He certainly doesn’t look like the villainous Hans Gruber in “Die Hard”, nor does he display any of Professor Severus Snape’s Potions Master characteristics from “Harry Potter” films. Alan Rickman could pass for any other British gent visiting Beverly Hills, dressed in dark jeans, white cotton tea and slightly coiffed salt and pepper hair. But at a closer glance, Rickman is a villain extraordinaire with a comedic personality, dry wit and romantic leading man characteristics.

Rickman comes walks into the Four Seasons Hotel which, just an hour ago, shook and rattled to a 5.4 earthquake, one of the largest Southern California had demonstrated in a decade. None worse for wear, the handsome – and jovial - Brit is eager to talk about his new movie “Bottle Shock” in which he plays real-life Steven Spurrier, a snobbish British expatriate trolling Napa Valley, California in search of wine bottles for an upcoming wine tasting event he has arranged in France. Rickman came on board this project after 20 pages were quickly written for his review. He had previously collaborated with Jody Savin and Randy Miller on “Nobel Son”, and decided to join the movie because of their previous creative relationship. In 1976, a small American winery sent shock waves through the wine industry by besting the exalted French wines in a blind tasting, putting California wines on the map for good. Chateau Montelana vineyard and novice vintner Jim Barrrett, along with his son, Bo, risked everything to realize their dreams. What ends up on the screen is a 2008 Sundance Film Festival dramatic comedy based on a true story that quickly became an audience and critic favorite.

Welcome to the land of shake and bake. Is this the first earthquake that you’ve been through.
No, it’s not. I was also here for the 1994 bit one.

This one never compared with that.
I know, but the body doesn’t know that and the body goes `It’s that again!’ (laughs) All natural thought leaves your body, doesn’t it. All.

So if you had to play an earthquake scene in a movie, you’d have it down.
No research required (laughs). Yeah. (fakes wide-eyed terror and hangs onto the table). That’s what I did in ’94. I woke up and just hung on to the bed. How stupid was that? (laughs)

Well, how much do you know about wine now after this movie?
Not a lot more than I knew before, to be honest. I still enjoy it very much. Fortunately, when you talk to great experts like Bo Barrett and we were at Chateau Montelena for the premiere the other night, he said rather encouragingly, well, it’s not so complicated. Wine is somewhere between grape juice and vinegar (laughs).

So what is your alcohol of choice?
It would be red wine, yeah.

Any favorites – is it French?
It depends a lot on what country I’m in and what food I’m eating. I tend to be loyal to the country I’m in. I tend to spend a lot of time in Italy so I would never think of drinking anything other than Italian wine. And similarly in South Africa.

Can you tell us how you got involved in this project?
Yeah, Randy and Jody said `we got this script. There’s a part we think you should play. Here it is.’ (laughs) And it’s an English part so maybe that was a clue.

None of it was shot in the south of France, was it?
No. No, it’s never that sunny in France (laughs). But they did a good job. And I was there with some European know-how to say don’t park the cars so neatly.

What kind of preparation did you do for the role – your character speaks French, knows French culture and knows how to taste wine.
Thank god for school. I took French lessons in school so I was at least able to do that. And because I’m playing that kind of upper class Englishman, it’s a matter of honor to speak French with a terrible accent. (laughs). No concessions would be made at all. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the Queen speaking French. (laughs) You still know she’s the Queen. And I did accidentally as it turns out, meet Steven Spurrier a few years ago in Italy but, of course, at the time didn’t know what any future agenda was going to be. I spoke to him on the phone. I’m so million miles away from being the right casting to play him but in a sense, you’ve just got to go well, it’s OK, he’s called Steven Spurrier and there are facts circulating around this story; we honor those and it is true. It is based on him so in a sense it isn’t an impersonation of him apart from being English and a man in a suit and tie. And we tend not to take our suit and ties off even in 100 degrees (laughs).

You smile at the end when you give the award away…did you ask him how he felt that day when he found out that Napa Valley had won for the best wine?
No. I just thought, there again, it’s a movie and there’s a relationship there so it has to become part of that story. Similarly, the end of the movie is largely because of the conversation with him on the phone because I didn’t know he had restaged the competition in 2006. And he said to me on the phone, I was sure this time that the French wines were going to win and it would rescue my reputation among the French. America won again.

You played some very iconic characters over the years and several have been written for just you. Angela Pell made no secret about when she wrote you Alex in “Snow Cake”, Randy designed and retooled Spurrier for you. Does this put a greater burden on you as an actor knowing that you are the man they want?
Not really. In the case of those 2 films, fortunately, neither of those characters has anything to do with the other. And so, that means that they’re expecting you to get a particular color of the character; it means, they’re going to let you free and that’s luxury.

There was also a period of Die Hard and Robin Hood where you had these classic villain performances. Do you still get offered a lot of villains after all these years later?
No. Nor did I really over that period of time. It’s just like they were a couple of movies that had huge publicity budgets, but there was a lot of other stuff in between that…it depends on where you’re looking at it from and what you’re setting it against but you are talking about 20 years.

With Harry Potter, your character….
First of all, I never talk about Harry Potter.

There’s a great line in “Bottle Shock” where Spurrier says “I’m not really an asshole; It’s just that I’m British.” He so succinctly put the other guy in his place. Have you ever wanted to say that to somebody?
No, it’s an appalling thing to say, isn’t it? But it’s an absolutely true line for Steven Spurrier cause it’s got a vaguely, charming honestly to it. It’s very typical of that strand of teabag. We had an empire, we made it. People like him created an English empire; people like him lost it.

Going over the production notes, several crew members worked before with you and Randy, and you’ve been part of another sequel franchise…is it easier for you working with the same people as you go from one film to another?
Well, I’m always wary of words like “easy” because that’s not the point. The point is that it’s gratis and that doesn’t always mean easy.

Well, comfortable perhaps?
Even comfortable. I like it being difficult and uncomfortable but at least it means there’s a conversation that’s possible because there’s a lot of mutual trust and respect but at the same time, nobody’s fawning over anybody. I like breathing that air which isn’t always easy but it’s constructive and creative and rewarding.

What did you like about filming in Napa Valley?
Well, it’s beautiful and it feeds your imagination because you’re in the real thing. It’s not like it’s a film set…Oh, this really exists. It’s not so much fun wearing a wool suit and a tie and socks and shoes in 100 degrees but then again, you just have to make it part of his lunacy. There’s no way his tie comes off because he’s British.

Are you the type of actor that likes to do a lot of research?
It absolutely depends on what you’re doing. For Snow Cake, absolutely none because it was very important I was playing somebody who knew nothing about autism, and I was working with Sigourney Weaver who’d done like six or nine months of research because she needed to know everything. So if you named a project I could tell you how much research had been done, it’s just a question – ultimately what you want to be is free, not trapped, so the knowledge you put in there, in other words research, is only to free you. So it just depends what you need to do.

So many times on movie sets you also see the actor say, ‘Oh we didn’t really drink wine, it was grape juice.’
It was grape juice. First of all I should think it’s probably illegal to have alcohol on set, in fact I’m absolutely certain of that, because the continuity people just said, ‘The insurers would just have our guts for garters.’ And it’s actually dangerous. You’re in a fairly – literally explosive environment, so I don’t think it can happen. They do it in France, of course. They have big lunches, French movies, drink a lot of wine.

What do you look for in the roles that you play? And is there a genre or role that you’d like to play that you haven’t done?
Well, I never thought I’d do a musical and that just happened. You’re a changing unit yourself and so you open a script and it depends on who you are as to what combustion there is between you and a piece of writing. But it’s always the writing, I don’t have any – they are usually tall characters that I play.

Do you miss playing the villain at all, since it’s been awhile since that role has come around?
No, but I don’t put labels on anything I play, I don’t call them that. They’re not that to me, whatever they are, it’s the last word – I would never put any judgmental word on any character, you can’t play it if you do that.

Do you have a preference of theatre or film?
Not really, because the thing is you guys see the finished result. This took five weeks in my life, with a whole bunch of people, so you see the word Bottle Shock and you just remember people and places and –

No alcohol?
Right, just grape juice.

By Bonnie Siegler

There’s a lot more to Tori Spelling than meets the eye – and that’s saying something since the versatile actress is expecting her second child with husband Dean McDermott soon. Dressed in a chic black sleeveless silk Alice + Olivia shift, black designer stiletto heels and simple platinum wedding band, Tori is ready to sit down and talk about her new project, “Kiss the Bride”, her fashion jewelry line, “Maven”, “Tori & Dean: Inn Love” the Oxygen reality series, plus her new book, “sTori Telling”. And Tori has a lot to tell – from her days spent in her famous dad Aaron Spelling’s studio offices to making Father’s Day presents. She also wants to talk about the Regent Releasing film, in which Tori plays Alex, a young woman happily engaged to Ryan (James O’Shea). But that bliss is soon interrupted when Ryan’s old high school friend Matt receives an invitation to the wedding. And much to Matt’s surprise, the invitation says he’s marrying a woman.

Since this is a wedding movie, what was your wedding like?
Wow. Which one? (laughs) The one Dean and I had was a big difference in what you would think of a conventional wedding. It was just the two of us, alone in Fiji. We both had our first marriage and had done the whole big wedding thing. For us, it was just about us being together. We met together, we fell in love together and we felt we should get married together.

How did you get interested in doing this movie?
When I received the script, I read it so quickly – it was such a great read – I completely fell in love with the character of Alex. I was pretty much obsessed with her. It was like I just have to get this part. And then I auditioned for it. Actually it was the word “pussy”. I got to say the word “pussy” and I was like that’s so me. (laughs) The part was so me. I just loved her personality and I just loved everything about her. I loved all different sides of her.

Actually we heard you were a potty mouth. Do you find yourself censoring yourself in front of your son, Liam?
I’m not the type of truck-driving potty mouth. I’m kind of a little girl potty mouth because I say it with such vulnerability. It’s this weird mesh – you know what I mean? But, no, I don’t have to censor myself in front of Liam. It’s just like Alex who has two sides. She’s a nice girl and then she can kind of let loose and be this fun, raunchy sense of humor girl. And I have those two sides.

Did you make any onset memories?
The whole filming…I was 4 months pregnant with Liam. We filmed at this house with cats. And I’m terribly allergic to cats, but I never said anything to anyone. And I took a beating. There was my big scene and I was really looking forward to it – I got to be in my little nightie and it was my scene where I got to say “pussy” (laughs). I was all stuffed up because of all the pussies in the house.
You have so much going on in your life with the TV show, jewelry line, book, and movie, how do you find balance in your life and relax?
What keeps me busy and doesn’t make me relax, often makes me relax which might sound odd but I’m a bit of a workaholic. So I love knowing what the next thing is and always thinking about a million things at once. There’s nothing worse for me than having downtime with nothing to do. I love having something to do. And I love having the balance of being able to have the day to spend with my son and husband and also thinking about a million things to do.

