What’s the hair and wardrobe like?

Teresa: Ridiculous. It’s like a whole bowl of hairspray everyday. No, it was like sky high. I have these huge big bangs. I had eye make-up drawn right up to my eyebrows. It was great. I had these shoulder pads. I got to wear this vintage Halston gold sparkly dress. They wanted her to be like the golden girl. It was so much fun and the 80s music is the best 80s music in the film as well. I think everyone will really like it.

If it’s an 80s movie and you’re the dream girl, doesn’t that mean he’s going to realize that his best friend was the right one for him all along?

Teresa: Oh my God, that’s so true. [Laughs] Oh, that’s funny. I don’t know.

You mentioned coming to the United States if your career really takes off because you did already Kids.

Teresa: I did. I came out here after I finished December Boys. I got my agent and my publicist and everyone on board. I got my team together and I started auditioning for films and I got a few offers in that first week when I came over here so it was exciting. Everything started moving really fast and I actually did make the move three months ago.

Do you like it here?

Teresa: I do. It’s a big adjustment obviously. It’s very different from where I’m from, but it’s exciting and it’s where you need to be for my career. I’m enjoying it so far. I’ve been really happy with the work that I’ve done. I’ve been reading some amazing scripts lately. I like it. It’s all very exciting.

If you were filming on Christmas Day, it must have been the middle of summer.

Teresa: It was.

It was hot and you had the flies around you.

Teresa: Yeah. Oh my gosh.

You were probably used to it or were you?

Teresa: It’s funny because I used to go camping where we shot when I was a little girl so I had been there before. It was actually such sort of a surreal moment because I remember standing on those rocks and I was looking down, looking at the ocean, and I had my parents there with me and they said to me, ‘It’s just so bizarre thinking that we were here as a family 10 years ago and now we’re standing here, you’re in this big movie, we’re shooting a film at the same spot we came here when you were a little girl. And it was. It was just really amazing. I’m still kind of pinching myself.

The rocks were for real?

Teresa: No, they’re real. They’re that beautiful in real life. They’re amazing.

There’s a story about the rocks because I think your character…

Teresa: I talk about the aliens. The aliens put them there like Stonehenge. Yeah, I talk about that.

There’s a story that people around [there] say about…?

Teresa: Yeah, it’s not about islands. That’s not the story. I don’t really know the heritage. I don’t know what happened and how they got there, but they are really remarkable. Tourists go there all the time. It’s something that I remember seeing when I was so young. I can’t believe we got permission to shoot there, but I’m so glad we did because I think it just looks so magical in the film. I think they really captured that whole presence. There is such a feeling when you stand up there so you can see the whole world. It’s so beautiful and they really captured that in the film.

What scenes are on your reel?

Teresa: On my reel? Gosh, I have a lot of scenes from 2:37 because I was nominated for an award for that. So obviously my manager has taken all my scenes from that and put it together. I actually don’t have anything from December Boys yet because you can’t take the scenes until the film’s been released. I’ve only had two things released so far. I’m the lead girl in Kids in America so I’ll get a whole bunch of footage from that and that’s very different because it’s with an American dialect obviously. I play a 25-year-old in that film which is a bit of a jump.

Did you ever have a little secret place when you were a kid like she has the cave? Did you have any place that you went to think or to meet boys or whatever?

Teresa: I grew up in a beach community and there was a kind of a hangout area where I would go but not like the magic of Lucy’s cave. That is just so wonderful and that is her spot. I never really had that. Because I was an only child, I totally know what she was doing. She was trying to create her own fun and she has to build her own cave. I was kind of like that when I was younger because I had no brothers or sisters so I had to create my own world to occupy myself.

Do you think that’s why you are an actress because you were creating those magical fantasy worlds?

Teresa: I think so. I was trying to figure it out because no one else in my family is an actor and it’s so bizarre. I kind of fell into it and I was like ‘Wow, this is fun. I’ll just keep going with this.’ I was talking to my mom about it and she really thinks that is a big reason to do with it the fact that I’m here doing what I’m doing.

Besides Kids in America, have you done anything else?

Teresa: No. I finished shooting that a few months ago and then I did the big move out here and I’m just reading scripts at the moment and waiting for something really wonderful to come along. I want to do a drama or maybe a period piece so I’m sifting through absolutely everything and trying to find something I could really fall in love with. I might wait until the film comes out before I work again. I’ll just see. I’m just relaxing for the time being.

So what’s the biggest culture shock of moving here? What do you miss most and what has surprised you?

Teresa: I don’t know really to be honest. I think the fact that I lived on the beach in Adelaide was such a beautiful thing for me. I could wake up in the morning and just open my doors and walk along the beach with my dogs and go swimming. Actually I wouldn’t go swimming because there’s so many shark attacks in Australia. It’s really scary. I think here, I live in Beverly Hills, I mean the ocean’s in Santa Monica but you have to drive to get there. I guess that’s kind of what I miss – like the natural beauty of Semaphore Beach where I’m from.

What do you do in your spare time?

Teresa: I’m very much into animal welfare. I’ve just been doing some volunteer work with one of the animal places around here. I’m trying to get my own thing up and running in the next few years like the Animal Welfare League back in Australia. So I’m working on that in the meantime in between films.

Did you bring your puppies with you?

Teresa: No. Chester and Saba are back home. I miss them.