Addison Timlin likes to joke that she “peaked at nine” playing the titular role of “Annie” on Broadway. But the brassy Upper West Side native is just hitting her stride, having premiered two films at South by Southwest in Austin, Tex. last weekend. In “Little Sister,” she plays a Goth-turned-nun who returns home to deal with her brother, critically injured after serving in The Iraq War. In an about-face role, she wears decidedly less clothing to steal the last scene in “Long Nights Short Mornings.” “I’m snorting cocaine and dancing in my underwear,” she says.WWD talked with the 24-year-old about taking it all off, bad dye jobs and cool movie moms.
WWD: What was it like to play “Annie?”
Addison Timlin: It was a really funny moment going into the hair salon with long brown hair and then coming out with a bright, fiery red-orange bob.
WWD: You have almost 30 tattoos. What’s the story?
A.T.: I think of them as a timeline of my life. I got my first one at 16. It sits on my shoulder and says, “the last one” ironically, but it’s my mother’s handwriting and it’s a poem she wrote when I was born because I’m the youngest of four.
WWD: So was playing a nun a bit of a stretch?
A.T.: The hardest thing for me is really wrapping my head around someone that commits their life to Christ. I remember when we were shooting that scene where I’m taking my vows, and I was crossing my fingers, just in case. It’s a world very far from myself.
WWD: One of your big TV breaks was on “Californication.”
A.T.: It’s one thing to make a tape for “Californication.” It’s another thing to be like, “Oh, would you be willing to be naked for eight episodes?” David [Duchovny] is such a stud and I mean that in every way. He’s so smart he’s so funny. I was naked on that show, I was 18, and I’m still friends with David. It’s funny now for both of us. He was like, “You were 18?!”
WWD: What was it like working with Al Pacino on “Stand Up Guys?”
A.T.: Al is someone I’ve remained very close with. I’m like, “Dad?” He’s met people that I’ve dated and given them a hard time. He called someone an a–hole and I was like, “Just so you know, Al Pacino just called you an a–hole because you are.”
WWD: What’s next?
A.T.: “Fallen,” based on a young adult novel. Then I play a total psycho in “Blue Angel” with Kyra Sedgwick. And “Chronically Metropolitan” is a family drama and my brother is played by Shiloh Fernandez, who is also in “Long Nights Short Mornings.” Mary Louise Parker plays the coolest mom on the planet.
WWD: Cooler than Ally Sheedy, your mom in “Little Sister?”
A.T.: [Sheedy] is the warmest, gentlest f–king coolest, most badass b—h I’ve ever met.