How was it working with your husband in this film…there were some cute moments. Was he over protective?
No. We love working together. Obviously we met when we were working together. That was our long range goal of only doing things together and so far, so good. We do everything together. We did the TV series together and then “Kiss The Bride” happened and it was really cool because we had a part for Dean.

In your new book, “sTori Telling”, did you literally just sit down and decide to write a book or did you have notes and journal entries and all sorts of stuff that you poured through?
No, I just pretty much worked on it every single day. I didn’t have anything in writing. It was just all up here (she points to her head). I’m really good at remembering; I could tell you about a night 10 years ago where I was with some friends or whatever and I could tell you what they were wearing and like minute to minute what happened. Good thing for that. I have all those memories and they were pretty easy to put down.

This isn’t your first gay themed movie. Do you feel a special connection to this community?
Little bit. Yeah, I love me some gay men. I just really do. They know how much I love them. It’s so true. It’s so funny, after I did Trick, I was like, “I’m in my element. This is where I want to be. I hope I get to do another gay affiliated film.” Then when Kiss the Bride came up, it was such a great romance but also had the gay affiliation. I was like, “Oh, this is perfect. I hope I get it.” So when I did get it, I was like, “Oh, this is synergy all working together.”

What is it you relate to so much?
About gay men? I always say that deep down I really think I am a gay man. I truly believe somewhere inside I am, so I mean it’s not just a coincidence. Most of my friends are gay, that I love gay men.

How much did you learn from your father about executive producing for your own shows?
I think just watching him for so many years, it was the best hands-on experience I could get without even knowing I was getting it. But I knew even as a child I loved going to the set with him. Summer vacations, most kids wanted to go to camp or take art classes and play ball. I wanted to sit in my dad’s office when it was nice weather and just watch him. I was like five. I remember I would take notes and stuff. It led me to here so I guess it was all for something. When I got to do “So Notorious” which was my first executive producing gig, I just knew I loved all the behind the scenes things. I loved from casting to wardrobe to writing to just doing every aspect of it. Now getting to do a reality show, it’s a different format but still I love it and I’d love to produce more.

What are your thoughts on the new 90210 show they’ve announced?
I’ve never been asked that. No. (she says sarcastically and laughs)

Have they spoken to you about it?
They have not yet. I say that I’ve read about as much as everyone else has read. I actually read about it in the press probably at the same time everyone was reading about it. But I’m excited about it, but I don’t know anything about it.

Do you think the fans of the show expect you guys to show up?
I think absolutely. Well, I don’t know if they’re expecting but they’re probably hoping that someone will turn up in there, so I hope for their sake.

Are you happy they’re doing another one?
Yeah, I mean, I’m surprised it took this long but I guess in some way, every show that really followed 90210 was kind of a remake of 90210 just with a different name. But for the fans’ sake, I’m really happy for them because I know I’ve been asked that for years, “Are they going to do a spinoff, a new generation?” I don’t know so it’ll be great for the fans.

Do you have different cravings with this pregnancy because you’re having a girl?
Do cravings differentiate because of the sex? I still crave Rocky Road ice cream. Same as the first one. Maybe just with each pregnancy, you know you’re allowed to eat it so I don’t know. Avocado this time. I figure that’s good for the baby but definitely carrying different. I’m excited about having a girl.

Does your little boy understand?
He has absolutely no idea. He looks at my belly sometimes, I think he just thinks it’s something to climb up on.

How do you get back in shape after the pregnancy?
I don’t know. Last time was kind of a shock for me because I’d always been thin and I didn’t know how hard it would be to get back into shape. It was difficult. It was a surprise, so I don’t know. I’m hoping this time will be easier maybe. But I haven’t really thought about that yet. I’m focusing on the pregnancy.

Why are you excited that you’re having a girl?
I’ve always wanted a girl. I’m a girlie girl. I’m a clothes horse so I love clothes, fashion, and I’ve always wanted a little girl to dress up. Oh, Dean is so excited. He has two boys and he’s always wanted a little girl.

Have you picked any names? Will you use a family member’s name?
We’re definitely going to use a family member for her middle name but we haven’t settled on first names yet.

With the reality show, do you have rules for what they can film of the delivery?
The cameras aren’t with us 24 hours a day. They’re respectful and the crew’s like family anyway, so there’s really no boundaries anyway. But yeah, I don’t think people want to see the details of the birth. I’ll scare them then.

Do you have any reservations about your kids growing up on camera or on set?
I don’t in a controlled environment and I feel like with our show at least, when Liam’s on the show, it’s our controlled environment. We’re comfortable with it. We can kind of make sure what we want happens in relation to him. But his life’s kind of out there for the public anyway so at least this way it’s controlled by us. I mean, when we’re out on the streets and there are paparazzi, there’s nothing we can do about that. We shield him the best we can. At some point, we just have to be like, “Come on, we’re just going to live our life.” So at least this is controlled.

Would you be happy if your kids followed in the family business?
Oh gosh, I don’t know. Whatever they want to do. I just want them to be passionate. Whatever you’re passionate about, and if they’re passionate about the entertainment industry…good luck.

What’s missing from TV now that your father’s no longer with us?
Oh my goodness. My dad’s number one goal, and I’m pretty sure he achieved it, was just entertaining people. He would always say, “You know, people have such complicated lives, hard lives. When they come home at night, they don’t want to have to think. They just want to sit back, relax and just watch something that’s going to entertain them.” That was his main focus, just entertaining people. I think that’s a great philosophy and when he told me that, I thought that rings so true. Maybe that’s why TV has gone in the direction of reality because people don’t really have to think too hard. They can kind of just relax and watch someone else’s life. Maybe that’s what they need right now. So I just hope people keep entertaining people and keep dreaming. I mean, my dad was so creative. He would just dream up these shows. I mean, Fantasy Island, Love Boat… He was a real believer in storytelling and fantasies. He had that little boy at heart kind of thing and I hope people continue with that.

Father’s Day memories?
We had great Father’s Days. Growing up, we always celebrated occasions. Traditions were really important to us and kind of went over the top with every holiday. So I just have great memories. My brother and I would always make him homemade stuff. That’s what he liked the best. He would always say, “Don’t buy me anything.” So we’d always write poems and make him collages and stuff. He was so cute, he’d always put them up in his office, bad as they would be. He would still display them.

Even with a slight sore throat, Charlize Theron, looks every inch an A-list movie star. With all the confidence an Academy Award can give you, the former Oscar winner (2004’s “Monster”), enters The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills looking beautiful and statuesque, her designer stilettos only accentuating her 5’ 91/2” height. In a black sleeveless blouse paired with charcoal gray slacks, and blonde hair playfully coiffed revealing platinum hoop earrings with pave diamonds, the South African native known for her risky and unexpected roles (“North Country”, “Aeon Flux”, “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”), is also a determined activist for her homeland. The story is known, but Theron, with the encouragement and support of her mother, Gerda, left her home in South Africa at age thirteen to attend a boarding school for the Performing Arts. Just three years later, her mom sent Charlize to Milan in the hopes her young daughter’s good looks, confidence and of course, long legs, would propel her into the Italian modeling world. And guess what? Charlize became a sought after model but wasn’t content to rely on just her outward beauty. Moviegoers were first introduced to the seductive charm of Theron in her feature film debut “2 Days in the Valley” opposite James Spader, Eric Stoltz and Jeff Daniels. As her star climbed the Hollywood ladder, other leading men included Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves in “Devil’s Advocate”, Tom Hanks in “That Thing You Do”, Tobey Maguire in “The Cider House Rules”, Johnny Depp in “The Astronaut’s Wife”, Robert Redford, Robert DeNiro, Will Smith, Matt Damon plus many more. But her main leading man off-screen is actor Stuart Townsend, her boyfriend and constant companion for over seven years. In fact, the couple love to explore the globe together.

Today, Charlize is poised to talk about her current role as Joleen Reedy in “Sleepwalking”, a downtrodden single mom who needs a place to stay with her 11 year-old daughter after her boyfriend is arrested and she’s forced out of her home. But almost as soon as she arrives at her brother’s (Nick Stahl) modest rental apartment, Joleen hits the road with another man, leaving her ill-equipped brother as sole guardian. Not only does Theron co-star in the drama, but she also signed on to produce the film. Once this happened, the movie quickly attracted an impressive cast of Hollywood heavyweights, including Dennis Hopper as her abusive father. Theron relished the part of this flawed woman, which shared common elements with two memorable characters she has played in recent years – Aileen Wuornos in “Monster” and Josey Aimes in “North Country”.

Why another flawed woman on screen?

I wanted to play Joleen because it’s rare that actresses get a chance to play flawed women. We like to keep our women as mothers and nurturers and rarely do we get to see a woman in conflict…We’re not all suited for motherhood, and I thought this was a great chance to show a woman like that, and not ask for sympathy, but perhaps for empathy – some kind of understanding because I don’t think you can hate her.

Nick and Dennis said you were really a hands-on producer. Was that always your intention? Some people produce and they just take the credit.

I think that’s something that happened around ten years ago; people throwing their names on screen, on credits for vanity, but there’s a few people out there like Drew Barrymore, that I know goes out there and does it. At the end of the day, you really can’t sit around and wonder if people are going to know if you did the job or not. There’s no way I could take a credit if I didn’t feel I did the job. I really like the job, but it’s hard to call it a job. I think it’s just the idea of taking a story band, somehow, servicing it on all levels to try and tell it the best way you possibly can.

How did you like your wardrobe in the film – I mean, it was just one outfit the entire time practically.

I loved it. It felt comfortable and felt very real. There’s no denying putting that on and really feeling like you’re Joleen.

Do you know anyone that’s like Joleen?

I don’t personally, no, but you know, I observe a lot of people. I observe those kinds of people I don’t know personally, but I’ve watched them.

So what did you pull from to play this woman?

You know, it’s an understanding of the world. It’s kind of like going in there and doing the research and really more than anything, understanding what that kind of damage does to somebody and how they retaliate. I mean, I’d done a lot of that kind of research when I played Aileen and Josie Ames. There’s definitely a correlation between those women. It’s interesting when you really study how people kind of deal with a tumultuous past. I mean some kind of turmoil within the family or some kind of an abuse. I think it’s fascinating to study how different people respond to it, so it really kind of came from that…just reading a lot. I’ve read a lot of books on abuse actually. And I guess it’s just not hard for me to understand it. It’s kind of effortless for me. It’s more challenging for me to go execute it, but I understand it very much.

