The devil's playground 

Up-and-coming actress Julia Stiles gives you the lowdown on her new movie, The Devil's Own, and her new friend -- Brad Pitt.

She could be the luckiest girl in the world. First, Julia Stiles lives this unique, New York City-cool life. She gets ready for her Quaker school "to the sound of Benny Goodman or Björk," she says, applies quotations from Macbeth to appropriate moments (for making soup, it's "Double, double, toil and trouble") and even has "deep and meaningful conversations" with random people, like the guy working the deli counter.

Then this 16-year old does the showbiz thing (Julia is so into acting, she calls it her "glory") with some pretty fabulous people. Like her former Greenwich Village classmate Claire Danes, who stars as a Jewish girl betrayed by her not-so-best friend (that would be Julia) in the upcoming World War II movie I Love You, I Love You Not. And like Patrick Muldoon, who plays her easy-on-the-eyes neighbor in the thriller The Second Wife, which could be a contender at next month's big-deal Cannes Film Festival. And let's not forget her most famous friend, Brad Pitt. He plays an Irish Republican Army guy who moves in with her and her policeman dad (Harrison Ford) in this month's major flick The Devil's Own. Here, in Julia's own words, a few tales from the Devil's playground:

I can see why so many girls think he is the Messiah

"Honestly, when I got the job as Bridget in The Devil's Own, I wasn't going gaga over Brad. I'm not the kind of person who goes star-crazy anyway. [That's not entirely true: Lou Reed, of The Velvet Underground, came to a play Julia was in, and she says she "went insane" after seeing the back of his head.] After meeting Brad (yes, I know you probably want to kill me because I call him by his first name -- I'm not trying to rub it in), I can see why so many girls think he is the Messiah. When we filmed a scene in upstate New York, girls were lined up around the block. You could hear the shrieks of 'He touched my hand' from blocks away."

We laughed so hard, we got in trouble

"I always get these first scene jitters. For The Devil's Own, all I had to do was introduce myself to Rory [Brad's character]. We had to shoot a couple of takes from different angles, and I guess it didn't really matter what we said because instead of saying 'Rory,' Brad started introducing himself as 'Moe' and 'Tony.' We got into this whole name-game thing: I was spitting out random names -- Carla, Rosencrantz -- and when I said 'Madonna,' we laughed so hard, we got in trouble. But thanks to him, I had completely loosened up."

Happy Valentine's Day, from your fake daddy

"It is so weird to think that a year ago I was watching Star Wars for the fifteenth time and talking about how cool Han Solo was. I asked Harrison if anyone called him Han or Indy, and he said, 'Only dead people'... He is such a nice person. He bought candy for all the actors and most of the crew on February fourteenth. The card to me said: Happy Valentine's Day, from your fake daddy."

I was really glad he saw it my way

"For one of the first scenes we were filming, I had to enter from upstairs, and between takes I would sit on the staircase landing. Brad started wandering around, then came upstairs to talk to me. He asked if I had a valentine.
I told him, 'No. Actually, I just broke up with somebody.'
'Ouch! On Valentine's Day?'
'No, a while ago -- but I had a really good reason.'
Brad laughed. 'Oh, so basically he was a complete jerk.'
I nodded. I was really glad he saw it my way."

Originally published in the April 1997 issue of Seventeen Magazine