Lily Collins Talks About Stunts in a Mini-Dress, Godfrey Gao, Playing Clary...

In an exclusive chat with PagetoPremier and Fangirlish, Lily Collins talks about the challenges of playing Clary, her favourite part about Clary, why Jamie is Jace, and performing stunts in a mini-dress.

What was that like wearing that outfit, first of all?Well, it’s funny because in the series, I say to Isabelle when she’s giving me this makeover, like, “This is a top,” and she’s like, “It’s a dress.” So already you know that it’s like some crazy skimpy little number, and, so, we did a lot of the fight sequences where I’m in this outfit. And I have like thigh-high leather boots with this mini bandage dress. You can imagine doing stunts, falling on the floor… All that stuff is quite awkward when you have very minimal attire on. But we had one version, apparently, that was longer – but it was like an inch longer – for stunts. It really was not much longer. But everyone kind of acknowledged the fact that it’s hard to move in, so the stunts were somewhat coordinated around the dress in some situations. But it was worth wearing because, you know, it just shows Clary’s transformation from this kind of tomboyish girl to a woman, and then thrust into this situation with six-inch heels, boots, and a little leather dress. It’s kind of… awkward.
What is one thing you admire about your character?I admire how tenacious she is. She never gives up, even though she’s put in these situations that no normal teenager would ever go through. Not only is she going through kind of, you know, the question of who she likes, who she doesn’t like – normal girl stuff – she’s also conquering these questions of, you know, how am I going to save my mom from all evil? And she’s able to get through it, and she doesn’t give up.
Can you tell us a bit about the training you did for the movie?It was insane training. I did physical fitness training three months prior to starting and then every day we would train, so even if that meant getting up literally at like 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning before set we’d go train,
and then we had stunt coordinating and stunt training and sword fighting, knife fighting, some acrobatics, wire work, fight training – like combat… So it was really gruesomely intensive, but I love that. I started doing stunts on my second film and ever since then it’s been something that I always want to try to do myself. If I can’t do all of it myself, I mean, we have the most amazing stunt department behind us. I really trust them.
The sets were amazing, by the way.Thanks! Yeah, I know, the Art Department was phenomenal. I mean, their attention to detail, everything about the sets made you feel like you genuinely were part of that world, which is what you hope for.
There wasn’t a lot of controversy about you being cast; of course, there was a lot of controversy about Jamie. When we went to set, he totally convinced me in like five minutes. I told Cassie, because I had said I was one of the biggest advocates against him, and so I told Cassie, I said, “I’m really sorry,” and I wrote him an apology letter.Oh, you’re the one that sent that apology letter! Oh my god, how funny!
That was me! And I was like, today, I can’t go up there, there is no way! But what makes Jamie Jace to you?Well I think it was apparent from the second – and I’ve said this – the second he walked in. He’s got this kind of perfect mix of being – or he plays Jace with this perfect mix of being like, a cocky, arrogant, very sarcastic guy, but at the same time not afraid to be vulnerable. So he’s got this mixture of being, you know, the sarcastic, cocky, kind of dude’s dude and being this vulnerable, sensitive guy who does open up and does allow someone else to help him while being this guy that wants to help. So he really had this kind of marriage of these two qualities about Jace within him anyway. He never had to just try. He never had to act. It’s just, he brought those qualities to screen by just really being natural about it, and he was so gung ho about doing his own stunts and like, the flip… You know, the flip that he does in the movie was really him doing it, and he was just really dedicated.

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