'Room' Star Brie Larson Got Her Karaoke on to Escape the Movie's Emotional Turmoil
In the devastating new drama Room, Brie Larson plays a young woman held captive in a tiny backyard shack with her son. It’s no surprise that the movie’s intense shoot was emotionally draining for the 26-year old actress. “It requires a lot of your energy, so it takes more work in order to get it back,” she told Yahoo Movies. “So the typical things that you do in a day like, ‘Oh I’ll just zone out and watch [the Food Network reality show] Chopped for 30 minutes’ isn’t enough with something like this.” (Watch the full interview above.)
Related: The Movie ‘Room’ Really Made a Super-Small, Prison-Like Room. Here’s How They Did It
Larson — who is generating Oscar buzz for the second time in three years after 2013’s Short Term 12 — said the key to managing such heavy subject material is also trying to have some fun in the process. She found that easy with her 9-year-old co-star Jacob Tremblay, who she bonded with over Star Wars. She also found relief with that classic party-starter/stress-reliever known as karaoke.
“It was karaoke open mic night [somewhere] every day of the week in Toronto,” she said of the city where they filmed Room. “So I’d get off work, I’d go to a karaoke place, I’d sing one song — I’d sing like an Usher song or a Mariah Carey song — and then I’d go home.”
What songs would Larson (who has also been a professional recording artist since 2005) belt out? “Well, it’s extremely personal, but I guess I could tell you,” she said. “'Burn’ by Usher. I always loved 'We Belong Together’ [by Mariah Carey]. Will always love 'Shake It Off’ [by Taylor Swift]. Sometimes you gotta go Destiny Child’s 'Say My Name,’ which I’m happy to do. Late '90s, early '00s R&B — that’s my happy place.”
Room is now in theaters.
Watch Larson talk about how her own tough childhood informed the role:
