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May 12, 2002
Eliza Press, Fans and Box Office
There's a video interview with Eliza at Counting Down. [ website ]
Another article about Eliza by Entertainment Today: Entertainment Today
by Kevin Hanna
NOT THE "NEW GIRL"
Eliza Dushku talks about the inescapability of high school and her new comedy with DJ Qualls
When she was 14, she fought terrorists with Arnold Schwarzenegger. By age 18, she was slaying vampires with Sarah Michelle Gellar. And two years ago she brought it on with Kirsten Dunst. But today 21-year-old Eliza Dushku is working on an even bigger project. "I’m working on moving right now," she laughs in her characteristic sultry-husky voice. "I was living in a house with roommates and my brother."
And why shouldn’t Dushku move into her own place? It’s the natural progression of things, entirely befitting the eve of her new comedy The New Guy. "Art imitates life and having your life documented on film - a lot of the characters that I’ve played were really realistic for the times that I was in," Dushku begins. "I built up this really tough girl front; it got me through high school basically. I did this whole hard-as-nails, big talker thing. And I tried out for Buffy just after I graduated high school and that really kind of was where I was at that point in my life." Dushku smiles at the memory. "I remember I used to wear my tattoo home from the set. They’d say, ‘We can take that off for you.’ And I was like, ‘No!’"
But in her new teen comedy, Dushku plays a popular nice girl caught up in clique politics who sees DJ Qualls’ successful makeover into the most popular guy in school as a way for social reform. "It’s almost like Can’t Buy Me Love," Dushku explains, referencing the 1987 Patrick Dempsey "Nerd Rents Popular Girl To Gain Popularity" teen romance. "Everybody’s gone through it. I don’t care who you are. Even if you were in a popular clique, everyone’s had the rejection of high school that makes you want to die and makes you feel like you want to be somebody else."
Qualls plays Dizzy Harrison, a loser at one school who, with a little help from a prison inmate played by Eddie Griffin, learns to be cool. Diz transfers to East Highland High under the cooler name of Gil Harris and completely restructures the social order. Dushku is Danielle, the cheerleader with a heart of gold who falls for the new guy. At his core Dizzy is sweet, but he’s tempted by the lure of popularity and thus sets up the third act crisis.
Yes, Dizzy disses his true but "uncool" friends in a moment Dushku says we’ve all been through. "I remember throwing a Popsicle stick into my now best friend’s hair because all the cool girls in high school were like, ‘Throw this Popsicle stick into Alison Mack’s hair!’ And I said, ‘I can’t - she’s my friend.’ I didn’t know what to do and all the cool girls were like ‘Do it, do it, do it.’ [So] I did it. And to this day it makes me want to cry. Alison, I am so, so sorry I did that to you in the lunchroom in seventh grade. But it was just like the moment where I..." her voice trails off wistfully. "High school, man. They compare it to prison in the movie and I’m with them, all the way."
The New Guy isn’t Dushku’s first foray into cheerleader chic. "Bring It On was ‘cheerleading’ and that was something totally onto itself," Dushku explains, complete with air quotes. "This was more a music video. It wasn’t so much cheering, it was more like they wanted sex. Like our hair down. In Bring It On we all had our hair up because it was a distraction [from the cheering moves]. For this they were like, ‘Work the hair.’ And I’d get it caught in my lip gloss and look like a total freak." She laughs and confesses an even greater secret of moviemaking magic. "I was the worst one [as a cheerleader]. I grew up playing tag football with my brothers. I’m not the most graceful [and] I definitely took the most work with the choreographer. I had to have like special ‘Eliza Days’ where all the other girls had gotten it weeks ago."
At the same time she was filming The New Guy, Dushku was also working on the Robert DeNiro-James Franco drama City by the Sea, to be released this fall. "I would go away for a week and go to New York. And I’m going from playing this uppity Danielle cheerleader girl to this junkie living in Jersey with a kid working at the Burger King drive thru window. I’d show up and the director would look at my manicured hands and say, ‘Would you get some dirt under your nails? Grow a zit! We’re trying to make a movie here!’"
During the interview, Dushku is distracted by the monitors set up around the room constantly showing various clips from The New Guy. On multiple screens, Danielle is modeling a Pretty Woman montage of swimwear for Dizzy. Dushku’s hands cover her face. "Ohmigosh... my brothers are going to kill me. I have three older brothers. The Maxim cover came out and they were like, ‘Are you serious? Our friends read that magazine.’ Now they’re going to be like, ‘Please put your clothes on,’" Dushku laughs.
