Brenda Song Went to a “Dark Place” For Her Character in ‘Secret Obsession’

Brenda Song has been waiting a long time to do a thriller like Secret Obsession. “I grew up reading ‘Goosebumps,’ ‘Nancy Drew,’ and ‘The Hardy Boys’,” she told Decider in a phone call. “And then Stephen King and Ann Rule as I got older. But I never got the opportunity to be a part of a project like that.”

One reason for that might be that many still think of Song as London Tipton, the smiley, clueless, rich girl who always got a laugh—usually at her own expense—on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. That’s not to say that she hasn’t done anything since then: She broke into the mainstream with a supporting role in The Social Network, had recurring roles on Scandal and New Girl, and starred in the short-lived CBS medical drama Pure Genius. But for the most part, the 31-year-old actor sees her body of work as “lighthearted and fun.”

Secret Obsession, a Netflix original movie that premieres on July 18, might be fun in its own way for viewers, but it’s certainly not fun for Song’s character, Jennifer. After being attacked by a mysterious assailant at a rest stop, Jennifer wakes up in the hospital with amnesia. She has no memory of her life with her husband Russell (Mike Vogel), who takes her back to their sprawling home in the mountains. Director Peter Sullivan—a veteran producer of Hallmark films, who also co-wrote the script with Kraig Wenman—doesn’t exactly hide the fact that Russell may not be entirely trustworthy. But what choice does Jennifer have?

Without spoiling too much, let’s just say it’s the kind of role that required a lot of crying, gasping, and struggling, a prospect Song found both intimidating and exciting. “I hate being sad,” she admitted. “But I spent so many hours on that set feeling sad because I had to get into that place of fear and anger.”

Song wanted it to be authentic, too—she didn’t want to resort to using tear blowers, a device some makeup artists use to help actors cry on cue. (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she added hastily.) Before particular intense scenes, Sullivan would give her a few a minutes to “get to that dark place” which she found “really scary and really hard. I’m usually a very lighthearted person and I’ve learned to make light of tragedies and things in my life.  To be able to step back and step into these dark places… At the end of the day, it was satisfying.”

It helped that she bonded with her costar, Vogel, who starred in the CBS sci-fi drama Under the Dome from 2013 to 2015. “It’s hard to do a film like this with someone that you don’t trust,” Song said. Luckily, the two leads got along well—perhaps a little too well, actually. “By the end, we were having a hard time being angry at each other. We kept laughing during intimate scenes. We knew each other so well that he felt like an older brother. I was like, ‘Oh no! This is where we’re at now!’ A lot of those scenes, we’d be laughing, and then I’d have to be like, ‘Okay I need a second to get into character,’ before it jumps right into him chasing me down a hill.”

The physicality of the role posed another challenge—Jennifer spends the entire film with an injured foot, which meant that any time Song moved it had to be with a limp. “One of my calf muscles was so much stronger than the other one by the end of the shoot,” she said with a laugh. “We were doing things like literally putting pebbles in my slippers just to make it feel somewhat natural.”

Next up for Song is a return to the more familiar world of comedy, as a lead alongside Kat Dennings and Shay Mitchell on Hulu’s new series, Dollface, which is set to premiere in November. “I play Madison, Kat’s best friend, and she’s sort of my dream character,” Song said. “She’s a go-getter. She doesn’t stop talking. When she knows what she wants, sometimes she gets tunnel vision.”

That description brings to mind a certain talkative hotel guest. Die-hard Suite Life fans will be pleased to hear that though Song hasn’t heard about any upcoming reboot or movie, she’d be down for one if there were one. “I would always be open to anything with my Suite Life fam. I’ve known them since I was 15—the boys [Dylan and Cole Sprouse], Phill [Lewis], Ashley [Tisdale], Debby [Ryan]… Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Watch Secret Obsession on Netflix