*This will be the last of the Jersey Shore Massacre interviews before the big NYC premiere a week from today. Danielle Dallacco is a professionally trained actress who is taking over every medium of narrative production: commercials, television, film, and broadcast streaming. Her role as Teresa in Jersey Shore Massacre may even surprise you because of the total transformation Danielle goes through as an actress. As you will see here, her real life persona is so different than the one she plays in the upcoming horror feature. So, now is the perfect time to get to know this actress before you see her as a guidette…even if she is a redeemable guidette. In my interview below, Dallacco and I discuss her career, her life, and what it was like going to McDonalds covered in fake blood. Read on, folks!
H: Can you introduce yourself to the readers? Tell us a little about yourself.
D: I’m from Westchester, NY, (which is NOT upstate!) which is funny because most people that meet me think I’m from southern California due to my bohemian persona. I am an avid music lover. My parents raised me on the good stuff and to say that I have an obsession with the Beatles would be an understatement. I dabble on the piano, guitar, and ukulele, but I’m not amazing at any of them. I am a bit of a jokester and love pranking people. I am silly more than I am serious and try seeing the good in people instead of the bad.
H: I see that you are a professionally trained actress. Do you think any of your classes have trained you for the success you’re currently receiving?
D: 100%. I always believe that if you love something that you need to work your ass off to be the best you can possibly be at it. I didn’t just wake up one day and say ‘I want to be an actress today’ and expect it to fall into my lap. I made sure I went to a school with a top theater program and still take classes today because the work is never done.
H: Being the face of Pepsi during the MLB All-Star Game in 2013 couldn’t have hurt! What can you tell the readers about being a part of such a huge commercial?
D: It’s funny because I got that commercial all on my own. I developed my father’s work ethic so I find myself a very hard worker. I submitted for it through a casting site. I walked into the audition with no makeup and loose fitting clothes to a room of supermodels and ended up booking the job! It was such an amazing experience and I felt like so glamorous during the shoot (being pampered is always a good thing!). When it aired I received a million texts and phone calls. It was a good feeling!
H: Was your first mainstream role really on “Law & Order: SVU?” Were you nervous or vindicated in your abilities as an actress when you stepped on set?
D: “Law & Order: SVU” was my first mainstream role. I felt like a real working actor when I booked it because it’s such an amazing show with a strong reputation. I was nervous, vindicated, and excited all at the same time. Dean Winters and Jean de Segonzac were so welcoming and really let me play with the role.
H: I see that you also appeared in an episode of “Deadbeat,” which is currently streaming on Hulu. I think outlets like Hulu and Amazon Instant Video are revolutionary in terms of producing and releasing new series and movies. Do you share the same sentiment?
D: Watch “Deadbeat.” It’s such a funny and clever show! I absolutely do share those same beliefs in these new outlets. I am a HUGE fan of “Orange is the New Black” for one and think the quality of work is so amazing on all of these shows. It is such a smart idea because the average person these days does not have the time to make their programs anymore, so the fact that it’s online and that you can stream it at your leisure is incredible.
H: Currently, Paul Tarnopol and Jenni “Jwoww” Farley are gearing up for the release of Jersey Shore Massacre at the end of the month. How did you get on board with this project?
D: It’s kind of serendipitous. I went to Wagner College majoring in Theatre Performance and minoring in Marketing. I was starring in a musical called ‘Goddess Wheel’ by Galt MacDermot, but also had to market it because of my minor. I was in touch with a woman named Meredith Jacobson who was making a documentary on Galt, so she came to see me in the musical for her project. I got a call a week later from her telling me that she wanted me to send a tape to audition for a horror movie she was casting. So, I had a friend tape me in my dorm, sent in the tape, and a week later got a call from the producer telling me they would like me to play ‘Teresa.’ I started filming right after graduation, which was a very nice graduation gift.
H: In the modeling photos I’ve seen of you, I think you have a very classy look. I can’t picture you as a guidette! How did you prepare for your role as Teresa?
D: HA! It’s so funny because I am part Italian and I have tried so hard all of my life to get away from those stereotypes and ended up playing one in my first feature! My parents are from the Bronx so I knew the accent from them and the high school I attended also had a lot of girls from the Bronx and Yonkers. Most of them were guidettes, so I had a lot of experience around them. It’s comical because my junior year of high school we had to dress up as something scary. I dressed up as a guidette as a joke with all the hair and makeup. No one got it. I also watched “Jersey Shore” and “Jerseylicious” for research of course!
H: Would you compare your character to Snookie, Jwoww, Sam, Denna, or Angelina, and why?
D: I honestly don’t think she’s really any of them because she does change throughout the film. Teresa has a lot of innocent and sweet qualities about her. So if I had to choose I guess I would have to go with Sam because she’s the ‘sweetheart’.
H: I’ve asked Giovanni [Roselli] and Chris [Lazzaro] for funny or interesting behind-the-scenes stories. Do you have any that you’d be able to share, too?
D: Of course I do! This film had a lot of shoots in the woods and one of the shooting locations was at this camp in Sparta, NJ. I had stayed in one of the cabins and woke up the next morning with – I kid you not – about a hundred mosquito bites on my face. I looked like a leper. Needless to say makeup had their work cut out for them.
Another time we were doing a night shoot – which is when you shoot from sundown to sunrise. Angelica [Boccella] and I were half delirious and craving McDonalds breakfast, so we went right after we were wrapped for the day, which was about 5am. We showed up to the McDonalds covered in blood, sweat and our guidette hair and makeup, which was half laziness, half for a prank. No one would make direct eye contact with us except for an old man who wanted to know what party we came from and who we killed.
H: Why do you think people should rent Jersey Shore Massacre on iTunes or buy it on DVD?
D: I think that Jersey Shore Massacre truly has something for everyone. It has blood, comedy, thrills, and babes in bikinis! It’s extremely entertaining, clever and visually stunning. And who doesn’t want to see the cast of “Jersey Shore” get killed? KIDDING!
*Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Danielle! I see a bright future ahead of you and this is only the beginning.
For more on Danielle Dallacco, please visit the following links:
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5527496/?ref_=tt_ov_st
Facebook Actor’s Page: https://www.facebook.com/danielledallacco
Jersey Shore Massacre is hitting DVD retailers and VOD outlets on August 26, 2014. You can click here to pre-order your copy on Amazon. Also, the world premiere is going to be held on August 19, 2014 in NY. A handful of general admission tickets are still available to the public. Click here to reserve your seat while there’s still time.
