Actress talks about making the film, playing the role of Vivian, and her next project Last Resort.

At the age of of 21 Agnes Bruckner has already amassed a solid amount of work behind her. With a bevy of roles in both TV shows and movies, this young actress seems poised to break big in Katja von Garnier's Blood and Chocolate. In the starring role of Vivian, Bruckner brings a complexity and depth to this character who has been living with a startling secret.

Blood and Chocolate is based on Annette Curtis Klause's novel about a teenage werewolf who has spent her life trying to hide the fact that she is part wolf. She must choose between her love for a human and her family after her relationship with a visiting American threatens to expose her secret.

Could you tell the readers, who may not be familiar, what the story of Blood and Chocolate is?

Agnes Bruckner: It's a story about this girl Vivian, who I play, that is a werewolf. She's a part of a pack and the leader of the pack is played by Olivier Martinez, he plays Gabriel. The whole story kind of revolves around her having to make a decision, and having to deal with having the werewolf side of her and also having the human side of her that she has to deal with everyday. This American guy comes into her world and she falls in love with him after a little while, and that's not a good thing because Gabriel wants to get rid of all humans. There's a struggle of being in love and having to deal with that, and Gabriel not having that and kind of dealing with this triangle of life. Gabriel also wants Vivian... she's next in line to be his partner in the pack, and she does not want anything to do with that.

It's kind of a story about love, life and having to deal with being a werewolf and a human at the same time; and how to put that into her everyday life.

What attracted you to the role of Vivian?

Agnes Bruckner: First of all her strength. I think she's a really emotionally strong character, and just her story. Just her having to deal with different lives pretty much. She does have different lives. Where she's a wolf on one side and being a human on the other, still loving the wolf side of her and also wanting to be a human. Wanting to feel love and be free and not be involved with this pack but also loving it. I think this whole struggle that she goes through is what attracted me most to her.

Did you do any research on werewolves?

Agnes Bruckner: I didn't really do research but we did have a good opportunity, because they actually brought wolves down to where we were shooting. We got to hang out with them and see how they interact with each other, and how they just act on their own. They had an alpha male an alpha female and then they had puppies and everything. We got to go there everyday for a little while before or after rehearsals, and kind of just watch them and learn. See how they move and see how they act, it was just a really great opportunity to portray that and learn how they live.

That was the biggest research I did as far as wolves, how they act and how they interact with each other. It was really great, I thought, it really helped as far as the whole process goes.

What was the most challenging part of the shoot for you?

Agnes Bruckner: I think all the action stuff. The running and the fighting, all the action stuff because we had to have harnesses on and we had to fly, and run and jump and hang in the air. I think that that was kind of tiring. Having to do that and act at the same time, it was kind of a challenge in a good way. That was definitely the most difficult part of the shoot, I think.

Why do you think films like Blood and Chocolate and Underworld continue to be so popular?

Agnes Bruckner: For me personally, I think I just enjoy movies about werewolves or vampires because it's not like an everyday thing. It's something you can really escape into. Underworld I'm a huge fan of because it's a great love story, but at the same time when it comes to vampires and werewolves it's just such a fantasy. It has everything involved in it. Action, it's sexy, it's interesting, there's just so many things involved in it that make it so cool. They are, they're just cool movies to watch. It's not a movie that you really have to get into and think about, it's just something that you enjoy. The action and the whole fantasy of it, I think, is what I enjoy the most. I think that's what people enjoy.

It's sort of like something you have to experience as opposed to something you have to think about and try and put the plot pieces together.

Agnes Bruckner: Yeah, exactly. It's just something you enjoy more. The story is really good and really interesting, but at the same time it's not something that you have to sit there, and all you think about... like you don't get to enjoy it because you have to think about so many different things. You just kind of enjoy it and go along with it. You use your imagination and put yourself in one of their positions or something. It's a lot more fun and it's a lot more interesting, to me, to see a movie like that than... it's good to see a movie where you have to think about things, and it's really complex and all that stuff.

For the most part, I think that people enjoy seeing a movie where they can just have fun in. They can just laugh and get scared and cry, and do all these different emotions and go through all these different things when they're watching a movie.

Before doing Blood and Chocolate had you been a big fan of horror/fantasy type films?

Agnes Bruckner: Oh yeah, definitely. Ever since I was little, and I know it sounds kind of weird, I've always had the whole vampire werewolf thing. It's always been intriguing in some sort of way, just because it's so sexy and it's so cool, and who doesn't think about wanting to be a vampire every now then? (Laughs) I think it's such a cool subject and it's such a different thing. Especially Underworld, I'm a huge fan of, it's such a cool movie. Everything about it is so cool from the costumes, to the way people act, to everything else. I've always been a big fan of horror movies as well.

What are you working on next?

Agnes Bruckner: What I have coming up next? I just finished shooting about a week and a half ago. Right now it's called the Last Resort, but the title might be changing. It's Chris Moore's directorial debut. It was really, really fun. I don't want to call it a horror movie but it's definitely a thriller and it takes place in Louisiana. There's seven characters and they all kind of get put into a situation where there's a killer and only one person can survive by morning. It's a really cool story and plot, so that's exciting and I think it's coming out in August. I'm not exactly sure of the date but it's gonna be my next one that's coming out.

Blood and Chocolate opens nationwide on January 26 from MGM.