A very complete Ashley interview, march 30th, 2009

One of the most completes Ashley Scott's interviews...

http://toddgilchrist.com/2009/03/28/interview-ashley-scott/


Interview: Ashley Scott
Honesty is a rare quality among actors, since they’re typically paid to lie, even if it’s in the service of uncovering a greater truth. Ashley Scott is a remarkably straightforward, clear-eyed performer, not only acknowledging what she does, but committing to its truth, even when it involves hanging off of a helicopter chassis 20 feet in the air and pretending she’s flying it. At the same time, she doesn’t take herself too seriously, which why she admits (jokingly) to some unconventional methods of creating chemistry with her co-stars.

I recently sat down with Scott in Los Angeles to discuss her role in the new film 12 Rounds, also starring John Cena, and involving one of those helicopter chassis. In addition to talking about tackling the challenges of action movies, she talked about her own beginnings in Hollywood, and what it means for her to continue to find work as an actor and artist.

When we spoke earlier you said you were doing ADR (re-recording) work. Was that for 12 Rounds?

Ashley Scott: I’m doing ADR for CSI: Miami. I did an episode. It was interesting working on that set. I knew the first A.D. well – he did Birds of Prey with me, actually. So that was really fun getting to work with him, and David Caruso has a very interesting – his techniques are [interesting]. He’s a real ‘actor’, so it was a ball.

When somebody has their own process like that, how does that affect the set or the way you do your job?

Scott: I’m not talking about David Caruso, but I just have a real low tolerance for people that feel like they’re better than [other people] because they’re actors. I think that everyone on set, from craft service to the producers, I think we’re all a team, we’re all that machine trying to make the best product possible. All of us are the same, so I have a really hard time when I feel like someone’s got an air about them, or they’re demanding, or they have attitude. When there’s an actor who’s doing their own techniques and they’re immersed in their own head, I think that’s fine. I respect that – everyone’s got their own way, and I’m a little bit more relaxed.

How did you get into acting in the first place?

Scott: It’s such a crazy story. I was modeling – I dropped out of high school, went to New York, started modeling when I was 16, and I modeled for many years. I think I was about 22 and I was doing a job in Sevilla, Spain, and I was sitting listening to my walkman, and I looked over and there was this girl standing there and smiling and I was like, “oh my God. I’m a clothes hanger.” It just hit me all of a sudden. And I loved modeling; I did it for many years, I made a ton of money, I got to travel all over the world and it was not a bad job, and it was a wonderful way for me to learn. I didn’t go the conventional route. And I remember praying, and I’m not a crazy Christian, but I have my relationship [with God], and I prayed, Lord, I don’t know where you want me, or what you want me to do. I dropped out of high school and I wasn’t making good grades when I was in high school; I’m severely dyslexic so for me that was just miserable. But I thought about teaching, something, and I just had kind of a crazy moment in time where everything stopped, and two weeks later I did a job in Phoenix, Arizona. I was living in Paris at the time, but I came out, and my model agent called me and said, “will you go in? They’re reading models for this movie called S1mone that Al Pacino is doing. I’m like, okay, I guess, but to read a menu to you back then, I was in tears. Reading was really scary for me, and I wasn’t good at it. I didn’t think I was smart, and I was really down in the dumps when it came to stuff like that. But I remembered the prayer, and I really think when you ask God, or you really open up, you get to hear the answers, and the answers came. And I went in and I studied it for days and days, and they asked me to stay another week and asked me to stay another week. Two weeks later I was sitting in a room with Al Pacino reading the script, and I got a call that night saying, “we’re not going to go with you. We’re going with the other girl.” But the director, and not in a creepy way, was like, “I want you to go in and see this agency. You’re really good and you should do this.” I went into Endeavor and I kind of interviewed them; I didn’t know how it all worked. They hired me and then [Steven] Spielberg booked me on A.I. that next week off of my tape from the S1mone thing. And then we kind of fooled everybody; my agents were smart, because when I was reading for things, they were like, “oh, Spielberg just booked her,” which was true but little did they know I had one line. So then I got Dark Angel, and by the time the movie came out and realized I only had one line, I already had another job, so it was good. So it just kind of came to me, and I know how lucky I am. It’s a tough, tough business and I got very lucky. I was really fortunate, and I’ve just been working ever since.