Did you see this as another opportunity to transform yourself again?

No, I’m an actor and I go and do what that job tells me to do. It’s not about transformation. After “Monster”, anytime I have brown hair now, it’s a transformation and like the rope just gets tighter and tighter and tighter so it does get a little bit grueling after awhile to answer this type of question. I think we’ve just lost touch with what actors are supposed to do and I think that’s what’s frustrating because our job is to go and tell stories and that sometimes means we have to transform to be authentic. When you do that now, you’re just a freak and it didn’t used to be the case.

So was it fun to go play in a big budget Hollywood movie like your next one coming out, “Hancock” after doing something like this where you’re emotionally invested in every aspect of it all?

You know what’s strange? It’s not about budget. Until you drive up to the set and see more people and bigger trailers and the food is maybe better, that’s really the only difference because at the end of the day, that material was incredibly challenging. I still don’t know how to talk about it. I just saw this film a few days ago, and had to call Will (director) and said `I don’t know what to say about this movie because it’s going to sound so pretentious but it’s the most original thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

Is that what drew you to the movie in the first place?

After I read the script, it just stayed with me. When I read material, I either tap into something or I don’t. Usually you can tell the next morning when you wake up if you’re still thinking about it, that’s usually a good sign. If something scares you or stays with you, that’s a good sign. I felt it was beautifully written and wasn’t a watered-down version of a dysfunctional family. I thought it was pretty real as far as being authentic towards families out there who are in these situations. And it carried a philosophy that I really believe in and that is, at the end of the day, you have to be responsible for your own life. I like that it had that message towards the end.

AnnaSophia, who plays your daughter, says that she’s turned 13 on the shoot and felt like age isn’t a big thing.

(laughs). Well, it’s not. Take my word for it.

What’s up next for you?

I’m about to go and do “The Road” with Viggo (Mortenson). Just doing the flashback stuff. I’m really looking forward to working with him. I love that project. It’s my favorite book. John Hillcoat is directing.

Naomi Watts hit commercial success when she portrayed a big ape’s obsession in the remake of “King Kong” in 2005. But the British native who was raised in Australia since the age of four, began her career in the Land Down Under in TV where she first appeared in commercials, then television dramas such as “Home and Away”. The up-and-comer met up with fellow Aussie, Nicole Kidman on the set of “Flirting” and the two have since become best friends both here in the United States and back home.

While Watts found it more challenging to find roles in the U.S. than Kidman, she credits auteur director, David Lynch for casting her in “Mulholland Drive” which garnered her the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. She then segued into horror films such as “The Ring” and “The Ring 2”, in between co-starring in “Ned Kelly” opposite Heath Ledger. The two became a couple dating for three years.

Perhaps her grittiest performance came opposite Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro in “21 Grams” which earned Watts her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress. But Naomi claims her most challenging role to date is that of mother to son Alexander Pete, born last July, with actor and companion Lieve Schreiber.

Today, the 39 year-old actress breezes into the trendy Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles on little sleep, yet looking as bright and energetic as she did during her screaming scenes opposite the big ape. Wearing a hot pink and magenta print top and matching ballet flats with black pencil leg jeans, Naomi wants to tell everyone of her current choice of film that she stars in and executive produces, “Funny Games”, the remake of Michael Haneke’s original 1997 German version. A shot-for-shot remaking of his own movie, Haneke gives us a disturbing sadistic and psychologically tortuous exercise in movie going. Naomi portrays Ann, who along with her husband George, (Tim Roth) and young son, set out on a vacation, but get an unexpected visit from two very deeply disturbed young men. The idyllic outing quickly turns into a violent nightmare of horrors. Don’t expect to find any social insights into this film because there aren’t any. The two boys dressed in white (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet) are just pure evil incarnate. Here, Naomi talks about terror, underwear, dowdy clothes and conception.

Michael Haneke said he wouldn’t remake this film without your involvement. What was your reaction to that? And, would you have done this film without Michael Haneke?

Naomi: Definitely not. In answer to your second question, it was put to me that he only wanted me and, while that felt like a huge amount of pressure, it was also very flattering and slightly seductive, in a way, because he’s someone whose work I admire greatly. And, he’s worked with fantastic actresses before, like Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Hubert, and I’m a major fan of them. But, it was not an easy decision to make. I wouldn’t make this film with just anyone. It’s, by no means, a no-brainer. And, yes, I have seen the original, only after I signed on. The way this came about originally was a phone call from Joanna Ray, who is a casting director that was instrumental in casting me in ‘Mulholland Drive.’ They had come to her saying they wanted her to get ahold of me, and asked her to cast the rest of the film. She called me and, the minute she said Michael Haneke, I was very excited. Then, I saw the movie and I was very excited, angered, and I felt so messed with.

Were you repulsed?

Naomi: I was repulsed and terrified. Apart from my obvious reactions to the movie itself, to do this film was terrifying. And, it always intrigues me when I’m afraid of something.

Why is that?

Naomi: Because it’s nice to be able to think you can combat your fears, I think.

Did the challenges, as an actress, help you overcome your problems with the material?

Naomi: It’s a different set of challenges. Working in the style that Michael likes to work is going to be challenging for any actor. It’s always hard to do a remake because you fear that you’re going to be compared to the original actors. The fact that he was designing each shot the exact same way as the original meant you had to do the same blocking, tread the same steps as those actors and, suddenly, you feel like, “Wow, how can I invent this character? How can I find the scene in my own organic way.” So, I mapped it out. I would go to the sink, go to the fridge, then go back to the sink. It became such a heady thing, and it’s so not the way I work. I like to feel it and surprise myself, so it was a great challenge.

You’ve said that you don’t find a lot of scripts that really speak to you. So, what was it about this story, and the character, that really spoke to you?

Naomi: It screamed at me! Like I said, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, and I feared that it’s such a beast of a film and so powerful in its effect that you fear it’s not going to land well with everyone. Some people are just going to be repulsed and not enjoy the ride because it’s so disturbing. I don’t think it’s supposed to be enjoyed. I think that ride is supposed to be work for you, and you’re supposed to participate and be a part of the film, and walk away feeling richer for the experience, for knowing and understanding your place, as an audience member, better. And so, therefore, the next violent film you see, perhaps you’ll be more conscious and mindful of those moments where, ordinarily, you sit and go, “Yeah! There’s brains splattering everywhere!!” It definitely makes you more conscious. And, to me, that is its success because it’s provocative and it’s worthy of discussion.

What are your feelings on traditional horror? Do you enjoy the blood-splattering kind?

Naomi: I’ve never been a fan of gore. Even though I’ve done quite a few films of this genre, there has never really been much of blood and guts in the films I’ve done. It’s been more psychological. I’m not here to say that, just because I’m tapped into Michael’s mind-set and what he’s trying to say, shame on you for all those other films being made. I’m not on a soapbox here. I understand every film has its value, in its different way, and what works for some people, doesn’t work for others. I’m an actor. I enjoy playing fear and, if I’m in another thriller of that type then . . . But, I’m not ever really interested in the gory stuff.

Do you think this is the most challenging role you’ve ever done?

Naomi: Yeah.

Why do you think this remake was made?

Naomi: Because Haneke made this film to speak to American audiences, originally. And, the fact that it didn’t reach here was a shame to him. He feels that we’re the biggest consumers of violence. It’s also about numbers. There’s a huge market for film here, as well. When Hollywood called and said, “Here’s a bunch of money, remake this film,” it wasn’t like he said, “Oh, okay, now I can change it, and I can correct this bit and that bit,” and glorify it in ways that he didn’t with the original. His intention and message remained pure and, therefore, it is a very similar film.

The film was so tense. Were you able to switch that on and off, during filming?

Naomi: It was quite hard to turn off, at the end of the day. In fact, it didn’t happen that often. Most of the time, when working on a film, people say, “It’s scary to watch, but was it scary to make?” And, usually, the answer is no because what becomes scary in a film is a succession of moments that build up to a scary pay-off, and you shoot out of sequence, everything’s fragmented. That’s not the case with this film. The way we shot it was very much in chronological order, it pretty much all takes place on the one set, and Michael doesn’t cut a lot. One shot is held for endless minutes. So, it was hard. The set was, at times, a very tense place. But then, you also go, “Okay, I’ve just got to break this,” and Tim [Roth] would crack a very crass and base joke.

Was it physically demanding?

Naomi: Yes. The way Michael likes to work is from a very authentic point of view. The first time I was bound and gagged, he came up and went, “That looks like shit! No way! I don’t believe that. Let me do it.” And, he bound me up, where it was all around my neck and my feet, so if you fell or tried to walk, you could be strangled.

Did you do this film before or after you were pregnant?

Naomi: It was before. But, I have to say that I conceived during this film. I think I was creatively fulfilled.

‘Funny Games’ seems to pass judgment on the people who see films like ‘Hostel’ and ‘Saw.’ When those same people go to see this film, do you think they’ll be turned off by it, or at least question their perverse taste in cinema?

Naomi: Yes, I do. I haven’t seen those films, but I know about them. I think, yeah, Michael is trying to invite that audience in and say, “Come, come, come, I’m talking to you.” And, he tricks them. ‘Funny Games’ is the irony of it all. That audience is such a mass audience, and I suppose he does feel that they are culpable and is trying to build awareness of what he feels violence is. By depicting it in a very authentic way, it becomes very grotesque and brutal, even though he never actually gives it to you, except in that one isolated moment, where he then says, “No, you can’t have it. I know you want it.” So, yeah, those people may feel very angry, but I think that’s the point of the film.

Does being a parent now change your perspective on the movie at all, particularly the scenes where the young boy is terrorized for quite awhile?

Naomi: Yeah. I had a very adverse feeling, at the time, before I was a parent. Being a mom changes you, in every possible way. I certainly don’t want my son to see this film, for a very long time. When he’s an adult, he’s going to make his own decisions about what he sees, and hopefully he’ll understand my reasoning behind it.

Will you continue to produce? And, if so, will you produce films that you don’t appear in?

Naomi: Yeah, I would be interested in that. I do like putting people together, and finding good material. It’s a lot of work, though, particularly when you start doing things on the side that you’re not appearing in. There was a time when I got approached by a studio and they said, “Do you want to do a deal with us?,” and it all sounded very exciting and seductive, but I was also terrified by the workload. Particularly now that I’m a mom, I feel like everything’s too much. I can’t even get to read scripts.

