‘Mix Tape’ Exclusive Interview: Teresa Palmer

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Teresa Palmer in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

Making its world premiere at the SXSW Conference & Festival on March 9th is the new Irish-Australian miniseries ‘Mix Tape’, which is based on the novel of the same name by Jane Sanderson, and stars Teresa Palmer (‘Warm Bodies’) and Jim Sturgess (‘Cloud Atlas’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Teresa Palmer about her work on ‘Mix Tape’, her character, her own love for mix tapes, working with Jim Sturgess, and premiering the series at SXSW.

Related Article: Actress Teresa Palmer Talks Psychological Thriller ‘The Twin’

Teresa Palmer in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to this character and why you wanted to play Allsion?

Teresa Palmer: I just thought Allsion was interesting. She’s navigated intense trauma in her life. Then my version of Allsion, the older Allsion, has completely reinvented her life and rewrote her narrative, and has shape shifted. It’s a very interesting thing to do to completely leave behind your past, and it’s almost like she’s having a bit of an identity crisis. I just thought all of that was so interesting to explore. The trauma is so far pushed down within her that it starts to manifest in all these little ways in her dynamic with her husband, and how she’s such an enigma, and she’s quite observant. Then she reconnects with her first love, and it’s like he pulls this little thread, and she starts to rapidly unravel, which was so interesting. So, I was like, “Yes, please.”

MF: Are you a fan of mix tapes? Did you make your own mix tapes when you were younger?

TP: Of course. I got so many mix tapes. I made mix tapes. Everyone was like, “Were you of the mix tape era,” and I was. In 2002, I started driving at 16. I had my own car, my yellow Hyundai Accent with my little cassette tape player. The first year, it was cassettes, so I was using tapes. Then it moved on to burning CDs for people. But that’s all I had. I remember my little CD holder and they were just all burnt CDs with all the names of the songs numbered, and it was so fun. I loved it.

Florence Hunt in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

MF: Did you work with the actress that played the younger version of your character to compare notes?

TP: No, they shot a lot in Ireland, and we shot mainly in Sydney, and then I had maybe four days of work in Ireland. I met Florence (Hunt) and Rory (Walton-Smith) very briefly. We had a 10-minute interaction where we spoke to each other, and we took a photo together, and that was it. So, we didn’t have any interaction at all. Lucy Gaffey, our director, was so on point with making sure that the essence of these characters all felt the same so that the younger versions of us and the older versions, there was a real synergy there. So, it felt like the same person was playing this character. But Florence wasn’t cast until I had basically finished. I had a couple of days left and she was cast. So, we didn’t get the chance to talk about the character or anything. But yeah, she had footage that I had done that I think she got to have a look at. But that’s just props to great casting is that they figured out the right people for the role.

MF: What was it like working with Jim Sturgess on this series?

TP: I love Jim. He is just gorgeous. We met so many years ago. I tested for this movie he did called ‘21’. So, I met him in the test and the audition, I didn’t end up getting it, but I connected with him, and I was like, “What a legend.” Then I saw his career just blow up and I watched a bunch of his movies, so coming back together to work again, we were like, “Oh, my god, we got on so well at the audition and we’ve both gone off to live these big lives, have kids, get married, and work a lot, and we’ve come back.” It’s like we got to catch up on all those years in between that we hadn’t seen each other. Not too dissimilar to these characters as well. So, it was nice. He’s a beautiful, generous actor. He’s very good. He cares about the work so much that he was a gorgeous scene partner.

Jim Sturgess in ‘Mix Tape’. Photo: R&C/PMK.

MF: Finally, the series is premiering at SXSW this year. What are you most excited to have audiences experience with this series?

TP: I think people are going to feel very nostalgic. I honestly think that that’s going to be the biggest takeaways. It makes you think about your own first love, and your youth, and the process of getting older, and just the journey of life in general. It’s a commentary on all those big life things. Watching it, I was really moved. Also, it just made me realize how fast time flies. So, I hope that audiences connect with that and love the music. The music is basically another character in this show. It’s so important, but it sets the tone for the feeling, and the feedback has been so gorgeous so far. I think that that’s one of the big takeaways is just youth and that feeling of falling in love for the first time.

Editorial Note: Krisily Fernstrom conducted this interview and contributed to this article.

NR1 Seasons

Daniel and Alison meet in 1989 Sheffield and fall in love as teenagers before life takes them in different directions. They reconnect years later through shared… Read the Plot

What is the plot of ‘Mix Tape’?

In Sheffield in 1989, a blossoming romance develops Alison (Teresa Palmer) and Daniel (Jim Sturgess). Many years later, and living in opposite sides of the world, they reconnect over a shared memory they have of a song.