Tatted-Up Chace Crawford Talks 'Gossip' Chaos and 'Footloose'

On Living With Ed Westwick: "Sometimes you fall into those kind of brother-brother arguments. But you know what? All this stuff about the place being messy is from people who haven't even stepped foot inside the place ... Personally I'm obsessive-compulsive about the placement and cleanliness of my things. But I'm not always the best, so I had a housekeeper come every two weeks. It was pretty immaculate, I have to say. It had its down points, but Ed and I ran a good ship there for a while. We have some good memories."

On Being 'Superclose' With His Parents: "They were really young when they had me. You know, it's a southern thing. They had me when they were like 21 or 22. My dad was going through med school while my mom was pregnant with my sister. So they're still young now. I talk to my dad at least every other day. They've still got a little hipness left in them. I took my mom out last night. She said, 'I want to know what all of the fuss is about.'"

On Shooting 'Gossip Girl' and the Paparazzi: "You know, the day before we started back at work for the next season, I had just completed a edgy independent film called 'Twelve' that was shot in New York. It turned out phenomenally. I got spoiled because I looked different than I do on the show. I dropped some weight. I was pale and scruffy. No one even recognized me. It was much more of a low-key, smooth situation with Joel Schumacher running it. There were no big master scenes outside. It was more improv -- just throw and go. Then I jumped back into 'Gossip Girl' on a Monday, and I was so stressed the first day back. There's the first shoot of the episode on location, and it's triple the mayhem. Of course, it would die down in a couple weeks, but there were paparazzi guys flying around like wasps, completely disrespectful."

On Tabloid Speculation: "There isn't anything shocking to write about, so magazines want to stir things up, like 'Blake and Leighton hate each other.' But the truth is, when we're all done with work, it's like, 'Hey, what are you doing? Let's go do karaoke.' The publicity factor is outrageous. They just want to shoot you down. So that can definitely wear on you a bit. A perception of you is created, and you really have no control over it. To some degree, you learn to adapt. But you also think, 'Eff you, you don't know me.' It's exactly what you are saying about becoming a fantasy. Sometimes you think, I just wanted to express myself and be challenged. I didn't sign on to be a novelty boy. But that's a double-edged sword and certainly not a constant factor. Even if that feeling ever creeps up a little bit, it's like, who likes a whiner? I'm not going to sit down and bitch about it, because you can't."

On His Brief College Career at Pepperdine: "I went into broadcast journalism. I loved every class I took, I just got anxious becauseI came to the realization that you're groomed in high school to get good SAT scores to get into a good college or else you're done for. I didn't have a career path so I switched to business and didn't like it. I got nervous, like, If I'm really going to buckle down and study one thing, I better do something that I love. And my parents saw me panicking. They said, 'Listen, take a semester off.'

On Taking Risks: "That's what was nice about doing a shoot like the one I did for Interview. It's good to switch things up. I did all of this stuff early, and they always wanted the same thing, the same look, the same deal, and I'd think, That's not what it's about. It's the same microcosm for taking on film roles. You have to be realistic with yourself as to what your range is going to be. I look at the veterans of the game and what choices they made. You need to know what your threshold is and what you can take on and what gets to a point where the audience doesn't believe it. I actually apply that to my personal life, too. I'm the biggest believer in not talking. I don't Twitter or MySpace or Facebook. I want to keep to myself. I don't want to be out there. You have to keep some kind of control over who you are."

On Taking Dance Classes for 'Footloose': "It's like you're naked up on a stage or something. But you know what I will say, I am confident because I knew I had rhythm -- and I'm athletic. I know I have rhythm, I have it in my brain. And I'm a quick learner. I'm better at doing something by imitation than being told. So if I'm working with the dance coach who tries to explain it, I say, 'Just do it and I'll get it.' That's how we've been working. I'm taking these private lessons. It's been unbelievable."

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