As an executive producer on this, what other duties did you have?

Naomi: Often, when you’re invited to be involved as a producer, it’s one way to spice up the deal and be involved in all the creative decisions. Michael and I talked about casting, and some of the crew members. But then, once we were on the set, it became very clear, very quickly, that he was attached to every detail and knew exactly what he wanted. I just said, “This is your beast. I trust you.”

Did you still find a way to use your own method of acting, even though Michael’s style was a little restrictive for you, or did you just go with his flow?

Naomi: I really just went with his flow. Even though I struggled with it, at times, I liked that he had such a defined and clear vision of my character, of the story, and everything. When someone is so sure, you trust it. It’s actually a much more fun way to work than with a director that says, “Well, let’s try this. Okay, let’s try it like this.” You think, “Oh, God, what’s going to happen in the editing room. I’ve done it 75 different ways. How’s my character going to turn out?” So, he’s very deliberate and precise. Sometimes it was hard to get there and get out of your head.

How was he, compared to working with David Lynch?

Naomi: Very different. Lynch won’t tell you anything. He won’t tell you what’s going on, and really doesn’t give you that much direction. He encourages you to intuit it. Whereas Haneke tells you everything. He’s very specific and very by-the-numbers.

When you first read the script and found out that you’d be spending a lot of time in your underwear, was that terrifying and intimidating, or did you just embrace it?

Naomi: It is terrifying, but that was adding to it all. In the original, she strips down and then she puts her slip back on. To be honest with you, when I saw the original, that was one of the only false moments, to me. It felt a little bit like the wonderful actress (Susanne Lothar) was being slightly modest, and I completely understand that. Michael asked me, “How do you feel about this scene?,” and I could tell that he was asking if I felt right about doing it in my underwear versus in a slip. Right away, I said, “Let’s do it in the underwear. It feels less self-conscious.” I don’t know how many people wear slips, these days. So, it was frightening. It’s such a large portion of the movie, but it added to it. I felt so vulnerable, at that place in the story, and the fact that I didn’t have any clothes on, added to that vulnerability.

Did you think it was odd that this character wore such a dowdy dress?

Naomi: He wanted it dowdy. Michael is someone who pretty much doesn’t believe anything. He wants the real thing. This lovely wardrobe designer went out to Barney’s, and went to every designer on Rodeo Drive and 5th Avenue and brought back a million dresses, and Michael didn’t believe any of them. What you and I would think would be right for a rich woman who lived in that part of America, [didn’t work for him]. He made me bring my own dresses. And, because I don’t have 12 copies of that dress — I’m afraid to say that dowdy dress came from my wardrobe — they found some fabric, which was an older fabric, and they copied the dress 12 times.

Do you think that not showing the violence was more effective?

Naomi: Yeah. It ends up being a much more powerful effect. You hear it, and then you see the aftermath. You don’t see the actual thing, except for that one moment that he almost gives you. But, it becomes much more authentic. You’re not numbed by the violence. You don’t think it’s cool, you don’t think it’s hip, you don’t think it’s sexy or funny. You feel it, in its most brutal way, which is Michael saying, “Violence is hideous and inexcusable, no matter what.” We’re so used to sitting in films and excusing violence because it’s a bad guy and it’s revenge, so you’re cheering it on.

Was conceiving your child during this film a life-affirming act, during all this darkness?

Naomi: Yes. I didn’t find out until later, though.

Were you trying to shake off the psychological effects of this movie?

Naomi: Something like that.

Will you talk about your upcoming role in ‘The Birds’?

Naomi: It’s a work in progress, at this point. I think it’s a wonderful film. There are great things in it that interest me. The script isn’t completely there yet. It probably won’t happen until next year.

Can you talk about getting bruised and injured during the filming of ‘Funny Games’, and about having to cry so much?

Naomi: It’s draining, and you don’t turn it off at the end of the night. You take that home with you. I’ve done quite a few films that require physical and emotional commitment, and I’m used to that. But, this was probably the most challenging because it was impossible to turn off because of Michael’s process and the way he likes to do it. Michael really likes to go for authenticity, all the time. A lot of the time, I wouldn’t even take the [binding] off, in between a take, because it would take too long to reset. And, with the crying stuff, you just have to go there. Michael is not one for cheating. And, sometimes, your eyes would almost pop out of your head because you’d been crying for three hours. He was just always going for that authenticity. You would often hear him laugh, off camera, in his little tent with his monitor, but it was a nervous laughter. It’s all too creepy and too freaky, and it brings up an awkward emotion.

How does that actually affect you when you’re at home? And, does it help, being in a relationship with another actor?

Naomi: Yeah, it does, actually. You can talk about it, and they understand it. Liev [Schreiber] came to the set a few times, and he liked the way Michael worked, too. I don’t think every actor could deal with it, but he’s an actor that likes to take risks. In my mind, there isn’t a director that I respect that wouldn’t appreciate Michael Haneke and his work.

Regarding ‘The Birds,’ have you met with, or are you going to meet with, Tippi Hedren?

Naomi: I have met with her because she was in that film I did, ‘I Heart Huckabees.’ She had a little part in it, and David Russell introduced us. I was pretty fascinated by her then because people have often said we’re alike.

Diane Lane was a successful child actor who made her stage debut at age six in an off Broadway production of Euripides’ “Medea”. From there she went on to appear in a series of theater productions until 1979 when she moved from Broadway to the big screen as a young American girl in Paris in “A Little Romance”. While some teenage girls are thinking “prom dress”, “first kiss” and “riding in cars with boys”, Lane was thinking of her lines in “Rumble Fish”, “the Outsiders” and “The Cotton Club” co-starring Richard Gere. It was her re-teaming with Gere in the boxoffice hit “Unfaithful” that won her both critical and audience acclaim. After garnering SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations and being hailed as “Best Actress” by the NY Film Critics for her turn as an adulterous wife in “Unfaithful”, Lane has since top-lined a diverse slate of both independent and major studio releases.
Now at 42, Lane has earned herself leading lady status and has firmly established herself among the upper echelon of her peers. With four films set for release, Diane Lane continues to flourish as an award-winning actress who has seen success both in comedy and drama, on film, as well as television. Besides “Killshot”, “Jumper”, and another Richard Gere re-teaming in “Nights In Rodanthe”, Lane stars in “Untraceable” as Special Agent Jennifer Marsh, a tech-savvy FBI agent who investigates cybercrimes. Marsh works hard maintaining a balance between her life as a single mom and job as law enforcement officer. When Marsh and fellow agent Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks) begin monitoring and investigating the site on-line torture site killwithme.com, it is quickly learned that the website is virtually untraceable. Diane Lane comes into the Santa Monica beachfront hotel today to discuss her role in this thriller. Dressed simply, but elegantly, in a sleeveless silk top with pearl neckline, single diamond dangling on her dainty necklace and cocooned in a silk, cashmere wrap, Lane reveals the only sign of her marriage to Josh Brolin – a simple gold wedding band.

When you met with the FBI female investigator for your research, did you take anything about her personality and integrate it into your performance?

Well I felt quite accountable to real people, and meeting her set the standard really high, because I had great respect for not only her choice of a career, but how seriously she took it enough to follow through on it. When I saw the amount and the natures of the type of white collar crime for the most part that the internet involves, I was so grateful that there are employed angels who are interfering with malcontents. I was so naïve; I didn’t even know until about five years ago that computer viruses didn’t just spontaneously occur in nature like viruses do, but that they were created by people who have nothing better to do with their techno-fabulousness than sit around and inflict harm on everybody. It’s like arson, but with a big I.Q. I don’t understand, I can’t wrap my brain around that, but then again there are so many different wounded people with angry agendas. Anyway, for me, I’m always looking for the motive, that’s what I do in my line of work as an actor and that’s what these criminal investigators do, so we have some things in common.

Gregory (Hoblit/director) suggested that part of the reason that you wanted to take this role is that as a parent, yourself, these are some of the things that concern you and I’m wondering if you could talk about it from a parent’s perspective?

It’s a good question. Yeah, there’s nothing scarier I think about being a modern parent than the invention of that alternate universe that young people today feel is theirs and they’re entitled to it, at any time of the day all day long. If you can even make eye contact with a young person it’s pretty impressive. So yeah, it’s daunting for sure. I understand the whole commodity of innocence and how much lack of it there is available in terms of what’s offered for kicks on line, but you know it’s the real world. They’re going to grow up, they’re going to inherit this world and I think it’s a cautionary tale. To be the commodity of innocence is always more valuable as it’s diminishing, like any commodity, and as a parent you realize there is nothing more precious than innocence of your off-spring. I may be the most naïve parent around, but I do believe in instilling in kids their own Jiminy Cricket as it were - there are consequences for your choices.

Another aspect of this role is playing a woman who can take care of herself. Often you’ll play a woman with vulnerabilities, and there’s some vulnerability here but she’s also somebody who can take care of herself and does. Was that an appeal to you, playing this woman who is empowered?

Well, yeah. I don’t disagree with your question, but being vulnerable and being empowered ought not to be mutually exclusive and I think being highly capable and being highly autonomous unfortunately can sometimes lead to being so independent that – how can I say, people do need people. When you have a career and when you have a child, as in the case of this character that I play in the film, it’s really hard to begin a relationship, where do you start? The father of her child is killed in the line of duty and the fact that she’s raising her child without another parent, except that she does have the benefit of the grandmother there, wonderfully played by Mary Beth Hurt, is something I completely understand. I went through enough time as a single parent, and it’s easier in some ways to just do it alone without having to explain yourself to your partner, you know, this is how I’m doing it and this is why. It’s hard when you have a career, and she does, her job is incredibly demanding and she doesn’t make up her own hours. It’s great to be a film actor because as hard as it is to travel and be away for three months, I can fight to have a whole year off and be home for example. So it’s a trade.

Was that you actually hanging upside down in the film?

Oh yeah, a lot.

Did you work out like crazy to do that?

Thank you for the compliment. Yoga has actually prepared me for being upside down quite a lot. Yeah, I did practice and I didn’t want to stay upside down for too long, because you get a little woozy after awhile.

You didn’t have a stunt woman at all?

Oh yeah, she did some of that swinging into the pole and I was willing to share the job, I didn’t have any false pride about it or anything.

What about the violence in the film - how do you feel about it?

