If you think it would be impossible to improve upon the deliciously campy 1987 movie of V.C. Andrews’ novel Flowers in the Attic, you’d be wrong. Lifetime’s version, which premieres Saturday January 18 at 8 PM, is completely crazy and absolutely fantastic. Starring Heather Graham, Ellen Burstyn, and Kiernan Shipka, Flowers in the Attic is the best film that Lifetime has ever created and it’s going to be the cult hit TV movie of the year that spawns a thousand glorious GIFs all over the Internet. Gone are the cookies and the persistent soft-focus of the ’87 version. They are, instead, replaced correctly by donuts and a much darker, more faithful adaptation of the classic tome. Lifetime’s version features excellent performances and is not only better, but it also never shies away from the cringe-worthy incestuous moments that made Andrews’ book so controversial. Parade sat down with star Heather Graham to discuss the film, Lifetime’s upcoming plans for the series, and how she’s embraced being a self-confessed nerd her entire life.

I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with the 1987 movie version of Flowers in the Attic.

[Laughs] I know. It was so twisted and slightly funny but also kind of sexy, you know?

How did you get involved with the film?

They offered it to me. They sent me the script and I had actually never read the book and I had never seen the movie, so I was reading it and I was like, “This is the craziest story ever. It’s so dark.” The character is so dark and, at the end, I couldn’t even believe what she does. I was just so disturbed. And then I heard that Ellen Burstyn was going to be in it and I’m obsessed with her. I was just so excited to act with Ellen Burstyn.

Ellen Burstyn & Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

Your film is much closer to the book than the previous version. Did you go back and watch the 1987 movie before you started work on this?

The director encouraged us not to watch it, but when they offered the role to me, I decided to watch it because I had never read the book at the time. It’s weird how very effective it is. It really draws you in and you can’t stop watching it. It’s like watching a train wreck that just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and you just get more and more disturbed, but you can’t stop watching it. There’s something about it that’s addictive.

There’s a rabid fan base online for this story. Your movie is going to be turned into GIFs and memes before your eyes.

[Laughs] I have a friend and she’s obsessed with it. She has the lines from the movie memorized. She was quoting my lines to me and I’m pretty sure she hasn’t even watched it in a really long time. I was like, “How do you remember all this?” She’s just watched it so many times.

Heather Graham, Maxwell Kovach, Ava Telek, Mason Dye & Kiernan Shipka in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

I love that you guys kept it a period piece as well.

I’m glad they did that because I think it makes my character’s story make more sense. When I was reading it I did think, “Why doesn’t she get a job?” But I think if you put it back in the ’50s, it wasn’t so easy for women to get a job. You would have to be more of a trailblazer to go out there and get a job where you could support four children. I think it makes more sense that, as a woman, you didn’t feel like you had as many options, so you might somehow get into this terrible situation that my character gets into.

It gives it an extra bit of authenticity.

I think if you set it in the modern day, you’d also have to deal with technology. If the kids had an iPhone up there in the attic, this would never have happened.

Kiernan Shipka in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

There are moments when you’re watching this film that you think it’s coming down on the side of your character being the victim, almost as much as the children. But then there are times when Ellen’s character shows a bit of humanity. How did you straddle the line between victim and terrible mother?

I wanted to show an arc, which was basically that, in the very beginning, I am a good mother and I’m very loving. I’ve been a really great mother to my children, but my husband sort of brought out the best part of me. When I have to go home and live with my family, being around my mother and being in the same abusive situation that I grew up in, I start to revert back to feeling like I have no options. She makes me feel so bad about myself that I can’t think like a sane person. I almost start to turn into her. Being at home, and being around her, I somehow continue the cycle of child abuse by turning into my mother.

You can see the way she almost morphs into this different person.

I think, as well, that my character has this deep need to be taken care of. So I put up with living with my family, in this very unhealthy situation, because I really want to be taken care of. I think there’s a moment where I know that my children, especially my son, see me as the really screwed-up person that I am, and I can’t live with it.

Mason Dye & Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

There are little touches that you provide throughout the film that show your character’s heart as well. There’s a moment in the beginning where your eyes become so bold and wide that it’s almost like you can’t even believe what’s happening.

I really wanted to [show that], even though my character does these terrible things, I do feel bad about it and that I do love my children and that I do wish that there were another way. I wanted to make it so that I’m not an evil person just sadistically torturing children for no reason, but that I have gone through so much child abuse and that I don’t understand a better way out. You read the story and you go, “This is ridiculous! This would never happen,” but it does. Kids are abused by their parents. Then they grow up and abuse their children. They don’t want to do it, but it’s so hard to break out of the cycle of how you were treated and not doing some version of the same thing to your own children, unless you really work on yourself and heal that wound.

