Olympic star Sally Pearson helps tackle bullying with movie appearance
Olympic star Sally Pearson appears as herself in this Aussie story tackling bullying and teen rivalry
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Family movies and shows for tweens and younger teens don’t have to be dark and being positive doesn’t have to be daggy. That’s the message from Australian actor Emily Morris, whose third gymnastics-based movie called A Second Chance: Rivals! has just hit cinemas.
It’s something of a different subject matter but a familiar plot that takes the classic underdog team story who have to battle not just their unusual backgrounds but bullies. Bullying was one of the issues covered in the controversial teen suicide drama 13 Reasons Why, the third season of which recently launched on Netflix.
“It’s a very, very tricky topic to delve into and you want to be careful about the way you portray it,” Morris says. “I have watched a few episodes but it wasn’t something that personally appealed. I have friends who love it and those on the other end of the scale.”
So would she want to be in a similarly controversial film or TV show?
“It depends on what it is, you would absolutely consider it but it would have to have the right ethical treatment and you have to be able to feel you could give the character the 100 per cent it needs,” she says.
While 13 Reasons Why shows the negative results of bullying, she hopes Rivals will show the positive side of girls working together and supporting each other.
“We should hold each other up and support each other,” she says. “There’s no benefit in tearing each other down and if that’s your sort of behaviour, then change it. Let’s work as a team and stop the nastiness and the bullying.”
She says seeing her character’s gymnastics team help each other in the movie is “something I love” and a valuable lesson for anyone who has been mean to schoolmates.
“I would hope they would come away seeing enough to resonate with them,” she says. “You can so easily be participating without even realising. I was never bullied but I had an older brother who was quite picked on, so I know what it was like. It doesn’t finish when school finishes and can really affect family life and relationships.
“I hope the film could really get them thinking, how one small comment could affect people more than you know.”
For someone who has made a career out of gymnastics-based films, Morris says she never practised gymnastics as a child and has no idea how to perform the moves.
“I was stunt doubled in every one of those scenes,” she says. “I just stumbled into the gymnastics world!”
The film also features recently retired Olympic hurdler Sally Pearson, who appears as herself to provide inspiration for the youngsters (pictured inset, with Emily Morris and her young co-stars).
“It was heaps of fun to shoot with her,” Morris says. “This was back in January, she was still training and there was no word of her retiring.”
The movie was mainly filmed in South Australia and Morris hopes the positive message and the beautiful scenery will resonate with the American market.
A Second Chance: Rivals! is in selected cinemas now