Archive for the ‘Interviews’ Category
Actress Amy Smart has made a fresh and charming impression in a string of comedy features, from ROAD TRIP to RAT RACE to JUST FRIENDS, but her career also has a dark side. She had early roles in CAMPFIRE TALES and the Dee Snider vehicle STRANGELAND, and more recently appeared in MIRRORS and SEVENTH MOON. Starting today, Smart can be seen in the supernaturally tinged dramatic thriller DEAD AWAKE (in select cities from New Films Cinema), and she took the occasion to discuss her many genre features with Fango.
DEAD AWAKE, directed by Omar Naim, casts Smart as Natalie, the high-school flame of troubled protagonist Dylan (Nick Stahl). Once a guy with a promising future, Dylan was devastated by his breakup with Natalie and has wound up as an attendant in a funeral home, and after witnessing the crowds that attend the wake of a local football hero, he bets his boss, Decko (Brian Lynner), that no one would show up on the occasion of his death. But when they plant his obituary and Dylan is laid out in a coffin, two people do make appearances: Natalie, who’s currently engaged to another man, and a street junkie named Charlie (Rose McGowan). While Dylan has never seen Charlie before, the duo seem to share a strange—perhaps otherworldly—connection, and the more he gets to know her, the closer he gets to uncovering some frightening truths.
Smart joined the DEAD AWAKE ensemble after Stahl and McGowan, and says, “After reading the script and knowing that Nick was playing Dylan and Rose was playing Charlie, I wanted to be a part of it. I’d seen Omar’s film THE FINAL CUT with Robin Williams, and I found it such an interesting, original film that definitely made me think about my life, and I loved his style of directing.
“I also really enjoyed the journey that Dylan goes on,” she continues, “because I believe all of us have these things inside us that hold us back, that sabotage us in our lives. To see him actively working that out, trying to figure out how to move forward in his life and his struggles and illusions—I like that journey he takes. There’s redemption in it, and the idea of letting go of the old and truly facing your fears, with the theme of souls being trapped and unable to move forward because they’ve committed certain crimes that keep them stuck in their own personal hell.”
As dark a journey as the characters take on screen, Smart recalls the five-week shoot in Des Moines, Iowa in September 2009 as far more pleasant. “It honestly was great,” she says. “We had such cool locations, because there’s so much history in Des Moines and we had great old buildings and different neighborhoods we filmed in. Also, when you’re on location, you have more of a bonding experience with the cast and crew, and that plays into the film. I worked with Nick on the first acting job I ever did, for MTV’s ROCK THE VOTE; we hadn’t done anything together since, and it was wonderful working together again. I’d been following his career, and he’s so talented. He really throws himself into his roles full-on, and he’s not scared to take risks. He becomes so transparent and revealing with himself and his character. Rose was great, too; this role was so outside the box for her. She was really witty and fun and has a great personality, and I enjoyed playing off both of them.”
With director Omar Naim’s supernaturally-tinged feature Dead Awake opening in limited release this Friday, December 3rd (the flick is set to hit DVD and Blu-ray on March 29 of next year), this writer caught up today with one of the film’s principals, actress Amy Smart, who dished on the movie, as well as the possibility of a third in the Crank series, and her potential inclusion in a future horror project.
Known best as a comedic actress for her turns in the films Just Friends and Road Trip (among others) and to genre fans for her roles in The Butterfly Effect and Mirrors (as well the gonzo action flicks Crank and Crank: High Voltage, in which she portrayed the girlfriend of actor Jason Statham’s adrenalized hit-man ‘Chev Chelios’), Smart appears in Dead Awake as ‘Natalie’, the long-lost love of young funeral parlor employee ‘Dylan’ (actor Nick Stahl), a young man who works diligently to piece together the events which shattered his life ten years prior. Rounding out the cast of Dead Awake is actress Rose McGowan (Planet Terror, Scream) as the junkie ‘Charlie’, a character who befriends Dylan, and who sets in motion an altogether surprising series of events.
Penned by Johnny Harrington, Justin Urich and David Boivin, Naim’s New Films Cinema flick (the director previously helmed the 2004 Robin William’s thriller The Final Cut) proves to be a bit of a cipher, which is one of the things – according to Smart – that attracted her to the project.
“I feel that the movies which are now being made are hybrid movies,” stated the actress, whose real-life persona proved to be just as charming and witty as her on-screen demeanor. “They have supernatural elements. They’ve got romance, and they’ve got drama and they’ve got comedy. I feel like they are starting to mingle the genres. It’s hard to market a hybrid movie though, because it looks like a horror film (on the surface), but after reading the script and seeing the final cut (of Dead Awake), I knew that it wasn’t, and that it was a hybrid. I just love Omar as a filmmaker, and I think he is really talented, and I really wanted to work on this project. I thought the story was really interesting, and now that I’ve seen it, I’m really happy with the way it turned out, because it’s the kind of film where you are hanging on to the last moment wondering what’s real and what’s not real.”
