Billed as an “explosive Mexican thriller,” Gerardo Naranjo’s Miss Bala feels more like a simmering pot of anxiety. Inspired by the true story of Laura Zuniga, a Mexican beauty queen arrested in 2008, the film follows an innocent young woman who, upon witnessing a murder, is abducted by a gang and forced to smuggle drugs across the U.S. border. As Laura, Stephanie Sigman delivers a standout performance in a film that offers a fresh take on an issue so often tackled in film. The 23-year-old actress may not yet be known in the States, but her haunting performance is sure to resonate with audiences of all cultures. We caught up with Sigman to talk about the personal and political ramifications of the film.

What attracted you to the film and to your character?
First of all, the point of view of Gerardo’s story, because it’s a subject that has been done a lot of times but not from the victim’s point of view. And the interesting thing about putting these two worlds together -- the crime world and the beauty pageant -- it’s something I’ve never seen. I just fell in love with [the character of Laura] because she’s a girl who realizes how strong she is when she’s in this situation. I think she’s just a very naive girl that dreams of becoming a beauty queen and doing something with her life. And in this world that she lives in, it’s flawed just to have a dream.

You’ve said that your life was nothing like hers, but did you find similarities in yourself and Laura?
I guess more than I can admit.

But she had strength to her, she wasn’t just naive. She was able to go through everything with…
With dignity. I think that’s one of the things that Gerardo told me in the beginning. He said he wanted this character to have dignity. He didn’t want her to be crying all over the floor asking why these things are happening to her. We were discovering that the script had a lot more information but we decided it should be [cut] out. But it’s there inside of Laura, and instead of words she just says it with the eyes. That’s what Gerardo asked of me.

How do you prepare as an actor and how do you do research when you’re going to have to act in a way that is much more expressive physically rather than verbally?
I think having all the information you can -- reading about it, seeing videos of criminals or people in jail, all kind of things from this subject, seeing movies -- all you try to do because somehow it’s there inside of you. Even if you don’t have to talk it’s there. A lot of people who’ve seen the film tell me that I may not say a lot of things but I made them feel something.

You showed a lot of inner tension. There would be times when your character couldn’t say anything but you can tell her emotions from her physicality.
I spent a couple of hours a day figuring out how she moves or how she would sit here with you or how she walks with heels. Those kinds of things that are not about Stephanie but are about Laura.

Were you intimidated by taking on this kind of role in a movie that’s obviously so closely connected to where you come from?
No, I wasn’t and I’m not. All this projection and all these interviews and all the movement that’s been with the film makes me think more about it. But I guess we did a film that is very human, it doesn’t point the finger to anyone. I think we shouldn’t be worried about it. We should be worried about the situation, but it’s expressing ourselves and Gerardo is expressing himself by doing this movie. It’s art and it’s a movie.

Do you think it’s reflective of the war on drugs in Mexico? Does it portray it accurately? And do you think there will be backlash from the film?
I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s a movie that points the finger at anyone who can be angry about it.

It tells a story in a way that’s different than other Mexican filmmakers have tried to do before, what did you think the response was going to be from this sort of film?
I thought it was going to be controversial and it was. A lot of people hated it, a lot of people loved it, and a lot of people think we shouldn’t be showing this to the world. And [some] think it’s good that we started to talk about it. Also, I hope they also appreciate it as a movie, no?

And it was interesting to show that Laura sort of just fell a victim to it in the beginning, she didn’t have a choice.
See? It’s hard because she’s not involved but she is involved.

You see her change back and forth throughout the film, making conscious decisions she know will be bad, which is interesting. I was curious how it was going home after shooting? As a woman watching it, it did feel very frightening and how do you turn off your character and go home as Stephanie?
Sometimes it was frustrating. Sometimes I went crazy. I went like, “Gerardo, help me!” But I had a lot of support. It’s just part of the process and you cannot think you’re going to do this kind of film without having a moment of crisis.

You and Gerardo seem like you’ve grown close, I imagine that’s very important to have that closeness with a director on a film that’s as intense as this.
I think it’s essential, because otherwise how can we trust each other and what we are doing and how we are doing this work together?

So do you want to branch out more into American films now or is it more just what projects are presented?
I love challenges, so it will be a challenge. It will be a challenge starting from the language. I hope I don’t do the same character all my life. That’s what an actor likes, to do different characters and different kinds of stories and films. I would love to work in America but I still want to be working in Mexico because, I mean, that defines who I am.

Since the film has come out, have people been offering you things? Have you been reading a lot of scripts?
Yeah, I’ve read a lot of scripts which is good because a huge door has opened for me and I’m grateful for that, I just hope I do something good next because I have a lot of responsibility on me now.

So do you feel like your career is going in a direction that you’re happy with?
Sometimes. I’m not that conscious about it because I don’t think it’s so smart to be conscious about how your life is going to change if something happens. It’s going day-to-day, no?

It’s kind of like your character just living her life minute-to-minute...
Ahhh, not that much!