Kate Bosworth: Blue Crushin'

Blonde, blue-eyed, 19-year-old Kate Bosworth plays would-be surf pro Anne-Marie in the new romantic actioner Blue Crush. She's a champion equestrian but had never been on a surfboard before landing the movie role. She started acting on a whim and won the role of Scarlett Johanssen's best friend in The Horse Whisperer. She was Emma in Remember The Titans and, after Blue Crush, will be seen as a druggie college student in The Rules of Attraction. We caught up with Kate in beautiful Hawaii.

TeenHollywood: You're a surfer babe now. Did you ever, in your wildest dreams imagine this?

Kate: Not in my wildest. I lived on the East coast for the most part of my life and the surf there never gets above your ankles so I never imagined I'd be in Hawaii surfing.

TeenHollywood: Was there a moment when you said, 'I can do this'?

Kate: I was really scared at first. I kept a journal and I was reading it the other night. The whole movie is a short boarding movie for surfing and if anybody has tried, short boarding is so much more difficult than long boarding. It's smaller and squirrelly and hard. I didn't know if I'd be able to do it. It was really intimidating to me. The biggest moment for me was when I rode my first wave on my short board and I knew I could do it. I was like really happy.

TeenHollywood: We hear that you had an accident.

Kate: It wasn't ever really the [possibility of] drowning that scared me. It was mostly hitting the reef, having the board hit me. Those are the scarier injuries. When Matt Davis and I are paddling out, he's on that big board and I'm on my short board. That big board went up, at one point, and slammed me square on the head. It knocked me out. I've never been knocked out before and I just went down into the water and the water safety [guy] carried me out. Everyone on the beach was so scared from producers to the average citizen. I was limp like this in his arms...people were freaking out. "Oh my God." I went to the hospital and I got a scan. That was scary. Maybe you'll see me as a limp body in an outtake.

TeenHollywood: After that you didn't drop out of the movie?

Kate: I'm an equestrian, a show jumper, so my philosophy is "get back on the horse," literally. And that's what I brought with me to surfing. I'm always a risk taker I think. Surfing is just part of it. I'd have to say that horseback riding, in a weird way, helped me here with the fear factor, to get back on and you're gonna fall undoubtedly and the balance helped me. The balance on a horse is just as critical as the balance on a board.

TeenHollywood: Are you living in L.A. now?

Kate: I just moved to L.A. I deferred from college. I got out of high school, deferred from college and I have a spot in 2003 back on the East coast and so I'm just living in L.A. for about two years working before I go to school.

TeenHollywood: Was the first time you wrote a letter to Princeton asking for a deferment the hardest?

Kate: I was very sold on education. That's really, really important to me and I think important to a lot of young people. The dean sent me a letter and he recommended deferring. Deferring kind of gives you that well-roundedness. So when you go to college, you want to go to learn and not just party. I know I'll go to take advantage of the resources there. The hardest letter for me to write was to ask for another year of deferment. I was like, please don't kill me. I want to go to your school. Timing is everything. That couple of days waiting for the letter back was the longest wait I've had. He was like go for it. Live your dreams. So I'm forever in debt to Princeton. I think they're great.

TeenHollywood: Okay, dish the dirt. By comparison, is kissing Matt Davis just another day at the office?

Kate:[laughs] I mean, it's a very special day at the office, okay? Knock my socks off, baby. No, it's a little weird.

TeenHollywood: Do you guys pop a Certs or something?

Kate: What's really good are those Starbucks mints that like rip your mouth out they're so strong. In a couple of hours you're still like minty fresh. So that's the secret to kissing scenes I guess.

TeenHollywood: So do you have a boyfriend?

Kate: I'm a relationship type of girl. Let's put it that way. The relationships I've had have been two years, two years, two years. I'm sort of in a relationship now. Note: Rumor says she's dating a surf instructor.

TeenHollywood: You wear a very sexy black, lowcut dress in the movie.

Kate: It was an Armani dress and I tried it on before I even left for Hawaii. There were like seven of them because I jumped in the lagoon so they had to have extras. John [Stockwell, the director] had wanted me to dive in head first and I forgot so I just ran out and started my scene. I was up to here and I didn't dive in so I'm like dry and I hear 'Cut! Kate, you're supposed do dive in'. I'm like, whoops, there's another four grand for Universal 'cause I screwed up.

TeenHollywood: Do you have a crush on an actor you would like to work with?

Kate: My favorite is Matt Damon. He's like a really good person and that's my type, you know. He rides horses. That works for me. Age doesn't matter but I've never met him.

TeenHollywood: What is your natural high in life?

Kate: I guess one of the main highs for me was when I got my first role in The Horse Whisperer and fell in love with acting. And it was like when you meet that person you want to be with for the rest of your life. You're like this is it. This is what I want to do. So that was great.

TeenHollywood: Do you ever surf the net?

Kate: It's my generation...come on. I'm not very good on computers but I think they're amazing. I like a shopping site but I'll never do it again. It's like, did I spend that much money? It's all hypothetical until you actually get the bills. I spent like a couple of thousand. It's stupid because I got a pair of shoes and a tee-shirt and it's like five thousand dollars. My God.

TeenHollywood: The girls in the film had to live together while shooting. Did you feel like a team?

Kate: We're all really good-hearted people which is important to me for the people I surround myself with and we're really strong women so I think that's what we appreciate about each other.

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.