Kacey Rohl stars in the new Flicka movie. (Sarjoun Faour Photography/Getty Images)You might recognize actress Kacey Rohl from two very different projects. The 20-year-old Vancouver native plays the best friend of a dead teenage girl on AMC's dark series "The Killing," and a young girl whose father has died and forms a strong bond with a horse in the family-friendly "Flicka: Country Pride," which was released on DVD this week. But, as Rohl sees it, while the two might not hang out together, they do have something in common. "They're similar in that they feel really guilty for deaths that aren't really their fault," she tells omg!. And off-screen, they were both a lot of fun for the up-and-coming starlet to make.
"Flicka: Country Pride," which co-stars Clint Black and his wife Lisa Hartman Black, was especially memorable because it required Rohl to ride a horse for the first time. Her character, Kelly, takes over as the focus of the story that began with the 1941 novel My Friend Flicka, and has included a TV series and several films, always with a young girl (or boy) who loves horseback riding on Flicka at its heart. "I never thought I'd want to do that," Rohl says. "I grew up in a city, and there's not really any sort of connection to farm life in my life or equestrian stuff, but I'm a total daredevil, so when I saw it, I was like, 'Yes, this must happen.'" First, of course, she had to learn to look like a pro in the saddle. "They sort of just chucked me in there," explains Rohl, who now splits her time between Vancouver and L.A. "[The training] was two weeks, and we did pretty basic stuff for the first couple of days, and then we would go over ground poles, and then we would move them up slightly, and then by the end of the first week we were jumping." Rohl ended up riding every day for about 20 days of shooting. While she hasn't hit the trails since then, the actress notes that she's planning to do just that with some of the girls from the film soon.
Rohl and Flicka share the screen. (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)
Rohl's director was '80s rocker Michael Damian. (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)
Rohl became close with everyone involved in the film, and really bonded with her director Michael Damian — yes, the Michael Damian who played Danny Romalotti on "The Young and the Restless"! As you might remember, Damian also had a hit in 1989 with a cover of the David Essex song "Rock On," which was very typical of the totally awesome '80s, but is totally cheesy if you listen to it now! It's a song that Rohl knows well. "We razzed [Damian] so much, every time we walked onto the set," she laughs. "In the dance scene, the dance that Max and I are doing are his dance moves from the music video. And we all had it on our iPods, and we were rocking out." At least Damian seemed to have a sense of humor about his rock 'n' roll days. "He gave us all signed CDs at the wrap, so we can listen to it whenever we please," she jokes. (Fun fact: Rohl is also musical. She's played the ukulele since elementary school!)
The Canadian cutie, who admires Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, and Jodie Foster, has been working toward a starring role in a movie for most of her life. "My dad is a film director and my mom's a playwright, so I sort of just grew up around [show business]," she reveals. "I don't remember a specific moment where like the light bulb went off, but when I was 2 or 3, I was onstage at my mom's rehearsals doing Shakespeare — I was weird. It was just a natural progression." Rohl studied acting during her high school years with acting coach Andrew McIlroy, whose students have also included "Glee's" Cory Monteith, and began going on auditions. She won the "Flicka" role last summer, and is now taking some much-needed time off. But the actress, who's also appeared on "R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour," "Fringe," and "Supernatural," would love to take on a funny role in the future — particularly since a lot of sci-fi and cop dramas film in her hometown of Vancouver. "Some good sort of yuck-yuck comedy would be awesome," she says.
Check out the scene where Rohl's character meets Flicka in this clip from "Flicka: Country Pride."
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