Jessica Biel: Classic Horror Queen

After her long stint as a minister's daughter on t.v.'s "7th Heaven", Jessica Biel has been working virtually non-stop in feature film. She is now shooting a sequel to the vampire actioner Blade with Wesley Snipes and has learned how to "slit a bad guy's throat with a credit card!". In theaters Friday, find Jessica in the re-make of the horror classic that launched them all, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (a sequel of which introduced Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey). When we chatted with the hot actress, she was very open about her career choices, putting finishing college on hold, how she spends her down time and she admits that she's not a wild party girl but getting Punk'D might be fun!.

TeenHollywood: What made you want to do a re-make of a horror classic like Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

Jessica: The script. I really liked the script. I loved meeting with Marcus [director Marcus Nispel]. He just had such a different idea of what this could be and what he wanted it to be. I just didn't expect it. Didn't expect what he was going to say. That was a big attraction for me.

TeenHollywood: Had you seen the original?

Jessica: I think when I was younger, pieces of it. I didn't really remember it. But I saw it before we shot.

TeenHollywood: Can you do research for a film like this?

Jessica: Yeah, definitely. I used the original a little bit to research my character. I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do with her, but this was to see what happened in the original movie that I didn't like, what I thought we could improve upon, and what I thought was great, maybe some sort of a vibe that we needed to keep.

TeenHollywood: What didn't you like about the original film?

Jessica: There was no character development at all. I didn't even care about the characters. I was like 'Well, die already.' The only person I was really interested in was the main girl who was really good. And especially when she gets alone by herself. I didn't feel like I knew the other characters at all and couldn't relate to them. And that's what I really wanted to change, that's what I noticed. I was like this has got to change immediately because that's the only way people are going to like this movie is if they like these characters and they want them to stay alive.

TeenHollywood: Everyone had to look pretty grungy and freaked. Did you have any makeup at all?

Jessica: Not much. We started the day usually- - of course we had foundation and stuff like that but I wore chapstick, I wore a tinted chapstick, and mascara and by lunch it just was all gone. A lot of being sweaty was real.

TeenHollywood: You are going in high gear for most of the movie. How emotionally taxing was the shoot? Did you cry yourself to sleep?

Jessica: That was one thing I did not do. I cried so much during the day. I would just go home and pass out. I was just out. I didn't dream, I didn't have nightmares. It was so taxing. I just remember every day my eyes and my eyelids, I looked like I'd been in a boxing match. My lips were swollen, my eyelids were swollen, I just cried all day long. It was like being premenstrual for like a month at a time.

TeenHollywood: What was the hardest stuff for you to shoot in Texas Chainsaw?

Jessica: I guess the obvious answer is the running, but the most physical scene in "Texas" for me was dragging Tucker [Jonathan Tucker] around. Tucker, he was into it and he literally just let himself be dragged. And he might look like he's not going to weigh a lot, but he's heavy! And I dragged him many, many takes and after that, I was- - my muscles were burning. That was a really hard scene.

TeenHollywood: Did your character Erin respond in a way that Jessica would not have?

Jessica: I always wonder if I wouldn't just freeze. I think Erin's brain's working a lot quicker than mine would have worked. I think I would have frozen. I hope I wouldn't leave my friends. I might've just taken off. I'd like to think that I would make the same choices that she would make. I mean, I thought she did a pretty good job. She did make some mistakes of course. I don't know if I would've even been thinking about the baby. But all in all it was pretty good.

TeenHollywood: Next up is an action role in the Blade sequel. Did the physicality of this prepare you for that film?

Jessica: Yeah, I guess it did. I did a lot of running in this movie. Blade, I've been training like a maniac. It's so much more physically demanding than Texas Chainsaw Massacre was.

TeenHollywood: How will you handle being the lead on a film for Blade?

Jessica: It's always nerve-wracking for me I think. I always feel like I got myself into something that I don't know if I'll be able to do as well as I want to. It's always a concern when you star in something, especially something that is such a huge budget and huge people and everyone is expecting so much great stuff. It's kind of nice with "Texas", no one expected anything. [On Blade], I feel a lot of pressure to look right physically to make this character look believable and realistic, like she can kick these guys in the head. And also, if this movie were to be great, Blade/Wesley would kind of be handing the torch off to Ryan and I. If it's good, there might be possibility of a spin-off. And so that's a little scary. Oh my God, more pressure? But it's also very exciting. Martial arts is really fun. Every day, instead of having these long dialogue scenes or long crying scenes, I'm just fighting with cool stunt people and we're making this great action and it's nothing like I've ever done before.

TeenHollywood: Does doing martial arts make you feel hot and powerful?

