Interview transcript featuring Eliza Dushku
Original Interview can be found at www.musicfashionmagazine.com
By Lauren Weigle
Photos by Pamela Lopez Grant
You've grown up with her in That Night, cheered with her in Bring It On, and fought demons alongside her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Listed many times in Maxim, Stuff Magazine, and FHM's 100 Sexiest Women, this brown-eyed vixen is not just a pretty face. Her friends would describe her as crazy, spontaneous, and loyal, but I'd like to add a few more adjectives to that list... strong-minded, worldly, and whole-hearted. As an entertainment industry veteran, she has not only succeeded as a Hollywood actress, but lately has taken on roles behind the camera as well. She has also recently filming a psychological thriller titled Valediction opposite Ben Barnes. With looks, talent, and brains, this fiery woman's possibilities are limitless. With that said, let's take a dive and dig deep into the inner-workings of the vivacious Eliza Dushku.
Tell me how you got started in the entertainment business. What inspired you to pursue acting?
Well, actually, I literally tripped and fell at my brother Nate's audition when I was 9 years old. I was just tagging along and I ended up getting the attention of the casting director. I just basically ended up at this "cattle-call," cross-country search for this young girl in the independent film That Night and I ended up getting the part by that sort of luck. And then it kept finding me. Nineteen years later I'm still trying to work with people I love and pick up and go when these opportunities present themselves. It just keeps growing and changing. It's been a wild ride.
I'll say. Well when you take breaks from the wild ride, when you're on location for a film somewhere, how do you like to spend your down-time?
I love travelling, but obviously I can't do that on my down-time. Lately, I try to get a little rest in when I find time. (She chuckles) I love big dogs. I usually have them on set with me. They hang out with me and the crew. I've also been working a lot on my production company and on putting together these films that we have coming up. My brother and I work together, finding and acquiring new materials and stories. Now, sitting in the seat of producer has added a whole new line of work.
What inspired you to get behind the scenes as producer and what has been one of the biggest challenges for you?
Just having done this for so long, knowing so many fine producers, and film-makers, I've learned what it takes to get a movie made. One thing that has always attracted me to this business is sharing people's stories. To go from the initial germ of an idea and build it has always been something I've wanted to do. Then, when I started to do it, it got my brain firing and me, with my Type-A, control-freak personality gives me a lot to do, putting pieces together. I really enjoy it. I love collaborating with people and networking. All the people and resources that have buiilt up over the years... I mean, it's definitely been challenging, but it's also been easy in a lot of ways because of my experience.
Well, I know you're on set right now for the Dollhouse series finale. How was it working with Joss Whedon again after working with him on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series? And how do you feel now that Dollhouse comes to a close?
The show's had it's ups and downs, but for me it's been mostly up. It's been two of the most amazing years of my life being on this with him. He made this happen and I don't think he'll even know how really grateful I am, how life-changing this has been. He's a dear friend and je's just a nice soul, like a brother, a mentor... really extraordinary. We've had just as much fun this time around as we've had in the past as teammates.
I hear you always take the back of your director's chair home after a shoot. Are you planning on taking anything away as a souvenir or memento from the Dollhouse set?
Well, we're under surveillance from Fox. (She chortles.)
Oh no! (I laugh)
I know! There's so much cool stuff on this set that everyone sort of wants a memento of some sort, but I hear Fox wants to keep it, so....
In any case, you've played a variety of characters that possess edgy or tough qualities. What do you think draws you to these roles?
Well, I guess there's a side of me that's edgy and tough that I like to tap into pretty organically. You know, I never really grow up as the "girl next door". I had a feminist mother
and three older brothers. I was always sort of this out-spoken and precocious little girl. I mean, anything the boys could do, I could do better if not just as well. I mean, I first started playing these roles as a teenager, whether it ws that daddy/daughter relationship that was under those pressures of divorce or abandonment or just the roles dealing with teen angst. Eventually, having Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I took a leap into the bad girl where nothing was just black or white. Even though I was playing this girl who did these horrible things, it was from her painful experiences and really amazing when fans would find that they really empathized with her despite that she killed people and tortured people. She was dealing with redemption and identity. And it's just been presented to me in roles that there have been really deap and layered, definitely with this tough fighter behind it.
Well, one role in particular was your rebellious part in the movie True Lies as daughter to Jamie Lee Curtis. Having said in the past that this talented actress was an idol of yours, how did it feel to play opposite your idol as her daughter?
I came to know her on that movie. I was twelve years old, so she was really the first example of an actress, of a woman that I looked up to in my new field and life as a professional actress. I admired her professionalism and her fearless way of showing up in a room full of guys while holding her place, holding her ground. She's provocative and also just friendly sharp, intellectual, caring, just the whole package. I remember even my mother saying, "Watch this woman. She's who you might become and aspire to be in this business.
Looking to the present, I know you have a project in development called The Perfect Moment. Can you give mne a little glimpse into the film?
Yea. It's a biopic on the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and it's a prject that I'm doing with my brother We've had the project in various forms of development and story for about seven years now. It cme to Nate through a writer he was working with in New York who noticed a physical resemblance between my brother and Robert Mapplethorpe. Then my brother started to look into his life and his story to see parallels in between their lives. He and I also just started to realize what a fascinating man, story, and identity this man was. We've met and teamed up with this filmmaker Ondi Timoner who had a few incredible films at Sundance and has predominantly done documentaries. He really has captured the dark and the light, the essence of the subjects in these documentaries. We've proposed our ideas and are really thrilled, terrified, and excited with this project where we try to shed some light or some dark, provocative insight into this man's life, his work. We wnat to show beyond what people know of him, not just this controversial, often perverse artist.
In addition to this one, do you have any other projects that you would like to shed some light on?
One thing I've learned in the producing world is that you have to play your cards sort of tight to your chest until it's time to launch. There are things that we have going on, but we'll be announcing them in due time.
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