It’s terrifying.

Super terrifying. That’s why I have no children! [Laughs]

Heather Graham & Ava Telek in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

Between you and Ellen and Kiernan Shipka, the acting in this film is phenomenal. Ellen even scared me at one point.

[Laughs] She’s so scary! Everyone behind the monitor, during this one scene, was jumping. She is so powerful. You know what? She is so brave to play these characters that aren’t attractive. She, herself, is a very attractive woman, but she is willing to play characters and show these really human, unattractive sides, and I think that’s really brave of her, as an actress.

And Kiernan as well. For someone that young to play a part like this and pull it off is impressive.

It’s kind of freaky how mature and professional she is because you’re looking at her and you think, “You’re thirteen.” They really cast the real age this time, as opposed to the other film where Kristy Swanson was this sexy, beautiful girl that definitely seems worldlier and more sexual. Whereas, with Kiernan, you really feel like she’s just going through puberty. I just found myself amazed that she is that mature at that age. To play this part and to just be an actress, she is freakishly adult.

Heather Graham in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

She’s a rock. She doesn’t flinch once in this film, even with all the crazy things she has to do.

It was really fun working with her. She is such a nice person too. The funny thing is that she really seemed like she was in character a lot of the time, but then at the very end I started to get to know her a bit better and she actually has this wicked sense of humor. She and Mason [Dye], who plays the brother, were going, “We’re such a screwed-up family!” And they would just find hilarious ways to make fun of the scenes we were playing.

The incestuous stuff was really controversial in the book and it’s much more prominent in this version than it was in the 1987 film. Were you guys worried at all about being censored or did Lifetime just give you the freedom to kind of go crazy?

I think the goal was actually to make something darker and more real than the original. It’s a little bit more of a drama. There was an element of camp to the other one, which is fun, but this one is a bit more disturbing.

Yeah, this version is definitely played straighter. The ’87 version is full of soft focus and lilting music. It’s so over the top.

When you read the script, the grandmother character is so harsh, but Ellen added so many levels to that character that you really kind of feel bad for her. You just feel sorry for her. I really like that. You don’t feel it when you’re reading the script, but you get it when you watch Ellen’s performance.

Kiernan Shipka & Ellen Burstyn in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

There have been rumors that Lifetime is planning to film the entire series of books by V.C. Andrews. Have you heard anything to that effect?

[Laughs] I know they were thinking about doing a sequel. I’m not sure if they are or not, but the sequel is basically where Cathy gets her revenge on my character. I’m not one hundred percent sure if they’re going to do it, but I do think they would like to. There was even some talk of them maybe doing a prequel series about my character focusing on when she was sixteen and falling in love with her half-cousin. [Editor’s Note: Since this interview was conducted, Lifetime confirmed that a sequel to Flowers in the Attic, based on the second V.C. Andrews book in the series, Petals in the Wind, is currently being planned.]

Are you up for all that, if they ask you to return?

I guess it could be fun. Honestly, the sequel is so torturous for my character. If you can imagine Cathy getting the worst revenge possible on Corrinne, that’s the story. [Laughs]

Horns, which you’re starring in alongside Daniel Radcliffe, just got picked up in October. Any word on a possible release date yet?

I don’t really know, but that is a really crazy story too. Daniel is such a great guy. He’s so nice. He has so many crazy fans too. They would stand outside when we’d be shooting and he’s so sweet.

Oh, Heather. You have not seen crazy fans until this movie comes out. You just wait.

[Laughs] That’s awesome. I can’t wait.

Mason Dye, Ava Telek, Maxwell Kovach & Kiernan Shipka in Flowers in the Attic (Courtesy of Lifetime)

You have a few new films coming out next year. Which one are you most excited about people seeing?

I have episodes of Californication coming out in April, and I just did this film in New York called My Dead Boyfriend. And Horns is fun too. I have a smaller, supporting part in that. And I actually wrote a script that I want to direct, so knock on wood, I hope that happens.

You describe yourself on Twitter as “Actress and big nerd.” What is the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?

I wore headgear when I was in school as a teenager. Like Joan Cusack in Sixteen Candles. Actually, wait. She had headgear. I had neck-gear, so I should specify that it was actually neck-gear. Just around the neck. But, yeah, it had the rubber bands attached and all that. You always remember what you were as a kid, so I’ll always sort of feel like a nerdy kid with headgear. [Laughs]

Flowers in the Attic premieres on Lifetime on Saturday, January 18 at 8 PM.

http://youtu.be/meNwZ_GYTIQ