In One for The Money you are a self-styled bounty hunter pursuing a former flame, and you needed to handle a gun, drive an ice truck and pick a lock with conviction. Good times? “It was fun. It took some getting used to, doing these things, admittedly. We went to a range to practice shooting and it was exhilarating. I was actually a pretty decent shot. The character is from small-town New Jersey, brave and bold, but in over her head. That’s what makes you root for her.”

Were you required to study back-to-back episodes of Jersey Shore to nail the blue-collar Jersey accent? “As soon as I knew I was doing the movie I downloaded the whole season on iTunes, and realised that none of them are actually from Jersey. But then I was hooked and had to watch the whole thing. My character’s accent is very specific, so I got a dialect coach. He would write it down the way it would sound, adding lots of a’s and w’s to everything.”

The character is tracking down someone from her past. Before you were married, did you ever reach out to erstwhile loves? Or have any ever tried to contact you over the years? “Yes. No. Yes. A year after high school I tried to get my high-school boyfriend to date me again. I had relocated from Connecticut to Los Angeles and was really striking out in the dating department. And I remember thinking, ‘My high-school sweetheart was kind of great. I wonder if he would take me back?’ But it didn’t work out [laughs]. Oh well. It worked out for me in the end.”

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