Sasha Pieterse stars as both Anna and Zoe in The Image of You. The movie, which is based on the novel by Adele Parks, is now available at home on Digital. This interview will contain major spoilers.

Twins Anna and Zoe are identical twins in appearance and utterly different in personality. They share a bond so close that nothing – and no one – can rip them apart. Until Anna meets charismatic Nick. Anna is trusting, romantic and hopeful; she thinks Nick is perfect. Zoe is daring, dangerous and extreme; she thinks Nick is a liar. Zoe has seen Anna betrayed by men before. She’ll stop at nothing to discover the truth about Nick. Lies may hurt. But honesty can kill.

I had the chance to speak with the actress over Zoom and ask her about reading the script for the first time, the challenge of playing identical twins, how the film’s twists differ from the book, seeing her PLL fans grow with her, her thoughts on the ending, and much more. Keep reading for our full conversation!

I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. I am such a fan of your work and have been following you since your PLL days. It’s been amazing to see you grow as an actress and to now get to support you as a journalist.
Sasha Pieterse: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it and thanks for taking the time as well. This is great.

I saw the trailer for this new project and was so excited! I’m curious, when you first read the script, what were your initial thoughts?
Well, I was shocked that I couldn’t predict the ending. So, I mean, usually when I’m reading thriller scripts, psychological thrillers, or even a rom-com, you know, everything, I’m kind of just like, ‘Oh, I know what’s going to happen. I know what this script is about.’ And so, when I didn’t suspect the twist, I was shocked, but it also made me very, very excited and the thought of playing twins and that challenge was also equally exciting. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was like, ‘I have to do this movie.’ I knew how I would play them, I was dreaming about it. It was ridiculous. So, I immediately said yes and was excited to get started, and it was a really, really cool process. I was creating a different walk. I had different tones of voice, you know, obviously different ways of dressing and personality, and it was just such a cool experience.

I actually want to go off of that because Anna and Zoe, like you said, have such different personalities and the little things, the voice — I loved it. How did you build them in your head? Did you draw inspiration from anywhere else or was it solely based on how they were acting in the script? I imagine getting in the headspace for each of the characters throughout the film must’ve been interesting since you were playing both. 
So yeah, a couple of different things. I think the first thing I did was create Pinterest boards for each of them. I had mood boards, I did and they were all categorized. It was ridiculously organized and hilarious. It was a mixed bag because it’s an adapted book and so, I had the pressure of making sure that I did it justice but I also on purpose didn’t read the book because I still wanted them to be unique and it’s actually different than the book. There’s a different twist, there’s a couple of pretty big differences and so, I didn’t want to taint anything by reading the book because the book is excellent, but I wanted to kind of make them unique in that way. I always feel like that’s better for people who love the books anyway, because if you know exactly what’s going to happen when you watch the movie, even if you love the book, it kind of takes away from it. So, if it can give you the same energy and you can embody all the same things but still surprise people, I think that’s the best-case scenario.

A lot of people have compared Zoe in particular to Alison, which I think is super fun. It’s like the crazy grownup version of the OG Alison that everybody found really fun. So yes, I did definitely pull from her in some circumstances but really, I just wanted to have a cool foundation for these characters. I mean, even down to just like what their favorite colors were and the things that they loved and hated, you really need to build out their actual separate lives in order for it to make it believable on camera. I think writing all of those things in between the lines, essentially, was so important. And if you believed it, when you watched it, that means I did my job right. I’m excited just to see the response and see what people thought.

What you mentioned about Alison is funny to me since for so long, so many people thought you would be playing a twin on Pretty Little Liars, based on what happened in the books. I mean, that was a huge fan theory but again, it was different than the books and they took their own twists and turns. So it must be a very interesting process for you, as an actor, to see the fans thinking something is going to go one way and then the story goes in the complete opposite direction.
With PLL, we were told that it would be okay for us to read the first book and then after that, don’t worry about it because it’s gonna be so different. And so, yes, the same thing applied, right? It is fun to see people’s theories and what they think is going to happen. Obviously, we did get some sort of twin situation in PLL, they had to put it in there and Alison was essentially related to everyone somehow anyway. So, there was definitely the relatable, however you want to put that, side of Alison, quite literally. But it was fun to finally play twins and kind of have that satisfaction of playing those like twisted sisters.

