Alice Englert at home in a Beautiful story Film royalty: Alice Englert is earning praise for her instincts. OSCAR-winner Jane Campion is one of Australasia's most acclaimed directors. Now her 18-year-old daughter, Alice Englert, has a movie career of her own, writes Neala Johnson. Your mother is a Kiwi, you were born in Sydney ... where's home? It's a bit of everywhere. What I realised is, watching some old home videos, I've always had a weird accent. It's because I spent a lot of time on film sets. But Australia will always be home ... I sound like the Qantas ad, don't I? But you're about to base yourself in London. Well, I'm pale ... and that's it (laughs). I know it'll work 'cos I'm pale and I like jackets. Done! Your CV - UK flicks Ginger & Rosa and In Fear - suggests you're an indie girl. But your new film Beautiful Creatures is based on a young-adult novel series tipped to be the new Twilight ... It all happened at the same time so it was never one identity or another. To be honest with you, I don't really believe in all that stuff. The careers that I really appreciate are the people who just do good work and are consistent. It must be a spin-out to see yourself on billboards all around Los Angeles. Yup. It's a little weird. But no one recognises me because I've never pulled that face in my life! In Beautiful Creatures you play a witch who will be claimed for the light or the dark on her 16th birthday. With two parents in the biz (Colin Englert is also a filmmaker), was it inevitable you'd be 'claimed' by film? I knew I was always gonna be in stories, because it's the only thing I understand properly. I've never considered how else to spend my time. Is there nothing else you're good at? I can ride horses. And I read a lot. But that's kind of it. I think it's enough (laughs). Your co-star Emma Thompson says you have a 'truthfulness', and director Richard LaGravenese says you're 'pure instinct'. Well, I did grow up with someone who I think is one of the best directors and we talked a lot about film and acting. Instinct is important to me, I think I have very good instincts and when I listen to them it always works out ... It's just the listening to them that's a little bit hard sometimes. What's your personal taste in movies? I like to feel a little uncomfortable when I'm watching a film. Where does that enjoyment of discomfort come from? I think that things that make you uncomfortable make you uncomfortable because they're real. And reality is always a little bit worrying (laughs). I like that because I grew up in a family where I was exposed to cinema that most kids don't get exposed to. Your mum wasn't making you watch Transformers? No, I would be asking her to watch Harry Potter with me and she'd say, 'Urggh. Taxi Driver!. I'd be like 10 and I'd go, 'That's (rated) R, Mum, I can't watch that'. She'd be like, 'Yeah you can, it's fiiiiiine,'. So me and my mum watching a film together always meant me sitting there with a hand over my face watching extreme arthouse because my mum would not watch kid movies. Afterwards, would you discuss what you'd seen? No, no, she just wanted to watch it for herself and have the little one there. I remember, the family movie when I was seven was Austin Powers. A little girl wasn't allowed to come to my house over that, because she went home to her mum and said, 'What does horny mean?' When your mum was making a movie, what was your favourite thing to watch her do? I love the editing process because I did watch a lot of it when I was a kid; I used to pretend I was sick so she'd have to take me with her. I have a lot of respect for that production time, though I think the energy of the shooting is unparalleled. What's it like being on a set now you're an actor? It's a bit like school camp, shooting a film. Everyone's on heat. It's a strange energy. It's full of adrenalin. I funnel my excess energy in funny little ways. I do a lot of dancing in my trailer. I love music. If Beautiful Creatures turns into a franchise, would you happily play Southern belle Lena again? Yeah, I really loved her. I loved that world. I've always loved fantasy, I think it's a great way to look at issues that we have in our own lives with a little bit of the pressure off, you know. You've been tipped for stardom by Vanity Fair. With all this heat, what's your instinct telling you to do next? My instinct tells me not to take a job just because I'm scared of not working; it tells me to take one when I think it's good. You were in your mother's short film The Water Diary at age 12. Are we likely to see you in anything else directed by Jane Campion? I was going to be in her mini-series she just made, Top of the Lake, but I got another job (laughs). And the mini-series is fantastic! Sorry Mum! SEE Beautiful Creatures opens today