American Pie 2 : Interview With Shannon Elizabeth


Shannon Elizabeth's career is about to go ballistic. First came her sensational teen film debut, American Pie (1999), filled with several high octane sex scenes which included a much-discussed nude scene involving Elizabeth. That single scene did much to turn an otherwise unknown former Taco Bell commercial model into an overnight sex star. That performance led to her being cast in last year's Scary Movie (2000), a sensational parody of teen horror flicks, where her fabulous figure is shown to full advantage.

Today, Shannon Elizabeth continues her assault on our pleasure zones with another sexy stint in AMERICAN PIE 2 (2001), in which the cast from the first film is now reunited in 1st year university. It's the kind of carefree comic romp that Elizabeth hopes will mark the end of one chapter in her career, and the beginning of a new one.

Later this year, audiences will see her play her first serious role in TOMCATS (2001), the Joe Roth-directed cop film in which she plays a policeman who can kick ass with the best of them. In addition, Elizabeth stars opposite Ben Affleck in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), directed by Kevin Smith of CLERKS (1994) fame. . And yes, Elizabeth's extraordinary physique will definitely receive plenty of attention as she will be wearing a rubberised suit!

Interestingly, though one might cynically assume that an actress so beautiful could not possibly have a brain, it must be stated that Shannon Elizabeth is a straight-A student, an academic overachiever who was also a junior tennis champion in her native Texas. Elizabeth's father is Lebanese of Syrian descent and German and Irish on her mother's side. She speaks fluent Arabic and was a talented tap and jazz ballet dancer as a child and teenager.

Her family always stressed her education, and she wound up achieving top honours in her graduating class. But beauty and brains made her an outcast in school, and she was persuaded to try her luck at modelling in New York when she was 17. That led to a quick tour of the world where her fabulous face and physique earned her a sizable income. However, Shannon's ambitions always tended towards acting which she felt was her natural gift.

Shannon, your career took off with the famous sex scene in American Pie (1999). Scary Movie (2000) gave you even more exposure as a sex symbol. And now Tomcats (2001) features you as a sexy, rough-and-tumble, policewoman.

It's been a wild ride for me because I never expected to see my career take off so suddenly. But the sex scene in Pie obviously attracted a lot of attention and now I'm getting all kinds of great movie roles. But I don't want to get a reputation as the sex bomb who likes to show off her breasts and her ass. So I've refused a lot of films which called on me to do nudity because you wind up getting a bad reputation.

Will American Pie 2 (2001) be your last teen comedy for a while?

Probably. I want to make my mark in serious films where my work will get as much attention as my appearance. That's the trap every actress has to escape when your first few films are basically focussing on the whole sex babe image. I don't mind using my sexuality as a way of making people notice me, if that's what it takes to advance to more serious work.

There's a lot of competition in Hollywood and for better or worse a young actress has to find a way to attract attention and build a name for herself. That's why I was pleased with my work in TOMCATS (2001), where I'm able to show people that I can act and that I don't need to show off my boobs anymore.

So we won't see you doing nude scenes in the future?

It depends. I have no problem with being naked but obviously if you're going to have a serious career you have to show people that the first thing they should look at is your acting and not your body. In a few years, if I come across a project that is very good, then I wouldn't object to doing nudity again, but for the time being I'm afraid all those guys out there will have to see me wearing sexy clothes and underwear instead.

Your Syrian ancestry gives you a very exotic look for a Hollywood actress. ..

I think that can be my big advantage. I look different from your usual actress that you see in film and that's going to be a huge help to me in getting work because producers and directors are always looking for some kind of edge. In L. A. there are thousands of beautiful tall, blonde, perfectly-shaped girls looking for work and now here I am as a dark-haired actress who suddenly has all this attention. It's great.

Hollywood people say that Tomcats (2001) is the film that is going to make you a star?

We'll have to see. It's a bit strange for me to suddenly see my face in magazines. I think I've worked in comfortable obscurity for the last two or three years and now I'm wondering how I'm going to feel about people recognizing me. So far though, I only get recognized once in a while and that's fine with me. A few guys have come up to me in airports asking me to autograph their boarding passes, and that's been really cool. Unfortunately, I have to say no when they ask me for my phone number because I have a boyfriend.

You're a fairly well-proportioned young woman. Is it true that during the filming of Scary Movie (2000) last year, director Keenen Ivory Wayans asked the props people to add padding in your bra?

Yes. They wanted to achieve this push-up look and so they kept making me wear tighter tops and bras that pushed my boobs out as far as possible. But when the director wanted to add padding, I just turned around and said, "Hey, do I look like the kind of girl who needs extra padding?" Everybody on the set just burst out laughing. So finally it's just my own healthy breasts that you see in the movie.

In American Pie (1999), you became famous with a fairly risque scene where you masturbate. Do you believe women have just as strong a sexual drive as men?