As for what attracted her to her Dead Awake character of ‘Natalie’, a RN who leads an emotionally conflicted life, ”I really liked her,” stated Smart, “because she has this past with her ex-love, and it was such a deep love that I don’t think that she has ever been able to move on from him. She settled with a new guy, and sort of decided to settle in her life, and she isn’t completely happy. So in rekindling the relationship with her past love, it makes her see that she had settled. I liked the nuances of seeing her struggle with her present-day life situation, and wanting to break free from it. The fact that she is a nurse and isn’t a doctor (is also indicative) too, because she didn’t push forward towards her dreams. I liked that she is awakened.”
Commenting on the project, Smart stated of co-stars Stahl and McGowan, who at the time were already attached to Dead Awake (the film shot in Des Moines, Iowa for an estimated 3.5 million), “It was funny, because the first acting role I ever had was in a “MTV Rock The Vote” (spot), and it was a vignette about gun violence, and it was with Nick. We played a boyfriend and girlfriend in that (too).”
While Smart hadn’t worked with Stahl since (interestingly though, Smart appeared in Alexandre Aja’s 2008 horror film Mirrors, while Stahl took the lead in that film’s Vincent Garcia-directed sequel Mirrors 2 – a fact the actress was surprised to hear), she stated of Stahl (whose other genre flicks include Disturbing Behavior, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and the venerated series “Carnivale”), “We stayed friendly, but not super close, but I was so happy to work with him again. I think he is such a solid, great actor, and he just brings a lot of weight to whatever project he is working on.”
According to Smart, she too enjoyed her working relationship with Rose McGowan.
“She was really fun,” said the actress. “She’s funny and witty and sarcastic, and while we didn’t have that many scenes together in Dead Awake, we definitely spent a lot of time together in Des Moines, and I think she’s really talented. It was the type of character she’s never played before. She’s known as the gorgeous bomb-shell who can act, and in this film it was so outside of anything she’s played, and I think she did a great job. I know that she was definitely pushed out of her comfort zone, and what’s fun as an actor is to take risks at things that you think you may fail at, and to go for it, and to grow and to expand.”
As for what else Smart has been up to, she revealed, “I just finished a film earlier this month called Blood Brothers. It’s another hybrid, a family drama slash comedy slash action film. It’s with Ethan Embry (Vacancy, Freakylinks) and the WWE wrestler John Cena. It’s basically about these four siblings – three brothers and a sister – who come together for their father’s funeral, and who have all been estranged, and the father’s wish is to bring everyone back together, so the sister sort of facilitates that, and lies about what’s in the will to bring everyone back together. It’s a great dysfunctional family that then has this incredible challenge that they must overcome.” (Produced by WWE Studios and directed by Michael Pavone, Blood Brothers recently wrapped in Albuquerque, NM, and also stars Michael Rispoli and Boyd Holbrook).
We of course weren’t remiss in questioning Smart as to her character of ‘Eve Lydon’ in the Crank films, and as to whether she’d be interested in returning to the franchise.
“A while back I heard that it was a possibility,” hinted the actress. “The second one was so over the top. It was like, ‘Let’s try to top the first one!’ It was pure entertainment value. I’m actually slightly scared to see what they would write for a third, but I would be interested in returning. I had such a great time working on both of them, and I love Jason Statham, and we’ve become friends since, and I really like (Crank directors) Brian (Taylor) and Mark (Neveldine), so it would be fun to work with them again. I’m just a little bit wary of where they would want to take my character in the third one! I’m not sure where they could – possibly to the insane asylum!”
And while the actress’ current personal interest lies in returning to comedy, Smart hasn’t ruled out the horror genre.
“There’s actually this one film called Glimmer that I am supposed to shoot early next year,” she concluded, “and that’s more of a horror film. It’s a supernatural thriller, but it has much more of a horror element. It’s a very original idea, but I think they just maybe switched the director. The script is really good, so that’s a possibility coming down the pike.” (Dread posits that Glimmer may perhaps be the feature which Farmhouse director George Bessudo has been rumored as attached to).
Some big time celebrities helped promote a new botanical garden at a state of the art high school in Hollywood. Palestra.net’s Deidre Behar and Raj Nair talk about being eco-friendly with Amy Smart and Nicole Richie.
