Behind the scenes of D-Railed with actress Shae Smolik

Shae Smolik is a young (12 years old) up and coming actress who started her career when she was just six years old. She has experience working in commercials as well as film. She has previously been in the horror film ‘The Hatred;’ and the thriller ‘The Sandman’. Her commercial roles include the product Tide as well as the company Mediacon. Her latest role is playing the character of Abigail in the fantasy/thriller “D-Railed”, starring sci-fi icon Lance Henriksen.

“D-Railed” is currently on the film festival circuit and has won many awards including five Platinum awards from the International Independent Film Awards in the following categories: Concept, Costumes, Sound Design/Editing, Cinematography and Directing. It has been nominated for Best Practical FX at the PDXtreme film festival in January.

What was it about D-Railed that was appealing to you:

The plot of the whole story. The fight. We’re all fighting for the same thing. It’s a thriller and horror and there’s so many things happening all at once — that’s what makes it really cool.

What drew you to the character:

I think she’s actually a lot like me. She’s a very curious person and also strong willed and independent and she gets scared sometimes.

What did you do to prepare for the role?

I had to step into her shoes and see what it would be like for her and even though she is a lot like me, she’s also different. It was a lot of preparation but not at the same time.

What were some of the challenges of the shoot:

I think being a minor, I can only be on the set for nine hours, and that was a challenge because the scenes were so big and everybody had to be there for the scenes.