Hangin'
with...Shannyn Sossamon
New actress/dancer Shannyn Sossamon
has lived a dream come true. She
likes to D.J. on the side and was helping a friend spin CD's for actress
Gweneth Paltrow's party in Los Angeles when a Hollywood casting director
saw her and signed her up after a meeting. She
was sent in to read for the part of leading lady Jocelyn in A Knight's
Tale with no hope of getting the part but the director liked the
"regal" and noble way she sat in her chair, liked her spunk
and reading of the lines and hired her!
Lynn B. got to talk to Shannyn (a cute,
dark-haired beauty who looks a lot like Angelina Jolie) in Los Angeles. Here's what she told us:
AGW: How were you really discovered?
SHANNYN: It's a nice story but I was helping
my friend D.J. at this place. He needed to borrow my turntables in case
he wanted to take breaks. I was there for an hour and Francine (casting
director) saw me and she didn't approach me.
She called me the next day and we had a little meeting. I'd always
danced, done commercials and D.J.d.
I was in the arts in some way and she just thought of me six
months later. It was something
I wanted to try but I was very content with my life at that time so
I wasn't hustling to act. I
was doing a lot of commercials which is awesome because you just work
a day or two and get lots of residual payments. Awesome-est career ever. And
D.J.ing as a hobby.
AGW: So the phone didn't ring and
somebody just say, you wanna star with Heath Ledger?
SHANNYN:
No it didn't happen like that at all.
Francine said, we'll give her a try.
When I read the script I thought it was an amazing story. I always
wanted to try acting but I was very scared. Because the opportunity
and the timing just fell into my lap it was obvious to me that I had
to let that fear go. It was
like fate a little bit. I read it and I was like I love this. I could do this. But it wasn't that quick.
I'd lived here for 5 years. It's
not as great a story as it sounds.
AGW: Suppose you get a phone call and
someone says we have a big role for you to do or you can do this smaller
dance role. Which one would you take?
SHANNYN: I would definitely
want to do the one where I was dancing and acting.
I love dancing so much but I would rather choreograph.
There aren't that many jobs for dancers and it's really sad because
it's a really beautiful art and it's presented as a background art and
it's really, really not. I would
choose the dancing role.
AGW: First day on the set. What was
it like?
HEATH: We were all there early so I was
comfortable with everybody so it didn't feel like my first day because
we'd all been hanging out and the actual technical part I was a little
used to from the commercials. But the part that was the most amazing was
my first month in Prague. That
blew my mind more than the fact that I was doing a movie. t's a beautiful
place at night. In the daytime, there's a lot of tourists.
Being in the costumes was amazing. Me and Hair and make-up had
a lot of fun…oh, what could we (create now) because the film was very lenient on the hair and it was fun.
AGW: What specifically about this script
did you like so much?
SHANNYN:
I liked that it was a nice , classic message.
It was very loving and witty and I just loved it. It read beautifully.
AGW: You had some great fashions in
the movie.
SHANNYN: It was halfway modern so you
could wear some of that stuff today. Just from reading the script you
think the characters are half rock star, today and then it's about jousting. The period is kind of irrelevant to the story.
AGW: Were you a princess or what? A jousting groupie?
SHANNYN: (laughs) Not a groupie! I guess
just a rich girl of noble birth who's bored. Precious too, not just
a snob.
AGW: Did you have a problem with some
of the things she does? Like
when she tells Heath's character that she wants him to lose the tournament?
SHANNYN: I
think obviously, she did that because she didn't want him to get hurt. She's basically saying if you think that winning
a tournament is proving your love you're very wrong. I don't think
she was like "Oooh, get bruised and bloody if you love me". It was my first film and I've learned so much
since then. I wish I could do some of it over. With any kind of art there's never perfection.
AGW: What have you done since then?
SHANNYN: "40 Days, 40 Nights". It's about this guy who swears to not sleep
with anyone for 40 days because his ex dumped him and he's obsessed
with her and he meets me (Erika) and she's a quirky internet worker
and he realizes what it's like to like a girl for what's inside. It's
a weird love story. Josh Hartnett is the guy.
AGW: What was it like to do the dance
scenes with Heath? Did you put
some of your own steps in?
SHANNYN: Yeah, it was all improv when
the David Bowie song started. It
was a seven minute dance of us going nuts and Heath is an amazing dancer.
I'm bummed because they cut it so short. I felt like it was very magical.
We worked on it a few weeks.
AGW: Where were you born and raised?
SHANNYN: I
was born in Hawaii. The family
moved to Reno and then I moved to L.A. at 17.
AGW: When was the last paid D.J. gig
you did?
SHANNYN: Every
Tuesday I get a hundred bucks. I
D.J. in little lounges.
AGW: What's in your CD player?
SHANNYN: I love all kinds of music. I have a mixed rock tape right now.