Do you have a process you undertake each time you work on a new role?

Scott: I really kind of just figured it out on my own, and I don’t know if it’s the right way, but I do a lot of character background by myself. Basically, that’s my favorite part – getting a pen out and after reading the script and getting what I can out of what they’ve written for her, doing an intensive background study on this woman. I get to create her any way I want! I get to create, and that’s really my favorite part. I don’t know if it really helps, I mean, I think it helps, but it works for me and I kind of get to know this person. I definitely find when I have to get into really tough things, things where I have to get emotional and upset, I kind of go into my own pain, which affects me. I should probably go learn a different technique (laughs), because it upsets me for days. But it’s the way I work; I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but I love people, I love women, I just love to study them, and it’s really cool that I get to do that for a living.

What sort of background did you create for your character in 12 Rounds?

Scott: Molly Porter? I had an entire folder, a three ring binder. I must have had 20 pages of sh*t about Molly Porter – where she came from, her background, how she was in the Air Force. I brought it to Renny and Josh and said, “let me just read you a couple of things” and broke it all down for them. They were like, “cool – alright. We’re going to give them the job because we feel sorry for her for doing so much work.” (laughs)

After you do all of that work, how much of that do you keep with you on the set? It seems like it might be equally important at some level to be present in the moment. How do you juggle that?

Scott: I think it is in you. Just because of the time that I spent, I created it myself, and it wasn’t handed to me, those emotions and her past become part of mine. So it’s easy to keep that with me. I turn it on when it’s time to turn it on; I don’t hold it with me all day like some actors do.

Was there something that you built her character around?

Scott: She was a medevac pilot, so that was kind of a point to grow from there. Her career is pretty spectacular and that’s amazing, but she was a medevac pilot and she had her own life, and she was strong and smart and I just kind of went from there. I think I wrote that she met John on the site of a crash, basically; she was there, obviously, picking up a patient, and he was there on the job, and I remember writing that. She was in the Air Force before that. 12 Rounds was fun for me. I love doing action; it’s really my favorite thing. It’s filled with action, literally it’s like nonstop, which is exciting; it kind of keeps your heart racing. I think John did a really good job – he was all for it, and put his heart and soul into the performance.

That said, in a given movie, is it enough for you to be happy with just your performance to feel like that was a satisfying experience?

Scott: You hit the nail on the head. I absolutely feel as long as I know that I went in there and did the best job I could and respected and honored the character I was gifted with, I can walk away feeling fulfilled and very happy about the experience. I’m so new, still, and I’m learning something new every time I go on an audition or go do a job, whether it’s [for] Spielberg or Renny or whoever. Like, I learned so much from Shemar Moore on Birds of Prey; he had been acting for 100 years and he was schooled and like finished, and he taught me a lot about acting in a 13-episode experience. It wasn’t necessarily the best show on television; I certainly liked it, but what I walked away with from that is priceless.

What’s your experience been with the fanboy audience, since you were on Birds of Prey and Dark Angel?

Scott: Like Comic-Con? I love it. It’s so me. I love that people get so into it. I mean, I don’t know anything about comic books compared to people that know about comic books. I am not that cool, and I did my best when I was on Birds of Prey to learn as much as I could about Batman and Catwoman because fans were so diehard. They knew everything about Helena Kyle’s background; but I learn a lot from those guys, and it’s awesome.


I hear there’s a campaign being mounted to keep Jericho on the air.

Scott: They’re been doing that since the day we aired (laughs). I mean, our fans have been incredibly supportive – I mean, moreso than any experience I’ve ever had. It was such a grassroots campaign to get the show back on the air, it was just amazing. I mean, I just thought it was so empowering for these fans because they got us back on the air because of their hard work. It was so cool to watch them, so Jericho was a whole different experience. Just like I said, I was so proud; it was like we were fighting the man, and it’s cool to be a part of that.

I heard they were trying to do it yet again.

