotte's journey to start and end and where that inner turmoil would come from. There are definitely examples I had in the back of my head. I think even Paul McCartney's son had gone into music and wanted to stray away from his father's legacy and establish his own voice. But I don't think it lived in me fully. I think Charlotte was her own culmination of everyone.
Baltin: How much fun was it to play a character like this who gets to explore music and who goes on a big emotional journey?
Belkin: Charlotte was really fun to play, especially because I had a musical background from my childhood. And it reignited my love for music at the same time. All the scores for the movie were originals by Melanie Fontana and Lindgren, who are Grammy award-winning songwriters, and they made it so fun for me to find her story within the lyrics as well. The campfire song was about her dad, and the delicate song in the beginning was about wanting to leave town. And each outfit we picked out was supposed to go along with the emotions, the color scheme, the palettes that we chose for the movie. I got to learn how to play guitar again. I had briefly known a little bit about how to play but picked it back up for the movie. I was ripping out my hair at points of the three months before that. I had to learn all these songs because at first we were really trying to do them live and Nick [Wilson] the director was really pushing for that at the end of the day they went with the pre-recordings just because of technical problems but I was really committed to making sure that I did her justice and even like the midi beat path, I had to learn the exact pattern of how to do it. So, it was fun. Definitely a really cool character. And I felt like I was going through a lot at the same time. So, I got to bring a lot of my own emotional turmoil and torment into her.
Baltin: When you watch the film, is it a snapshot of the turmoil you were going through?
Belkin: A hundred percent, yeah. When I look back at that Jessica, I don't even recognize her anymore, but I love her, and I wish I could give her a hug. I had just turned 20 when we started shooting that film and it just came out now. It's been three years, and a lot has changed. My work has changed. The people around me have changed. I have developed my voice more too and I play music every single day now rather than like, 'Oh, I just have to prepare for this movie.' I look back and I was going through a lot and I was dealing with my own grief from the loss of my grandmother. So, I definitely feel like it's a sweet capture of time for me.
Baltin: Talk about working with Malin.
Belkin: Working with Malin was super cool. I had been a fan of her from Watchmen, from The Heartbreak Kid, from Trophy Wife. So, when I found out that she was going to be playing my mom, I was really excited, and I think that the whole mother and daughter relationship is the heart of the film. The mom, Mary, is dealing with her own version of grief and the complexities of being a widow while Charlotte's carrying this loss as well. So, they come together, they fall apart, and it's a beautiful story to see them dance that dance. And she was a great scene partner. She always made me laugh, and her character was a bit funky and hippy. She's smoking joints and making pot brownies, and she really had fun with it. And I got to scold her and be the adult, which was an interesting dynamic for me because I'm usually the one being scolded.
Baltin: What actors would you enjoy working with every day watching the way they work and learning from them?
Belkin: I love Frances McDormand, she's so talented. Three Billboards is one of my favorite movies. I love Nomadland. I think that she's a natural born leader and a powerhouse. I would love to watch her and learn from her. I could see us getting along very well. Same with Joaquin Phoenix as well. I really like his work.
Baltin: And now you have reunited with Malin on The Hunting Wives.
Belkin: There's so much drama that goes on between these wives in the show. It's soap opera -y, so soapy, but very entertaining. I think people are missing having good quality shows around. People are definitely enjoying it and the way that these women are really badass characters, and I play Young Margot, which is young Malin Ackerman. It was meant to be because I shot this show right after we did Singing in My Sleep. I had mentioned to her that I was going to send in a tape, and she was like, 'That would be amazing if you played young me.' As young Margot I pull up on a dude with a gun and steal his truck. It's a cool sequence for young Margot and hopefully we'll see more of her in season two because it looks like the show is doing well and people are watching it.
Baltin: Was it fun to get to pull up on someone with a gun and steal their truck?
Belkin: Yeah, the guy was playing a perv and bless his heart, he was doing a great job at it. It felt good to enact that empowerment and confidence. And I got to work with a gun, which was my first time working with like armory and I felt super safe.
Baltin: What do you hope people take from Singing In My Sleep?
Belkin: This film isn't just about the music or the grief. For me a big part of Charlotte's story is her mental health. She's dealing with so much that she can't really talk about and when the parent/child roles are flipped, it just adds this whole other layer. There are little signs of OCD, drinking, sleeping pills, those moments where everything feels out of control and that's something so many teens go through. I think a lot of young people will relate to that feeling of being surrounded by people, even your own family, but still feeling alone in your head. That's why I love that this story shows that side of her. It's like she's figuring out who she is in real time, you feel for her and really root for her journey.