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Interview by Jeff Hayes
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On Friday, March 24, 2000 my memories of Sleepaway Camp were about to collide with Destiny! After a piece of information that Jonathan Tiersten gave me last summer reguarding FELISSA ROSE, I went to work to find the innocent, sweet young woman who played the original "ANGELA." A giant mystery seemed to surround her. Numerous fan e-mails rolled in asking "What ever happened to Felissa Rose??" My own curiosity had been wondering the same question for years! So along with some assistance from co-webmaster John, we did our digging and found "Just what I've been looking for!"
The charming Felissa and I made arrangements to get together on the weekend of March 24-26 to solve the mystery, talk Sleepaway Camp, hang out, and get a look at some of the exciting stuff she is doing now!! Are you ready campers??? You have been waiting 17 years for this!!!!! And now Sleepaway Camp: The Website proudly presents: ANGELA LIVES!!!!!!!!
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| JH: | |
How did you get involved with Sleepaway Camp? |
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| FS: | |
I had a manager who called me in for an audition; I met with Robert Hiltzik and the rest is history! I got a call back, he invited Jerry Silva to come in and read with me...we did a little improv and that was it. It was pretty much a lot of chemistry right away. |
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| JH: | | What was the audition with Robert like? |
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| FS: | |
When I met with Robert he really just wanted me to do some improv situations with him. I remember he had me sitting on a chair and told me to pretend that I was eating a candy bar and just completely stare into space. So I thought that was so hillarious, I mean I was only 13 years old but I took that as something really bizarre (laughs). And I sat there and pretended to eat a candy bar and I started picking my teeth with my fingers (laughs)...and for some reason he enjoyed that. And then we did another improv with Jerry where I think I had to pretend to be on a beach with some guy and I really didn't want to be there...and we played out that whole scenario and it was a lot of fun. |
Felissa strikes a pose! |
| JH: | |
How did you feel after the first audition ended? |
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| FS: | |
After the first audition, I went to the callback...when I walked into the room there were a bunch of "snotty" girls there and they were all staring at me But I felt really confident...in fact when I walked out of the call back, this overwhelming feeling came over me, and it was like I just knew that I got the part...and I looked at my Mom who was with me and I said, "I definately got this role." She was like "Don't be too confident" and I was like, "No, I got this! I just know it." Then we had the first rehersal...which was myself, Chris Collet, Jonathan Tiersten, and the original Judy who was played by Jane Krakowski at that time. She's actually the girl who plays Elaine on Ally McBeal... but she decided she didn't like the scene where she got killed, she felt it was too graphic so they had to re-cast the part and Karen Fields got the part...but even Karen Fields had a little bit of trouble where she didn't really like how gruesome it was...because the way it was written in the original script, It was really graphic and gruesome so they changed it a bit and they made it so that she was comfortable with the scene. |
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| JH: | |
What was everybody like on the set? |
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| FS: | |
They were all really snotty and shallow. (LAUGHS) I'm only kidding!! They were all really nice, everyone was really, really cool! Jonathan and I had to work a lot together and he was Very sweet...I had a crush on him!! So it was cool working with someone who I thought was cute....and Chris Collet was really, really nice...There was nothing but a lot of fun going on and everyone had a good time...everyone worked really well together...it was very comfortable. John Dunn was great, and we're still friends, he's like my best friend now...so that's nice over these years to still have that friendship. |
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| JH: | |
So you were only 13 at the time when you made Sleepaway Camp. What was that like for you? |
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| FS: | |
Well my Mom was on the set with me the whole time so she was very involved in things that I was allowed to do and things that I wasn't allowed to do. They wanted me to do all the killings...they wanted my hands... and my Mom right away said that she really didn't want me to do that because she felt like it would kind of disturb me at age 13, ya know make me a little psycho (Laughs). So she decided that maybe they should put in my written contract that they would get somebody else to portray the hands...so they wound up using Jonathan Tiersten's hands which worked out perfectly! And I think it also added to the whole film because I have very little thin hands...so if they used my hands, you would probably know that it was my/Angela's hands rather than suspecting that maybe it could be Ricky or maybe it's not...The other thing with being 13 on the set, I didn't get to party a lot...I didn't get to go to all the crazy parties they had in the motel... |
Watch a clip from the interview right here!!
Felissa's Mom still looks beautiful 18 years later...even if she is wearing AUNT MARTHA'S scarf! |
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