1 of 4 | "XOXO" and "Modern Family" actress Sarah Hyland attends the premiere of the animated motion picture comedy "Finding Dory" in Los Angeles on June 8, 2016. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI |
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LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Sarah Hyland says she was excited to act in the films XOXO and Dirty Dancing because they allowed her to explore characters unlike her Modern Family alter-ego.
"XOXO was really great for me because I love doing things outside of Modern Family," the 25-year-old native New Yorker told UPI in a phone interview this week. "I like digging my claws into a different character and Krystal is very different from Haley. She's not really the wild child; she's the innocent of this film and I think there is something really wonderful and unique and sweet about her. This project comes at a really perfect time because Electronic Dance Music is getting really big in the States. I know it's been very big overseas for a very long time, but I think it's really great that we're able to show a very authentic point of view of this culture, of the EDM world and put it in a movie in a time when people are obsessed with this music."
XOXO is an ensemble movie about a group of 20-somethings whose lives intersect on the way to the biggest EDM festival in America, XOXO. Set to debut on Netflix Friday and co-starring Graham Phillips, Brett DelBuono, Chris D'Elia, Haley Kiyoko, Colin Woodell, Ryan Hansen, Ian Anthony Dale and Ione Skye, it was directed by Christopher Louie and written by Dylan Meyer.
Hyland will also soon be seen in ABC's version of the classic, 1987 romance Dirty Dancing. Asked if she has noticed big differences in the process of working in film or television, streaming or broadcast, the actress said: "We film Modern Family in LA; we filmed XOXO in LA. It's all the same to me -- as long as I am enjoying myself and think that I am giving the best creative job that I can give, then I am super-happy..."
"I did Dirty Dancing this summer and that was very different because we were in North Carolina, all staying at this place called The Mountain Lodge and we owned that lodge. We made the lobby our living room and we were together non-stop, all the time, and you're kind of forced into a situation where you have to like everybody and it turned out everyone was amazing anyway. We became like this little family. I think that's what the only difference between film and television is -- when you have to be away on location because I think that makes a world of difference," Hyland explained.
So, did she feel any anxiety about taking over a role in a beloved classic as opposed to creating a character from scratch as she usually does?
"I can only speak for myself. I didn't feel any pressure because this role in Dirty Dancing -- Lisa Houseman -- I don't think people have ever seen Lisa like this before. It's not like in the film. You see way more of her, you see way more of her vulnerability and her heart, and how her heart gets broken and what she does with the broken heart and how she changes for the better," she replied. "You really are able to see her relationship with her sister [Abigail Breslin,] her relationship with her mom [Debra Messing,] her relationship with her dad [Bruce Greenwood,] and really delve into that relationship with Robbie [Shane Harper.] And there is this new character that I think people will really love."
