When Maddie Hasson—currently starring as Henry, a woman who realizes her ability to teleport in the midst of a sexual assault on Season 2 of the YouTube Originals thriller “Impulse”—first moved to Los Angeles from North Carolina at 16, her mother gave her a one-month trial to book a job. The rest is history! Now 24, the actor discusses the stamina needed to carry a series and her early audition missteps.

How did you first get your SAG-AFTRA card?
It was this movie called “God Bless America.” It was this Bobcat Goldthwait movie. My mom gave me a month in Los Angeles. I had this manager that was trying to convince her when I was 16 to let me come to L.A. and do a pilot season and she was like, “No, no, no, no.” Finally, we convinced her, and she was like, “You can have one month there and if you get a job, we can keep doing this.” I went on four auditions a day, every day for a whole month. I finally got this one part, and I was so beyond excited. Her name was Chloe and she was a very vapid, self-absorbed 16-year-old girl. She was having her sweet 16 and I loved it. There was a scene when I got to yell at Chloe’s mom on the phone. My mom was on set for that and she was like, “Wow, that sounds familiar.”

What advice would you give your younger self?
I feel like every time I step onto a set it’s like the first time and I’m always like, “I’m going to get fired, I’m the worst actor in the world.” And I think everybody feels that way. I would tell myself to take a deep breath. This is not the end of the world or the beginning of the world. It’s just one role and one piece of time. Try to do your best and don’t let it get away [from] you too much.

What is your worst audition horror story?
I auditioned for something on the CW and it was my first-ever callback. It was my first week in L.A. I came dressed in jeans and really old loafers from Target that I think used to be my sister’s. They might be in fashion now, but at the time, they weren’t. I did what I did in the audition and I think they gave me some notes and I was really flustered and I tried to take them but I didn’t take them as fully as a more experienced actor could. They were like, “She’s great, but she’s really green.” And that was the first time I heard the word “green.” They were like, “And what was she wearing? I don’t understand the outfit. She didn’t try to dress herself properly at all.” I was fully immersed in the Hollywood experience right away.

What’s the wildest thing you ever did to get a role?
I did dye my hair once for an audition. I don’t think I would do that now. But it was for this movie I did called “I Saw The Light.” I played Hank Williams’ wife Billie Jean, and her hair is dark, dark brown. And my hair at the time was very blonde. I got it in my head that they wouldn’t be able to see me as anything other than this blonde, blue-eyed, round-faced girl. She’d had a child at that age. Even though she was my same age, she was a mother and very mature and experienced. And I just looked, in my mind, like a baby. So I thought, I’m going to dye my hair. I got a box of brown hair dye and did it—and luckily, it worked out.

How do you prepare for an audition?
It depends on what kind of role it is. If it’s for a comedy, I try to talk a lot that morning. I try to speak to a friend or to my husband or my sister on the phone on the way. I try to keep my mind off of it because nothing kills comedy more than nerves and not being loose and not being in the swing of talking. If it’s for something more serious, something more emotional, I try to get into a darker place. I don’t really talk to people, on the flipside. I keep to myself for the day and do whatever I feel I have to do to get to that place.

What has playing this latest role as Henry on “Impulse” added to your acting skills?
From playing Henry, I’ve learned you have to have stamina because there’s a lot of emotional scenes, and those scenes don’t just happen in one take. They happen over and over, from multiple angles for five hours. You have to be able to give a performance you feel proud of every time, hopefully, so they can keep something together that looks good and matches and works and tells the correct story. I have learned you have to come prepared and you have to find a way to go to a certain place over and over and you have to find new things and a certain memory. If one thing stops working midway through a shooting day that you’re using to draw a certain feeling from, you can’t quit. You have to find another way really quickly.

What’s one screen performance every actor should see and why?
I really, really loved “Phantom Thread.” Daniel Day-Lewis is incredible. I loved every moment of that performance. It made me feel warm, and it was gorgeous. It was interesting because he wasn’t becoming this person we all know that’s alive already and we can say, “Oh my god, look how he transformed,” which is also very impressive. There weren’t crazy sobbing scenes. It wasn’t flashy, but it was really understated and quiet and I loved that. I also loved Phoebe Waller-Bridge on “Fleabag.” She’s just so cool and that performance is incredible.

SOURCE BACKSTAGE.COM

In the new Doug Liman series Impulse, it feels as if Maddie Hasson’s range on camera has finally been found. The 23-year-old actor has already appeared in both network dramas and feature films, but nowhere has she been more captivating than as Henrietta “Henry” Coles, an outcast teenager whose ordeals precipitate a new supernatural power. Hasson brings a complex array of emotions to the screen with Henry, but for her, it’s only the first of many challenges she wants to tackle in her burgeoning career.

