An Interview with Emily Osment about Cyberbully

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Did you catch Cyberbully on ABCFamily Sunday night? If not, you can catch it tonight! Emily Osment, who plays the main character in the original movie, took part in a Q&A last week about the film and its importance. I'm not going to give a detailed synopsis, but in a nutshell, a 17-year-old girl is bullied online to the point where it affects every aspect of her life. The bully eventually comes clean, but things are forever changed in both lives.

Now, straight to some notes from Emily Osment...

- They filmed the movie in Montreal. 

- Emily wrote a song for the movie as well, called "Drift," which took about three days. She described it as wholesome, jazzy, and almost a little bit more sexy. The single became available on July 12th.

- Emily mentioned that it's a great movie for kids and parents. It shows a mother who goes from not really knowing how to help her daughter to really becoming an advocate.

- As an ambassador for StompOutBullying.org and a speaker at the Delete Digital Drama rally last week, Emily shared three ways of dealing with a bully. There's finding good humor in it, saying something, or walk away/get help.

- Emily described her character, Taylor, as very insecure, wants to be normal, and wants to be liked. The role was also very dramatic and had Emily crying everyday on the set.

- To prepare for all of the emotion in the Taylor character, Emily listened to music and worked with the director to get in the right mindset... Taylor has a lot of levels of sadness in the film, and figuring out where she was in each scene took work.

- In doing this role, Emily learned that it's easy for her to get depressed. She was shocked over how much "the role and the attitude of the whole thing" impacted her. She would just go home and cry... "I was just sad for six weeks while we were shooting this." She also never considered herself a method actor until this role.