Well honestly I don’t know. I think the premise of the film is frightening and the violence of the film is equally frightening in a different way, because it’s one thing to understand that this is a possibility and you sit there and you go, ‘I don’t want to imagine that this is a possibility, because it’s too scary.’ But the comfort level with R rated violence is kind of a prerequisite for thriller entertainment. It’s not typically something that people would associate me with necessarily, but I was happy to play the good guy coming up against the bad guy and definitely by the time we actually get to him, I’m glad it’s me, because it would be good to eliminate somebody like that out of being able to continue with their evilness.

What were your comments when you read the script?

To even have a film that deals with something like this that could happen, it gets that kind of conversation going and I think it’s good because it is sort of a shocking reality check of all these elements combining in a certain way that is scary. That’s the point of the movie and if you like being scared, I recommend seeing the movie. I don’t know what to say, that’s kind of the point is to get people talking and saying, ‘Well, gee I hope the FBI keeps staying one step ahead of people who would conjure up such a thing.’ And before 9/11 there were always these people who were employed to come up with doomsday scenarios; they actually hired screenplay writers to partake in this, so that the government could think outside of their own little box to try to imagine what criminal minds could come up with next. I watch the news and I listen to things in the state of the world today, and I was flabbergasted that when we filmed this movie that there was some technology we weren’t sure existed yet, and in the interim between filming and now, it does exist and you can, if you’re really motivated I suppose, hack into anybody’s computer. But even the GPS program on an automobile, the map will still show where the person is intending to go, but in fact it will be guiding you to another location, and you sit there and go, ‘Well, there you go. Somebody had some spare time on their hands.’ I have better things to do with my big brain.

What about this trend where women are the heroes of action thrillers. Is that gratifying to you?

I don’t see any reason why age or sex should eliminate anybody from a job qualification. There are certain things – hey, I wouldn’t volunteer to be the linebacker for the Dolphins, there are obviously some, but I was really impressed with these people that I met who worked with the FBI and I’m very grateful that they really do exist. I was also impressed with the ingredients in their heart that allow them to choose that as a profession.

Colin (Hanks) said he actually watched some of the real FBI cybertapes for research - did you go that far to look at the real sites and the awful images that he saw?

Probably not as much as he did because I’m a wimp in reality, but yeah, I sat with my gal as I called her very endearingly, and we went through some things online. Within five minutes, things were occurring on there that I wish I hadn’t seen. This is the thing. There’s an appetite that certain people have to see certain images, and it will always exist. I remember when I was a younger teenager, and the boys were into the Hulk comic strip or whatever, oh boy, what a waste of time boys are when they’re in that stage. But anyway, there was this video floating around, Faces of Death, and now it’s on television. I was fascinated even then that these young boys were comfortable, or almost daring themselves to become comfortable, with this. And so it told me a lot about human nature; there’s a demographic on the internet anyway that this movie struggles to say okay, how far is too far? It is an indictment, for sure.

Do you crack down on the kids at home?

Well, we do our best. We do our best.

Dressed in a fuchsia sleeveless Rebecca Taylor mini-dress, low V-neck and mile high gold brocade Charles Loubitan heels, Eva Longoria Parker looks every bit the Hollywood star that she is. But what’s with the small pink baby blanket wrapped around her shoulders? The petite dynamo explains she’s nursing a cold and doesn’t feel all that warm this cool morning in Santa Monic The “Desperate Housewives” star is here to promote her new movie “Over Head Dead Body” alongside Paul Rudd, Jason Biggs and Lake Bell, but it’s her role as sexy housewife, Gabrielle Solis, that she will always be remembered.
With the Writers Strike over two months along, most of Hollywood production has shut down and that includes “Desperate Housewives”. Turning a negative into a positive, Eva has taken this opportunity to play a real housewife to basketball star husband Tony Parker at their home in Texas. But today, the TV and film star, wants to gush about her new role in this romantic comedy playing Kate, a beautiful yet exceedingly demanding and controlling woman who obsesses over every little detail in her perfect life. On her wedding to Henry (Paul Rudd), Kate is accidentally killed by a falling ice sculpture of an angel. A year goes by and still Henry is unable to move on with his life until, upon the urging of his sister, he seeks permission from a psychic to contact Kate’s spirit so he can start a new life. But Kate says “Over My Dead Body” will he move on.

Would you admit to being anything like the control freak part of your character or is that not you?
Yeah, it’s definitely me in my business life…it’s me in my career and my business or my restaurant or whatever I’m doing, I’m a control freak. I want to know what’s going on, what’s the process, what’s the timeline, what’s the next step, but when it comes to my personal life, I’m the opposite. I don’t have a care in the world and Tony is more that person. Tony plans dinner, Tony plans our vacations, Tony buys our cars, Tony does our house stuff…he’s like this is what we’re doing today, this is what we’re doing tomorrow, this is what we’re doing next week. He’s a big planner, and I’m not in my personal life. And I definitely wasn’t like that at my wedding. I was stress free the day of our wedding.

With everything going on and the opening of your restaurant, too, the director mentioned you filmed locally because of the Housewives schedule. Still, how crazy is it going sometimes from the Universal set of DH to Long Beach where this movie was filmed?
The great thing about that was that Tony was here so it was nice to have him here. I love television, I love the medium of television, I love that it’s fast and we do 14 pages a day, you’re barely in your trailer. You have time to eat and go back on set. It’s so fast that we’re basically doing a movie a week. So on my days that I was doing this movie, it was like vacation (laughs). Shoot 2 pages a day, watch a movie in my trailer, Tony was there, we could go and eat dinner then come back and they’re still not ready. So it was nice to venture out and do another character, to have a different cast, to play off a different director…it was bliss for me, so fun.

Your character is likeable and then again, she’s not. Did you find it was a fine line that you felt you had to walk with this character?
Yeah. I said to the director/writer, Jeff (Lowell) I just don’t want her to come off as not justified in her anger. We only had that one scene at the beginning of the movie with Paul and me to see our relationship. So you had to see in that one scene that he really adores me. The big thing was why would he love me so much if I was a bad person and you never got to see the relationship so you had that one scene to see how much I loved him, how much he loved me and how great I was and that we were really great together and that’s why he was so sad that I was gone. So that one scene you see, OK, she loves him a lot and that’s why she’s kind of bitter and hasn’t moved on. It was a fine balance to justify it and particularly for me to bridge Gabrielle and how she day to day with her kind of being more egotistical and conceited; Kate is more on a mission to protect Henry.

If you had some of her fun abilities and powers as an apparition, what would you be doing with them if you weren’t protecting people and guiding them?
Oh I would totally haunt Tony if I passed away. (laughs) Definitely staying around, sabotaging anything. I told him that you’re not moving on until I move on. Yeah, I don’t know, what would I do. I’d scare people. I love scaring people. I always hide behind a door or something and then I jump out and scare my girlfriends. We love scaring each other. I think scaring people is the funniest thing ever. I would definitely use my powers to make voices too.

You should be in a horror movie. Do you like scary movies?
No. I like thrillers. I’m not so much for the blood and guts, hands cut off. Like “Saw” and Tony loves that.

Between marriage, the TV show, movies, it’s got to be busy for you yet you do charity work. You do some work for cancer awareness in the Latino community. Can you talk about why that attracted you and why that’s so important to you?

Thank God I haven’t experienced anybody in my family with a child who has cancer because I can’t imagine anything more difficult. But I was asked to go to an event that Padres Contra el Cancer was having one year, which was 6 years ago, and I met Michael Valasquez, the CEO at the time. He said I should come to the Children’s Hospital. I don’t know if any of you have ever visited the Children’s Hospital in that wing, but once you go, it’s life changing. It changed my life. To meet the parents, the family and talk to the kids…there is more hope on that floor than you will see in your whole life. These kids really are resilient and they’re almost the parents saying ‘mom, it’s going to be fine…mom, we’re going to kill the monster.’ I got involved with Padres because 70% of the kids in L.A. in the children’s hospital are Latino and the reason there are so many more Latino children with cancer is socially we’re not a culture to go the doctor early enough to catch it so usually the death rates are higher because they go too late. There’s also the language barrier. And finances – if you don’t have insurance and you can’t pay…they don’t understand chemotherapy anyway. I think understanding cancer is hard enough in English…it would be like you in China and them explaining it to you in Chinese. `You have cancer and this is what you have to do’. But I don’t understand what you’re saying. So those barriers are preventative. You can have financial education courses, you can have a translator with you at the hospital, and socially to educate our culture to get check-ups and take your kids…everything can be prevented and these kids don’t have to be there so that’s why Padres really is important to me. It’s work that has to be done and somebody has to do it.

Your look in the movie is so different than the way you look now or even Gabrielle. Do you have input into your wardrobe, makeup and hair?
I dyed my hair lighter and blonde for the movie because I wanted to look different than Gabrielle. She was obviously, very more conservative with a type A personality. We wanted her to be in white as opposed to black. White is angelic. It’s hard to keep white clean, though. (laughs).

Can you talk about a specific thing you did improvise that made it into the movie?
Well you know when I rattle off all of those numbers, colors, dogs, pet names…because there was so much time we had to cover with those scenes, I had to improv a lot of that. I was making up colors and the pet I had when I was young and how he died. Sometimes I would say things and Lake couldn’t laugh but she’s turn to me and say `you had a what named what?’ (laughs)

One question about the Spurs, as a fan. The team has been in a little bit of a slump lately – brutal. Can you comment on your version of handicapping and our chances for a league win?
Well we have a lot of injuries now so that’s why the slump. We hit this wall last year because it’s right before trades, everybody gets all nervous, and we’re not playing as well as we can be. And the West is way more competitive than the East. The East has Boston and Detroit. The West has Phoenix, Utah, New Orleans, Lakers are doing great, Denver which is amazing and…. Dallas…I hate the Dallas Mavericks and always blank them out of my mind. (laughs). So we’re in a slump and you can’t be too long in the West because you’ll get run over pretty fast. But we usually hit this wall every year around this time…everybody’s tired, particularly Tony. He’s been playing with an injury. He’s not 100% so every time he hits a lay-up by this much (holds up her fingers about an inch width apart) it’s cause he can’t jump…swollen ankle. He plays year round because of the National Team, the French team, so his body is tired. To play that hard, that long, it catches up.

Have you seen the Spanish version of Desperate Housewives?
I have not. I’ve heard about it, but haven’t seen it. I don’t know who plays me, but I hear it’s in Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico…it’s interesting because they use the same exact scripts.

You have a lot of downtime right now so what are you doing?
I’m being a Texas housewife as opposed to playing a housewife. Nurse Tony back to health.

