"Eye to Eye" with Jessica Alba

Gorgeous Jessica Alba has the most beautiful big, brown eyes. So, why did she want to play a blind girl? We asked her about her new scary thriller re-make The Eye when we sat down with her in Beverly Hills recently. Jessica and her fiancee, producer Cash Warren, are expecting a baby in late Spring or early Summer. The couple met when Jessica was starring in The Fantastic Four and Cash was a director's assistant.

I've got to say that the actress looks like she hasn't gained a pound. No puffy pregnant bod for this beauty. By her own admission, Jessica is comfortable dressing as a tomboy but looked very girlie cute for our interview wearing a cream, puffy-sleeved, gauze-like tunic blouse with gold and copper beadwork around the neckline, her usual skinny jeans and some sweet yellow flats. Delicate pearl earrings and bracelet completed her feminine look.

The actress let us know that she has a new respect for the blind after doing the film. We wanted to know all about her pregnancy, her fave horror films, her research for her leading role as a blind girl with a haunting connection to her cornea donor's life and what's next for the hot mama-to-be. Let's launch our chat with the style info...

TeenHollywood: Very cute outfit! Tell us about your clothes.

Jessica: I think [my blouse] used to be a dress and I turned it into a shirt and I made my regular skinny jeans into maternity pants [laughs].

TeenHollywood: Wow, you cook, act and sew too! Hey, you're not showing at all. It's amazing.

Jessica: Really? You haven't seen my tummy. My tummy is like poof [indicates big and round].

TeenHollywood: How are you dressing for maternity? How is it different than your everyday style?

Jessica: I probably dressed more kind of like a tomboy before. You know, jeans, t-shirt, sneakers. I could kind of get away with [that]. Now, nothing fits. The jeans, you've got the panel so like the t-shirts are all like stretched in the wrong places and my shoes are too small. Everything is just different. I'm just all about cashmere sweaters and leggings kinda.

TeenHollywood: You look great! Is this role in The Eye the most challenging role you've ever had?

Jessica: It kind of was. 'Dark Angel' was quite challenging because I really had to carry that and do everything in that but, since then, yeah. It was intense having to play violin and having to play somebody who is blind and becomes sighted and starts to lose her mind a bit, seeing things that aren't there. It was quite challenging and definitely why I wanted to do it. I like horror movies and I've wanted to do one for a while and I've read many over the years and, this one, [with] the psychological thriller aspect, I felt like it was intelligent and complex.

TeenHollywood: She regains her sight after being blind for most of her life. Was it harder playing blind or playing the adjustment to sight?

Jessica: The adjustment to sight for sure because I'm so used to seeing. Like in this room, instead of looking at [your] face, I'd probably focus more on the table because that's the one thing that stands out; the white of the table and then maybe like the color of a shirt. You kind of pick up on things differently.

TeenHollywood: What did you learn from the blind lady you met and did your research with?

Jessica: I learned that just because you are blind and have this handicap that it really doesn't need to impede anything in your life except for driving. That's the only thing she doesn't do. She travels by herself, takes subways and taxis. She goes to Europe. She was walking on the wrong side of the road in England; crossing the street and people who are sighted still can't really figure that out [laughter]. I just thought it was incredible that she gets around in life. Most cities aren't equipped with Braille so she has to rely on other people to tell her if it's a women's room or a men's room or what's on the menu if she wants to buy something and, when she goes shopping, she has to trust that the sales clerk is telling her the right colors so she can label everything properly.

TeenHollywood: What I really admired about your character was that she did have this disability but she was okay with it. Was it hard for you to wrap your mind around her being okay with being blind?

Jessica: No. I wanted it to be not something that she had to cope with but something that was part of who she was and she was fine with it and totally functioning in the world and quite independent and self-sufficient. She had a regular job. It's society that tells you that you need to be like everyone else and that was a reason why she did it [had a cornea transplant]. Primarily her sister [pushed it] and, when she got her sight, is when she actually became more handicapped than ever and she sort of fell apart. I liked that mentality.

TeenHollywood: What's your biggest fear?

Jessica: I think probably losing touch with reality. Losing my sense of sanity.

