Post by Chris on Apr 2, 2006 12:31:40 GMT
Jessica Biel has been having a lazy summer, “I’ve been playing a lot of volleyball at the beach with friends, going to the movies and having barbecues in my back yard,” she says, “I’m not working out nearly as hard as I usually do, which actually kind of bugs me.” For this 23-year-old actress, being physical is second nature. She spent her entire childhood in Boulder, Colorado, outdoors, playing soccer, rafting and skateboarding. For a couple of recent roles, she sweated up to five hours, six days a week, doing cardio work, weights, archery, boxing and martial arts. For Biel, a slacker routine means only hitting the gym three to four times a week. (That’s on top of Tae Bo and ballet classes, running and frolicking on the beach.) At this point we probably should mention that there are a few naked thighs this side of Mia Hamm’s that look as spectacular as Biel’s. For the past five years or so the actress has acquired legions of squealing boy fans thanks to her performances as a lusty, uber-fit, distressed damsel in the 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and a lusty, uber-fit pilot of fighter planes in the high-octane action pic Stealth.
The actress has an unaffected, toothy charm and all the assets of a classic all-American starlet: big smile; sporty mien; healthy, beautiful hair and a sunny disposition. Her uncomplicated appeal is a bit old-fashioned, like the faces of models in ‘70s print advertisements. She could be the Katharine Ross of her generation, except she has yet to find her Graduate – she needs a perfect showcase for her gifts. “If I had my wish, I’d be most interested in tackling some real comedy.” She says, “That’s the one thing that I feel like I haven’t been able to explore. It’s a terrifying idea, ‘cause I’m not naturally a comedian, but I’d love to give it a try. I say that,” she adds, “but then the next thing I’ll probably do is going ta be something incredibly brutal!”
Biel’s early career evolved, predictably enough, from school musicals to modelling and commercial work. At 14 she came to L.A. and auditioned for a TV pilot that unexpectedly blew up into a hit. She became Mary Camden, the rebellious, premarital-sex-indulging daughter of a preacher on the Christian soap 7th Heaven, for seven years and maybe a few seasons too many. In 1999, she posed topless in Gear magazine. The move shocked the show’s tween audience, upset her parents and royally pissed off show producer Aaron Spelling. Sensing an impending backlash, he hastily dispatched Mary to some far-odd destination, seldom to be seen or heard from. Biel was delighted. She enrolled at Tufts University and thought earnestly about pursuing a degree in art history or music theory. “The reason I left 7th Heaven was to go to college,” she says now, “It was time for me to go. I needed a life, I needed to be an 18-year-old and be around kids my age and not have as much responsibility.”
She was soon back in the Hollywood fray, taking chances with a couple of roles that didn’t necessarily score her big points with the critics. (Rogert Ebert on the Chainsaw remake – “contemptible, vile, ugly, and brutal’”; on Blade Trinity – “a mess”). “Those were very important movies,” she says, “I needed to make a transition from television to film but I found that a lot of people didn’t give me a chance because I was the girl from 7th Heaven. I needed to do something drastically different. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was something that came to me and said, ‘No way! This is a crazy idea to remake this, it’s nuts!’ But meeting with the director, sitting down with the script, and talking to the producer – they completely sold me on it. It changed my mind, and it changed my career.”
But back to the future: Biel’s upcoming parts include playing a careerist shoe executive in Cameron Crowe’s quirky ensemble comedy Elizabethtown. Her role, albeit small, was bliss. “Working with Cameron Crowe was an experience that I’ll never forget,” she says. “It was lovely – so creative, completely a collaboration. I would work for Cameron every day for the rest of my life if I could!” In addition to a gritty upcoming indie called London, Biel has already wrapped her next project, a lavish, baroque period piece set in 1900s Vienna titled The Illusionist. Biel is a countess who falls in love with an old childhood friend and magician played by Edward Norton, and it sounds like a perfectly romantic counterpoint to her recent darker roles.
“I loced it because it’s almost an old-school Hollywood love story, which is very hard to find these days. There’s too much money in action movies and sci-fi thrillers,” she concludes. In the background, her bulldog East pipes up in agreement: “Woof!”
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Written by Sorina Diaconescu
The actress has an unaffected, toothy charm and all the assets of a classic all-American starlet: big smile; sporty mien; healthy, beautiful hair and a sunny disposition. Her uncomplicated appeal is a bit old-fashioned, like the faces of models in ‘70s print advertisements. She could be the Katharine Ross of her generation, except she has yet to find her Graduate – she needs a perfect showcase for her gifts. “If I had my wish, I’d be most interested in tackling some real comedy.” She says, “That’s the one thing that I feel like I haven’t been able to explore. It’s a terrifying idea, ‘cause I’m not naturally a comedian, but I’d love to give it a try. I say that,” she adds, “but then the next thing I’ll probably do is going ta be something incredibly brutal!”
Biel’s early career evolved, predictably enough, from school musicals to modelling and commercial work. At 14 she came to L.A. and auditioned for a TV pilot that unexpectedly blew up into a hit. She became Mary Camden, the rebellious, premarital-sex-indulging daughter of a preacher on the Christian soap 7th Heaven, for seven years and maybe a few seasons too many. In 1999, she posed topless in Gear magazine. The move shocked the show’s tween audience, upset her parents and royally pissed off show producer Aaron Spelling. Sensing an impending backlash, he hastily dispatched Mary to some far-odd destination, seldom to be seen or heard from. Biel was delighted. She enrolled at Tufts University and thought earnestly about pursuing a degree in art history or music theory. “The reason I left 7th Heaven was to go to college,” she says now, “It was time for me to go. I needed a life, I needed to be an 18-year-old and be around kids my age and not have as much responsibility.”
She was soon back in the Hollywood fray, taking chances with a couple of roles that didn’t necessarily score her big points with the critics. (Rogert Ebert on the Chainsaw remake – “contemptible, vile, ugly, and brutal’”; on Blade Trinity – “a mess”). “Those were very important movies,” she says, “I needed to make a transition from television to film but I found that a lot of people didn’t give me a chance because I was the girl from 7th Heaven. I needed to do something drastically different. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was something that came to me and said, ‘No way! This is a crazy idea to remake this, it’s nuts!’ But meeting with the director, sitting down with the script, and talking to the producer – they completely sold me on it. It changed my mind, and it changed my career.”
But back to the future: Biel’s upcoming parts include playing a careerist shoe executive in Cameron Crowe’s quirky ensemble comedy Elizabethtown. Her role, albeit small, was bliss. “Working with Cameron Crowe was an experience that I’ll never forget,” she says. “It was lovely – so creative, completely a collaboration. I would work for Cameron every day for the rest of my life if I could!” In addition to a gritty upcoming indie called London, Biel has already wrapped her next project, a lavish, baroque period piece set in 1900s Vienna titled The Illusionist. Biel is a countess who falls in love with an old childhood friend and magician played by Edward Norton, and it sounds like a perfectly romantic counterpoint to her recent darker roles.
“I loced it because it’s almost an old-school Hollywood love story, which is very hard to find these days. There’s too much money in action movies and sci-fi thrillers,” she concludes. In the background, her bulldog East pipes up in agreement: “Woof!”
_______________________________________________
Written by Sorina Diaconescu
