You and Regina King really do make a great team.
Yeah, I agree. We're going to be like the new Mel [Gibson] and Danny
Glover. I'm telling you, we're on the road.
Did you know you’d work well together from the moment you met her?
The minute that I sat down with her. Instead of auditioning her, I
said, “Why don't we just talk over tea?” And we blabbed about our lives, and
I said, “Oh my God, me too, me too, me too.” I just sort of loved her as a person.
I was walking back to meet with [director] John Pasquin and I go, “Oh, please let it be everything that it felt like at the table.” Like any good pairing, you need chemistry. You need to be able to ad-lib and throw things back and forth and by the time she left, John and I knew. But we couldn't tell her right then and there because we had to discuss [it]. There are higher ups that you have to say, “Is this okay?”
Diedrich [Bader] and I had worked together before on my first little TV film called “The Preppy Murder.” Remember the guy that killed the girl in Central Park? I don't remember what Diedrich played, and barely remember what I played. I was some coked out, preppy girl who I guess hung out in clubs. But I remember having such a blast with him because he and I were sort of in our first little film and everyone else was a star. And then when I saw him again. I was like, “You're exactly the same.” We auditioned together and it was hilarious. It's like I don't care who the actor is as long as they make me better, selfishly. But you know, if they make me better, “You're hired.” So it was a joy.
Was it your idea to make this one more of a buddy movie?
It was mine and Marc Lawrence's. I mean, it's funny that because I'm
a female, the buddy concept is a whole knew thing. There is kind of love scenes in it, but it's really a comedy. It's there to entertain. They never ask guys about buddy movies because they've been doing them for so long. So I'd like for it to be where a buddy movie whether it's a guy and a girl, a girl and girl, guy and a guy, it shouldn't matter. It's nice to see two people at odds and how they sort of learn to work together ostensibly.
How tough were filming your scenes underwater?
No problem. I'm a diver, a SCUBA diver, so I had no problem. We all
got so sick. By the third day we reached hypothermic levels because we were
in there for 17 hours. I couldn't keep my body temperature up
anymore. So, in some scenes there were hoses pointed at us with hot water
streaming at us. Plus, they gave us wetsuits just to have and they'd dump
the water.
But it's amazing because the whole tank was warm, but the hypothermia I never quite understood. I said, “What do you mean your body doesn't stay warm?” If you're in there though for 17 hours, you're involuntarily shaking. My hair turned yellow and it was like I got out and I had that bad Barbie doll hair after 20 years, where it's kind of yellow and matted. It bleached out my hair. I looked at the hair girl and she goes, “Oh my God.” So we thought, “Oh, we'll cut my hair and I'll wear a wig. No big deal.” But initially that was the most fun, floating around there. I'd take a regulator and we'd float down there. Day three, 17 hours in, it's no fun anymore.
PAGE 3: On the Danger of Sequels and Feeling Like an Outsider
