Steve Byers on Playing Williams Bradford in the Upcoming Lifetime Movie, "The Girl Who Survived: The Alina Thompson Story"

Steve Byers & Brielle Robillard (Screenshot from Lifetime's Official Trailer)

There’s a cautionary tale, a real-life story of a teenage girl who was taken in by, but survived an encounter with a serial killer, coming up on the Lifetime channel this Saturday, September 20, at 8/7c. The Girl Who Survived: The Alina Thompson Story is about a young woman’s experience during the eighties in California. 

Steve Byers, co-lead in the show which also features Sam Trammell, Ashley Jones, and Brielle Robillard, has generously agreed to tell us about his experiences on set and filming. 

Me: This isn’t your first time cast as a serial killer. What do you have to do to mentally prepare yourself to convincingly portray someone so evil? 

Steve Byers: This one is quite different as we were dealing with a true story and real families that had lost their loved ones. I had to talk with our Producers before we started as I wanted to make sure that the story was not glorifying Bradford in any way or justifying or drawing any doubt to his terrible crimes. He was a monster. I will never pretend that there is a different way to look at him. After that was established, it is really about trusting the script and information that is out there about the picture of the person we were trying to paint. 

Me: Unlike most, if not all of the other roles you’ve played, William Bradford was not a fictional character. Did playing a real person who did something so heinous impact your ability to get into character? 

 SB: As I mentioned, knowing that we were creating something that was not putting his deeds or morals on any pedestal and knowing he could never do anything like this again, it was easier to get past that difficult concept. 

CW: Alina Thompson, the woman who lived through the traumatic events portrayed in the movie, was on set part of the time. Did you meet her, and if so, at what point in the filming was that? What was it like for you meeting her, knowing the individual you were portraying tried to murder her?

SB: I met Alina through Facetime initially. I was hoping to get her perspective on Bradford’s demeanor. She was very warm and helpful and beyond that, very brave. Yes, Alina ended up coming to set on multiple occasions and I was astounded by her fortitude and ability to recount some of these events without breaking down. Hopefully this story will be a warning/lesson for even one young person out there to rethink a decision that could ultimately lead to something like this ever happening again. 

CW: Did Alina watch you playing Williams Bradford, and knowing that, did it make it harder for you to stay in character? 

SB: She did but because of her strength and encouragement, it was actually easier to do knowing I had her blessing. 

CW: What do you do to decompress after filming really emotionally intense scenes? 

SB: Eat. 

Steve Byers (Photo from his IMDB Page)

CW: Is it harder to play a despicable individual than a kind one, and if it is, what makes it
so? 

SB: It’s been said before, however, if I’m staying true to the script and we have made 

sure there is not more damage being done, 

my job is to act as best I can with what I’m given. 

CW: Brielle Robillard plays Alina 

Thompson in the movie. Sam Trammell and Ashely Jones portray her parents. What was 

it like working with them? Have you done projects with them in the past and if so, what were they? 

SB: It was a lovely group to work with. Every department on this team worked incredibly hard and I would happily join them again. Brielle and I really bonded during this one and despite the dangerous relationship in the script, we had so many laughs behind the scenes. It definitely takes some of the edge off the subject matter when the offscreen relationships are fun and light. 

CW: What scene was most challenging for you? 

SB: The physical scenes where there is violence at the core are generally the toughest. I’ll leave that there. 

CW: You’ve been in a number of Lifetime movies such as Daddy’s Deadly Secret, Glass Houses, A Christmas Break, Pocket Dial Murder, Deadly Secrets by the Lake, and What Would You Kill For? Is the production process pretty much the same for all of these films, or does it vary wildly? If so, how? And if it was different for this movie, was that because The Alina Thompson Story is based on actual events? 

SB: The Production side of making movies is mostly budget based. Each project changes by virtue of who you’re working with and the amount of money they have to make the show. Money provides comforts and amenities that are more plentiful on some and not on others. The making of movies itself relies on the crew’s abilities and attitudes and ultimately the Director. In this case Michelle Ouellet was a calm and kind Captain of the ship we were sailing on. I’d 100% sail with her again. 

CW: Steve, thank you so much for taking time to share your experience with us. The film sounds like it’s going to send a very powerful cautionary message which, as you stated, will hopefully serve as a warning to young people, showing them potential dangers they might not otherwise have been alerted to. I can't wait to see it!

You can follow Steve Byers on Instagram at @thestevebyers and a trailer of the movie is available here. Join Steve's unofficial group of fans here.  Don’t miss it this Saturday, September 20 at 8/7c Lifetime!