Scott: Yes, they were trying to do it again, but ideally what I think would be a smart choice, and I wish Jon Turtletaub would jump on it, and I’m sure he would because I know it would make him money, is to make a movie and give us a beginning and an end. Give the fans what they want. We had nine million viewers every week, and that wasn’t enough to put us over the top. I think if they made a movie, it would be so cool, and I think everybody would be psyched about it. But they’ll probably recast me with Amber Valetta, or, I don’t know – who’s a blonde? If they recast me, they’d better put like Meryl Streep (laughs). I couldn’t be mad, I’d just be like, could I be your assistant for the year?

What would you like for that movie to be?

Scott: I’d like to be hired for the trilogy (laughs). That would be ideal. They’ve already signed a comic book deal, so there’s going to be comic books. And yeah, I’d love to see them make a movie, because I’d love to see the fans get what they want, and I think it’s closure and just a little bit more fun. I think the creators are super bright and they write great television, and I hate to see it go to waste.

Does it matter if you wouldn’t do something, if the character would?

Scott: You have to be completely selfless when you take on a character, and open. You’re learning about a new relationship, you have to go with everything. You’re learning something new about that person, and maybe it’s not your type, your thing or what you would do, but it’s not you. If anything, you want to try to get away from you. I think there’s an element of every character where there’s something in me that’s in them. I don’t know if it’s just the way it comes together, or there’s something [the filmmakers] see in you that’s in them, but there’s always something. Maybe it’s because I haven’t acted enough and played a role that’s completely not me, but you have to be selfless and allow that person to be who she is.

It is hard to let go of a degree of self-consciousness? Because if you’re in a situation in a movie that isn’t realistic to you, you might have to say a line of dialogue that is heightened or silly. How tough is it to buy into what you’re doing?

Scott: I mean, you have moments. The day that you were there, we were up in a homemade helicopter with green screen all around in a studio, and I’m supposed to be freaking out while I’m trying to fly a helicopter. I don’t know how to fly a helicopter; I took a few lessons to get the job or to understand what she’s doing. But yeah, you have moments of really intense action, moments when you’re in a make-believe setting, and you’ve got to get your heart rate up and do your thing. Sometimes it seems a little hokey, like, what am I doing? This is my job? Those are kind of hard moments where I’ve got to get into the mood and really put myself there; that’s definitely more challenging than a moment of emotion when you’re having to share something with another person. That comes to me easier than those fast-action moments.

How was it working with Renny Harlin?

Scott: He was great. Renny was really good. He was really professional, he was very fair, he wasn’t screaming and yelling at anybody, and he was such a team player. He was focused, he was well prepared. I found him really enjoyable to work with.

They say you can’t manufacture chemistry between co-stars, but how do you create a sense of intimacy in a movie like this where you might not spend that much time together on screen?

Scott: Well, we have sex, and then after that, we… (laughs). No, John and I, it doesn’t always work that way, but we had a chemistry read before I got the part. I got in a room with him and just did a scene. It’s just the way it works. I mean, I’ve been lucky enough to work with men and women that I’ve had really good chemistry with; I get along with most people anyway naturally, but I got lucky. He and I got along really well, and I really honored and respected his dedication to be a good actor, and the same with Dwayne [Johnson when I did Walking Tall]. They knew the world that they were coming from, so they really gave it their best shot, and I respected that. And that’s sexy, and it becomes something that is of interest. John and I had really good chemistry, we really got along well, and it was nice to work with him. I think when I work with someone who is really dedicated and really gives it their best, because I give it my best, and when I see that in another person it’s attractive.

What are you doing next?

Scott: I’m trying to get a job (laughs). Back to the drawing board. I mean, it’s tough, it’s really tough right now in everyone’s business. I go on auditions now, and during pilot season you usually get like 30 scripts to start, and you get to kind of pick and choose which ones you like, and you go out for it, so you would go to an audition and there would be like six other girls. Now, there’s 36 girls, and they’re all like, we don’t care, we want a job. Everybody is really hungry for work, so it’s really difficult. We’re feeling it in Hollywood just as much as everyone else is across the country. So I’m trying to save my money and bide my time until the next job comes along.