Interview: Sasha Pieterse on ‘The Image of You’
Sasha Pieterse is finally getting her chance to play twins.
Having spent seven years of her life playing Alison DiLaurentis, probably the most crucial character in beloved ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars, Pieterse must have expected to play twins way earlier in her career, when the series was still in its heyday. In the beloved book series the show is based on, it is revealed that Alison has a twin sister named Courtney, an important plot twist in the fourth book of the series that sets the scene for the rest of its plotline. However, in the show, despite a number of convincing fan theories and a good amount of foreshadowing from the series’ writers, Alison’s twin sister never comes into play, a fact that the show’s fans are still mourning almost a decade after it ended.
In her latest film The Image of You, a fun, twisty thriller that is also based on a bestselling book, Pieterse plays identical twin sisters Anna and Zoe, who find their deep bond tested over Anna’s new love, Nick (Parker Young). While the trusting Anna is head over heels, her skeptical sister Zoe senses a web of deceit. But as Zoe digs for the truth, they’re all pulled into a dangerous game where honesty could prove fatal. Caught in the mix are Anna and Zoe’s parents, David (Nestor Carbonell) and Alexia (Mira Sorvino), who both seem to be hiding their own secrets from both sisters.
“It finally, finally feels like I’m doing Alison justice,” says Pieterse of the opportunity to play twins in the film. “That was such a fun part of the book and of course, we played on twins a lot in Pretty Little Liars, but to finally fulfill that was was really great.” In addition to finally getting the chance to portray twins, Pieterse also says both twins reminded her of the both sides of Alison that audiences who have seen the show are more than familiar with. “In a lot of ways, they’re very similar to Alison,” she says. “Zoe is very, very Alison as far as that initial part of her, that confidence, that power, that manipulation. Anna is like the end version that we saw of Alison, where she was softer and nicer, I guess you would say, because Alison didn’t really have a crazy arc. But I think that anybody who loves Pretty Little Liars and loved Alison will really, really love seeing these twins come to life because it does give you that satisfaction.”
The Image of You opens with a shot of bloody murder – quite literally – before working its way back through its narrative to show us what exactly led to this moment. And while audiences may think they have a good grasp on the story, the film’s genre conventions and familiar trappings are slowly stripped away as the film progresses to reveal twist upon twist, firmly keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. It’s this sense of unpredictability that drew Pieterse to the project, says the actress. “When I originally read the script, I was like, ‘I know what’s going to happen,'” she recalls. “I thought I could just predict it but when I was surprised by the twist, that made me really excited. The thought of playing twins also made me really excited; developing two people is just every actor’s dream. I was just really attracted to that and I got to the point where I was dreaming about it. I was like, ‘I know how I would play these people, I know what this should look.’ I got so excited. I loved developing Anna and Zoe, the way that they walk, their tone of voice, the way that they react to things, their favorite colors. Just the silly things, but honestly, it was a real treat to be able to to do that.”
Another way in which Pieterse was able to flex her acting skills was through both characters’ relationships with Nick, expertly played by Parker Young, who has way more to him than initially meets the eye, as the film slowly and painstakingly reveals as the narrative progresses. “It was fun but complicated,” she says about the process of developing both Anna and Zoe’s incredibly different dynamics with Nick alongside Young. “It feels like you’re establishing two different relationships. They each had very, very different relationships with him What I kind of decided on my side was that I’m going to develop this really, really sweet, caring relationship with Anna. Nick and Anna really had that adorable connection, where they just were sweet together, and they wanted to do life together. As Zoe, I kind of just took control of Parker. I just took control of Nick and kind of claimed him, like ‘You’re mine.’ I don’t think he really had an option and I think that dynamic ended up working on camera where we really played into that and we didn’t think about it. It was just like, ‘Alright, now we’re doing a Zoe scene and I own you.'”
As both Zoe and Anna, Pieterse also had to share the screen with Nestor Carbonell and Mira Sorvino, who play the twins’ parents. Both well-respected actors with decades of acting credits and experience under their belts, Pieterse was elated to work closely with them in order to capture their characters’ incredibly interesting and unique family dynamic. “Nestor playing my dad was such a cool experience,” she gushes. “Nestor’s such a professional but he’s also such a nice guy too. It was just effortless to connect with him. He is so well respected with the crew, everybody was just so excited to have him around. With both him and Mira, we were only together for five days but I feel like Anna’s connection with Nestor’s character was really special. There’s even this one part in the film where he gets a tone in his voice that gave me the chills when he was filming it because it’s a similar sound that my dad makes when he’s upset, and there’s something so crazy about your dad crying. It hurts to see and hear. And so to get that same pitch in his voice, it made me sad. He’s such a wonderful person that it was such a treat to work with him. As for Mira, the connection between Zoe and Mira was really cool to develop as well. Mira is a legend in her own right, and and I think the craziness of her character was so fun. To see the contrast between the two sisters, and how they they dealt with their parents and the favoritism, it was fun to create those dynamics. To act right alongside the both of them was just so special.”
The Image of You marks Pieterse’s first proper acting credit in years. While the actress has many other ventures she’s been working on in the meantime, including a popular cookbook for parties and a cannabis-infused social beverage she’s just recently launched, she says acting will always be her first love. “I love film,” she says. “I was doing television for so long, which is not a complaint. Being on Pretty Little Liars was just an incredible experience that most people will never get and so I cherish it. But I love film and it’s such a different experience. They’re two different parts of the industry. And after COVID and after having a baby, a lot has happened in the last four years. It was so fun to play a character, or two characters, like this again where I could really sink my teeth into them and get right back to those passions that I love so much. After 24 years in the business, that love has never faltered, it’s only grown. But I have so many other passions and I’m so lucky to be able to dive into that as well. I love doing new things and finding things that I’m passionate about that are making me grow and learn. I hope I never lose that, I hope I can continue to evolve.”
The Image of You is now playing in select theaters and is also available on demand.