CountingDown.com - January 2003

 Interview with Julia Stiles 

I'm Jenna Lewis with CountingDown.com interviewing Julia Stiles from A Guy Thing.

And I'm Julia Stiles from the hit movie A Guy Thing

Excellent, excellent, so, why did you choose this project?

Um, ha ha, because it was just really well written. I opened up the script and I was bowled over with la... bowled over, doubled over with laughter. Bowled over, doubled over, either way. Doubled over with laughter. And to see that from like a written word is great, so I had a lot of confidence in that. And I also wanted to just laugh and have a good time every day when I went to work. And um, I was really eh excited about my character because she's very much a risk taker and real girl. She makes mistakes and she's klutzy and um, silly, but I think ultimately endearing.

Very endearing yeah, now your character Becky goes through a series of different jobs in the beginning of the film.

Yeah

Did you have any weird jobs that you did when you were starting your acting career?

Um, I worked at Taco Bell.

Nice

Yeah, and every time I get "Made Up" by a make-up artist, and they put lipstick on me, all I can think about is the deep fat fryer and how the grease was emptied out of Taco Bell and shipped to make-up companies to put in lipsticks.

It wasn't really?

Yeah, it is, yeah.

Oh, that's disgusting.

Yeah I know. So, I've got some lipstick right here if you want some.

Oh, great. No thanks. I'm all set. So, um, was Jason Lee attached to the project when you signed on to do it?

Um, yeah, he was.

So, Is that one of the factors when you decide on a script, who your leading man is or who the other characters is going to be played by?

Um, yeah. I thought Jason Lee was really funny, and in a way that's very unique. He reminds me a lot of Jim Carrey, cause he walks like a monkey.

I heard his nickname is Monkey Boy.

His nickname is Monkey Boy. And aside from that, he is very sarcastic, which I think is wonderful.

So were there any practical jokes on the set? It's very much a comedy film. (Pause) Any practical jokes?

Um

You have to think about it?

I know, I have that blank stare of like, "Oh no, that question?"

Yeah. Sorry

Um, practical jokes. If you count Selma's flatulence problem as a practical joke.

Really!

Yeah, I mean like god, whooo. Did I say her flatulence problem? I meant my flatulence problem. Shit! Uh, yes.

So, you were excellent in the comedy. We've seen you a lot in the dramas, and the teen movies, but you really have a knack for comic flair. Are you going to try this again?

I'd love to. Sure, yeah. It think that um, it's hard to find well written comedies, but if I find another one, I'd love to. It's a lot of fun. And I think that we need more laughter.

Ok, so what projects are you looking at doing now?

Um, I'm in the process of finishing a movie, called Mona Lisa Smile that Julia Roberts is in, and Marcia Gay Harden. And Kirsten Dunst. It's completely different though. It's set in 1953, and it's all about women in college. Then, um, and I play a very well-mannered, prim and proper girl.

There won't be many sun and shower scenes in that one.

No, not many pratfalls

Sorry. So, I heard that you wrote a screenplay, um, that went to Sundance.

Mm Um.

Are you looking into getting that made?

No. That I wrote a while ago, and I wrote it with a couple of other people and we kind of went our separate ways. And um, I'm kind of over that story. But I like writing just for the sake of writing, not necessarily for the sake of making it into a movie.

Are you going to be like Ethan Hawke and publish your own book, or Poetry like Jewel? Anything like that?

It's an interesting idea. I think I need to live a little bit more before I have anything to write about. I'm only 21, I think it'd be kind of obnoxious to be like "Hi, I have a lot of say. I'm 21 years old, read my book".

I'm getting told I'm done. Oh wait; I have one more question for you. If you were a comic book character, who would you be?

Oh, uh, Does Mad Magazine count as a comic Book?

I guess so, I'm not really, but you'd be any of the characters in there?

The silly looking ones.

Oh, at the back, where you fold it and you make it into something.

Yeah

That's great, thank you very much.


Article by Jenna Lewis
Originally published at CountingDown.com - Posted on January 2003