"Ah, the death scene. My sister, when she saw it on the internet the other day, asked me how I got that bottle down so far," laughed Harshman. "But it was a prosthetic head. For the part where it was actually in my mouth, they had a bottle that was sawed off so it was just right into my teeth. There was a little tube that went out the side that would pump out the liquid so it would look like it was going down my throat."
Just the process of having a prosthetic head done is creepy. "Especially considering my mouth was just wide open like that. The special effects guys said I could take it home and use it as a tip jar, put it on top of my piano. Yeah, that was kind of a painful process, actually. I’m not trying to complain but keeping your mouth open for 20 minutes while you’re sitting with a plaster thing on your face, my jaw hurt a little bit," admitted Harshman.
We never learn Harshman's character's real name throughout Sorority Row. Instead, Harshman's always referred to by her nickname, Chugs, a name given her based on her hard-partying ways. "I wish I could say it wasn’t but yeah, it was," said Harshman when asked if she was a tough character to channel. "I don't know what it was. I have a really dark sense of humor so it’s like just when you thought...like Stewart [Hendler, the director] and I would joke around on set, just when you thought it couldn’t get any more vulgar or repulsive, you would just one up. I always take it just a little bit further than I should, a little past the line. Obviously, I didn’t take from any real life experiences, but you go there in your head and just pretend. It was definitely fun."
And that Chugs name is one her character wears with pride. "Oh yeah. She probably literally has a belt with a notch for every guy she’s been with. Yeah, I think that she’s probably gotten to a point in her life where that’s who she is. If you don’t like it...I can’t say what I wanted to say just then," said Harshman, laughing. "Sometimes I get back into the Chugs mind-frame and stuff comes out of my mouth and I’m like, ‘Did I just say that?’ So I’m glad I stopped myself. Yeah, I think she wears it as a badge of pride."
But Harshman's not the only lovely young lady who got to act out a death scene in Sorority Row. The Hills star Audrina Patridge plays a pivotal part in all the gruesome goings on at the sorority house in Sorority Row. Patridge, a horror movie fan, really got into her role as a sister who wants revenge after being cheated on by her boyfriend. "[...]You cheat on one Theta Pi, you cheat on all Theta Pis, so the prank that we come up with isn’t very nice. I mean, shooting, it was so much fun just shooting at the quarry, all the blood. Seeing it on the big screen with the music - it’s so different than when you’re actually shooting it. I had such a great time though."
Patridge actually has not one, but two death scenes in Sorority Row. Her first death scene is staged as part of a prank which, of course, goes wrong, setting up the girls to be hunted down by a killer. Asked about acting out her death multiple times, Patridge replied, "Well, pretend dying, that was baking soda and vinegar I had all the back of my mouth, making out with Matt and he didn’t like that very much. Not the making out part, but the vinegar and baking soda is bad. That was all fun. And then it was totally different because I was just like choking and whatever, shaking, but when the actual tire iron comes and it’s jabbed in your chest, that took a lot of acting. Then it was so cold outside, I was trying not to shake. So laying there on the ground in 32 degree weather, freezing, trying not to shake, it was hard. It was a challenge, but it came out good."
Looking Beyond Sorority Row
Harshman's been relaxing, enjoying her summer of 2009 at the beach and with friends. Meanwhile Patridge is busy on her new reality show. "It’s more about my life so I’m still going to continue going to auditions and castings and acting, going to my acting class and coach," explained Patridge. "But also, I’m just balancing everything, but ultimately acting. With my show, it’s going to be about me and my life, and acting, the whole Hollywood life, how it’s so glamorous but with friends, family, paparazzi, doing events and everything."It'll also include her love life. "I’m also producing on it with Mark Burnett so I’ll have more of a voice and say-so in what can and cannot be filmed," added Patridge.
