Did your character in this film have a real name? They always refer to her as Popeye.
Yeah, her real name is Lavender.
Why do they call her Popeye?
To this day, I don’t think I know that. There was a reason in the first draft but I think it got cut out. I think she just wanted people to call her Popeye. She was like, “No, my name’s Popeye from now on.”
Would you consider this another one of your controversial movies?
No. No. See, this is good because this balances it all out. Everybody’s like, “You’re really attracted to the dark, extreme stuff, right?” I’m like, “No, I just like doing good movies.”
And nobody is being sexually harassed…
Nobody. I’m a completely normal girl. I don’t cry. I don’t scream. I’m not angsty. I’m really happy but I fall in love with a gay guy. But, you know, at least I’m sane. So there you go. I got the sweet movie for everybody.
You’ve been able to avoid all the so-called “teen-aimed” films. Is that by design?
It is. I do kind of avoid it. It’s just not my thing. They’re not the kind of movies that I want to watch. I usually just do movies that I would like going to see.
What kinds of scripts are you least interested in seeing?
If I picked up a script and it was all about car racing and there were absolutely no consequences and they were just kind of wrecking cars. I hate watching movies where there are giant car chases and they’re hitting cars and getting into accidents and they never [say], “Hey, what about the people you just killed?” I try to avoid that. If I’m going to do anything extreme, I want it to have consequences.
So if they offered you a million dollars to do “Fast and Furious 3” you’d turn it down?
I would! I’d be like, “Nah, I’m not gonna do that. I don’t want to put that out there.”
What’s the toughest role you’ve played?
Probably “Pretty Persuasion,” the newest one that was at Sundance. That was definitely the hardest role because I had most of the dialogue in the movie. I had to figure out a way to make this girl really evil, but still be charming. And make this girl really, really smart and have a lot of things going on in her head but have absolutely no heart and be completely dead inside. Finding that balance was really hard.
Will there be a “Thirteen” sequel?
No. I don’t think so. I don’t think people can take any more.
Have you started work on “Down in the Valley” yet?
It’s all done. I just saw it for the first time three weeks ago or something. I’m excited. I’m really interested to see how people are going to react because it’s really different. People are either gonna fall in love with it or not get it. But, I personally think that it’s the best work that Edward Norton has done. The acting in it is amazing. I’m interested to see. My career will be over or it’ll keep going on.
Is it true you really have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do?
Yeah, I do. Me and my mom. I’ve had it since I was 12.
Would you like to play an action heroine since you’re into martial arts?
Maybe, yeah. I’d be up for that. Why not? I got to do Tae Kwon Do on “Once and Again” once, but that was as far as it wen