If the writers go back to work, would you finish the season or do you think the season is pretty much finished?
Well, I would hope we finish season 4 because it was a weird way to end it but I did read an article where Marc Cherry was being interviewed in USA Today about 3 days and he thought that was the last episode of season 4. Even if the strike ended, he needs 2 months to write and he hasn’t written anything so if that is the case, then there’s no point in filming because after May and in the summer, the ratings just aren’t there. So we’ll just start season 5. I was kind of bummed that we aired that last episode because that tornado episode was such a great cliff-hanger. It would have been great to end season 4 on that as opposed to airing the episode we did film that answered a lot of questions. Now there’s really no suspense.

You were working on the film “Lower Learning”, though.

I was doing that at the same time as Desperate Housewives so we were trying to wrap that also before the writers strike. I play Rebecca, a superintendent coming to shut down the school with Jason (Biggs). Jason and I become allies and try to save the school. It was fun.

How do you adjust to doing film and TV and now suddenly there’s nothing? Do you wake up thinking you should be somewhere?
Yeah, I should be somewhere. Absolutely. I like routine and I like to work. I have an incredible work ethic so that’s why I love working on film, TV…I love juggling everything at once so to kind of stop…the only nice part is that I have been able to enjoy marriage and being a newlywed. So I’ve kind of accepted that and think it’s a sign from God that he just wants us to just be together at this time. Especially at the holidays it was nice to be off, but there are just too many people out of work to be like this for too long…camera guys, hair and makeup people, electricians, grips… we were such a family and being together all the time, sharing pictures, and it’s like now `any word?’ Not on my end…

So you’re going to more basketball games now, I suppose. Are you ever afraid to go and watch your husband play because the Jessica Simpson thing going and they’ll start losing?
I had that. Once Tony and I started dating you’d think I was the Yoko Ono of the Spurs (laughs). If Tony had a bad game, it was my fault. If Tony had a good game, it was because of me. If Tony got injured, it was my fault. Anything that happened…if Tony did anything, it was Oh, Tony is Hollywood now. Believe me, he’s not thinking of me when he’s on the court. And I don’t think Tony Romo is thinking of Jessica with 10 linemen coming down, you know. I think is was player, Antonio Davis when his wife was in the stands and got in a fight with a fan and he went into the stands, then he got fined. I was like `oh honey, would you come rescue me if I got in a fight with a fan?’ and he said ‘no’. (laughs). `No, I’m not getting that fee.’ Those fines are really steep and then get suspended, he’s like ‘no you’re on your own.’

Does that stuff stop over time?
Yeah because you’re not just some girl distracting him, you’re actually in a long term relationship. And sports is such a subculture. The fans of Cowboys, Spurs…that’s their team and who are you to come in and mess up with their boys. The fans have ownership. And I totally understand it. They’re very protective of their teams.

How did that Funny or Die video come about?
Oh my God, I know. Will Ferrell’s company – Chris Henchey, Brooke Shield’s husband came to me and said will I do Will’s website. They wanted to know if they wrote something really funny if I’d be interested in doing it. I said Yeah! We went and filmed it. Tony thought it was totally hilarious. When it came out I was hoping it didn’t cause too much backlash. Now everybody really got it, thank God cause it could have gone either way, but now everyone is saying that sex tape is so funny. And it was funny to do, too.

Yes, Paris Hilton is known for her partying ways, revolving door of boyfriends and as a Beverly Hills socialite. But she is also a savvy businesswoman, accomplished singer and working actress. In other words, Paris Hilton has become a brand known the world over.
The Paris Hilton sportswear line recently made its debut to fashion buyers and will soon be carried in high end department stores and fashion boutiques across the country. She has five fragrances, including a men’s scent - “Heir”- , of course. On the television side, Paris has graced the small screen on the reality series, “The Simple Life” and guest appearances on “The George Lopez Show, “Las Vegas”, and “Veronica Mars”. Bigger than life Paris appeared alongside Chad Michael Murray in “The House of Wax”, and smaller roles in “Zoolander”, “Raising Helen” and “The Cat In The Hat.”
Today, Paris is being Paris in a hot pink silk mini and matching hot pink stockings with sky-high heels. Her black blazer is as long as her hemline, revealing lean legs. She breezes into The Four Seasons to promote her newest movie, “The Hottie and the Nottie”, in which she stars as Cristabel Abbott, and also executive produced. A comedy about opening your heart and closing your eyes, it centers on a perfect “10” woman and her less attractive best friend, June. And of course, there’s a guy in the middle of this friendship. Sound like another reality entertainment option? And guess which one Paris plays – Hottie or Nottie?

You look so happy in this movie. Is that how you felt the whole way through this project?
Actually is was so much fun on the set. We all like immediately bonded. We became really close friends and would hang out even when we weren’t working. So I was really happy with everything. These guys were awesome.

Would you ever date an ugly guy?
Yeah, I have before. I’m not going to say who because then I’d feel bad. It was a couple of years ago.

And we haven’t seen the photograph?
You probably have.

Would you consider plastic surgery to enhance your looks at all?
I don’t know. I’m really scared even of like getting shots. I don’t want to hink about it.

Was this movie your idea – did you conceive the storyline?
Actually the writer came with it to me and said we wrote this with you in mind and there’s no one else who can play the Hottie. Will you please play it? I read it and fell in love with it. I think it’s a really fun film, but it also has a really beautiful message. I just think it was a cute, fun love story about two best friends.

Prior to this role, what kind of scripts were you offered?
A variety of different scripts, different horror films, different comedies, but out of all the ones I read, this was the one I liked the most.

How do you think the film industry sees you? Do they take you seriously?
You know, I think a lot of people see me from “The Simple Life”, I’ve been doing that show for five seasons. It’s a reality show where I’m playing a character so I’m basically acting in that. Maybe people think that’s really how I am, but it’s not. And I’ve been working with Ivana Chubbuck, who’s an incredible acting coach and I’ve worked really hard for this…now I’m taking it seriously.

So does this mean you might want to expand into more dramatic roles and maybe to get people to take you seriously as far as being an actress?
Yeah, definitely. My next role is one I just completed with Darren Lynn Bousman who directed all the “Saw” films. It’s with Paul Sorvino who plays my father, and Sarah Brightman who plays my nemesis. It’s a musical horror film and I’m never blonde in the movie at all. I play Amber Sweet who’s the daughter of the guy who owns the company and she’s a little demented and crazy – obsessed with plastic surgery and always changing the way she looks because she wants to get her father’s approval. I always have different hair, different eyes…you could never tell it’s me in every scene. And that was fun. It was great to get a role like that and be given a chance. It’s called Repo! The Genetic Oper And I sing 12 songs in it.

What do you think you’re going to have to do to convince people to take you seriously as an actress?
Just take on different roles and prove myself that way. Hottie was just a fun movie to do and it’s a really sweet, romantic comedy. My next movie is completely different and then I’m going to do a drama after Repo! I think just doing role and doing a good job on each one might convince people.

Is there a character in a film that came out recently that you thought you might have liked to play that nobody thought of you for?
I loved the movie “Juno”. I thought that was pretty cute.

What do you enjoy most about acting?
I love being on set. I love just meeting new people and experiencing it. I love being in front of the camera, just being another character. It’s fun to escape from my real life.

You’re also the producer in your current movie, though. What’s that job for you?
It’s a lot of work because you’re basically now working on and off camera, but it was just such a fun project that I enjoyed every minute of it.

Usually executive producers put up money for a film. Did you invest in this film?
No.

What do you personally look for in a man?
Just someone who can make me laugh, someone who’s sweet, who’s fun to be around and honest.

Is there anyone in Hollywood that you would call a “Nottie” as opposed to a “Hottie”?
Oh yeah. There’s a lot of them.

What is it that turns you off about a man?
Just if someone’s at dinner and they’re kind of rude to a waiter, someone like that I really get angry about. Or people who lie or brag, just guys who have a bad attitude.

Has it happened in your real life, like in the movie, that an old school mate comes to you?
Oh yeah. There’s a lot of them on My Space and Facebook who will write me like from back in kindergarten. And I do remember them all.

There’s a joke in this movie about the stalker guy. Have you had experiences with stalkers in your real life?
Yeah, I’ve had some major stalkers. I was kind of thinking of one special person when we were doing the movie. He like showed up to my house and slept outside for two weeks. He stole our cat and then pretended to give it back. He just did the weirdest things.

What’s the greatest pick-up line you’ve heard?
A lot of guys will come up to me and try to be cool and say ‘Hi, what’s your name?’ And I’ll be like “Deborah’. And they’ll go, ‘Oh, really’ and they’ll just keep talking to me pretending that they don’t know who I really am.

Any special plans for Valentine’s Day?
I’m single. I’ll be in Las Vegas, but I have to say that being single at Valentine’s Day is very hard. I’m having my birthday at LAX in Vegas on the 15th…my birthday is the 17th. So I’ll be there all that week for Magic, for my clothing and shoe lines.

How many businesses do you have right now?
I do clothing, perfume, books, shoes, purses, hair extensions, watches. It’s a whole enterprise.

Do you lend your name or are you involved in every aspect of it?
I develop everything. I design. I wouldn’t put my name on anything that I didn’t believe in.

So you wear your own perfume?
Yes. I’m wearing Can Can today. I have five fragrances but I’m wearing Can Can today. I gave the whole cast and crew all of my fragrances. Christine’s boyfriend wears Heir. He loves it. I wear Heir too sometimes.

It’s hard to imagine, but have you ever felt unattractive?
I think every girl does sometimes. We’re all human. When something bad happens, you feel sad, like when you get your heart broken.

You have 17 dogs now. Do they each have their own beds?
Well I built a little thing called a doggie mansion which is in my backyard. It’s a replica of my house. It has a chandelier and the same stairwell and furniture. They all live there.

What would you like to tell people who just don’t get you or understand what you’re about?
You know, that I’m just a sweet person with a big heart. I’m having the time of my life and I’m very happy. I just want to make people smile and bring some color into the world.

