http://www.menasuvarifan.com

==============================================
Teen Hollywood - December 27 2002
http://www.teenhollywood.com/d.asp?r=26311
==============================================

MENA SUVARI: THE CURSE OF YOUTH
Written by Lynn Barker

When we chatted with very blonde, petite actress Mena Suvari recently, she was a pretty hot chick much like her call girl character in the new Nic Cage-directed film Sonny a movie about two young people caught in the prostitution game in 1980’s New Orleans. The American Beauty star came to our interview in a black jacket, jeans and high spike leopard-print heels. She spoke about her co-stars, Nic as a director, carefully choosing her roles and…her favorite make-up. Note: Sonny is an R-rated film about young people caught in a brutal lifestyle. It might not be appropriate for younger teens.

Mena got the role of Carol the call girl in a hurry. “They came to me very quickly and right before the holidays, like around this time, and it was pretty much, 'Here it is, read it and let us know tomorrow what you think,' and I was like, 'Okay.' Then, I found myself going to New Orleans on the third of January”. The actress has a process that helps her build her character. “I had a few weeks here to work with a dialect coach on an Arkansas accent. Working with the speech coach is really important and meeting with the costume designer and just seeing kind of what paths they wanted to take with the character, and then, just going to New Orleans and seeing the sets and the city and there's something that just kind of happens for me”.

Clothes can transport Mena into the world of each film she is in. She feels costumes make a big difference. “When I worked on The Musketeer, you put on those clothes, those corsets and you stand out in a beautiful, serene place with a river and you just get into it and you start thinking about that time and definitely, all of that combined really made a difference for me”.

Oddly, Mena felt her toughest scene in Sonny was not one of the intimate, potentially embarrassing love scenes but it had to do with the weather. “I guess, the toughest day of my life was that day at the barn and in the rain, and I seriously thought that I was going to end up in the hospital with pneumonia, but we got it done. They just decided that my character has no shoes and no coat, like it's warm out, and that rain from the machines is just not warm”.

Despite some rough days, the actress has nothing but praise for her first-time director. “Nic was great and he's so talented and experienced. He knew what he wanted, and he really was so passionate about it and believed in it. For me, what was great was that he just gave us all the freedom to do what we wanted and to suggest anything and gave us all the time that we needed. There are a lot of really emotional scenes, and if you needed the time, it was yours. I just think that comes from his experience as an actor and he knows what it takes to get into that. He wasn't breathing down your neck all the time. He was like, 'I'm here for you’. I just admire him so much for doing something like this because he's so busy, and he does it so well”.

We figured that working in New Orleans must have been a total blast but it wasn’t Mena’s cup of tea. “It's just not my town. Like, I don't drink and I'm allergic to shellfish. So, I'm not just a big party person. I'm an old married lady. I just go home”. Well, maybe not every night. “I ended up playing a lot of poker with Nick's hair and makeup [people]. So, I was always hanging out on the set, and everyone was so cool”.

Mena’s character could certainly have revealed more of the actress but she has her rules. “They'd be running around with the lights and everything because I said that I wasn't going to do a lot of nudity, and so, it was a lot of kind of mapping out those scenes. It's very old fashioned [Laughs], very old timey. I don't know what will happen in the future. So, I guess that it depends on what the project is. I take it step by step and look at everything individually”.

Mena was honored to work with accomplished actress Brenda Blethyn and hunky so-star James Franco who plays Sonny. “Brenda just nailed it and worked so hard on it, then, she'd be asking you, 'Does it sound okay’? She's just so talented, but so humble. James was great. He gets very, very into it and he was very serious. He's so nice, and I felt that he was very comfortable on the set. The most important thing was that everyone was really passionate about it and wanted to work their hardest”.

The actress feels a little trapped by her young looks. High school comedies just aren’t her thing anymore so she’s on the prowl for meaty roles. “I'm really picky, and I look younger than I am. So, it's really hard to find roles for women that are interesting. There are so many two dimensional characters and I don't want to be in high school and it's just really limiting right now. I've really been looking. It's more important for me to work on something that I believe in. I don't ever want to be on the set thinking, 'What the hell am I doing here? I turn down so many things. It's hard to find parts like Carol. She's in her twenties, and I find her very realistic and I like that. It's just interesting to me.”

We shifted to girl talk and got Mena to tell us her fave make-up selections. “I've got some fake eyelashes on [Laughs]. I love Lancôme. Everything. They've got amazing choices in powders, they have amazing glosses that are really easy on the go, Juicy Tubes, I have those everywhere. I'm a sucker for something that smells good and works really well”. The actress loves to work with a make-up artist but, on her own she’s a little lost. “I was thinking how I have all this makeup at home and sometimes, I look at it and I'm like, 'Duh, what do I do with it?' I wish I knew how to do it. You've got that hot pink eye shadow, and you're like, 'Yeah, it's so great,' but what do I do with it”?

Okay, what we really want to know. Is she coming back for another American Pie film? “I haven't even read the script. Like, I don't even know exactly what it's about and I've heard that it's going at the beginning of next year”. We’ll have to wait and see...