|
|
 |
|
|
|
Updated 7/16//03
Meet another girl/teen in our club who likes the same movie favorites as you do. To write her, click on the link to join the penpal club! Hangin' With Archives
|
We're Hangin' With..... "HOW TO DEAL"'S MANDY MOORE by: Lynn B. She was tops on the pop charts with "Candy" and then she started acting, dyed her hair dark brown and altered her blonde-poppy image. Take-charge Mandy Moore's next album "Coverage", out in September, is self-financed and it consists of cover songs of classic tunes that Mandy wants to introduce to a new generation. After successfully playing a less-than stylish, doomed girl in A Walk to Remember, the new Mandy is starring in the relationship romance How to Deal with cute new hottie Trent Ford. When we spoke with the singer/songwriter/actress at the posh Four Seasons Hotel in L.A. recently, we learned how her career started and that Mandy would absolutely luv to do a Broadway musical, shuns the Hollywood party circuit in favor of hanging out with her family and she feels way more comfortable as a brunette than a blonde. When we sat down to chat with the star, who looked fresh in a cute one shoulder top and huge gold chandelier earrings, we had just finished hanging out with flamboyant Trent Ford who exited the room as Mandy entered and she had plenty to say about him….
Mandy: (glancing back at Trent) He's got energy doesn't he? Yeah, he kept us all on our toes during filming, that's for sure. You know, those late night 3am, 5am finish times during the shoot. He was always going, always had the energy. It's nice though. AGW: Does his accent keep changing like it does here? I mean, he keeps flipping around from French to… Mandy: He's mystery Trent Ford. I just heard yesterday he did a whole interview in German. I worked with him for three months and I had no idea he could speak fluent German. He's just, he's constantly this revolving door I guess. He's very good about switching back from British to American. I was kind of amazed during filming cause in between takes and stuff, he'd be talking as he regularly speaks and then the cameras are back on ten seconds later and he's switched back to an American accent. It's like 'Wow! That's talent I guess'. AGW: What was working with Trent like? Mandy: He's great. Honestly when we first tested together before we went off to Toronto to make the film, I'm like 'this guy is just too intelligent for me.' He graduated from Cambridge and he's spouting off Shakespeare. We're going in and rehearsing and he's like "I think in this scene and this monologue can best be described by the so-and-so piece of poetry from 17 hundred…' I'm like 'What? You may relate to it, but it's like swoosh, right over my head'. Sometimes I kind of felt like he was too intelligent for his own good. But, he's a great guy, and I think he brought a lot to the character. AGW: How did How to Deal come to you? Mandy: I had been reading things and nothing felt quite right until I found How to Deal. It was something that was different, it's a teen film that again, I felt I had something positive to say like A Walk to Remember but it was edgy in a sense. It was talking about things that are pertinent to teens but it went about it without being fluffy in a very truthful and genuine manner. AGW: Do you consider yourself a role-model for teens? Mandy: I feel flattered that people would consider me to be a role model. I think if you're lucky enough to be in the entertainment industry in any respect, there's going be people looking up to you for one reason or another. I take it as the ultimate compliment I guess because I've been allowed to be myself from the very beginning. What you see is what you get, so I think at the end of the day, it's even more of an honor that people would look up to you because of who you are. AGW: Did you actually begin your career singing the National Anthem? Mandy: I did, I mean any event, roller hockey, arena football, baseball, tennis tournaments, anything. I'd walk out there, and I'd have my pitch pipe and my little American flag dress on. I loved it. It was like the ultimate rehearsal for me. Cause the National Anthem's a pretty difficult song right? I mean it covers a wide range, and I was always terrified before I went on. Forgetting the words was my biggest fear but it never happened. I also did a lot of musical theatre around town. I sang at school. AGW: Which musicals did you do? Mandy: Oh gosh! I did Bye, Bye Birdy, Guys and Dolls, A Christmas Carol, Gypsy..a bunch of stuff. I loved it, that was my life. And I honestly thought I'd start off on Broadway, somehow. Like that was my ultimate dream. If I'm going to