With all the confidence an Academy Award can give you, former Oscar winner Charlize Theron (2004’s “Monster”), enters The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills looking every inch of her statuesque 5’ 91/2” a definite Hollywood movie star.  In a champagne silk blouse tucked into dark jeans and blonde hair pulled back revealing gold filigree earrings, the 32 year-old actress known for her risky and unexpected roles (“North Country”, “Aeon Flux”, “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”), is also a determined activist for Africa.  The South African native, with the encouragement and support of her mother, left her home in South Africa at age thirteen to attend a boarding school for the Performing Arts.  Just three years later, her mom sent Charlize to Milan in the hopes her young daughter’s good looks, confidence and of course, long legs, would propel her into the Italian modeling world.  And guess what, Charlize became a sought after model but wasn’t content to rely on just her outward beauty.  Moviegoers were first introduced to the seductive charm of Theron in her feature film debut “2 Days in the Valley” opposite James Spader, Eric Stoltz and Jeff Daniels.  As her star climbed the Hollywood ladder, other leading men included Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves in “Devil’s Advocate”, Tom Hanks in “That Thing You Do”, Tobey Maguire in “The Cider House Rules”, Johnny Depp in “The Astronaut’s Wife”, Robert Redford, Robert DeNiro, Will Smith, Matt Damon and many more. 

But her main leading man off-screen is actor Stuart Townsend, her boyfriend and constant companion for the last six years.  In fact, the couple love to explore the globe together, just having returned from the rain forests in Belize. 

Today, Charlize is poised to talk about her current role as police detective Emily Sanders in Paul Haggis’ “In The Valley of Elah”, a film inspired by true events.  Co-starring two other former Oscar winners – Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon – Theron once again morphs for the viewers into a struggling single mom in a small town who is decidedly unglamorous.  The film tells the story of a war veteran, his wife and the search for their son, a soldier who recently returned from the Iraq War but has gone missing, and the police detective who helps in the investigation.    

Q: I understand you were the first on board with this. Can you talk a little bit about your first chats with Paul Haggis.  He said he’s been talking to you for a couple of years while he was writing this film. 

A: I got to know Paul while I was nominated for North Country. We were doing the awards circle, he was doing it for Crash. And the two of us were, like, the only losers in an alley smoking cigarettes.  He told me about this project; he was still writing it. We kind of kept running into each other and he kept talking about it, it sounded fascinating. He had emailed me a script when he was in Italy;  I read it, and the next day I said, ‘Count me in.’  It’s usually a combination for me trying to find good, solid material that I’m really interested in, but it’s just as important to me to find a director that I really want to work with. I really, really wanted to work with Paul.
 
Q: Was it the story or the character in particular that drew you in.?

A: It was the story. It’s always the story, always. You can have the best character in the world in a crap story and it doesn’t matter, so I’d rather be in a good movie. And whether I’m in it for two minutes or two hours, that doesn’t matter to me.
 
Q: Given the political situation currently and the script’s basis, what were the biggest message points that came across to you personally when you read the script?

A: To me this was a human story. It was about people, it was the truth.  Politically I didn’t feel like this carried any kind of agenda. I didn’t feel like there was any liberal or democratic or republican kind of message behind it. I didn’t feel like it was pro-war or against war. I felt like this was just the truth about the realities of we’re at war and we are
sending these very young kids over there to go and do something that very few of us would go and do. And I have a great respect for that. But they’re coming back here, and we can’t expect them to kind of fit back into society and be normal, functioning citizens. It’s just not going to happen. We have to give them the right tools and we’re not.  So that to me was something, obviously, that kind of touched me because I’ve met people who’ve gone over there and fought. And to hear them come back and not be looked after, I think that’s very ungrateful and we can’t do that.  But this story was the truth. It really happened. That to me was heartbreaking. My character was never part of the real story. But as a story that really just, on a human level, really connected with me. I thought it
was heartbreaking, so I really wanted to tell it.

Q: Charlize, there’s an element of Emily’s story, too, though–her world, where she’s not accepted for various reasons like so many women in the workplace are these days.  Just for being a woman.  And also how she got her job. Or at least how the guys around her perceive that.  How important was it to you for that to be an element of her character?

A: It wasn’t. It was something I never talked to Paul about. It was there. I think it’s very truthful, just from all the research I had done on North Country, you know? What I liked about it was that he brought it in, and what I think is very truthful–I always said this when I was doing North Country–that a lot of this stuff happens on a very humorous level. That’s why it’s considered innocent. And I think in a way it was a little bit of a layer this movie needed. It was a very serious film. So we always treated it like what I had found in my research to be very true.  I mean, these incidents with Emily are not big–not all of them, most of them are considered to be a joke. These guys don’t think they’re doing anything terribly wrong. So we never wanted to hit that kind of nail over the head,  but I think he cast really great actors and we had a great time kind of playing off that. I think Emily knew. She was smart, she had thick skin, she could deal with it. It was just exhausting.
 
Q: But what about the element of her sleeping her way into the job? The Josh Brolin character, her boss at the department, was the guy that got her the promotion because they had been lovers.

A: What I liked about that was that it was something that you could consider so easily in the workforce.  Being kind of what the guys are thinking it is–that she slept her way on top. And the irony of it is that she actually really fell in love with this guy and he was married. She had an affair. She got pregnant. She decided to have the baby. Love that, you know? How not right, you know? How not accepted. But that’s the truth of a lot of people.  And I liked that she carried her head high, and said, ‘You know what? That’s fine. I got myself in this situation.’  But I think she really truly cared for this guy. She could never have him. I  thought that was a really nice little complication for her in the story. And that everybody around her just thought that she did it because she was a slut. That was really not who she was.
 
Q: And then she gets to show that she’s really the best detective in the group there.

A: Well, what I liked—best detective next to Tommy Lee Jones’ character.  I loved that. I said to Paul, ‘I’m starting to feel like those classic, ’60’s television programs where you’re just kind of like one step behind, out of the loop every single time, Dah!’  But I loved that she was very flawed and she wasn’t the greatest detective but she really had heard. And she went after it as hard as she possibly could. She wasn’t necessarily… You know, how boring to play the guy who always gets it right. It was a nice layer, I thought. And I thought it really helped with the chemistry between me and Tommy’s character.
 
Q: Did you spend time with female detectives?

A: Yeah, I did in Albuquerque where we shot some of this.  Really because I was intrigued with interrogation scenes and I wanted to hear what that was really like. And we had a really big one that I thought was really important in this film and I wanted to do it as truthful as possible. And I didn’t really have a lot to pull from, so I wanted to hear from somebody what it was really like to interrogate people and how do you really get information out of people? It turned out to be really boring (laughs). You’re not supposed to lose your cool. You’re not supposed to be all overly dramatic.  It’s supposed to be a very normal conversation, a very reasonable conversation.   And I think that Paul initially really wrote it that way, so that was important for me to know that we weren’t doing something that wasn’t true.  It’s always important for me on all those levels. I don’t want to go and do something that’s too showy. It’s interesting for me to go and find the truth.
 
Q: Could you talk about working with Tommy Lee? I loved watching you go toe-to-toe in scenes.

A: I loved him. I loved working with him. I think he’s incredibly talented.  I was very intimidated at first. And I actually owe Frances McDormand a lot because I had talked to her when I had decided to this and Paul was going to have Tommy do it. I said, ‘How is it working with him?’ And she said, ‘You know, you just give him a big hug every time you see him and it just drops his guard.’ (laughs) And I did the first time I saw him, I gave him a big hug.  From that moment on he just kind of took me under his wing and we had a great respect for each other and worked really hard and well together. Yeah, I had a great time working with him, definitely. It’s great to be in a ton of scenes with somebody that really kind of keeps you on your toes. 

Q: Along those same lines, how was it acting with not only the actors, but the soldiers who were actually over fighting in Iraq?  I thought they did an excellent job of acting.

A: It was a combination of a few things because at first I looked at Paul and I said, ‘Are you sure about this?’ Because we were on a tight schedule.  There were very big, big scenes with these guys. Very important scenes. And he said, ‘Trust me,’ and I did. Those guys showed up and I was blown away.  I couldn’t tell the difference between the actors and the real soldiers. I actually became really good friends with one of them. I think in a way it was so incredibly helpful to have them around all the time. Just to stay on the road of truth. And on a human level, I’m just fascinated, too, and intrigued by what they have experienced, where they are and how they felt.   It was great having them around, and amazing, amazing actors.  And I know why - because I think all of this is so fresh for them.  And that really was what this work is about - the truth of their lives.
 
Q: Paul Haggis had an interesting comment before about in the post production, the more he edited out -­ because he had to cut an hour out of the film -­ the better it got. And it made me think about the value of stillness because there are many scenes in this film without dialogue, that it’s the character¹s behavior that we learn from and that speaks volumes about them. Is that something as an actor that you have to learn to value rather than pages of dialogue to have a good scene?

A: I’ve always had a great value for it and I think it’s from being a ballerina for 12 years and never having words. I’m not a fan of words.  Directors hate me sometimes because I have a very clear understanding of how powerful the physical can be. I played a swan and I never had any feathers or said anything, you know, but I was a swan. So the physical to me is incredible. I think it’s something that you can have an entire monologue and sometimes as an actor we get lost in these kind of showy moments.  I really have no desire for a monologue like some actors. And when Paul started writing my part, I was like, `Can you cut down on the lines, please?’  In a way that’s why I liked this character because I had never done anything really like that. I tend to play the Tommy Lee part in films, the emotionally driven character, and it was really interesting to be the actor in the scene that wasn’t emotionally driven. There are levels of it but nothing close to what Tommy has to go through and in many ways I’m there to pass along a lot of information.  That was a huge challenge for me. So it was great. There were a couple of times, little tiny moments, like the day after she finds the young girl in the bath tub and she’s sitting at her desk. Paul had written that this secretary come over and she’s giving me the bank statements.  He said, `So she’s going to come up and she’s going to say …’  And I said Oh, no, no, no. I can’t say anything. I’m guilt ridden. There’s no way.  I can’t look anybody in the eye. I mean I fucked up.’ So that was a great example of just really understanding that there were no words needed there. There was nothing needed there. Those are usually my favorite moments. I always say I’m a really good actor when I’m
not speaking and you’re shooting me from behind. Always.
 
Q: When you said before that directors hate me, is that because you always are cutting lines, wanting to do this shorter?    

A: Yeah, I will strip it down to the bare bones but the good thing about having a director like Paul is that he covers all bases and then he does it editorially so it’s one of those things when I’m doing it, in my head I might say `God, this really doesn¹t feel right.’ But I know that Paul, at the end of the day, can always lose it.  If there’s a hole in the story, you might need that point.  So it’s kind of one of those give and takes. But yeah, I would have loved to have been in silent films. [Laughs]

Q:  Not exactly a silent film, you’re in a big budget Will Smith movie now, “Tonight, he Comes”. Can you talk a little about that?

