Known
mostly for playing “girl next door” roles in films like ROAD
TRIP and JUST FRIENDS, Amy Smart is expanding her horizons with her
latest film, CRANK.
She plays Eve, a girl willing to do almost anything to help out a
hitman boyfriend (played by Jason Statham) who needs to keep his
adrenaline up in order to avoid succumbing to a particularly lethal
Chinese poison. She even resorts to having sex with him in the
middle of
L.A.
’s
Chinatown
. Now that’s what I call love.
Amy
Smart stopped by the Sofitel in
Beverly Hills
recently to talk about CRANK. Check it out.
Amy
Smart
You
play a bit of a bimbo in this film.
To
me, Eve wasn’t a bimbo. She definitely functioned in her own world
and was naïve to the fact that he was a hitman. She’s intelligent
in other ways. In a way, she’s completely dangerous to him because
she’s naïve to the fact that he could die at any moment. And
she’s thinking that he could be on drugs or something or just in a
weird mood.
I
think Eve is incredibly necessary to this film. She brings a
humanity to Jason’s character, where you might not feel for him
had he not shown his heart for this woman. And so I think she’s
important in that way. In a weird way she’s also the audience’s
point of view. She’s kind of witnessing what’s going on from a
more normal standpoint. And also comedic – I think it’s fun to
have a film like this to have comedy to break it up and intensify
it.
I
just enjoyed playing this character and I just wanted to bring out a
kind of quirky, individual personality as much as I could within the
structure of this piece. Because it definitely is like a video game,
with this high-impact, rollercoaster ride of a film that’s also
funny and full of energy. I just saw her character as really funny
and fun and great and smart in her own way and she just goes along
for the ride.
Can
you talk about how you and Jason Statham gelled together?
Jason
is an amazing actor and a great guy to work with. He really made me
feel comfortable with all the stunts. He’s obviously a veteran in
this kind of movie, where you have a lot of action and you have to
be very athletic. For me it was one of the first times I’ve done
this type of movie. And that’s also why I did it on top of…I’d
did like the character Eve. I love his English sensibility – very
down to earth, really real and funny. Very charismatic. I really
liked working with him.
How
did you establish your comedic rapport with Jason?
I
didn’t realize what a funny guy he was until we started working
together. And then off-screen he’s so funny. I think what makes
her funny is – and this is all because I’m talking about it all
in the third person – I think Eve is very unaware of danger. Yet
she lives on the edge, loving how spontaneous her boyfriend is. But
I really think that even though it’s exciting and an adrenaline
rush, she really doesn’t feel the danger aspect of it.
In
what ways is Jason funny?
First
of all, he has the best vocabulary words. Maybe it’s being raised
in
London
or the way he was brought up, but the way he can describe something
is just so funny. I can’t quote him at this point, but he just has
a way of using his words to just…you would never think to use
those words. And he uses them and it’s just so funny. To me he
feels like real kinda underdog guy. He wasn’t raised in acting
where he went to all these professional schools and did theater and
lalalala. He really has a lot of life experience and that’s what
he brings to his roles. And I appreciate that because in acting we
want to relate to people who experience life. That’s what he
brings, this real raw kind of feeling. And he’s just a lovely,
wonderful person.
What
was the audition like?
In
the audition I had two scenes: the scene where I’m getting
frustrated with the microwave and he comes in and we need to leave;
and the other scene was the scene in
Chinatown
(where she and Jason’s character have sex in public). I had to do
that for the audition. Which definitely was the kinda scene where
you have to just throw yourself into it. You have to just get
completely out of your head or you know you’re just gonna make a
complete fool of yourself. So I went for it. It was nine in the
morning callbacks. I went in for it, the first person. They brought
in a great actor to work with me to do the scene with. And that’s
what I think won me the role – the whole
Chinatown
scene. Just being able to go for it and knowing that it’s going to
be around hundreds of people. (laughs)
What
was your reaction when you first read the
Chinatown
scene?
I
was definitely going over it thinking, “Oh my god, they want me to
do this in the audition?” Let alone the scene in person for the
film. And then of course there’s all these male directors and
producers and I was like, “Oh god. They’re gonna get off on this
one.” (laughs) But it was more of a comedic scene in a way. I just
had fun.
What’s
it like working with directors who shoot on digital?
Well,
what I really liked about working on this film was that they were
both DP’s before this and that they were shooting the film. There
was a more intimate feel, knowing that they were behind the camera,
involved as directors. I really respected their opinion, the way
they saw the scene and what their thoughts were. To know that they
were right there with us, as opposed to yards away watching it in
the video village, it felt like a much more intimate way of
directing, which I liked.
Where
do you see your career going?
I
can’t predict my career. I don’t know if anyone can ever predict
their career. I do know that within the last year I made a
significant change to kind of want to move more into my womanhood
and to play characters that challenge me, that I felt I hadn’t
played before, characters that are interesting and strong and are
not the girl next door. I’ve played that and I’m glad I’ve
played that because it’s kind of gotten me where I am now, but at
this point I’m done with it.
How
do you stay humble?
I
think you stay humble with gratitude. You don’t lose sight of what
really matters in life, because if you do it will just get pulled
away from you, I think. I think everyone has an inner gauge of
happiness, of what feels right and what doesn’t feel right. You
can manifest things that you really want in life, if you get out of
your own way. That’s what I’m working out.
Questions?
Comments? Manifestos? Send them to me at thomasleupp@joblo.com.