Jessica Biel: Learning the 'Rules'

Hot-looking Jessica Biel of the TV show 7th Heaven has decided to explore her dark side playing Lara, a campus hoochie who never says "no." Like fellow Rules of Attraction castmate, James Van der Beek, the actress led a chameleon-like existence as she traveled from the set of the raw and twisted social satire film to her TV show where she portrays the much more wholesome Mary Camden. When we spoke to Jessica, who looked relaxed in her jeans and peasant blouse, we discovered that the college sophomore has a lot of diverse interests including Musical Theater.

WARNING: The Rules of Attraction is an R-rated film, and is not for younger teens!

Lara is a totally different part from your character on the TV series. Is that why you took the role?

Jessica: Yes. I loved that she was so different from me. I knew that I would have to just create somebody and make this character happen because I couldn't just be me anymore. Not for this one.

What was the hardest part about the character to portray in this film?

Jessica: It was hard not making her a totally awful human being. It's not so much that I wanted people to love her but she was born in a Holiday Inn. She's pathetic. She does the things she does because she's probably been so hurt, as a child and as a person, as a woman. She was probably taken advantage of and this is the only way she knows how to behave.

Do you know girls like this?

Jessica: I know some girls that I remember from Middle School. I didn't like them at all then and now that I've actually created a person like those girls, I feel bad for them. There was a girl who did some really nasty things to my really good friend, my best friend in the world, I really didn't like this girl and now I just feel sad for her. Now I feel like, 'it's not your fault, really.' You're brought up by one set of parents and they kind of give you these ideas and that's what you live with. It's hard to get rid of.

Was it hard to play a character who in real life you would judge or condemn?

Jessica: Yeah, because that's exactly what you do; you judge. And it was really eye opening to play her because I thought a lot about it and I really sympathize now. I try to not judge at all because you've no clue what's going on in somebody's head. You can't expect to know what they've been through. But it was more fun that I could just be a horrible witch and get away with it with no repercussions or anything because it's a character.

Both you and James Van der Beek were shooting this film and a very successful TV series at the same time. How weird was that?

Jessica: He [James] was going back and forth from North Carolina [on Dawson's Creek] and I was working all day on Seventh Heaven. My call time was like 6 p.m. at Rules of Attraction and I would have to call them and be like, "I'm still here, I'm leaving in like ten minutes," and then I'd get there at 8 o'clock and they'd re-arrange everything, and it was kind of a crazy filming. I would go straight from Seventh Heaven and shooting all day and work all night and sometimes drive home, and be like, "Oh my God," just really tired.

James was saying that he finally found a balance, because his characters are so totally different. Did it work that way for you?

Jessica: I don't think I found a balance. I went to the complete extreme. On Seventh Heaven, I was kind of me, kind of normal, talking about boyfriends and hanging out with Lucy. It was fun and easy, but at night I would throw on my lingerie, throw on my black eyes an just be like, "Rrrr," and just went for it. I don't know why, it kind of helped shooting at night. Lara's always on the prowl like a feline. If she was going to be any animal, she'd be a cat, a sexy jungle cat. Or something that mates with somebody and then bites its head off. [Laughing]

You and co-star Shannyn Sossamon must have a totally different acting process since you are so much more trained and Shannyn is a free spirit. Was it difficult working together?

Jessica: I think we complemented each other. Our backgrounds are so different. I think I have almost a bad habit of knowing my lines too well, word for word. She'll just make stuff up. And it was great for me because I had to improvise with her and I'm not used to that. On Seventh Heaven, we're very strict with our words and they have to be how they are on the page, and if they're not, then you have to re-do it. I'm so structured, and she's so everywhere, and I learned a lot from her. She's so primal and guttural, and I feel like I'm very boringly polished.

Drugs are a big part of the lives of the characters in this film. The characters are all so self-destructive. In your personal life, what is your anti-drug?

Jessica: Exercise and animals. I am such an animal lover. My boyfriend has a dog. He got it like three months before we started dating and I've basically adopted this thing and I totally call it half mine. He's a half-American, half-British bulldog. His name is East. And then at home, my family has a Cocker Spaniel and we have a white cat named Blue and a black cat named Kit Kat and a fish.

You are in college. How can you balance school and your career?

Jessica: I'm only doing four episodes of the show this season. I did three over the summer and I'll do one more probably at Christmas. I'm just basically saying 'no don't call me, I don't wanna hear about the good scripts'. I'm just trying to get another year under my belt, and I think I want to transfer to UCLA after 2 years in Boston [Tufts University], and see if I can get my degree there. I don't know what I'm majoring in yet. I have till the end of spring semester to figure it out. [Tufts] is a totally different environment, different people. It's like a whole world completely separate from my world here, and it's fun. I feel really smart after I finish a year. I feel really accomplished. I did it myself and nobody helped me.

You started singing when you were really young. Do you want to sing in a film some day?

Jessica: Yes! I want to do a Broadway musical so badly. And I wanted to do Moulin Rouge actually when it was Untitled Baz Luhrmann Project. I got to audition for that, and I wanted it so bad. I would love to do a musical on film, I would love to do one on Broadway.

You know Baz is bringing his film to Broadway.

Jessica: [looking at her personal manager] Ooooooo!

Do you have anything else coming up? And are you looking for parts that are always different from the character that you play on TV?

Jessica: If I love the script and if it's a similar character, whatever. I'm looking for something that makes me want to be awesome and take it to the next level. If it's a romantic comedy, I would really love to do that. I really haven't gotten my toes wet at all in that area, and I'm so scared of it. But I just finished the re-make of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

That's kind of a bizarre comedy.

Jessica: It could have been comedy, but we're making something very different. It's totally a re-make, it's not a sequel. It's psychological, scary, gruesome, dark. it's not a spoof, no jokes. We changed things. In the script we'd read "Chainsaw comes down," and she's like, "Noooooooooo!" with "O's" onto the other page. We thought "What would you really do if this was happening to you?" So I think it's going to be really horrifying.

Can we ask how your Seventh Heaven co-star Barry Watson is doing? [Watson was diagnosed with a form of cancer].

Jessica: Yeah, he's writing for the show. He's hanging in there. He's very much a fighter and he's got an excellent attitude, and I think that's 50% [of the battle]. Positive thinking and good attitude, and I just love him to death. (Since this interview, it has been reported that Watson has recovered from his bout with Cancer.)

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