‘Singing In My Sleep’ is a gem of a film driven by rising star Jessica Belkin. I spoke with her about the film and much more.
Singing In My Sleep is one of those unsung movies that sneaks up on you with its rich relationships, strong characters and overall humanity. Starring Malin Akerman and Jessica Belkin as a mother and daughter dealing with the twentieth anniversary of the debut album from their late partner/father, it has the same kind of heart and soul as the brilliant Waking The Dead, with Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly.
Though the relationship between Akerman and Belkin is the pivotal one in the story, the movie is told through Belkin’s eyes. Belkin, who has lots of connections to music, including wanting to be a child pop star and playing Lady Gaga’s daughter on American Horror Story, absolutely shines in the complex role of an aspiring singer with a famous father she barely knew.
I spoke with the versatile Belkin, a star very much on the rise, who will be seen next year in the Amazon Prime Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle, about the film, how it reignited her music dreams, reuniting with Akerman on Netflix’s Hunting Wives and much more.
Steve Baltin: For you, do you feel you have that one role people identify you with?
Jessica Belkin: No, not yet. I think people will associate me with the show I’m doing right now when it comes out. That’ll be a fun role and it’s in such an iconic IP already with Legally Blonde. But so far, no, I don’t think so. American Horror Story, when I was like 13, people sometimes try to remember me for that one, but it was so long ago, and I feel like I’m ready to have a fresh start and a blank slate for all of that.
Baltin: What did you do on American Horror Story?
Belkin: I played a recurring role. I played Ren who is an ancient little Victorian child vampire, Lady Gaga’s daughter. I didn’t speak for a lot of the season and then when I finally spoke it was like, “Wow, so much to uncover.” And by the end of the episode, I had offed myself.
Baltin: Do you take parts home with you or is it easy to step away from?
Belkin: When I was younger, I think it was easier to step away from it, especially seeing how a horror type of movie set works. It’s all pretty make-believe to me. But as I’ve gotten older, I take a lot of my characters home with me now, which sometimes isn’t the best. But yeah, it takes a second to separate from them.
Baltin: This was an intense movie, and I thought it was really well done. Did you take the character home, or were you able to leave it behind?
Belkin: Thanks. Charlotte always lives inside my heart. And I think I relate to her in a lot of ways; I’ve gone through grief, I’ve gone through nonlinear grief, and I feel like I relate to her on the musical element. Growing up all I did was play music, my parents put me in piano lessons, guitar lessons, I tried to make my own music, I tried to be a pop star growing up and then I pivoted into acting. But Charlotte is really interesting and vulnerable, and I didn’t feel like I needed to let her go too much so she’s still with me.
Baltin: If you could be a pop star, what pop star would you have been?
Belkin: When I was younger, I wanted to be Britney Spears. I wanted to be Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson was also there. I also loved the Pussycat Dolls. I would watch MTV as a six-year-old child because my parents wouldn’t let me watch SpongeBob, but they let me watch MTV. But I think that’s what gathered my interest into wanting to be a pop star, wanting to be on the TV. I think the SpongeBob stuff would have drowned all that out.
Baltin: From the movie, you said you started making music again.
Belkin: Yes, I did start making music again, and that’s been really fun too. My first single I was nine years old and now I’m trying to get into music more and more, but I haven’t necessarily found my own sound yet.