Hasson grew up in North Carolina, but by sixteen she was already taking trips to audition in Los Angeles. “It was sort of a fluke,” she says, recalling her youth in theater. “One of my play directors said, ‘There’s this movie auditioning in town and you should go for it.’ I went out for it and the casting director sent my tape to the manager I’m still with today and he signed me that week. So I got really, really lucky. it doesn’t happen that way usually, I think.” She soon landed starring roles in the television shows The Finder and Twisted, as well as roles in feature films including the part of country singer Billie Jean opposite Tom Hiddleston’s Hank Williams in I Saw The Light, before landing the lead in Impulse. Read More

After her character’s traumatic event, she discovers she can teleport. It’s a sci-fi even the sci-fi averted will be obsessed with.

If you were taking a stroll by Broadway and Howard some odd days ago, you would have spotted a platinum blonde, Valentino frothy-red-gown-wearing Maddie Hasson twirling as she beelined for the pretzel stand on the other side of the crosswalk. We managed to lens a few shots before she downed the entire doughy knot. Did we mention this was ~after~ we snuck onto our Coveteur HQ rooftop for an impromptu photo shoot and got kicked off? Yeah, that happened. You know what, though, Hasson was just about up for anything we threw at her, as long as it ended in the right shot. That’s something she has in common with her character Henry—a rebellious 16-year-old who discovers she can teleport during a traumatic assault—in YouTube’s original series Impulse; she oozes confidence.

We sat down with Hasson to talk about the challenges of playing her destructive teleport scenes, the importance of exploring the assault throughout the series, and what she’s binge-watching right now.

On what drew her to the role:

“I needed a job [laughs], so I auditioned for it. I’m not a big deal, you know what I mean? It’s not like people send me scripts leisurely and are like, ‘Here you go, just take it, we love you.’ You have to work for it. I really love Henry. Henry was the thing that drew me to this, because she’s such a real character. She’s not any one particular thing for the sake of being it. She’s not strong so she could seem like a badass; she’s not likable for the sake of being likable. She’s just a real, human character, and I love that about her.”

How YouTube provided a space to take a risk:

“You know what, it was different than any other TV show I’ve done. Because I’ve done two other TV shows, both on big networks. It was different, because I think it’s quite new, and so they’re interested in taking a lot of risks. They didn’t try to tailor the show to fit YouTube’s brand—they gave us a lot of freedom, which was very refreshing. We say ‘fuck’ a lot in the show, which not a lot of teen shows on networks get to. It’s understandable, but we don’t do that in our show at all.”

Read More

After roles in “Novitiate” and “I Saw the Light,” Maddie Hasson, the star of new web series “Impulse,” is poised for her breakout year.

“I think I sort of got found.”

Maddie Hasson carries the confidence of an actress long in the profession, though she’s a name relatively unknown. The 23-year-old is poised, sure of herself and deceptively stylish, and Hollywood is catching on.

The Wilmington, N.C., native grew up doing theater and was scouted by a manager when she was 15, after her theater director urged her to attend a film audition; she’s still with the same manager today. “I think I got very lucky,” she says.

It would be a year longer for her to convince her mother that uprooting to Los Angeles wasn’t an entirely insane idea. “She let me go to L.A. for a month. And she went with me, and she said ‘If you get a job, we can keep coming back.’ So there was no like, ‘we’re going to move to L.A. right now when you’re 16.’ She was not having that,” Hasson says. “Luckily; I think that I probably wouldn’t have handled that well. It’s a good mom move; go mom.”

Hasson is in New York on a press leg for her new show “Impulse” on YouTube Premium, a breakout thriller series from director Doug Liman of “The Bourne Identity” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” fame. She plays Henry, a headstrong 16-year-old girl who discovers she can teleport.

“I loved her from the very beginning,” Hasson says of Henry. “She really knows who she is for a 16-year-old. And nobody in the writing team or producing team or directing team ever tried to stifle that strength just because she’s a young female character. They really went with it, which was refreshing.”

It’s assumed, then, that she’s read many parts that were otherwise.

“I think the unfortunate thing is, when you get a strong female character, the breakdown will often say something like ‘she’s sassy, or bratty or angsty.’ And you’re like, ‘no, she’s just pissed off. Like, she’s tired of your shit, and she’s tired of being called sassy, and bratty and angsty,’” Hasson says.

Hasson’s previous credits include the 2015 film “I Saw the Light” alongside Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen and last year’s “Novitiate” with Melissa Leo, Dianna Agron and Margaret Qualley. She teases that the project she’s currently at work on is something “I can’t talk about it,” but that she’s looking for a challenge.

“[My management] send me a lot of tough female characters because I think they think that I’m tough,” she says. “But I don’t want to rest in that — I want to go and do something different.

For the “Impulse” press trip, she’s begun working with celebrity stylist Molly Dickson, a former assistant of Leslie Fremar who, since going on her own, has built a roster of some of young Hollywood’s best-dressed new faces including Sadie Sink, Katherine Langford and Joey King. For the day, Dickson has pulled a Dior skirt suit that fits Hasson’s preference for being “very covered up.”

“She came into my hotel room and she was like, ‘I have Chanel and Christian Dior.’ She was like, ‘Chanel likes you.’ And I was like, ‘I’m going to start crying,’” Hasson says. “I really like classic, elegant things. I love the way Anna Wintour dresses. I like to be covered — it makes me feel very strong and powerful…to have layers and a high neckline, and big trousers and a big coat.”

