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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
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We're Hangin' With..... MANDY MOORE: Celebrating "Liberty" by: Lynn B. She's
making the kind of music she wants, her way. Her last CD "Coverage"
was loaded with cover tunes of classic rock and ballads. She's choosing
film projects according to what touches her. Actress/singer Mandy Moore
is asserting her liberty and individuality and as the daughter of the
U.S. President in the fun romantic comedy Chasing Liberty, her character
is very much like her; a young woman asserting her high-spirited freedom.
Moore is dating tennis star Andy Roddick but in her new film, the object of her affections is a hot international photographer who turns out to be more than he seems. Mandy had a lot of fun on European locales while shooting her movie but is a homebody at heart, glad to be back in the U.S. talking to us about her CD choices and kissing "five or six" guys on first meeting to choose her "Liberty" leading man. We chatted with the young star before the holidays in Los Angeles. She breezed into the room wearing a one-shoulder peach top, white pants and very long chandelier earrings. She looked Spring fresh in the dead of winter. AGW: We love your outfit. Do tell… Mandy: It's by designer Luca Luca. The earrings are by Laurie Rodkin. I wish all the stuff was mine. I'm just wearing it. AGW: The soundtrack for this movie is so great - did you have any input into the music in the movie at all? Mandy: It was great, but I didn't have anything to do with the music selections. I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm a big fan of Chris Isaac and love "Life Will Go On' and Jason Mraz. It was a treat to watch the movie for the first time and listen to the music. AGW: So what's in your CD player now? Mandy: I'm listening to the biggest hodgepodge of stuff - everything from Dolly Parton to Bill Withers to Sheryl Crow. Just a little bit of everything. I'm still learning so much about music and I'm coming to the realization over the past couple of years that there's so much music I've been missing out on in my life. AGW: Like the music on your last album… Mandy: Exactly. It's not about music of just the 60s, 70s, or 80s. AGW: How did you find the music that you put on your last CD? Mandy: One artist led me to another. It started off with Joan Armatrading and I became just a huge fan of hers. That brought me to the realization that there was so much music out there that I didn't know of. I went to a music store and literally went from A-Z- and picked up everything from "Joni Mitchell's Greatest Hits" and I kind of discovered artists that way. But some like the Water Boys, I liked a couple of songs here and there. Not like Cat Stevens or Elton John which just completely captivated me and I loved everything. AGW: On to the film…how were you instrumental in getting cute Brit actor Matthew Goode hired on? Mandy: I don't want to say I was instrumental at all. I put in my two cents because we did a couple of tests with five or six guys. And nobody told me I had to kiss them all. It's like 'Hi, I'm Mandy' and then we'd jump into the kiss. It was awkward for me because the script wasn't finished and I'm reading it and then I'm kissing these random boys. But Matthew is just an unbelievable actor and he's obviously gorgeous, and so charming with that English sense of humor. He just makes you melt. Right off the bat, I thought I'd put my two cents in for him. AGW: Is a sense of humor in a man something that turns you on? Mandy: It's very essential. Who doesn't want to laugh in life? A nice smile and making you laugh is a big turn on. AGW: He was saying he was afraid he didn't get the part because he kissed your cheek. Mandy: (laughs) I don't remember that. I have a boyfriend so all of that just goes right in one ear and out the other (laugh). To be quite honest, you're not anticipating or thinking about it when it's happening because it's such an awkward moment. AGW: He also said his knees were up around his ears when on the motor scooter with you. Mandy: Well we're both pretty tall people and so putting both of us on that little Vespa was a little awkward. It was a bit embarrassing. AGW: Were there other embarrassing moments filming the movie? Mandy: Here's my most embarrassing moment. I'm shooting the scene in the oval office and I'm storming in and all upset at my dad. I'm very close with my parents. They're on set with me and visiting. I wasn't satisfied with the scene yet and nobody told me that they took Mark [Harmon, who plays her dad] out and put my real dad in the executive chair. When I walk in, his chair isn't facing me and when I got to the desk after ranting and raving, he turned around. It took me a good 5 seconds that it was my real dad! Everyone started laughing at me and I was kind of in shock but then I started laughing too but I was so embarrassed yelling at my dad. AGW: I was one of the reporters who spoke to you from Venice on the phone and you said you were looking for peanut butter and couldn't find any. Care to elaborate? Mandy: Yeah, I remember. It's funny…when you're on location and have a craving for something and can't get it, you only want it all the more. For some reason, peanut butter isn't popular in Venice, Italy. My best friend was visiting and was there with me the whole time and we scoured the city for peanut butter and couldn't find it. We said we'd take a peanut butter cup, peanut butter ice cream…anything. AGW: Your character has many adventures in the film. Did you have any? Mandy: I didn't get into any crazy adventures because we worked so much. I worked longer and harder on this film than I have on anything in the past so when I was finished with the movie, I was just taxed for a couple of weeks. We shot in so many locations in Venice and Prague. We were playing tourist in the film so I was allowed to sit and gawk at the architecture, run and play with the pigeons in St. Mark's Square. It was really beautiful in Venice because a lot of what we shot was at night. Our hotel was right outside of St. Marks square and we'd walk in the square at 4 or 5 in the morning and there's nobody there when the sun is coming up. I just