There is an interview of Amy up on the YoungHollywood.com website. You can view the video by clicking on the link or by clicking on the “read the rest of this entry” link at the bottom of this post. :)
Known mostly for playing “girl next door” roles in films like ROAD TRIP and JUST FRIENDS, Amy Smart is expanding her horizons with her latest film, CRANK. She plays Eve, a girl willing to do almost anything to help out a hitman boyfriend (played by Jason Statham) who needs to keep his adrenaline up in order to avoid succumbing to a particularly lethal Chinese poison. She even resorts to having sex with him in the middle of L.A. ’s Chinatown . Now that’s what I call love.
Amy Smart stopped by the Sofitel in Beverly Hills recently to talk about CRANK. Check it out.
You play a bit of a bimbo in this film.
To me, Eve wasn’t a bimbo. She definitely functioned in her own world and was naïve to the fact that he was a hitman. She’s intelligent in other ways. In a way, she’s completely dangerous to him because she’s naïve to the fact that he could die at any moment. And she’s thinking that he could be on drugs or something or just in a weird mood.
I think Eve is incredibly necessary to this film. She brings a humanity to Jason’s character, where you might not feel for him had he not shown his heart for this woman. And so I think she’s important in that way. In a weird way she’s also the audience’s point of view. She’s kind of witnessing what’s going on from a more normal standpoint. And also comedic – I think it’s fun to have a film like this to have comedy to break it up and intensify it.
I just enjoyed playing this character and I just wanted to bring out a kind of quirky, individual personality as much as I could within the structure of this piece. Because it definitely is like a video game, with this high-impact, rollercoaster ride of a film that’s also funny and full of energy. I just saw her character as really funny and fun and great and smart in her own way and she just goes along for the ride.
Can you talk about how you and Jason Statham gelled together?
Jason is an amazing actor and a great guy to work with. He really made me feel comfortable with all the stunts. He’s obviously a veteran in this kind of movie, where you have a lot of action and you have to be very athletic. For me it was one of the first times I’ve done this type of movie. And that’s also why I did it on top of…I’d did like the character Eve. I love his English sensibility – very down to earth, really real and funny. Very charismatic. I really liked working with him.
How did you establish your comedic rapport with Jason?
I didn’t realize what a funny guy he was until we started working together. And then off-screen he’s so funny. I think what makes her funny is – and this is all because I’m talking about it all in the third person – I think Eve is very unaware of danger. Yet she lives on the edge, loving how spontaneous her boyfriend is. But I really think that even though it’s exciting and an adrenaline rush, she really doesn’t feel the danger aspect of it.
In what ways is Jason funny?
First of all, he has the best vocabulary words. Maybe it’s being raised in London or the way he was brought up, but the way he can describe something is just so funny. I can’t quote him at this point, but he just has a way of using his words to just…you would never think to use those words. And he uses them and it’s just so funny. To me he feels like real kinda underdog guy. He wasn’t raised in acting where he went to all these professional schools and did theater and lalalala. He really has a lot of life experience and that’s what he brings to his roles. And I appreciate that because in acting we want to relate to people who experience life. That’s what he brings, this real raw kind of feeling. And he’s just a lovely, wonderful person.
What was the audition like?
In the audition I had two scenes: the scene where I’m getting frustrated with the microwave and he comes in and we need to leave; and the other scene was the scene in Chinatown (where she and Jason’s character have sex in public). I had to do that for the audition. Which definitely was the kinda scene where you have to just throw yourself into it. You have to just get completely out of your head or you know you’re just gonna make a complete fool of yourself. So I went for it. It was nine in the morning callbacks. I went in for it, the first person. They brought in a great actor to work with me to do the scene with. And that’s what I think won me the role – the whole Chinatown scene. Just being able to go for it and knowing that it’s going to be around hundreds of people. (laughs)
The last time I saw Amy Smart, she was paired up with Ashton Kutcher in roundtable interviews for the thriller THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. Journalists were so interested in peppering Ashton with questions about Demi that poor Amy pretty much faded into the background. This week she faces decidedly greener pastures starring alongside Ryan Reynolds in the comedy JUST FRIENDS. I got a chance to talk to her last week about her experience making the film. She was really sweet and seemed genuinely interested in me. I know I’m just a loser journalist, but maybe I have a chance…
So have you put a lot of guys in the “friend zone”?
I’ve had it both ways. I’ve been in the friend zone, which is not as fun. (laughs) And it’s terrible – the more you want someone, the less likely it is to happen. And I’ve had to tell friends that I just wanted to be friends. I think it’s important to be as honest as you can from the get-go, but it’s never an easy conversation.
Is there any way to get OUT of the friend zone?