The occasions for the stylist only seem to be increasing.

“It’s fun having a stylist; I like it. It’s a new thing for me, but I’m so into it,” she says. “I’m so on board with the whole thing.”

SOURCE WWD

What does it take to be the next big thing? Whether you say innovation, irreverence, or a lot of flash, it’s undeniably the elusive It factor—that can’t-look-away but also can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it instinct. And we’re doubling down for It Girl, It Brand, our latest series speaking to who and what are on the edge of being huge.

This time around, we found something quite kismet in the pairing of actress Maddie Hasson and the Australian label Albus Lumen. The two have their differences: Hasson is making a name for herself as an on-screen (and style) chameleon of sorts, yet the brand, led by Marina Afonina, has made a solid impression for its consistent, strong message of being laid-back yet refined thanks to Afonina’s structured but non-stiff silhouettes, medley of desert colors, and signature tie belts. The biggest similarity between this It brand and It girl? They both make it all look so easy.

“I would probably teleport out of a party to somewhere with pasta,” laughs Maddie Hasson, a woman clearly after our own hearts. Within just a few minutes of meeting the actress, we learn not only that she’s down for a carb-loading session at L.A.’s Gusto but also that she has an affinity for getting dressed up and names Anna Wintour among her style icons (yes and yes!). But it’s not just Hasson’s taste in food and fashion that makes her obsession material—we have to credit the former North Carolina native’s latest on-screen performances for landing her firmly on our radar.

While Hasson’s breakout came via the 2014 ABC Family series Twisted, we were introduced to the rising star in last year’s Novitiate as the rule-breaking nun-in-training Sister Sissy (a fantastic and emotional watch we highly recommend). This month, however, Hasson finds herself in a completely different role of note, that of time-traveling teenager Henrietta “Henry” Cole in the YouTube Red drama series Impulse. Hasson’s performance is nothing short of fantastic, proving once again her star power is no flash in a pan.

Impulse has all the makings of a great sci-fi thriller—an on-the-edge-of-your-seat plot packed with action—but setting it apart from the countless others is the independent young heroine at the center of the story. It’s that which drew Hasson to the project right away, the opportunity to play a well-written female character who is flawed yet still fully sure of herself—a rare find in Hollywood. “I don’t think that’s something commonly portrayed in young characters, especially young female characters, because people have this misconception that because you are young and a woman you can’t have a good understanding of who you are already,” Hasson says. As such, she praises the writers for brilliantly crafting a 16-year-old who isn’t likable just for the sake of it.

Yet while a strong female character is an attractive draw for an actor, Hasson isn’t afraid to portray someone on the opposite end of the spectrum either. In fact, in a perfect world, you won’t see her playing the same character twice. Though most newcomers don’t have the luxury of being choosy about their projects, Hasson is careful to not pigeonhole herself into one type of character early on, a smart effort to showcase her range. If all goes to plan, we’ll see an entirely different Hasson next. In her words, “someone meeker, less sure of herself.”

Luckily, Hasson is no stranger to an identity change, particularly when it pertains to her own personal style. Looking at Hasson in front of us, polished in classic silhouettes and with sun-drenched locks, it’s hard to believe she went through a “huge” Goth phase. Hasson credits her husband, composer Julian Brink, for her style 180. So in lieu of taking style cues from Courtney Love (her former muse), she found inspiration from Anna Wintour’s uniform: cool jackets paired with long skirts and boots. “I really like being covered now,” she says. “It makes me feel very powerful for some reason.” With warmer days upon us, though, Hasson tells us she is settling into a heavy rotation of lightweight linen dresses—like we said, a woman after our own fashion hearts.

Source WhoWhatWear

The new series Impulse (a sequel to the 2008 movie Jumper) just premiered on YouTube Premium and we caught up with star Maddie Hasson to learn more about her!

The 23-year-old actress is best known for starring in the ABC Family series Twisted and for her work in the movie I Saw the Light.

Here are 10 Fun Facts she shared with us:

1. Maddie is short for Madelaine and my middle name is Louise.
2. I’m very shy.
3. I don’t drink alcohol.
4. I have a whippet named Leo who is also very shy and doesn’t drink alcohol.
5. I got married at 20 (best decision I ever made).
6. I danced competitively as a child from age 8 to 14.
7. I love high waisted trousers.
8. I love Love and romantic movies.
9. Running really calms me down when I get anxious, which is often!
10. Impulse was the hardest and most rewarding job I’ve ever had, and I’m so deeply proud of it.

Watch the new series Impulse now on YouTube Premium!

Source JustJared

Impulse’ star Maddie Hasson joins THR to talk about her new show. “When I first read it, I got this sense of dread that you get when you know you could do something really well, but it’s not yours yet,” Hasson told THR.

Maddie Hasson joins THR for another round of ‘Finish This Sentence!’ She talks of her ‘Killing Eve’ obsession, ‘Practical Magic,’ and more!