remember that. I took a picture of that with my friend because it was so peaceful and gorgeous. I thought I'd never have that moment again for the rest of my life. I started to appreciate those little things in life more - allow yourself to be in the moment and not have tunnel vision. AGW: When you first read the script, did you think 'Oh my God, there's a naked scene in here - body double, body double'!! Mandy: [laughing] That's kind of what I did. I skipped over it mentally and thought it would be figured out. Right off the bat, I thought, Nah, it's not happening. In this case, the emphasis isn't on me being naked. It wasn't a huge part of the movie so I figured they'd work it out if they wanted me bad enough. (At this point, someone's cellphone rings and Mandy starts singing along to the ring-song by "The Cure". The journalist apologizes. Mandy didn't mind the song break). AGW: Did you relate to the character's problem of having people around her all the time? Mandy: Not necessarily to that extreme. I feel I'm pretty lucky that I get to do what I do but like today. I get to go home and stay with my family because I still live at home with them. I don't have people chasing me or hiding in the bushes. So the movie made me aware of this kind of lifestyle of people chasing you all over. It's like uber-celebrity. It's bigger than any of that. Here's this girl who was born into it all. She's not like one of us where we think 'OK, we're in this position and if something kind of hits, then the craziness comes along with it'. This is just who she is and I can't imagine having to deal with it. What I love about my life is that people leave me alone. I can go out to eat and nobody bothers me - it's cool. AGW: There is this "Love Parade" in Berlin in the film. It looks like the ultimate blast. Did you really go? Mandy: There really is such a thing you know. We recreated it, but the Love Parade was going on when we were filming this. It's sometime in July. It was on a weekend when we weren't shooting so the DP and everyone headed over to Berlin and took the helicopter shots and some parade scenes. It's insane. It's like a million people at this tiny park. It took us 7 days to shoot it because of the weird weather. And here you are with 4000 extras. And I felt that they all hated us. Here are all of these Czech extras and obviously they have to know they're part of the movie. All of a sudden I'm running through the crowd and I'm having to say 'Excuse me, excuse me' and these people are giving me glances of death literally. I just wanted to say 'No, it's part of the movie and I have to run through the crowd and kind of push you aside'. I went up to the Czech AD and tried to have him explain that I'm not being mean. But some people just wouldn't move and I'd have to yell 'EXCUSE ME!'. I got so many dirty looks from people, I felt terrible. When I'm getting pushed around in the movie and being taunted, people are really pushing me. I had bruises. They pushed me on the ground, picked me up by the arms and were slinging me around and dragging me around on the ground.
Mandy: I loved the last scene in the movie because I'm so romantic. As a girl, the opera scene was totally romantic and even if I wasn't in the movie, I'd go see it anyway. It was such a romantic setting. And when I got on the helicopter from the Love Parade, they took us a 10 minute flight around Prague. That was wonderful. All the architecture and the roofs - I loved Prague. I can't wait to go back someday and shoot another film. AGW: All of this fame has happened quickly for you - has it ever been a struggle for you? Mandy: It doesn't seem like it happened quickly. In the scheme of things, I've been doing this since I was 14. But that's good because it's like slow and steady wins the race. It's been a very constant method and speed so I've been able to enjoy things. It hasn't happened too quickly that I haven't been able to enjoy what's going on around me. I don't feel like I'm pulling my hair out going 'Music or Film'. AGW: What actresses do you admire? Mandy: Not necessarily people who are doing film and/or music. I love young people who seem to have it all together like Reese Witherspoon. I love that she maintains the balance between doing cool, bigger budget movies and mainstream films with quirky independent films like Election which is one of my favorite movies ever. Again, she's been doing it for awhile and again it wasn't like this bullet to the top sort of thing. And she's a mom, a wife and manages to keep to herself. She's not at the opening of every envelope. It seems like she isn't crazy about being a celebrity and I like people like that - people who genuinely love their job. AGW: Is there a particular genre you want to go to next in film? Mandy: I want to jump around. I don't know. I'm ready to see what challenges me next. Like the film I'm doing in March, it's more of a supporting role but it's a great movie and hopefully, great people involved with it. I want to make sure I'm surrounded by people I can learn a lot from. AGW: You are considered a role model by many young girls… Mandy: Honestly, I'm honored to be considered a role model. It's flattering. I don't why people think it's such a burden and shun it. At the end of the today, yes, you have a responsibility to be yourself but you have to realize the position you're in and you do have a responsibility to others because there are young people looking up to you and rightfully so. Look how cool it is to do what we do. We're very lucky. So you have to take everything with a grain of salt and it is something that's always in the back of your mind like I have a responsibility with the projects that I do and the way that I dress and what I choose to speak about and become involved in. AGW: Biggest pet peeve? Mandy: I have a cheesy pet peeve - ice cold butter. How can you spread it on bread and stuff? Why do they freeze butter at restaurants? You get those frozen butter packets. That and L.A. traffic. AGW: So what's next for you? Mandy:
After the film in March, Music. I want to get back into the studio soon
and start working on my next record. |
 
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AGW:
That doesn't sound like a lot of fun. What was the most fun scene for
you and why?