The actress hits the big screen in this weekend’s intense shark attack thriller.
But she faces her most brutal opponent inThe Shallows(in theaters now).
EW talked to the actress about the film, doing her own stunts, and getting in bikini shape.
Credit: Vince Valitutti
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Talk about the plot a bit.
Obviously, it’s about a shark attack.
BLAKE LIVELY:I go surfing on an emotional trip, a trip to get away.
So she tracks down this beach and she goes surfing and…then there’s a shark.
[Laughs]
It’s an interesting thing because she’s running away from demons in her life.
Because of global warming, great whites that were in deeper water are now in much more shallow water.
It’s a very real very present thing.
It’s something you don’t hear as much.
It’s very easy to villainize a shark like, “These monsters!
We have to get rid of them.”
But it’s also incredibly ignorant and irresponsible to think that way.
We’re in their land.
It’s just about being respectful and being educated.
She’s surfing and she comes upon a shark’s feeding ground and a whale carcass.
Both of them are just battling to stay alive.
Neither one of them is evil, necessarilythey’re both fighting each other for their lives.
Nancy clings to a buoy for a pivotal section of the movie.
What was that like to shoot?
That was what I worked out for.
It kicked my butt.
So I was doing all my own stunts, not my own surfing.
I did my best with surfing.
We had the best junior surfer in the world surfing for me.
My mom was like, “You should tell people you did that!”
But I did my own stunts until the last two weeks.
It’s such a physical movie.
I wasn’t supposed to crack my face underwater.
I want them to see how determined I am!
I’m very proud of my bloody nose.
I was in so much pain for a week.
Was the shark all CG?
Or was there a mechanical one?
It was like pink tape x’s that I had to react to.
We filmed in the ocean and we also filmed in a tank.
They had a big foam one for water displacement.
It was so awful but also you could’t help but laugh.
We were all trying to keep it together.
Everyone talks about filming on water being challenging.
Was it really hard?
Yeah, filming on water is so tough because the elements are just relentless.
It’s freezing in the morning.
It’s so hot in the middle of the day.
When we were in the tank, there were so many chemicals my skin would just fall off.
Then you’re rubbing against these rocks and these buoys.
Your body is just really taking a beating.
It’s an incredibly physical movie.
Also, emotionally it’s an athletic event.
You have to stay at that level of survival for two months straight, 12 hours a day.
It was a huge undertaking but also rewarding.
Every single person on that set is in the elements.
Everyone is jumping in the water.
Everybody is in the sun.
Everybody is dealing with lightning storms.
Everyone is on their toes and part of the same taxing mission.
The connectivity you feel with that is cool.
Was that hard to be just you alone, having no one to play off of?
It was really difficult because all you have is your imagination.
And you get to be kinda badass, which must have been cool.
It was fun to feel like I could get out there.
I felt athletic and that was neat.
Are you more afraid of sharks now?
I was terrified of sharks.
I never even watchedJawsbecause I was so scared of sharks.
It was really eye opening.
You see these creatures in their habitat, not hunting you.
They’re just swimming in the ocean.
You get to observe them as they are.
There’s such a peacefulness to them and such a beauty to them.
It was really neat to see them in a humane way rather than see them as monsters.
That’s what I connected with this film: Here she came to their territory.
You never surf alone.
You never go at that hour.
She went up on the shark’s feeding ground.
You see the shark has a hook in her mouth.
You see the shark has been hunted too.
It’s really a story of us all trying to survive on this planet.
It sounds lofty but when you boil it down that’s what it is.
That’s what I really liked about this is that it wasn’t just bikini versus monster.
But you still get a little bikini and you still get a little monster!
But we tell a more responsible story than that.
That’s what I connected with.
