A
KEEP THEM
GUESSING
nna Marie Dobbins makes her leading
role debut in
Lifetime’s Stalked By My
Doctor: Patient’s Revenge. Aired on
June 10th, Dobbins plays the role of Melissa in the
series’ third installment. This thriller film follows Dr.
Albert Beck (Eric Roberts) as he becomes infatuated
with a college student (Anna Marie Dobbins). He
vows to rehabilitate himself of his obsessive stalker
tendencies, but old habits die hard.
What attracted Dobbins to the role was Melis-
sa’s complexity and the ability to simultaneously be
more than one character. “She’s a character that is up
front and you can tell is a good girl in school or she’s
the mysterious one. It's fun being able to bring out
all these different colors and ideas of Melissa that the
audience hasn’t seen.” When it comes to developing
the character, Dobbins was able to watch previous
installments of the series, but explains that she did
not want to make her character too similar to pre-
vious ones. She wanted
Melissa to be different and have her own separate
entity.
The film’s shooting process was something
Dobbins had never experienced before. Within only
a week and half after booking the role, Dobbins was
whisked away to filming. “I didn’t really have a long
time to prepare with the character. It was count-
less nights. I stayed up all night doing the research
and figuring out the most I could about Melissa,”
Dobbins explained. Most people are surprised when
finding out that the whole filming process was done
in fourteen days. With the film being a
suspenseful thriller, a comedy, and a romance,
Dobbins had to switch between different scenes and
emotions. “I would go from one mindset of Melissa
in the morning to a different one where she is a college
70
student at the end of the day. It was a fun experience for
sure. I've never done something with such a huge turn
around where you start the day one way and finish another.
For twelve hour days, for fourteen days.”
Although Dobbins could take the heat with exten-
sive scene classes from a young age, a suspenseful
thriller film goes through a range of emotions that tests
an actors
abilities. “If I didn’t have that solid
foundation of an acting class or scene study work, I
wouldn’t be able to handle how to do this. To change
your mindset from a crying scene to an action scene to
a love scene. I was very fortunate to have the proper
training to ge t me there,” explained Dobbins.
Her training was not the only thing that helped
the fast paced filming process. She gives praise to the
films director Doug Campbell, “who was supportive
of actors and new how to get actors where he wanted
them.” Her costar, Eric Roberts, was also a big support
being a seasoned vet in the industry. Dobbins was able
to pick up a few tips and tricks.
Filming a movie in the time span of fourteen days,
the project put the movie industry into perspective for
her. “Not every movie is a huge blockbuster film and
it makes you appreciate people who do films like this.
It really shows a true artist, where in a fourteen day
turnaround you can make this type of work. I’m proud
of what I was able to accomplish in fourteen days and
learn and appreciate everyone.”
Not only is Dobbins an actor in horror/thriller
films, but is a huge fan of the genre itself. “I love the
Saw series. It’s funny because people look at me and
say, ‘You’re a cute little blonde girl, I can't imagine
you liking horror.’ It's not just the gore, it’s the thinker.
The ones that keep you guessing on why people are
doing this.” Starting out in the industry at thirteen,
Dobbins became curious about how films are made and
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