Over 95 minutes, Hazel (Bella Thorne) suffers through men abandoning her, shooting her mother (Kyra Sedgwick), pursuing her through the New Mexico desert, and threatening her when she asks for help. Probably one of the hardest things I’ve done in my acting life.

Bella Thorne (BT): Well, I was interested in showing that Hazel’s mind is set to do something, but she can’t actually do it. She can’t get away from her fear, because she’s too scared to, which is interesting. While en route, two gunmen hold up the van and Hazel has to push through her ultimate fears to try and get help for her mother.

Another intriguing aspect of her revelation that she fought very hard for these roles is her enhancing the image of the Disney Channel as a very valuable learning experience and the actors who emerge from the channel as being well prepared to showcase their dramatic range in serious projects (ET Online – August 12). After doing a lot of research, she describes the process of translating this phobia into her character.

“I’m best friends with my mom, so she kind of just takes me everywhere”, she explained. “And that is not true most of the time”, she said. But I also love watching and acting in movies, because they tend to become more iconic than TV shows-you can’t change anything about films once they’re released. “Thrillers are more fun because you get the experience of falling on cue-that is what I really love to do. I loved getting on the show”, says Thorne. She accessorised with a little clutch bag adorned with a black & sparkly white zig-zag pattern on one side & left plain black on the opposite.

Aside from Big Sky, the in-demand teen has seven TV and film projects on the go this year including Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip, due out December 23.

As she takes on more roles in the future, one of her dream directors to work with is Shane Carruth of Upstream Color.

BT: I did do a lot of stunts for the film, but I didn’t do the sequence where she falls off the cliff.

BT: It was really good that we didn’t have much money, because that allowed us to do whatever we wanted. Perhaps Carruth is an inspiration to her, as the young actress ultimately sees herself behind the camera someday, either directing or writing.