There's never a shortage of fun to be had while watching Pretty Little Liars, as resident blonde bombshell Hanna, a.k.a. Ashley Benson, finds herself in all sorts of sticky situations. (Jail, anyone?) Now, she's swapped her signature golden mane for a dark brown 'do with edgy wisps and a throwback flair for photographer Frederica Auerbach in the new issue of Flaunt magazine.
Looking decidedly '70s in the spread — which finds the star in a lace top and high-waisted pants in one shot, a chic white faux-fur coat by Stella McCartney and thigh-high boots in another — the 25-year-old shows off a spicy new side of herself...one she seems to be quite pleased with. She posted one of the Flaunt shots on Insta, simply writing "70s" as its description.
In the accompanying Flaunt interview, Benson details a few of her non-Hanna Marin roles. In the forthcoming Chronically Metropolitan, she plays Shiloh Fernandez's love interest, and in Elvis and Nixon, she trades scenes with veteran actor Michael Shannon. Apparently, she was a bit intimidated to meet Shannon (of Boardwalk Empire and Man of Steel acclaim), but the experience turned out to be a thrill. "[Shannon] played Elvis and he was so in character and so intense," Benson told Flaunt. "I was so nervous to meet him, but he was incredibly nice and an amazing actor to work with." As for her all-time top director? Benson favors Harmony Korine, who directed her in Spring Breakers when she was 21. "He made me look up YouTube videos of spring break and college and high school students and everyone getting wasted and throwing up everywhere," she recounts. "And I was like, fuck...This is not what I want to do! And Harmony was like, 'You have to be in the character!'" Benson did an incredible job inhabiting that role, just as she does as a bombshell brunette. OPENER IMAGE: Matt Baron/REX Shutterstock.