“It was cool for someone to take a chance on me, to do something other than comedy,” Cuoco told PEOPLE at the movie’s world premiere at the Austin Film Festival in Austin, Texas, on Sunday. “I mean, I auditioned for it, I went through the whole thing to get the job. So I was really proud of myself, and I dove into a whole different world that I am not used to.”

“I only shot for nine days, and I was kind of there the whole time in my head,” Cuoco said. “The town was a little dark, the whole thing, the energy just made you feel that way.”Cuoco added that “this was a pretty serious piece” and “there wasn’t that much messing around.”“We had so little time, so we just tried to get the work done, so I would say this is kind of one of the more serious work experiences I’ve had,” she said.