‘90210’: Sara Foster on playing Beverly Hills’ best new bad girl, Jen Clark

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And you thought Naomi was a bad girl. Turns out that compared to her big sis, Jen Clark, West Beverly’s resident drama queen is a saint. And Sara Foster, the leggy blond who plays Jen, is fine with that. ‘I think that everybody would love to play the bad girl, ‘cause for most of us, it’s a stretch’ she said in a phone interview last week. ‘Most of us aren’t really built like that.’

So, just how naughty is Jen? In her minimal screen time so far, she has already offered to take her underage sister drinking, alluded to an elicit affair with a high school boy and framed a high school girl for shoplifting. And now it looks like she’s scamming her baby sister out of her trust fund.

But Foster doesn’t think Jen’s all bad. ‘I think Jen is not a horrible person,’ she said, choosing her words carefully. Foster did acknowledge, however, that ‘Jen is probably not the best influence on Naomi.’ So, I had to ask. Does Foster have anything in common with her conniving character?

‘Oh gosh, no!’ she exclaimed. Thus, taking on the role of Jen required a total transformation for Foster, ‘from her voice to the way she dresses to her hair.’ She got together with executive producer Rebecca Rand Kirshner to play dress-up, leafing through fashion magazines and photos from runway shows until the pair achieved the perfect look for Naomi’s glamorous and worldly sister.

‘Jen has the latest bag, she’s up with the latest trends,’ explained Foster. ‘That’s why she gets up in the morning.’ And although strutting around in mile-high stilettos might look like a breeze for the former model, Foster insists that she’s not quite used to the fancy get-ups, and credits lighting and camera work for making her look so glamorous. ‘I never did runway,’ she says of her modeling past. ‘I did a lot of print.’

The biggest challenge Foster has faced so far -- aside from the high heels, that is -- is making Jen human. ‘I think the challenge with the bad girls is you have to find a way to be likable,’ she explained. And finding a sexy, likable bad girl, apparently, is no easy feat.

‘I read a few times with Rebecca [Rand Kirshner], ‘cause it was a big decision,’ recalled Foster. ‘I didn’t get the job for at least three, four weeks.’

Once she got through the audition process, however, things were a breeze. Even though she was the new girl on set, all of the actors and crew were welcoming, including on-screen sister AnnaLynne McCord. ‘She’s totally awesome,’ gushed Foster. ‘She was really talented and fun and welcoming.’

But as happy as she was to be shooting with McCord, Foster probably would have been far more giddy to tape a scene with one of the original cast members.

‘Oh, the original, I’ve seen every episode!’ she exclaimed. ‘We lived off every single word of what these girls were saying.’ Foster even remembers assigning characters to her group of girlfriends. ‘I think I wanted to be Kelly, but I always ended up being Brenda, because I didn’t have blond hair,’ recalled Foster with a laugh. ‘I have blond hair now!’

-- Stephanie Lysaght