"The (aforementioned) scene itself was just a riot to shoot. They had a different crewmember sitting in the hot seat next to the camera because DJ was unavailable. So every time I had a different thing on, I’d rip the curtain open and it’d be Ed Decter (the director) or our sound guy or some one else. For the most part the guys were just sitting there (sheepishly) and I’d be like, ‘Gordon! You’re next! Get in there!’ He’s blushing and I’m hamming it up trying to make them break," says Dushku. "But then we had this one guy get in the chair and he was like, ‘OK! Come on. Do this right now!’" Reminiscing about the filming as if this were a high school reunion instead of a press day, Dushku smiles brightly. "And obviously we didn’t take ourselves too seriously." [ article ]
And an interview with Eliza published in The Sacremento Bee: The Sacremento Bee
by Jonathan Pinkerton -- Rio Americano High School
SCREEN TEST: CHECKING IN WITH ELIZA DUSHKU
"The New Guy" is the latest teen film to hit theaters. Though the movie doesn't bring much new to the genre, Eliza Dushku is a bright spot as the sexy head cheerleader who falls for the new guy at school.
Dushku has a long list of screen credits, including "This Boy's Life" (1993), "That Night" (1993), "True Lies" (1994), "Bye Bye Love" (1994), "Journey" (1995), "Race the Sun" (1996), "Bring It On" (2000) and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001). Of course, legions of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fans know her as the dark-spirited Faith.
I had a chance to catch up with Dushku in San Francisco the other day and ask her a few questions.
Q: Do you feel limited as an actor, playing teenagers in teen movies?
A: I'm not that far off from being a teenager, so I'm not completely against doing teen movies. I like to keep it mixed up - do a comedy and then do a drama.
Q: In "The New Guy," you dance around in swimsuits. Was that awkward on the set?
A: No. I purely attribute my being comfortable (with that) to my three older brothers and being a tomboy my entire life. I felt so comfortable on the set.
Q: Would you ever do a nude scene?
A: Never. You've got a better of chance of seeing God.
Q: You were raised a Mormon. What was your family's reaction to seeing you in a bikini (on the big screen)?
A: My grandmother doesn't return my phone calls. My brothers kinda go, "Oh, Sis, put some clothes on!" But for the most part they're all super-supportive.
Q: What was it like working on "The New Guy"?
A: The whole environment felt so free and creative, and (the director) let everyone just do what they wanted. A lot of the lines and moments in the movie were actually improvised.
Q: Two cheerleader movies so close together. Were you a cheerleader in high school?
A: No, I used to make fun of the cheerleaders probably because I knew that I could never be one, probably out of my own insecurities because I wasn't popular in high school.
Q: You have a huge fan base after being a regular on "Buffy."
A: Yeah, it can be creepy, but it's also flattering. I don't know how I can feel anything other than gratitude and appreciation.
Q: Is there a possibility that Faith might be coming back to "Buffy"?
A: The story lines are so intricate and (planned so far ahead) that they could say to me, "Could we schedule you for an episode in September?" It would be hard for me to say, "Yes, I'll be available in September" because if a movie script comes along tomorrow that I'm just nuts about, then it's kinda like, "OK, are you ready to start in two weeks?" It's hard to schedule, but I would love to go back to "Buffy" because I love the people.
Q: There have been rumors about a "True Lies 2." Can you tell us anything about it?
A: I can tell you a whole lot of nothing, because I have heard rumors but I haven't seen anything with my own eyes.
Q: Have you turned down movie roles that you wish you hadn't?
A: Yeah.
Q: Do you care to say which ones?
A: Not really, because that's just a little embarrassing for all parties involved. One thing I can say is that Tobey Maguire called me up and said, "Eliza, I'm doing this screen test for 'Spider-Man.' It's going to be like the biggest screen test of all time, and I was wondering if you could come down and read the girl's role."
We went down and I did it. It was definitely his test, and I really wanted to be respectful of that. So I wore something very neutral and kinda tried to just be the voice. Looking back, I should have gone in there and knocked (director) Sam Raimi's socks off. But I still think I did the right thing. It wasn't my day; it was Tobey's day.
Q: How did acting professionally affect your social life, like with your friends and at school?
A: It got kind of annoying walking through the halls and having all the boys go, "What's up, movie star?" I didn't do a lot of the press around movies that I did when I was younger. I think that I escaped before Hollywood could ruin my life. But yeah, it was pretty cool. [ article ]
And there's another interview with Eliza up at About.com. [ interview ]
This is with many thanks to Krizia for her photos of Eliza's appearance at Gameworks @ Sunset Place Mall, Miami:    
   
   
And many thanks to Amanda for letting me repost her report of Eliza's appearance at the Sony Metreon in San Francisco. [ fan testimonials ]
According to Lee's Movie Info, 'The New Guy' scored a pretty decent $3.2M gross estimate on it's first day, with an average of $1,198 per venue. They forecast that it'll take in about $9M for the weekend. That might be because it'll receive pretty good word of mouth, with Cinema Score (who poll opening-night moviegoers) having given it a solid B average. This is the grading broken up by age and gender: | | Male | Female | | Under 21 | B | B+ | | 21 To 34 | C+ | B- | | 35 And Up | C- | C |
Also, if you haven't visited the official 'New Guy' site recently, they have some new clips that include interviews with Eliza on set. Check out the newswraps. [ website ]
I might update a bit later today with the video files of Eliza's appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." (Thanks to my friend, even though he doesn't know it. Though I do owe him my first born child now. The lengths I go to for this website... :) )
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