A:  It’s been a great experience and a really, really great film to work on. I would make a film about tape recorders if Will Smith was in it because I love working with him. I just think he’s an incredible actor and I love the experience of being around him. I love Jason Bateman too. I thought it was a really well written piece that wasn¹t just fluff, you know.
There was a real intelligence to it, yet it was fun, but it was smart, complicated, had a lot of conflict. I don’t see a lot of that come 4th of July. I liked it.
 
Q: I was wondering if you had any reservations about playing another superhero – in “John Hancock”? You’ve done Aeon Flux.

A: No, it’s all different.  That’s like saying I’m not going to do another genre-based film. I don’t believe in that. It’s two completely different stories. Completely different. 
 
Q: What do you find more challenging: the character-driven dramas like this movie or the action?

A: They’re all different in different ways. They’re all challenging in different ways. I find “John Hancock” a challenge because it’s not something that I’m familiar with. It’s not a comfort zone for me. You throw me in a drama and I know I can swim. I like that challenge and what I love about this piece is that it’s very complicated. It really crosses over so many different genres. And it’s really interesting to shoot out of continuity and to figure out where you’re heading.  There’s a lot of heavy stuff. 
 
Q: Can you give us an update on the Africa Outreach Project and also, with so much film production going on in South Africa — Gavin Hood shot a lot of “Rendition” in Capetown -­ do you see yourself making a film there soon?

A: I think I’m like the only actor who hasn’t shot a film in South Africa and I’m the goddamned South African.  It’s just ridiculous. So I would love to shoot something in South Africa. That would just be amazing.  I’m always struggling to try to find the time to go home so that would be amazing to do it for a job. But yes, I am going back towards the end of the year.  I don’t know exactly what months or when. We’re trying to figure out the dates but it will be after “John Hancock” to go and do the African Outreach Program.  We’re building the mobile clinics for the last six months and they’re almost finished. I’m very excited to go and do that.
 
Q: So you’ll be traveling around the country with them?

A: Yeah. I will be traveling into very rural communities with them and bringing anti-viral drugs to communities and education.  I’m very excited about it.
 
Q: Did you discuss the war with the soldiers during the film production?  Because you are not an American, maybe you have a different point of view?

A:  I actually just became a citizen this year and I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 13 years. I lived here altogether almost 16 year. I’ve been in America for 16 years and have always considered this my home, a different kind of home, you know. I put my feet down in African soil and something happens to my blood but I live here as well and I consider this my home. Maybe coming from a country like South Africa that has gone through so much turmoil, that’s the way I grew up, so maybe I’m interested in what a newspaper has to say, but I also believe in independent press so I’m always looking at it from both sides ­ just like I think anybody else would in America. I think when you go into a war, it’s pretty impossible to go through your life and not run into people and talk about it. I don¹t know how people could do that.  It’s part of what we’re going through right now so, of course, I think just in general there is a debate going on in this country and I’m interested in what other people have to say.  It doesn’t necessarily come from a South African point of view. I think it just comes from a human point of view. It wasn’t the basis of this film and I loved that. I would have been scared of this movie if it was. I loved that we always went back to these human beings and then the circumstances that they were in. But I think just in general, people were talking about it a lot because it was happening and we had real soldiers around us.  I wanted to know what that experience was like. I don’t know; I wasn’t there. So I was very interested to hear their point of views. 

 
At 49 years of age, Michelle Pfeiffer looks every inch as fetching as she did slithering atop the piano in her red va-voom dress as the sexy chanteuse Suzie Diamond in “The Fabulous Baker Boys”.  And who could forget Pfeiffer in her form-fitting “Batman Returns” black catsuit.  But perhaps audiences’ fascination with this beautiful A-list Hollywood actress can be found in her singing roots in “Grease 2”.  Along the way, this three time Academy Award nominated actress – “Love Field”, “The Fabulous Baker Boys”, “Dangerous Liaisons” – has turned in powerful performances alongside powerful leading men.  Twice she took on Al Pacino - “Frankie and Johnny” and “Scarface”, “What Lies Beneath” with Harrison Ford, “The Russia House” opposite Sean Connery and “I Am Sam” with Sean Penn.  And each time, Michelle made a strong impression with her stunning looks, haunting style and undiluted talent.  She has since become one of the motion picture industry’s most respected actresses and ranks as a top-grossing box office star.  Confident in her Hollywood position, or some would say lackadaisical attitude towards her solid star status, Pfeiffer moved to Northern California with writer/director husband David E. Kelly and their two children, taking a five year hiatus from the bright lights and big screen. 

            Today, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Pfeiffer comes into the room dressed in a black sheer V-neck blouse with black cami, dark jeans, stiletto heels and gold hoop earrings answering any questions one might have of her ever-lasting beauty and star status.  Michelle now stars in the musical re-adaptation of John Waters’ 1988 cult classic “Hairspray” portraying racist and not-so-merry widow Velma Von Tussle who acts as the television station manager.  In this role, the actress returns to her singing roots, handling the physical, comedic and singing challenges of the villainous role.  With an unmatched style, energy and commitment, Pfeiffer shows us, once again, why she is one of Hollywood’s favorite leading ladies. 

Co-star Amanda Bynes calls you a perfect evil character.  And your on-screen nemesis Queen Latifah says you played a pretty good villain.  How difficult was it to get into such a racist, evil kind of mindset?

It was hard.  That was the hardest thing.  I’ve played some evil characters before.  I’ve played some killers.  I signed on to do this and then I sort of inched my way towards this character which was hard and then one day, of course I knew it, but it registered, oh my God!… I’m playing a racist.  That was really hard.  I started to second guess doing it.  I talked to the family because certainly I understood that the message of the piece was really important and certainly the message of the movie is anti-racism and anti-bigotry.  I spoke with my kids because I wanted to make sure they understood that look, this is what the movie’s about, it’s a really important movie and in order to do a movie about racism, somebody has got to be the racist and it’s me. (laughs).  They were okay, they got it and I’m so glad I did it because I had a lot of fun playing the part even though there were some lines I honestly could not remember because they were so hateful.  Literally I’d be doing the scene and I’m come up blank.  I’d be looking at Dana (Queen Latifah’s real first name) and it was interesting what my brain did. 

It wasn’t just racism that was tucked away in the film – there were so many narrow views about so many things and how closed society was to it in the 60s.  And you had to think it was in your lifetime that we were that society.

Well, even more frightening to me was the only reason the movie got made or another version of the story got made again, is because it’s still relevant.  I am hoping that the next time somebody decides to do their version of “Hairspray”, someone will say “you know what, it’s really kind of an outdated idea and not really relevant today”.  Wouldn’t that be nice??!!.  The bigger picture of the movie is really about that we need to stop being so threatened by anything that is different.  And out of our comfort zone and when we find something that is outside of our comfort zone that is basically unknown or not like me, I don’t understand it, I better squash it.   It’s that sort of accepting of people’s differences.  Anyway, I think it does such a good job without being heavy-handed.  It’s just sort of you being entertained, having such a good time and this really important message is just being wafted over you without you even realizing it. 

Can you talk a little bit also about self image for young women out there and how important that is?

Well, young women have such a big challenge ahead of them now and the trend doesn’t seem to be going away nor does it seem to be getting better.  And I know the fashion industry is sort of trying to make efforts but it sort of feels half-hearted.  The truth is, it’s women doing it to each other.  I don’t think men really want women to be doing all of this stuff to themselves and to be undernourished and bony and sort of grotesque plastic surgery.  So it’s like why are we doing this to each other and for each other? 

I was actually watching the movie and thinking how much I loved the 60s styles and fashion much more than today and of course, you’re still very fashionable…

Fashion is so confused today.  I don’t even know what to say about it.  You can see it’s just like leftovers or something.  It’s yeah…I’m not loving it right now.

They’re trying to take some inspiration from the older fashions – are you able to do that too – being able to bring of the 60s class back?

You know, honestly, that era is not my favorite for women.  I do think that the clothes are beautiful but when I look at women from that era, all I can think of is how uncomfortable they look.  It’s just like everything is so fitted, so pressed, and the makeup is so heavy and the hair is all sprayed and the clip-on earrings…the shoes.  It just looks like it all hurts – and it did.  Your feet were killing you and your ears were on fire. 

You always had a sense of humor of being Miss Orange County – did twirling the baton in “Hairspray” sort of make you a bit nostalgic?  It looked like you were having fun doing it. 

Well, (laughs) it actually was a lot of hard work.  I had to adapt to a new way of singing and the kind of discipline that I didn’t have.  I had to train my voice because my voice had just gone to seed (laughs).   Then I had to lip sync and learn the dance in those shoes that were killing my feet; then we’d go into the thing and now I have to do the baton so it was a lot to be thinking about at one time.

The Fabulous Baker Boys fan clubs say you were one of the best lip syncers ever, so were you completely out of touch with it all before doing the movie? 

This one is harder and I think I know why.  I think because I was playing a lounge singer in Baker Boys, so when I sang those songs it was my rhythm, my interpretation, I fell into sort of a natural performance and interpretation of those lyrics whereas with this, I was sort of confined to a certain melody, a certain tempo, it was unchangeable.  The character was way different.  Suzie Diamond was probably closer to me than Velma so, it was harder because I think I sang in a less instinctual way. 

Can you talk about your scenes with Dana?

The hardest thing working with Dana is we would just crack up.  There was one scene I was particularly hateful to her; I was being so stupid and I was really having a hard time not laughing.  I am just so grateful that she is so mensche-y and has such a great sense of humor.  She really is such an awesome person, because I couldn’t do those scenes with anyone who wasn’t.  She enabled me to really, really go for it and really commit because I knew she was not absorbing it.  I knew she was feeling how hard it was for me.

Do you have any conscious memory of Negro Day like the local TV dance show portrays?  A lot of local shows like that did have such a day.  

I don’t remember it at all.  And it’s interesting - somebody made a comment that these kids who, you know, younger kids who really don’t have any memory of the sixties, to have that segregation.  So I think that the opportunity for dialog is really huge with his movie. 

“Stardust” looks amazing and it seems like you might be playing another villain character.  Did you find another way into that like you said in this one about racism and there has to be a racist…did you find a way into the “Stardust” character similarly?   

Even though my character is sort of being talked about as the villain of Stardust, everyone is a villain in Stardust.  I’m probably the ugliest villain in Stardust, for sure (laughs) and the oldest because I age…I’m 5,000 years old or something ridiculous like that, but I think as fun as these characters I play in the beginning, you don’t want to fall into the trap of just going out and being mean.  Mean people don’t think they’re being mean; mean people think they’re completely justified in their outbursts or their comments and the truth underneath it all is they’re fighting and angry, they feel like the victim, as twisted as they might be, so that’s also why it’s so int