ISABELLE FUHRMAN & HER EVIL FUN IN 'ORPHAN'

ISABELLE FUHRMAN & HER EVIL FUN IN 'ORPHAN'

Playing someone evil is always fun. At least if you ask any actor, that’s what they’ll say. Even if the actor is a sweet little girl by the name of Isabelle Fuhrman.

ISABELLE FUHRMAN

“Of course, I’d never do this in real life,” says Fuhrman, “but it’s fun to play evil. It’s very fun.” She’s talking about her role as the Esther in the horror/thriller ORPHAN. You’ve probably seen the billboards in your neighborhood. You know the one. It has that creepy looking girl staring straight at the camera.

That would be Fuhrman posing as Esther, and she is pretty darn creepy indeed. ORPHAN revolves around a Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard), who decide to adopt a child after losing theirs in childbirth. They happen upon Esther, a sweet sophisticated girl from Eastern Europe. Though at first she fits in, Esther reveals her psychotic nature soon enough. Fuhrman does a convincing job of being totally evil. So convincing, in fact, that on several occasions she was asked whether she was worried about people confusing Esther with her real personality.

“Not really,” replies Fuhrman. “I’m really different from my character. I’m really different. I’m not evil at all. I promise you that. I go to school. I mean all my friends are really excited for me so it’s been great.” Despite how demented performance she gives, Fuhrman really is a nice, normal person. She has a supportive family that encouraged her to pursue the role. “They were really all for it because I really wanted to do this film,” she says. “Before I went on the audition I was talking to my mom about it. I was like, ‘If I get this I really want to do this. I so want to do this.’ And she was like, ‘All right. Let’s do it.’’

If you needed more proof on how centered this girl actually is, here’s her response when she found out she landed the role of Esther. “It was very exciting,” Fuhrman recalls. “I was just so happy. After I got the call I went to my computer and I was doing my homework, and my dad was like, ‘Why are you doing your homework? You should be celebrating!’ And I’m like, ‘I’m finishing so I can go celebrate!’’ With a work ethic like that, it’s easy to she how she mastered playing a very disturbed person, all while in accent mind you.

“The challenge that I saw when I read the script was very large,” Fuhrman explains. “The challenge of playing a conflicted, complex character who can be happy at one moment and then turn her head and be thinking of a diabolical plan, like something to do, ‘What will be next on the list? What’s next on the list to check off that we can make this family even more miserable?’ It was challenging but it was a lot of fun. I had such a great time, such a great experience.” And as if to reiterate the point, she says again, “A lot of fun.” But she quickly adds, “it was challenging playing someone evil because I’m so different from that.”