Larissa Dias stars as Moriah Wilson in Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story. The new Ripped from the Headlines film premieres tomorrow, June 15 at 8/7c on Lifetime.

Yoga Teacher Killer is based on the true events of a deadly love triangle that led authorities on an international manhunt. When pro-cyclist Moriah Wilson (Dias) is found dead after a short-lived affair with fellow professional Colin Strickland (Schmid), all signs point to Texan yoga teacher and Strickland’s on-and-off girlfriend, Kaitlin Armstrong (Lotz). After being accused of allegedly killing Wilson in a jealous rage, she vanishes into thin air. On the run, Kaitlin alters her appearance in attempts to elude the authorities as they work to track her down, leading them to places that they never expected to find her.

I had the chance to ask the actress about the research she did to understand the story, the challenges of playing a real-life person, her favorite filming memories, and more. Keep reading for everything she shared and enjoy our exclusive clip below:

How did the fact that this story was inspired by true events affect your approach?
Larissa Dias: You always have to be sensitive when approaching these kinds of stories and roles. Not only was this movie inspired by true events, and not only were we all playing real-life people, but it was also an extremely tragic story that ended in so much heartache and pain. For that reason, every step of the process had to be taken with such care, diligence, and respect, from preparing for the role to being on set performing.

Did you do any specific research to prepare and get in the right headspace for your character?
Definitely, I wanted to make sure I knew all about the case and everyone involved. I made sure to find out everything I could about Moriah, her family, and her friends. I wanted to honor her legacy. That research helped me understand her battles, motivations, and aspirations.

How did this role challenge you in ways you have not experienced on previous projects?
There are always new sets of challenges when it comes to playing someone in real life and telling a part of their story. This one, unfortunately, had an extremely tragic ending for Moriah and her family. That in itself was a challenge since I wanted to make sure to tell her truth and not slander her name in any way. Moriah was a young, caring, ambitious woman who was caught in the crossfire. I wanted to make sure to show what made Moriah beautiful to so many people.

What originally attracted you to the movie and is there anything you felt it taught you that will be helpful in future work?
This story is so complicated in the sense that it’s almost impossible to understand how this could happen. It’s impossible to rationalize such evil behavior, but like I said, I wanted to be a part of shedding light on Moriah’s legacy. These movies are always such a sprint. They are shot in less than a month, sometimes less than three weeks. With that comes a handful of challenges that truly push you in various ways. You learn how to do everything at lightning speed. You learn how to research and prepare fast, you learn how to create relationships with the cast and crew fast, you learn how to memorize the material fast, and you learn how to perform on set fast. The whole project is on such a tight schedule that everyone has to be on their A-game. Working on these projects is quite a unique experience in that way.

Favorite behind the scenes memory from filming?
I had the pleasure of working with real-life couple Kyle Schmid and Caity Lotz as my co-stars. They were both so warm and welcoming. I had most of my scenes with Kyle, and he was a hoot to work with, always making a joke and putting a smile on my face. He’s a great human, and I was lucky to have such a fun, supportive co-star to work with. I also had the privilege of working with Executive Producer Stacy Mandelberg again. She is such a badass, powerhouse creative producer. She’s got an amazing pulse on all her projects and approaches all of them with the utmost care. Our director, Katie Boland, was also a treat to work with. This was my first time working with her, and she did amazingly. She showed up on set every day prepared and ready to kick ass.