have a career, that's what I'd want it to be. And that's my ultimate goal still to this day. I'd love to do a classic like that, not necessarily an original musical. In film it's so cliché now. Everyone's like 'I wanna do a musical!' But I hear the rumor of Guys and Dolls [being filmed], and I'm like, 'Just wait, five more years.' I want to play Adelaide so bad. Just wait, please, please, please. AGW: You have a new album coming out in the Fall. Why did you choose to do a lot of cover songs? Mandy: It was a bit of a left turn. I spent most 2002 on movie sets so I had a lot of time to kind of think about what kind of record I wanted to make. Being absent from the music scene for two years, I didn't know if I wanted to reappear priding myself to be a singer-songwriter cause that's what's popular now. I covered all singer-songwriters on the record. I wanted to do something different. I didn't grow up listening to Cat Stevens or Joni Michelle playing around the house. It's music that I discovered in the last like two years and become so passionate about. I'm so excited to present it especially to people my age who might write if off as dated, or of their parent's generation and there's no reason why they shouldn't be listening to it because it's classic. It's timeless music. AGW: And you're doing this record on your own…without the record company? Mandy: I kind of came up with the idea for the record, and made the record by myself and presented it to them when we were, I'd say, 85% finished with it. AGW: That's brave. Mandy: It is kind of brave, because I wanted to have as much creative control as possible. So, it was myself, and this producer, John Fields in the studio, and it was cool because we recorded in his little garage that he's converted into a studio just here in Hollywood. I could like show up in my pajamas! There was no pressure, it was intimate. It wasn't this ten thousand dollar a day studio. And artists are making records in their bedrooms now. You just need the equipment, you need ProTools, you need a computer. You know, that's it. AGW: Pop music has gone through some big changes lately. Mandy: It has completely. I mean, the music scene, especially the pop scene, has gone through a dramatic transformation in the last six months, last year. And it's been kind of cool to be an outsider in a sense because I've been absent from the music scene like two years, or a year and a half, and I've kind of been witness to all of it. And, I definitely think it's for the better. I would be proud to be part of the pop scene, probably more so today than I was three years ago. I think it has gotten back to a more organic nature. The singer-songwriter phase has moved back in, and that's what's popular again, and I like that. AGW: Can you talk about the transformation from blonde Mandy to brunette Mandy?
AGW: What in your life is an anti-drug for you? Mandy: Shopping. Clothes, shoes, the whole gamut. And music is definitely such an escape for everyone, but for me too. Sometimes just driving in the car or sitting in your room, I always listen to music when I'm on the computer. It's just amazing how sometimes music can hit you and you're like 'oh' you just feel it. 'Oh my God this is why I do what I do. This is why I'm so lucky to be in this industry and these people are my peers, it's fantastic'. I don't mean to sound weird. It's so hard to verbalize that. This is what music I supposed to do to you. AGW: And where does the movie career fit in? Mandy: Everything's spontaneous. Things just kind of happen, and I guess they've happened for a reason so far. Nothing's really been plotted out like 'this half of the year is dedicated to music, and this half of the year is dedicated to films'. It's just like this movie [First Daughter] ends shooting a month and a half before the record comes out so I can get finished with that and then kind of put my music hat back on. So things have just naturally kind of ended up working out, which is perfect. We're filming in London, Venice, and Prague. Nice summer vacation. AGW: Your character in How to Deal has a lot of emotional hassles to overcome. Personally, how do you deal with overload emotional hassles? Mandy: I think I've been very lucky. I have a very close relationship with my family. I live with my family. I have a great relationship with my parents, at an age where I shouldn't necessarily. It's the norm to kind of be rebelling at this time in my life. But I think because I've traveled with them for the past four years, they are such a big part of my life. My mom is like a best friend to me, she knows more than half of my friends do. I have a great support system. I