Volume 4, Issue 17
August 22 - September 3, 2002
by Abbi Toushin
Sure, she plays the strung-out daughter of a drug czar in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic. And yes, her part in this month' s teen thriller Swimfan is nothing less than the semi-psychotic, obsessively dangerous girl from out of town. But despite the roles by which her fan base continues to recognize her, there is one thing that just-turned-twenty actress Erika Christensen wants her fans to know.
"I realize this may seem obvious, but I wish people knew that I'm not like the characters I play," says Christensen, who rattles off a list of why she's different from her current onscreen embodiments. "I'm just going to think about what makes me who I am, things that I should be embarrassed about but I'm not," she continues. "I live at home with my two younger brothers, my parents both work for my production company (Endless Entertainment) and [I've been] a Scientologist since I was twelve. I started studying and I credit much of my health and happiness and success to it."
Siblings and Scientology aside, Christensen admits that most of her life is focused around business because she intends to spend the rest of her life in the entertainment industry. When she's not shooting (she is currently filming The Perfect Score , a movie about high school kids who break into an SAT testing center to steal the answers), Christensen is either reading scripts, meeting with agents and managers, granting interviews to reporters or doing photo shoots.
"But I do get to hang out with friends. I'm not a complete hermit," she says, adding that when she does get some free time, she loves to do karaoke. In fact, before her breakthrough role at 13 in the 1997 feature Leave it to Beaver , Christensen dazzled Los Angeles audiences with her singing and dancing skills as a member of "Kids on Stage for a Better World."
"It was a group of kids who would travel around LA and give live performances. And I did that for about a year before I realized that I wanted to be an actor and be in movies," she says. "So then I continued for a few years and it really helped me to overcome my stage fright. I loved that feeling of not only the adrenaline rush but the connection between the people on stage and the people in the audience--and I think that's what probably led me into this life."
And it is this life that currently consists of a critically acclaimed role in Traffic , a turn as a scene-stealing villainess in Swimfan and a sizable onscreen presence opposite veteran actresses Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn in the upcoming comedy The Banger Sisters.
"It was incredible to watch them work-- they're so talented. I don't know how to express what they do but it just makes sense why they are who they are when you see them work. It's all intelligence and talent, . Christensen says about Sarandon and Hawn. Before Banger Sisters is released, though, audiences will be treated to Christensen's seductively sadistic side when Swimfan dives into theaters nationwide on September 6.
In Swimfan, Christensen plays Madison Bell, who sets her sights on popular Ben (Clockstoppers . Jesse Bradford), a promising Olympic swimmer and reformed troublemaker who juggles practice and schoolwork to make quality time for his sweetheart, Amy (Roswell's Shiri Appleby). While Madison is simply trying to acquire Ben's affections at first, she soon becomes obsessive and her intentions bleed into betrayal and eventually, utter madness.
Although Christensen originally auditioned for the role of the much sweeter Amy, she contends that it was her idea to play Madison instead. "They wanted me for Shiri's role, [but] I thought it would be really fun and interesting for me to play the other role. So I had a meeting with [director] John Polson [and] he thought it was a great idea," she says.
Christensen goes on to explain why playing a villain is more fun than a protagonist: "There's a lot of exploring [of] what you're capable of doing as an actor, . she says, . and you allow yourself to go crazy and yell and scream and get applauded for these things that are not necessarily alright. . Christensen . s role as Caroline, Michael Douglas . s drug-addicted daughter in 2000's Oscar-winning Traffic also allowed the young actress, then 18, to stretch her acting muscles and explore her capabilities. However, if not for Soderbergh . s nurturing nature and understanding personality, Christensen may have never appeared in the film.
When her parents never had reservations about Christensen's decision to become an actress, they were hesitant about her decision once they read the Traffic script and saw the role their daughter was willing to take.
"They were like, 'my little girl!' but I had no qualms about doing the role. Steven Soderbergh called a meeting with the producer and my parents and I to discuss what we were getting ourselves into. And he just let us know that I would not have to do anything that I was not comfortable with and he agreed with me when I [discussed] how nudity would be distracting from the real issue," she says.
Now, with one film out, two approaching release and another in the works, Christensen says that she definitely won't be taking a break when The Perfect Score wraps in late September. A perfect time, then, to sound off on a few directors she'd love to work with: "Baz Luhrmann," she says without hesitation, "because I love to sing and dance and I haven't had the opportunity to put that to use yet." Other filmmakers on her wish list include Cameron Crowe, James Cameron ("Maybe he'll be the first one to put me in an action movie," she muses) and Memento director Christopher Nolan. Christensen also reveals the one person in Hollywood with whom she'd really, really love to collaborate: "This is wishful thinking," she says, "but Tom Cruise is top of the list." From Christensen's lips to Cruise's ears. --Fin
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