Hey folks, Harry here... Poor Mysterio... I always give him the difficult assignments... the real hard work... the painful excruciatingly tough tasks... Oh Mysterio, I'm so sorry you were forced at the threat of being locked up next to Big Bertha for 5 to 10 if you didn't live on the JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK set.... I'm sorry you were cajoled into interviewing Eliza Dushku rather than being checked for lodged objects... but ya know... Who ever said there were glamorous moments to being an AICN Spy... Interviewing Eliza Dushku is the sort of excruciatingly unbearably intolerable pains that comes with AICN... I feel your pain... I do and I really wish I could have suffered in your place. I do, I really truly mean that Mysterio...
Friday Night with "JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK"’S very own ‘Duck-Shoot’, ELIZA DUSHKU
When writer-director Kevin Smith was looking to cast the part of Sissy, the leader of an all-girl gang of jewel thieves for his latest opus, ‘JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK’, he didn’t have to look far. He just had to have a little "faith", in a young and feisty spitfire of an actress named Eliza Dushku.
Eliza, at a mere twenty years old, has just recently added another notch to her film credentials, as on this Friday night in March, she’s just wrapped shooting a fight sequence inside The Bluntcave, with co-star Shannon Elizabeth on Stage 19 of the CBS back lot.
Even though there are stunt women present to take on the more physically demanding stunts that are required, that doesn’t stop Eliza from wanting to do as much of her own stunts as possible. It’s evident that she came into this production ready to play and give it 110%, even going so far as trying to convince Smith to let her do another mock fight take again just to make sure he’s happy with the performance and blocking.
Eliza pulls up a seat at the viewing monitor and reviews the playback with Smith. Satisfied with the take, Smith cuts Eliza loose, and 1st A.D. Tim Bird makes the announcement to the rest of the crew, "That’s a picture wrap on Eliza!" Everyone gathers around to say their goodbyes and well wishes before she exits back to her trailer to change out of her wardrobe and salvage what’s left of a Friday night.
But before that, she moves to grab a large paper bag from her brother nearby, and begins to distribute little rubber "devil-duck Dushku’s" as she calls them, to her co-stars, producer Scott Mosier and director Smith as wrap presents.
The relevance of the ducks pertains to a nickname Smith gave her while taking a casting meeting with the then nineteen Eliza at the Four Seasons Hotel back in October of last year. "Duck-Shoot" was the name deemed onto her by Smith during that meeting and it’s since then stuck with her all throughout production. When asked about where the name came from, Eliza’s exclaims, "I don’t know. I’ve got a funny last name I guess to some people. After we had that meeting, he asked me my name and just came up with it in his weird, quirky, creative way. So I was christened with ‘Duck-Shoot’ and it stuck. ‘Duck-Shoot’, ‘Duck-Stew’, ‘Duck-Poop’, ‘Duck’ whatever. So I gave them devil-duck Dushku’s for wrap gifts."
For a girl best known to play tough, edgy roles on-screen, she clearly has a playful sense of humor about her that’s contagious once you get to know the actress beyond the characters she plays on-screen. And even though she does indeed play a tough, edgy, strong female role in the film, she admits to telling Smith (of her role), "I want to go over the top!" because as she puts it, "some of the stuff is so ridiculously insane that you have to have a sense of humor about it, and be able and willing to look funny. That’s the thing of comedy – you can’t take yourself seriously, and you gotta make people laugh at you."
As she tells me this, Eliza’s informed by a P.A. that her van has arrived, ready to shuttle her back to her trailer. And on keeping a promise made earlier during the shoot to answer some fan questions, she suggests I ride back with her so that we may continue the interview. The girl’s "word is bond."
As I briefly wait outside her trailer as she changes, it’s hard to image her impressive list of credits for being in the business only 10 years after first landing a role in an audition which, as she puts it, she "literally tripped and fell into it", an accident which resulted in the latter giving way to a nosebleed, but eventually landing then ten-year-old Eliza the part. Since then she’s already acted alongside such heavy-hitters as Arnold Schwarzenegger playing his daughter in James Cameron’s ‘TRUE LIES’, to acting opposite Robert De Niro and Leonardo Di Caprio in "THIS BOY’S LIFE", and more recently co-starring with Kirsten Dunst in last year’s sleeper cheerleading hit, ‘BRING IT ON’. Not to mention the role she’s best known for among her fan base - that of playing the character "Faith" on the hit TV show, ‘BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER’.
To top it off, this year alone offers die-hard Dushku fans the chance to catch her in not one, but four films due out later this year. A comedy, ‘THE NEW GUY", the thriller, "SOUL SURVIVORS", a heavy drama which re-teams her with acting legend Robert De Niro, ‘CITY BY THE SEA’ and the aforementioned ‘JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK’.
Suddenly the door to her trailer opens and she welcomes me inside where we continue with the interview.
"So Eliza, let’s say we get a couple of the obvious questions out of the way before getting to some fan questions. What was it that attracted you to ‘JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK’, and ultimately convince you into accepting the role?"