have them, I have a handful of close friends that I can call anytime day or night to talk about anything. That's what keeps me grounded. That's what keeps me centered I think. AGW: Friends you've had since you were a little kid? Mandy: Friends from my theatre days when I was ten and eleven. Friends from my first half year of high school that I met before I left to start recording the first record. Friends that I've met that aren't necessarily in the business, but somehow related. It's cool. I have this great collection, a couple here, a couple there. Not too many friends out here [in Los Angeles]. I spend most of my time at the house out here with my family. I go home, I eat dinner with them and I watch TiVo. I guess it's just a personal choice. I don't do the party scene. I think that's one of the things that turns me off about LA. I'm kind of disgusted by it. Going out for me is a real stretch, it's really pushing it to like go to dinner and a movie. Like dinner, sometimes. But a movie, do I really want to go and park my car and… I'm lazy if I'm allowed to be, you know. But I think two things that really turn me off about living out here is the traffic and that whole scene. It's gross. AGW: Did Allison Janney or Nina Foch, really good experienced actors, give you any really cool tips? Were they fun to work with? Mandy: I remember the first time Nina came on set. [Note: Nina plays Mandy's hip grandma in the film]. She's just wild. She's just like, so young at heart, and has so much energy. I'm just like 'Wow, I hope to be working at her age. I hope to be so full of life at that age too'. She knows what way she wants to be lit, she knows where the camera should be. She's was just hilarious. And Alison, what a cool woman. I thought the coolest side-note was when we first showed up and I first met her, I was like 'I have those pants!' My own mom would never have the same pair of pants that I… She was just so, hip, I want to be like her too. AGW: Are you proud of How to Deal? Mandy: I am very proud of the film. I'm excited. I think it's a good film for teenagers and parents alike. I think there's a little something for everyone in the film, because it not only explores the relationship cultivated between a teenage girl and a teenage boy. It's like mothers and daughters, fathers and daughters, and sisters, and grandmothers and granddaughters, and best friends… AGW: This comes from a series of books doesn't it? Mandy: It's the combination of two books written by this woman Sarah Dessen called "That Summer" and "Someone Like You". I decided not to read the books. They're great and so wildly popular and successful for young women, I didn't necessarily want things to be dictated for me. AGW: With this film and Walk to Remember, you've done two heavy teen angst films. Are you looking to go in a different direction? Mandy:
No not necessarily but I have a film coming out in September. It's a little
independent black comedy with McCauley Culkin, and Jenna Malone, Mary-Louise
Parker. It's going to be quite controversial I'm sure. It's about these
kids in a Christian high school whose lives are kind of centered around
their faith. I play the seemingly perfect Christian girl, who's actually
kind of evil. Jenna's character gets pregnant by her gay boyfriend and
she's trying to 'save' him. The movie's called Saved. It's amazingly hilarious.
Also, there's a message at the end of the day. Finding faith and believing
in who you are because you tested it, and not because you've been raised
a certain way or you were told a certain thing your whole life.
|
 
|
Angela
& Gina's Room |
Brigid
& Kayla's Room |
Christine
& Erika's Room |
Lauren
& Sarada's Room | Circle of Friends PenPal Club | Site Map |
|
Since 1996, your space on the web : written and edited by girls and teens from all over the world. Media Kit Feedback Newsletter Write FOR us Contact Us |
|
Copyright © 2006 A Girl's World Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
AGW:
Was he that wild all the time?
Mandy:
I've been brunette for quite a while now and I have no reason to go back
to being blonde. I love being a brunette. That's why we love being women,
cause we can go back and forth, color, cut, add extensions, whatever we
need to do. I feel like when I first colored my hair people just treated
me differently. I feel more like myself, I feel confident. I kind of felt
more anonymous as a blonde. Strangely I guess. Yeah, this is me, this
is how I'm going to stay unless, you know, I need to change for a film
or whatnot. My natural hair is actually a little lighter than this. Halfway
between this and the blonde. But I like being darker I guess.