TeenHollywood: Then, this movie must have been really scary for you.

Jessica: Yeah. You start to feel disconnected.

TeenHollywood: What's the scariest horror film that you've ever seen?

Jessica: I saw Nightmare on Elm Street when I was five. I snuck behind my parents' couch and I watched it. I didn't sleep in the middle of my bed forever! [Johnny Depp gets sucked into his bed and killed in the film]. I think all the way up until I was 13, I still didn't sleep in the middle of my bed because I thought I was going to be sucked in. I've watched Poltergeist and anything that has demons or ghosts or this thing that is torturing your soul and no one else can see it. Psycho is a good one and The Birds and [Stephen King's] "It" [a TV movie]. I'm less of a fan of the super gory.

TeenHollywood: Your were pretty active in the movie. Was the role very physically demanding?

Jessica: A lot of running. Wow, running and at the end was quite tough because it was below freezing. It was below zero when we were shooting that. I think it was negative two. It was so cold and I just had a little jacket on and so that was tough. We were shooting nights for about two weeks and then I guess in the burning building, in the burnt Chinese restaurant because it was such a transition. Then, I've got four pages of dialogue that I'm just going on and on and on about everything that's happened. That was pretty tough.

TeenHollywood: Did you reference the original Chinese film at all, the original actress's performance?

Jessica: No. I definitely did my own interpretation. I appreciated her take and how stoic she was and sort of quiet her performance was. But, she comes from an Eastern way of looking at ghosts. It's kind of a part of the culture, the mysticism and it's a little more accepted and, in Western culture, it's like crazy and ludicrous and it's like 'you're losin' your frickin' mind'. So, we sort of approached it with more of a Western mentality where everyone thinks she's going crazy and she starts to question her own sanity.

TeenHollywood: Have you ever seen a ghost or what do you think of ghosts?

Jessica: I haven't seen a ghost but I'm not closed-minded about it. I think there are too many things that have happened to people in my life who are close to me and there are too many things that people see and hear. I don't really know if you can say it doesn't exist point blank.

TeenHollywood: Do you have any big plans for Valentine's Day coming up?

Jessica: [laughs] I haven't even thought about Valentine's Day. I'm getting over Christmas.

TeenHollywood: Is it usually a big deal for you?

Jessica: I don't know. I'm sure, certain years it's important but every day is kind of Valentine's Day when you're in love with somebody.

TeenHollywood: Awwww. So true. You were responding on set in this film to things that will only be there later via effects. Did you have the two directors telling you what you were seeing? How did that work?

Jessica: Well, a bit of that was there and there were some instances where I did see the shadow guy and I did see the ghosts and they showed me what the ghosts would be doing and then they took [the people] out. [Like] where a girl is coming at me, she really came at me. They did that and then she did her bit and I did my bit and I kind of had an idea of how it was going to go. The guy in the elevator stood behind me and showed me exactly where he was going to be and how close he was going to be to me and the little kid [did too].

TeenHollywood: Creepy report card kid? He's always asking if you've seen his report card. He was really spooky!

Jessica: [laughs] Yeah and he said the same thing over and over and over again. What a nightmare!

TeenHollywood: Could you see through the cloudy contacts you had to wear?

Jessica: No. I couldn't see at all. On the set they didn't really want me walking around so I had to get taken in a wheelchair everywhere. There's cables and plywood and cameras [to trip over] and it hurts your eyes I think if you keep continuing to put them in and out. You have to let them sit in there for a while.

TeenHollywood: What was the experience like of really not being able to see?

Jessica: Claustrophobic, a little bit. It wasn't every day, but some days it was long periods of time of not being able to see. I was relieved to get my sight back when I got it. Even having the bloodshot contacts in really impairs your vision. It was trippy.

TeenHollywood: You cook, right? What's your best recipe?

Jessica: I don't know. I kind of just cook anything that I feel like. I did Cornish game hens with a cranberry stuffing and mashed pureed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. I do different salads and stuff. I like to change it up.

TeenHollywood: You shot a lot of this in Albuquerque. Did you and leading man Alessandro Nivola hang out off set and do anything?