ELIZA: (laughing) I had a retarded meeting with Kevin and Scott Mosier at The Four Seasons Hotel. Then I left there feeling like, "what freaks and dorks" because they were so cynical and just messing with me, y’know asking me questions about ‘BUFFY’ and being such wise-asses. Every time I tried to ask them if they were making the movie, they’d be like "Oh, we don’t know." And I was like "Oh, whatever!" They later called me and said they had this part. Kevin and I then had a phone conversation and he was like "I wrote you this great, feisty part!" and I started to get why the meeting went the way it went. I know Kevin’s work, and I think he’s really talented and creative - I’m into creative shit.
"So now you’ve got this part written specifically with you in mind. Tell us a little about the character you play – the leader of a band of jewel thieves."
ELIZA: She’s this mastermind thief, very crude talking. I mean crude as crude. My mother is going to have a heart attack! She’s going to be so horrified. She’s a sassy ass bitch, but determined and obviously smart, because after all she’s the mastermind behind the whole heist.
"Ok Eliza, how about we take a few questions from some fans before you cut out of here."
ELIZA: Sure thing, go ahead and fire away.
"Do you like comedy as opposed to drama or anything else?" – "Jondoe_555"
ELIZA: Well when you’re doing a comedy, except on this comedy, your kind of like later saying to yourself, "I have to do a drama. This is so off the wall, no one’s going to take me seriously." And then you really want to do a drama but then when you’re doing a drama you’re like, "I would kill for a laugh right now, for something to take the edge off." So that’s why I just try and vary it up. I did ‘THE NEW GUY’ and then ‘CITY BY THE SEA’ which was so serious, with Robert DeNiro.
"How do you like working with Kevin Smith, they guy who deemed you ‘Duck-Shoot’?" – "Savitar" (webmaster, ElizaDushku.Org)
ELIZA: (jokingly) I’ll NEVER…! No, no he’s great. He’s just really super-chill and he’s got that dry sense of "duck-shoot" humor. He’s creative, but he also lets you really go with what you’re doing. He directs you but he also kind of expects you to have a sense of the character that your playing based on what he gives you. So it was kind of like flying by the seam when we did our stuff. We didn’t really have rehearsal or anything we just kind of went in and went for it.
"I have seen most of your films and your ‘BUFFY’ episodes, and it seems that the characters you play are all very similar. Do you feel that you have been typecast into a bad girl role, or is it a choice you’ve made because you enjoy that kind of part?" - Rebecca Gow
ELIZA: I don’t really think they’re all that similar. I think that there are a million different kinds of girls in this world. And there are a million stories to be told about women, some things are similar and some are different, but sometimes I’ve just found that I kind of embrace playing more edgier types, because the other ones have been seen and done more. People now are willing to push the envelope and put these characters up there that seem stronger and tougher. I just kind of think that a great thing because I grew up in Boston, with three brothers, and other girlfriends similar to that type.
"I was wondering when and if you would be returning to "BVS" as a guest appearance of otherwise?" – "Naydh"
ELIZA: Don’t get too excited about hearing the real deal here. It’s just up in the air. I’ve been very, very busy working on these projects, but you know lately, I literally get like one day off every two months and unfortunately I haven’t had time to go and shoot something with those cats.
"After the success of ‘BRING IT ON’ and ‘BUFFY’, do you plan to stick to teen-oriented films or move on into more sophisticated flicks?" – Belinda Hillard
ELIZA: I think that comedy is a huge part of the film industry and there’s nothing wrong with it, if anything those are the kind of movies I want to see. It depends on what you’re in the mood for. It also depends on what the project is, who the people are and if I feel like it’ll be something that’ll enhance me as a person because I’m not it this to win and academy award or to be the funniest person in the world. I mean I’m twenty and I’m growing up as I do all this stuff.
"This is for the ‘super-cool’ Eliza Dushku. How does it feel to be part of one of the most anticipated films of the year, and being a part of such a great ensemble cast?" – Maribel Martinez
ELIZA: Well tell them "super thanks!" It’s really flattering. I was just saying to Kevin, just thanking him for seeing me. I guess he didn’t really read anyone for these parts or anything. He just kind of had the confidence in all of us to come in and be good enough to be in his movie. It feels really nice and it’s good to know because a lot of us aren’t like huge movie stars, and some of us really are, but a lot of us aren’t. So to kind of give us that gift that he thinks that we’re that cool enough, even though we not huge movie stars, it’s really flattering. I mean, I have worked since I was very young and I don’t ever really want to be a big movie star, but it’s nice to know that there’s someone out there who feels you’re good enough to do the job.
"So Eliza, with all the films that you done and the folks you’ve worked with, what’s the best piece of advice that you’ve received that you still follow to this very day?"
ELIZA: Respect everybody that you work with and treat everybody with the same amount of respect, no matter who, or what position they have because you need every last person there to do they’re job. It’s a whole team effort.
* Eliza insisted at the end of our interview that I make clear to send out a message to her fans, which is to offer out a "HUGE THANK YOU" to all her fans and to let you all know she is indeed gracious of all your support (and don’t forget to check her out this August 24th in ‘JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK’).
Although Eliza’s not very computer literate or net savvy yet, she’s well aware of her fan base on the net, and admits, "it’s an area I need to figure out better."
But that’s the least of her worries, as now after completing her work on ‘JAY and SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK’, all she’s left to figure out is now which project she’ll tackle on next.
-Mysterio