Yeah, I imagine it had to be on the checklist after that when they didn’t give you it on PLL. It’s like, ‘Well, everyone wants me to play it.’
It was the missing thing I didn’t know was missing. I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is so cool. Of course!” Yeah, now that’s marked off. That’s checked off the list. Actually, this is the second time I have played twins. When I was five, I did a TV show, but it was a boy twin and I wasn’t myself playing twins. But yeah, second time around. Still counts.

The PLL fans have obviously continued with you. How has it been to see their support for the newer projects and to know that they’re still here? You have such a large following and the fan base is incredibly loyal. They’re still so eager to see you on their screen at any opportunity they can.
It’s so sweet. I’m so grateful for it. What I’ve always thought about our fans is how incredible it is that they’re just worldwide. I think it’s so cool that I get to connect with people all around the world. It’s those like good parts of social media and I love that. I love seeing people come together. I love seeing the same names, seeing the same usernames, and seeing people that are still around and interacting. I really appreciate that, but I think what’s cool is that they’ve grown with me. There’s a plethora of new PLL fans, thanks to the spin-off, which is also great.

There are new people and new generations that are rewatching our OG series. So, it’s this like growing community, which is really special and I’m just so thankful for that. I’m thankful that they’re interested in the new things that I’m doing, even just the support with motherhood and the health issues that I’ve gone through. I mean, it really is an incredible group of people and I’m just really lucky to be in that situation. I also just hope that I get to entertain them over and over and over again.

Oh, you do.
Aw thank you — and like, thank you for being interested in it, wanting to see this movie and I hope you do get that satisfaction of that Alison kind of tie. 

I’m sure there’s a lot of amazing behind-the-scenes tricks and a process to make it happen but could you tell me about the most challenging aspect of playing identical twins? 
It’s rather technical, actually. It’s the fact that I had a wonderful body double, who had to know all the lines as well because we had to switch, and she was just so great. But it’s interesting because you usually only have about 15, 20 minutes to change into the next person. So you’d shoot one half as one twin, which was usually Anna, because she had less makeup on, it’s much harder to change from a red lip to a nude lip, that is logistically more difficult. And so, it would be Anna, and I would do it one way, and then 15 minutes, flip the switch and change into somebody completely different.

Both she and I, my body double, had to be on it, we had to just know exactly what we were doing. I love our hair and makeup team and our costume department because we really, really collaborated so nicely and it felt like I was legitimately turning that switch. It was like, ‘Okay, now with hair and makeup and changing, I feel like immediately I’m becoming a different person,’ and I don’t mean this in like, it was easy, but in a way, it was easy and that was purely based on the fact that we all worked so hard to make it second nature. I really just felt like — I didn’t question it at all, it was just like, ‘Okay, and now I’m Zoe.’ I think, as an actor, it’s such a fun challenge and once you know those characters in your head so well, it does become one of those things where it’s like, I don’t know, you surprise yourself, actually, in lots of ways that you could just kind of… you’re just like a chameleon, and you just kind of have to be in order for it to work.

And so, I just had so much fun with the challenge and it’s one of those things where you never know what the end product is going to be like, but I just enjoyed the process so much that regardless, it was rewarding in itself and I truly love that crew. We filmed in Utah, and Utah is gorgeous, but that crew works together all the time and they really took me in like a family, which I so appreciate. It’s really pretty much my favorite part of the job, filming in general, but really stepping into a community of people that are so talented and are all going to work to make something magical happen. It’s really hard to explain to anybody that’s never stepped foot on set, but it’s a really special environment that I’m just grateful to be a part of and get to work, get to play, and be in this fun little sandbox.