Jessica: We went to the director's house quite a bit. In Albuquerque there's really only one restaurant that's pretty good. You can only take Applebee's and Chili's so much. Our big day was hanging out at Walmart for five hours. It was like, 'Yeah Walmart!' [Note: Hey, I went to college in Albuquerque and there are many great restaurants and things to do. Poor Jessica was deprived of the good stuff].

TeenHollywood: How was it working with two directors? [The Eye is directed by French filmmakers David Moreau and Xavier Palud].

Jessica: It was good because one was more technical and the other sort of worked with us, the actors. It was kind if like Robert [Rodriquez] and Frank [Miller]. Robert sort of took the more technical side and Frank was more with the actors.

TeenHollywood: What if your child wants to grow up and become an actor, would you be okay with that?

Jessica: I want my kid to be a nerd. I want him to be really, really smart and want him to be in the band or orchestra or something. No, it's just a joke I have with my fiancee. He can't be cool. Our kid has to be a nerd. Whatever your child wants to be, you want to support him but it's not something that I'd be pushing my kid to do at all. I think it's important for your kid to find their own way.

TeenHollywood: What are you most looking forward to about motherhood?

Jessica: I don't know. Seeing the baby. I want it to be here right now! I can't imagine what it's going to be like until it happens.

TeenHollywood: What's the most surprising thing you've learned about being pregnant?

Jessica: I kind of knew about everything else except for being so tired. You're quite tired. It really is taxing on your body.

TeenHollywood: Is there anything you're dreading? I'm sure people have told you lots of horror stories?

Jessica: Of course you hear lots of horror stories, but none of them really end in like 'I would never do that again'. They always end in 'it's the best thing that's ever happened to me'. So, no matter what, it's always the greatest gift someone has had in their life. Anything can happen and I always try to keep a very positive attitude and hopefully my baby feels that energy.

TeenHollywood: Do you want to have a big family?

Jessica: Yeah. I'm surrounded with lots of family. Family is important to me.

TeenHollywood: Will you do less physically-demanding roles after becoming a mother?

Jessica: No, I don't think so. I still have to find a really good action movie for me to do. Obviously with 'Dark Angel' I have a lot of practice.

TeenHollywood: Any thought of making 'Dark Angel' into a film?

Jessica: We've talked about it. I want to work with Jim [Cameron] so I would pretty much do anything he wants to do.

TeenHollywood: How long until we get Fantastic Four 3?

Jessica: I have no idea. I know the writers strike and the impending actors strike has kind of put a wrench in everything production-wise. That film takes a lot of prep, a good six months of prep and about six months to shoot. With the strike, I think, maybe it's put on hold.

TeenHollywood: In the Fantastic Four comics your character becomes a mother. Would you like to see that in the film?

Jessica: Little Franklin? Yeah, I think that would be hilarious. He's so powerful, I think that would be a really interesting dynamic; a mother-child dynamic. She's still a superhero but she's super-protective and he's wild. He can do anything and has no sense of what's appropriate, that would be really fun.

TeenHollywood: What other projects are you working on now?

Jessica: I did a comedy with Mike Meyers called The Love Guru which is his first original character since Austin Powers. That's funny. It's coming out I think in the summer. That was a completely different movie. I finished The Eye then I went on press tour for "Fantastic Four" then I had about a month break, then I started "Love Guru." It was like night and day. It couldn't have been more different. Hanging out with Mike [Myers] and watching him, seeing how his brain works. Wow he's a genius. He's really, really talented. He's wild. I play more the straight man in that one. I get to do some fun stuff but he's definitely the crazy one.

TeenHollywood: What about Sin City 2?

Jessica: I haven't read a script and I don't know anything about it and Robert and Frank haven't talked to me about it at all.

TeenHollywood: Oookay! Do you have a dream role that you'd like to play one day?

Jessica: It changes because, depending on what age I am, it becomes more appropriate to fill different shoes. When I was younger I was always fascinated with Mata Hari. She was a spy and an exotic dancer. You know she got assassinated. I thought she was pretty cool. She was of a mixed race. Now I don't know. I'm really, to be honest, interested in smaller movies. More indie and character-driven, ensemble. Stuff like that.

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