Did producer Sam Raimi ever make it on to the set?
No. He was so busy with this very small movie about a guy in a suit. I heard they might have a little booth here [at Comic Con]. But he's taking a real active hand in the editing. He was really the real reason we got to go back. He was the one that helped fight for it. And I tell you this honestly, when I saw the movie - and I am my worst critic in the world - I thought it was a really cool movie.
I would have been happy if it had come out the way it was, yes. But I would have said, "Wow, it would have been great if?" you know, this or that. But I really was genuinely [pleased]. And I don't say that a lot. Genuinely happy, and getting to do these added scenes is really icing. It was really, you know, cherry. I really just said "it was cherry" didn't I? I've been in San Diego too long. Surfin' too long! [Laughing] Unfortunately, I don't think any of the added stuff will be shown today in the clips at the panel. You'll have to wait.
What was the original shooting schedule?
About two weeks.
Wow!
It was fast, very fast. It was really funny. Nathan Kahane at Senator International sat me down before they offered me the role and he said to me, "I need to talk to you." It was 9 in the morning, he woke me up, which is weird because I am usually up by 8. But anyway. And he said, "If you're going to do this, it's going to be really hard. It's not going to be what you're used to. It's going to be a really tight schedule and very a short schedule." And I'm like, "I came from a television show.
This is a breeze!" And honestly, it was. We worked 6-day weeks but the hours were even shorter than what I was used to.
Shimizu is in L.A. editing. Are you planning to reverse roles and help him with the cultural differences?
He is so American. Literally, after being here for a month, he's in his Hawaiian shirt and his clogs. I don't think he's having a problem. I asked him what he did, and he's all "Universal Studios!" He's doing just fine.
Having done so much genre and right now you're doing a non-genre film, will there be any trepidation jumping back into genre?
People ask me about that all the time. I've thought a lot about it and it has to do with where the roles for women are. Women have come a long way in this business. And we still have a long way to go. In television, women can really run anything. It can be a comedy, it can be a drama, it can be genre, it can be anything. But in films, women are still getting to the top. Look at "Catwoman" vs. "The Bourne Supremacy" this weekend. You know, we're still getting there. Jason Bourne trounced the Catwoman.
I think the one thing about these kinds of films is [they are] where you really find the most interesting characters for women. And so I won't have trepidation as long as there are roles like these. This is the first, of all the things I'd been reading when I got done from ?Scooby,? this was the first one where the woman was not just a heroine but she really had an active role to do and she was an interesting person. And it was also the first time I played the victim. It's very hard to play the female victim and the lead. This is the one milieu - whether it's thriller, suspense, horror, anything - where women really get to sink their teeth into stuff. Being on ?Buffy? all those years kind of spoiled me. I think about it all the time when I read scripts. Like, "It would be great to work with all these actors, but?" I don't know how good I'd be a being the girlfriend or being the wife. I think I'd see myself on set, like, looking at a tick or something.
Is there a superhero you might like to play?
[In a superhero sing-song fashion] Sarah Michelle! Honestly, I don't know. I'd have to think about that. Maybe an original one, one you haven't seen before.
Do you find the popularity of ?Buffy? has gotten greater since it came out on DVD?
The honest answer is I don't know. I think the first four years of that show was such a cocoon for me. Everything was new. I was 18 years old. I worked nonstop. I didn't know how to say no or take a break or anything. I would go to work at 6 a.m. Monday morning and wouldn't wrap until 6 a.m. Saturday morning, and go back at 6 a.m. on Monday. I was in such a tunnel that literally I remember saying to someone, "I hope people actually watch the show," not even realizing how popular it was. And now that I actually have a life and I actually see the outside and I have days off, now I'm more aware of how many people watch it and how widespread it was. So the answer to me is yes, but I don't know. I would imagine it has to do with the DVDs and that its reach is so much farther in places where maybe they don't get satellite.
No. He was so busy with this very small movie about a guy in a suit. I heard they might have a little booth here [at Comic Con]. But he's taking a real active hand in the editing. He was really the real reason we got to go back. He was the one that helped fight for it. And I tell you this honestly, when I saw the movie - and I am my worst critic in the world - I thought it was a really cool movie.
I would have been happy if it had come out the way it was, yes. But I would have said, "Wow, it would have been great if?" you know, this or that. But I really was genuinely [pleased]. And I don't say that a lot. Genuinely happy, and getting to do these added scenes is really icing. It was really, you know, cherry. I really just said "it was cherry" didn't I? I've been in San Diego too long. Surfin' too long! [Laughing] Unfortunately, I don't think any of the added stuff will be shown today in the clips at the panel. You'll have to wait.
What was the original shooting schedule?
About two weeks.
Wow!
It was fast, very fast. It was really funny. Nathan Kahane at Senator International sat me down before they offered me the role and he said to me, "I need to talk to you." It was 9 in the morning, he woke me up, which is weird because I am usually up by 8. But anyway. And he said, "If you're going to do this, it's going to be really hard. It's not going to be what you're used to. It's going to be a really tight schedule and very a short schedule." And I'm like, "I came from a television show.
This is a breeze!" And honestly, it was. We worked 6-day weeks but the hours were even shorter than what I was used to.
Shimizu is in L.A. editing. Are you planning to reverse roles and help him with the cultural differences?
He is so American. Literally, after being here for a month, he's in his Hawaiian shirt and his clogs. I don't think he's having a problem. I asked him what he did, and he's all "Universal Studios!" He's doing just fine.
Having done so much genre and right now you're doing a non-genre film, will there be any trepidation jumping back into genre?
People ask me about that all the time. I've thought a lot about it and it has to do with where the roles for women are. Women have come a long way in this business. And we still have a long way to go. In television, women can really run anything. It can be a comedy, it can be a drama, it can be genre, it can be anything. But in films, women are still getting to the top. Look at "Catwoman" vs. "The Bourne Supremacy" this weekend. You know, we're still getting there. Jason Bourne trounced the Catwoman.
I think the one thing about these kinds of films is [they are] where you really find the most interesting characters for women. And so I won't have trepidation as long as there are roles like these. This is the first, of all the things I'd been reading when I got done from ?Scooby,? this was the first one where the woman was not just a heroine but she really had an active role to do and she was an interesting person. And it was also the first time I played the victim. It's very hard to play the female victim and the lead. This is the one milieu - whether it's thriller, suspense, horror, anything - where women really get to sink their teeth into stuff. Being on ?Buffy? all those years kind of spoiled me. I think about it all the time when I read scripts. Like, "It would be great to work with all these actors, but?" I don't know how good I'd be a being the girlfriend or being the wife. I think I'd see myself on set, like, looking at a tick or something.
Is there a superhero you might like to play?
[In a superhero sing-song fashion] Sarah Michelle! Honestly, I don't know. I'd have to think about that. Maybe an original one, one you haven't seen before.
Do you find the popularity of ?Buffy? has gotten greater since it came out on DVD?
The honest answer is I don't know. I think the first four years of that show was such a cocoon for me. Everything was new. I was 18 years old. I worked nonstop. I didn't know how to say no or take a break or anything. I would go to work at 6 a.m. Monday morning and wouldn't wrap until 6 a.m. Saturday morning, and go back at 6 a.m. on Monday. I was in such a tunnel that literally I remember saying to someone, "I hope people actually watch the show," not even realizing how popular it was. And now that I actually have a life and I actually see the outside and I have days off, now I'm more aware of how many people watch it and how widespread it was. So the answer to me is yes, but I don't know. I would imagine it has to do with the DVDs and that its reach is so much farther in places where maybe they don't get satellite.