I can just tell you what I think is really attractive about guys. I think confidence is – genuine confidence in who you are. I think a good sense of humor is really important. To me, a pet peeve is: if you think you’re better than anyone – yuck. Some people can be really arrogant and I don’t like that.
What was it like working with Ryan Reynolds?
I think he’s really, really smart. He’s a good business guy. He’s really creative with his character. I think he has a great sense of humor and I find him to be a really genuine person.
He’s really on top of his career. He’s smart; he’s making good moves. He’s really in touch with what’s going on in the business. I think he’ll always be working. His success is just building now.
What was your reaction when you first saw him in the fat suit?
Honestly, it was so much fun! Our first day shooting was the bedroom scene, where we come running in and then Chris Klein enters with his pocked face and stringy hair. It was the best first day of work I’ve ever had. And Ryan Reynolds in the fat suit is the funniest thing ever. It’s like his whole persona changed. It’s just like he’s this mushy teddy bear, trying to find funny things to do with his three chins and his body and the way he carries himself. He was sweating in that thing, by the way. He had to wear these cold packs underneath his suit.
And working with Chris Klein?
He’s really funny, too. And I’m so happy for him because he’s never really had this kind of character before. He’s so funny, in a really dark way, which is great.
Not many people know this, but before celebrity boy toy Ashton Kutcher became famous for his love of trucker hats and forty-something divorcés, he was actually known for his work as a comedic actor. With his new movie THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, Kutcher looks to branch out into drama. This Friday, audiences will decide: will Ashton follow in the footsteps of comedy-to-drama success stories Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey, or did he just get “punk’d” by his agent?
Amy Smart, the hot chick from ROAD TRIP, stars as Kutcher’s childhood girlfriend. Like Ashton, she also gets a chance to showcase her skills, playing a variety of characters including a vapid sorority girl and a heroine junkie hooker. Amazingly, she manages to be equally frightening in both roles. Talk about range. The two of them joined me at Four Seasons in Beverly Hills to talk about their new film, opening this Friday.
What attracted you to the script?
Amy: The script was an original story, well written. It was so fascinating. It definitely affected me when I read it. And it was the greatest challenge I’d seen yet, as and actor to do. That is what initially drew me to it.
Ashton: I thought that it was kind of a fantastic metaphor for life, and pretty enlightening. I also spoke with the directors before I decided to sign on. And they had a really clear, concise vision of what they wanted to do stylistically, and what they wanted from the story. And the opportunity to play a character that’s blind to the trauma that takes place in his life. The violence in the movie I thought was a fantastic metaphor for how blind we are as a society, and as a people, to the things that actually do happen on a day to day basis, and how we kind of just block them out. And whether it be through our media or whatever, we go “Oh, it’s not happening in my world, so it’s not happening.” In the movie there’s a great representation of the violence with the kids, and the pedophilia, and these kind of things that the guys could have taken the easy road, and you know, kind of squeamishly cut around, but they weren’t afraid of it.
The movie takes place in several alternate realities. Which was the hardest reality in the movie to play?
Amy: I worked on all the realities a lot, but I think the most gratifying for me was really the one with the heroine junkie prostitute because it was something that I really had to dive into and just go there and be 100 percent committed to it. I did a lot of work on that, and we actually went to go see the behavior in this little section of Vancouver that’s like the highest populated heroine using section in all of Northern America because of the port from Asia. So we got to witness a lot of really messed up people, and their body language.
Ashton: I would say the most difficult reality was the first one because that was the base character and really getting the base character, and understanding the psychology behind a person that has blacked out the traumatic moments in his life, becomes a person that’s hiding the most. That’s why I decided to wear facial hair, and actually getting to that character helped me understand really who this guy was, and that he’s really trying to hide who he really is behind, whether it’s facial hair, or his mannerisms, very internal human being. And so finding that guy was the most difficult, and the other ones were just adaptations of that.
Is there a particular actor that you aspire to be like?
Amy: I definitely started off loving Meryl Streep and Susan Sarandon, and then it started to broaden quite a lot and now I really appreciate a lot of the young actresses out right now. I’m totally blown away by Maggie Gyllenhaal and her performance in SECRETARY, I think it’s an incredible movie. I love Emily Watson in HILARY AND JACKIE and BREAKING THE WAVES. I love Toni Collete in MURIEL’S WEDDING. I mean, there’s so many different, wonderful performances that keep me inspired constantly.
Ashton: Kirk Cameron. When I was a kid I wanted to be Mike Seaver. It’s true. I’m not kidding. That was the pinnacle of an acting career as far as I was concerned. And then, I would say now I appreciate performances from everyone that actually has the guts to try. And I don’t want to be like anyone else, because I’m never going to be able to do it as good as they are so I’m going to go my own road.
