The Sleepover is a family adventure comedy that follows Clancy (Sadie Stanley) and her little brother Kevin (Maxwell Simkins) who discover that their stay-at-home mom Margot (Malin Åkerman) is a former high-end thief in the witness protection program. When Margot and her husband (Ken Marino) are kidnapped and forced to take part in one last job, the siblings must team up to rescue their parents. HollywoodLife talked EXCLUSIVELY with Malin about why she wanted to take on the role of Margot.
“Just the character of Margot is such a cool role to play because of the duality of her with what we think is a stay at home mom, but we discover that she is in witness protection, so it is fun to play the bad guy/good guy,” Malin told HollywoodLife ahead of the EMA Awards on Aug. 21. “It was a really good role and really great to do these fight scenes. She gets to kick some butt in a real way! That is why I love it! When I pick a role, if there is something fun I can do with it, I usually love to do it. There is thought put into it before I pick a role, and this one really was fun.”
The Sleepover also stars Joe Manganiello, who is Margot’s ex-flame. HollywoodLife asked Malin who made her laugh more: Ken or Joe? “I worked a little more with Ken. We had some more scenes where I was a mom and a wife, and then Joe came in and it became this threesome between the three of us,” Malin continued. “So I would say we got a lot of time with Joe, too. Being on location it is all about the free time, and normally when you are not on location, you go back home to your families. But that wasn’t an option so we spent a lot of time together, going out to dinners, and getting to know each other. I have known Ken over a decade, so it is like working with family. But it was truly lovely to hang out with everyone.”
Malin will be appearing during the EMA Awards, which will be going virtual for the first time ever on Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. ET on EMA’s YouTube and Facebook page. Malin discussed why protecting the environment is so important to her.
“Well, I have a child that is going to grow up in this world, and I want to make sure that we lead by example and teach our children all about the environment because it is going to be there as we are handing it off to them,” Malin told HollywoodLife. “It is a huge responsibility to instill values when it comes to the environment in our next generation.”