Well, I now want to give you an opportunity to talk about all the spoilers you want. Can you break down the twists and the ending for me? Tell me all of your thoughts. What it was like to do? I want all the details.
I love that. Excellent. Well, yeah, so we were talking about the twist, right? So the fact that Zoe had passed away three years previous, and Anna had totally taken over this other personality. What you find out in the end is that Anna was actually responsible for the reason that Zoe killed herself, which is just devastating. Anna was just always this perfect person. She saw the good in everybody. She was a hopeless romantic. She wanted the best. Meanwhile, Zoe caught her dad with his mistress very young, and she was scarred by it. And so, she was completely the opposite. She was extremely cynical. She didn’t believe in love. She knew that she was the only one that could fulfill her happiness and she was very jaded.

However, the two twins loved each other dearly. But Anna just didn’t know how Zoe could operate the way that she did and she almost was envious of her confidence and her way of walking through life that when Zoe finally found somebody that she fell in love with, Anna pretended to be Zoe and she slept with him. It completely broke Zoe and she had a moment where she essentially got the worst revenge you could ever think of. She made sure that her sister was the one to find her after she committed suicide, which is extremely dark and twisted. It’s an incredibly dark storyline and very complicated, and that’s essentially putting it inside out for everybody that has watched the movie. But it’s like, when you go backwards and you put all the pieces together and you see all those little moments in the film, those little hints of that storyline in there without you knowing until you rewatch it, it’s just very cool.

It’s very, very cool how it was all blended together and I think it’s a good example of how we are both nature and nurture, where we can be in the same environment with the same parents, the same way that we grew up, same way that we were taught but those little differences make people who they are. Those circumstances very much matter and I always feel that way when I’m taking on a new character or when I encounter somebody, you know, usually like when you encounter somebody that’s mean or that has gone through a lot of trauma, it’s like people don’t just wake up like that. It’s a series of events that make them that way. It doesn’t make it acceptable, but I think that’s why we need empathy, it’s more about understanding people. You’re responsible for your actions but it’s psychologically very fascinating. I think that’s why we’re all so fascinated by serial killers because you couldn’t imagine doing that but the psychology behind it is fascinating. And so, I really enjoy dissecting characters like this.

And Adele, the author of the book, is so incredible. She and I are such good friends. She is not only hilarious but just in general, so brilliant, and having her on set was such a treat because even though I hadn’t read the book yet on purpose and later, of course, did, being able to have her there and be like, “Is this right? Is this fulfilling what you love about these characters? Am I representing this properly,” was just so special and we have a very similar creative process. She does the same thing when writing characters, she dissects all those things. She makes sure that these characters are very full and well-rounded, so overall, just super fun. Then poor Nick, so poor Parker playing Nick. It was really interesting also establishing two relationships with the same character.

What was fun about that and poor Parker, you know, I think Anna and Nick’s character, they did really, really love each other and they fell hard. They fell very fast and I think they ironically were a good match. But he was definitely a fuckboy like Zoe always thought and she was right, and some habits don’t necessarily go away overnight. And so, what he felt like he was missing in Anna’s relationship, Zoe provided and it’s a very interesting dynamic. That love triangle is very also just twisted and dark in itself but the nature of his storyline and then, Parker as an actor, we had a really sweet relationship when it came to Anna and Nick. Then, I just kind of took control in all the Zoe scenes and he just had to kind of roll with it, and it works so well because that is what their dynamic was. What a fun thing as an actor to bounce back and forth with and have your co-star be so good at just kind of rolling with it, so it was a really good experience. Our intimacy coordinator was incredible. The three of us laughed, I mean, harder than I think I’ve ever laughed on set and you kind of have to in those circumstances. Just an example of like, ‘Ugh, couldn’t get his belt undone on that take.’ I mean, just like so ridiculous. Our jobs are so ridiculous but so fun. If you can laugh about it and you can enjoy that process together, it makes it worth it.