Larson Reveals Her Real Life 'Room' Experience

While it isn't based on a true story, Room , starring Brie Larson, was inspired by the tragic stories of women who are victims of real life abduction, according to screenwriter and author Emma Donoghue. Based off the book of the same name, Room centers around a teenager abducted and kept in a single room, baring a child with her captor. The young child, Jack, knows nothing of the outside world except what his mother has told him. "I originally read the book and absolutely loved it. I devoured it in a day. It was the first time I had cried reading a novel since Where The Red Fern Grows in fourth grade," says Larson. "When I found out there was a film happening, [I knew] it was a really incredible, very special project, and [thought] 'You will never be cast in it!' A 30 minute coffee minute meeting [with director Lenny Abrahamson] turned into a four hour talkathon. I was one step closer to falling head over heels for it. He asked any girl who was interested to audition for the project, and I auditioned, and I got it."

Though now a staple of indie cinema, Larson wasn't always as lucky in circumstance as she is now. Like her character in Room, she was once forced to exist in a tiny space with her mother and sibling. "I did spend some time, a month, at home. I wanted to see what would happen," the 25-year-old actress explains. "A lot of old memories resurfaced. I remembered a lot about my childhood. One thing in particular I remembered was that when I was 7 we moved into a studio apartment — it was a room. I had two pairs of jeans, a couple of shirts, a pair of shoes. We had maybe a handful of toys. Not much. We were eating top ramen for every meal. We would all three sleep in that same bed that came out of the wall. I remember that time being one of the greatest times of my life. I was so happy," she says of her Los Angeles home.

But a time that was filled with fond memories for Larson was not so for her mother. She recalls waking up in the middle of the night in the bed she shared with her family, and finding her mother in tears. At the time she didn't know the source of her mom's distress, but later learned they had moved to Los Angeles because her father had asked for a divorce.

The young actress attributes these memories for her want to do the film. "You spend more time playing a character than you do yourself," she says.

Room hits theaters October 16.

Images: A24