I think our drives are just as strong but are expressed differently. It doesn't bother me if I go without sex for a few weeks or a few months if I don't have anyone close to me in my life. But I know that most guys go out of their minds if they don't have sex fairly regularly. So I'm sure men are much more likely to masturbate and chase different sexual partners than women are. Men just need to have sex as often as possible and from my own experience the more they get the more they want it. But women aren't like that. We like cuddling and hugging just as much, feeling cosy with a man.

Given the way you look, how have you learned to deal with all the attention from men that you must get?

Sometimes it can be aggravating. When I first went to New York to model I got a lot of men coming on to me at bars which was a whole new scene for me and sometimes it got very nasty if the guys are drunk or won't take no for an answer. I wasn't sexually sophisticated at all and I had to learn how to handle that kind of attention. But every girl who looks fairly attractive is faced with telling men to keep their dicks in their pants.

Did you expect to become famous?

I expected that I would be able to find work and make a decent career for myself. But no, I don't think I ever allowed myself the freedom to believe that I would have a career in Hollywood and making two hit movies in a row. How can you possibly imagine something like that. There's so much luck involved!

How did you become an actress?

I worked as a model for a few years but I didn't make that much money at it and even though I liked all the attention I was getting, I was getting kind of embarrassed seeing my face on billboards doing ads for bras and underwear, and then suddenly I was getting asked out my hundreds of men who recognized me from those ads. It was hilarious. But I always thought I would make a much better actress, so I focussed on that and left modelling as soon as I felt I was starting to earn enough money to support myself.

You've attracted attention thus far as much for your looks as for your talent as an actress. How will you evolve beyond your screen image?

By doing different kinds of roles. I'm definitely attracted to playing dark and troubled women because there's much more challenge involved. It's much more interesting to explore twisted and tormented psychological states of mind than it is to play the girl next door. So I've tried to look for difficult roles as a way of convincing directors and casting agents that I'm a lot tougher than I look!

Does playing sexy women on screen make you feel any more sexy yourself?

It gives a boost to your ego, I guess. I'm wearing a lot more dresses that expose a lot of cleavage and judging by the looks I'm getting from guys I guess I'm not doing so badly. My boyfriend doesn't mind it at all, either. He's always felt that if you're a beautiful woman there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy your body and dressing up. Sometimes of course I hear a lot of pick-up lines from guys in the street or even when I'm driving my car. Usually I just ignore them but if they're getting on my nerves I just tell them to f**k off. I've always had the right technique to be able to deal with jerks.

Does being a sex symbol make you feel more aggressive sexually?

I've always been sexually aggressive! I've always felt that sex was one of the few really purely enjoyable activities in life, and it was one thing I've never been complexed about. Even though my family is fairly conservative, sex was never something I felt ashamed or awkward about. It's healthy and completely liberating if you allow yourself to be carried away by it.

So the sex scenes in American Pie (1999) weren't any problem for you?

Well, it's never that easy to do a sex scene in front of a film crew. But I'm not someone who worries about nudity if that's the nature of the scene. I think the scene was beautiful and erotic in a way without being exploitative. The film was about girls who make a pact to lose their virginity.

You've been a top tennis player, a tap dancer, and a model. But you've never taken an acting class in your life. Are you a natural-born thespian?

I think so. I've always been able to manipulate other people and use acting to get what I want, although only in a nice way, don't get me wrong!. Acting has always been easy for me. I've always been able to come up with the right emotions and reactions whenever the director needed me to do it. It doesn't take any effort at all for me to cry or scream or act confused. All those emotions are running through my system anyway.

How hard was it to get your first roles in TV or film?

When I first started as an actress, the only thing directors wanted me to do was to take my clothes off and jump into bed with the leading man. I didn't want to make a career of being the bimbo girlfriend, and so I've tried to wait for good roles rather than taking the easy money.

In real life, are you flirtatious or reserved in nature?

I'm fairly outgoing and provocative. When I was a teenager I sometimes got myself into trouble by dating different guys at the same time but I like men and I didn't see what was wrong in going out with different guys. That doesn't mean you're sleeping with them. It's fun to be able to shock men sometimes by being flirtatious and trying to turn them on. But since I moved in with my boyfriend last year, that side of me is kept under wraps.

Is it tough for beautiful women to win respect as actors?

You get tired of being treated as a sex object or a bimbo. No one thinks you can do anything but look good and pose for the camera. A lot of directors and casting agents just assume you're dumb because you're pretty. Sometimes I would go to auditions and not get a part just because the casting people automatically assumed I had no talent because of the way I look. I would just go home and cry for hours. Now I'm a lot more confident about what I can do and I'm starting to find good roles that finally allow me to show what I can do.

That's all an actress ever dreams about - the chance to play one good role. That's why getting American Pie (1999) and Scary Movie (2000) were films that made a lot of people notice me. But now I've got to build on that success and earn my fame with great roles rather than great sex scenes.

Author : FeatsPress