Jessica: (smiling) Yeah.! You feel incredibly strong. I feel confident really. I walk down the street now and I'm sort of like 'Somebody screw with me. I will savat you in the head and kick you in the shins so fast. I'd slit your throat with my credit card.' I know all these things. [The martial arts master] is teaching me self defense. Just so you know, ladies, you can slit somebody's throat with a credit card if you need to, which I didn't know until two days ago. [you go, gurl!!]. What's cool about it is it's not going to be anything like Crouching Tiger. No one's like spinning through the air. This is back to old school fighting techniques. I'm just kicking people in the head all the time.

TeenHollywood: Does your Blade character have any superpowers?

Jessica: No superpowers. I'm completely human. I'm just very badass. I'm an archer, so I've been working with this compound bow for the last month and a half. That's my signature weapon. [move over, Legolas!].

TeenHollywood: Okay, gurlz wanna know. Wait, if you look hot, guys wanna know too...Do you get to wear a cool outfit?

Jessica: I have a cool outfit but it's not very Blade. I'm not in leather pants and a leather shirt. I'm more casual. My outfit that I like the best is almost like workout pants. Like black workout stretch pants and I have a cool brown leather vest. And I'm wearing like a sports bra. I'm really dressed for the part because there's no way you could go out in a wonderbra and do this.

TeenHollywood: After "7th Heaven", are you still trying to break away from the family oriented image in your career?

Jessica: I don't want to break away from any image. Seventh Heaven has been wonderful to me. The only thing they ever gave me was a strong character who was a normal girl who made mistakes, like every other kid makes, but who is still smart and who's an athlete which is a good thing for girls to look up to. I think that image is a really great image. It was never a conscious choice. When Rules of Attraction came along, I met with Roger and he was amazing. And I thought, "I've got to be part of this." Texas Chainsaw Massacre came along, I met with Marcus and I thought, "I have to be part of this." It was never like, "Okay, Rules of Attraction, I'll look hot and sexy and older." It was never about that. And in Texas now I'm strong and cool. It was never like "Let's get away from that image." It just kind of happened. I think also as you get older, you're tastes change.

TeenHollywood: What's it like to juggle college in the mix?

Jessica: I actually am not at Tufts at the moment. I'm taking a break. It was so hard to be involved with both. Especially being at Tufts which was so far away, if I ever needed to do anything, it was six hours to get to an audition for a day to come back for my European history test. It was crazy. So, I did get out of school.

TeenHollywood: Would you go back?

Jessica: Yes, definitely.

TeenHollywood: Are you studying theater?

Jessica; No, I was just taking a lot of core classes, a lot of classes to get my credits out of the way. I was pretty sure I didn't want to do a film or a theater major. I think I'm more interested in art history. Art history and a religion, or something. I don't know, something that's very different from anything I've done so far.

TeenHollywood: Will you guest on "Seventh Heaven"?

Jessica: Yeah, I am. I was in two episodes in the beginning of the season. I'm probably just doing three or four. Warner Brothers and Aaron Spelling are being so gracious and just allowing me to come in and out. They'll call me and say, "We have a great episode. Would you do part of it?" And then I'm like "Yes, it works in my schedule, thank you so much." They're allowing me to do other things and still be a part of the family which is so great. It's so awesome.

TeenHollywood: What's a wild night out for you?

Jessica: I do like to go out, but I'm much more of a homebody. So my wild night out is probably going to be boring. But I guess it would be going out with a group of friends and going to dinner and there's a place down by my house in Santa Monica, Rene's. It's this little neighborhood bar. I walk to it, it's great. Then... getting Punk'd and being really confused, right? At Tufts, I went to some frat parties. That gets old really quickly.

TeenHollywood: Would you do another t.v. series?

Jessica: Right now I'm really enjoying working on film. I'm really enjoying the process of getting to know a character and making up a backstory and knowing I'm only going to be a part of this character's life for three months. And really diving into it. And the process is so slow. It's so different from television. I expected to get on set and fly through eight pages like we do on "Seventh Heaven", and you go through maybe two sometimes. I like the process of having 15 takes if we want and trying so many different ways to say something. Or, stopping- - literally stopping everything, halting production and talking to the director for two hours because you can. I really am enjoying that at the moment.

TeenHollywood: What would be the best pickup line a guy could use on you?

Jessica: Something not cheesy. Well, it's either got to be incredibly cheesy like, "Wow, that takes a lot of guts to say that to somebody. You've got to be an interesting person." Or something just very straightforward. I think, "Wow, you look great. I would love to take you out." Something really straight forward, or on the other end, very, very ridiculously over the top that makes me go, "Who are you? Talk to me."

TeenHollywood: Are you able to go out and hang out without getting too much attention?

Jessica: Yeah, I really can actually. I mean, sometimes people come up. I'm 21, I can go to a bar and there are people my age and older. They're usually like, 'What's up? I love your stuff.' And then they kind of go back to their business. In other places, it's not so easy, where there's younger kids. They get a little crazy.

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