Eliza Dushku at the L.A. premiere of Nobel Son.
In Nobel Son, Eliza Dushku plays the deranged, artsy and oddly named character City Hall, a young woman smitten with Barkley Michaelson (Bryan Greenberg), who’s been kidnapped and held for ransom: the Nobel Prize money his brilliant father just won. Dushku dishes with us about her crush on costar Bill Pullman, making out with her old friend Bryan Greenberg onscreen, and...edible body parts? Oh yeah, and the possibility of a "Buffy" movie.
Q: How did you become involved in this film?
Dushku: I auditioned my heart out. I really wanted it. I read the part and I loved it. I brought props--a supermarket paper bag, and two different masks. I said, "I’ll do whatever you want me to do." They said, "Let’s try it like this." They did every possible version, one completely different from the other. We just hit it off and I was psyched.
Q: What jumped out to you about the character, besides the fact that she’s named City Hall?
Dushku: That was definitely nice to add on my résumé. I played City Hall! I just never read a character like her. From the opening scene, she’s so bizarre and kind of twisted. Once I started working with [director] Randy [Miller] and [writer] Jody [Savin] I realized how open they were to filling her with these little nuances. I was really pleased with the performance that came out of it. I watch it and I can see parts where I actually, completely don’t recognize myself. That’s a trippy and exciting feeling.
Q: You got to work with the great Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman, too.
Dushku: Working with Alan was thrilling, humbling and easy. He’s just such a dear, dear man. We ended up filming Bottle Shock together a couple months later. He can do an entire scene just raising one eyebrow. It’s so extraordinary to watch him. I’ve had a crush on Bill Pullman since I was six! There’s just something about him. He’s kind of like a Kurt Russell. He’s super sexy and he’s just a lovely guy.
Q: There’s a funny part in the movie involving an edible body part. Did Randy and Jody discuss that with you?
Dushku: We talked about sizes—cup sizes. [Laughs] That was just pure Randy and Jody. Genius.
Q: Was there a scene you really enjoyed doing that didn’t quite go as planned?
Dushku: I got to make out with my big brother’s friend! Bryan’s a hottie! We’ve known each other since I was 14. We were shooting on a roof in downtown LA and we were rolling around. He wore a sock and I wore pasties. We got covered in fiberglass and we were told not to shower because it would embed the glass into us. The way to get it off is to use duct tape.
Q: So...has your family seen Nobel Son?
Dushku: We all saw it in Tribeca. It was a little awkward sitting with two of my three brothers, my stepmother... I kind of wanted to crawl under the seat.
It’s awesome because they’re the most supportive family. Everyone says they have the most supportive family of the planet, but I really do.
Q: Tell us about your upcoming TV series "Dollhouse" that you’re producing and starring in.
Dushku: It’s about a group of people who can be imprinted with any personality and are basically for hire. They volunteer five years of their life and there are “dollhouses” all over—underground private organizations that take people in, wipe their personalities clean and house them in these beautiful Japanese, zen-garden, dorm/labs. They can imprint them with anything anyone wants—fantasies. Underneath these clothes, I’ve got bruises galore, and I’m so proud of them! I was riding motorcycles, rock climbing, river rafting, everything.
Q: Did doing "Buffy" help you out with all of the martial arts?
Dushku: We have the same fight coordinator, which I love. He’s awesome and he was also on "Angel" so I have six-page fight scenes that I did with him years ago. It helped, but even on "Buffy," I was that crazy 17-year-old who grew up with three older brothers and showed up from Boston and said, "I know you have a stunt double here for me, but how much can I do? I want to fight!" That, to me, is really fun and exciting.
Q: With Twilight being such a hit, everyone’s buzzing about the possibility of a "Buffy" movie. Is that just talk, and would you want to go back and play Faith again?
Dushku: I don’t know. You never know. That’s what I’ve learned. That show is just an international phenomenon. There are college courses now that dissect the world of "Buffy." It’s just a testament to what an extraordinary, creative genius Joss [Whedon] is.
Q: What did you think about the "Buffy" conventions?
Dushku: People would show up with vampire teeth and say, "Can we take a picture with our matching Faith tattoos?" And I’d be like, "Um, that’s a decal. I don’t really have that tattoo." [Laughs] I’d watch the color drain from their faces, and they’d say, "I got that tattoo so we could be like sisters!"
Q: What are your plans for the holidays?
Dushku: I’m going to Boston. My brother’s my partner in my production company. It’ll be nice to be on the same coast and do a lot of work together. We’re also organizing a fund-raiser with my mom, who’s doing a lot of work with a Ugandan trauma center for child soldiers. I was in Iran two months ago with a human rights group called Global Exchange. I had to get an Iranian visa and wear the full hijab in my photo. I took the visa picture at a photo shoot for the Standard in Hollywood. The wardrobe people said, "Can we get a scarf? Let’s style it!" So I have the most styled-out, Iranian hijab, visa/passport photo. [Laughs] My passport is my most prized possession. It’s janky and it’s banged up, but it’s full. I love it.
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