Actors still know how to make teens scream

Thursday, November 12, 1998

Actors still know how to make teens scream

FILM: Sequel delivers familiar cast, new twists on popular
blockbuster

By Terry Tang

Daily Bruin Contributor

To hear Jennifer Love Hewitt tell it, filming "I Still Know What
You Did Last Summer" on location in Mexico was a real-life horror
movie.

Instead of fleeing a fisherman’s hook, the cast encountered
poisonous scorpions, venomous snakes and flying dung beetles. There
is still a hint of disgust in the actress’ voice when Hewitt
describes the various creatures that haunted the entire cast.

"All of a sudden, your fellow actor would just reach up and slap
you across the face and it was to get one of these (beetles) off
because it was mating season for them. And they pee acid on your
skin. We had a bunch of people that had to have surgery to have the
marks lasered off their skin when we got home," Hewitt says.

"For the first day, I was about as 100 percent girl as you could
get. By the second day, I was like ‘die, die, die!’ There was just
something really powerful about just squishing this little terrible
thing."

In spite of the infestation and 110 degree weather, the film
finished shooting on time. Opening nationwide this Friday, the
sequel’s young cast includes sophomore screamers Hewitt and Freddie
Prinze, Jr., as well as some new blood in the form of Brandy, Mekhi
Phifer ("Soul Food") and Matthew Settle.

Once again, the movie centers on the terrified teens running
from the masked fisherman. Although the characters fight the same
villain, director Danny Cannon believes audiences will still find
the story engaging.

"There’s a thing about this slicker guy in the same way that
there’s a thing about Jason, and there’s a thing about Freddy,"
Cannon says. "There’s a thing where these kids are growing up and
they’re terrified of all kinds of things ­ of sex, of
relationships, of getting a job."

Although finding work is not a typical dilemma for the group of
teenagers the movie assembled, they all have experienced anxiety as
a result of feeling different from others.

"When I was younger, when I did have a chance to go to junior
high and one semester of high school, I had problems because I was
so happy and energetic. People didn’t really like me like that. I
guess they thought I should be sad or unhappy," says Brandy.

"They tried to confront me in front of 90 girls. I could
probably just hang with one girl. But, come on, not 20 girls."

Bestowed with the name of his deceased comic father of TV’s
"Chico and the Man" fame, Prinze also dealt with a different set of
problems. As a child, he was forced to deal with invasive reporters
and publicity that most children did not have to face.

"These reporters showed up at my school and they were outside by
the bus. I didn’t know who they were," Prinze says. "I was 12. And
I was like ‘Uh, I don’t talk to strangers.’ A month later, it
happened again."

Despondent over his divorce, Prinze, Sr. committed suicide in
1977. No matter how many reporters come knocking on his door to
inquire about his father, however, the 22-year-old Prinze, Jr.
would never consider changing his name.

"(My father) died when I was 10 months old. So, that’s a gift,"
Prinze says. "The thing is, that’s more important to me, respecting
that than this business. I’ve always done right by my family and by
me and I’ve always followed my heart. So, if I never have another
job again, it’s cool. I take care of my family and the people that
I love. And that’s the most important thing to me. And after that,
it’s my work. Keeping my father’s name was something that was very
important thing to me at a young age."

In spite of achieving success and teen-idol status at the tender
age of 19, Hewitt ­ who is getting her own TV show spun off of
"Party of Five" and will produce her own film next year ­
always has butterflies in her stomach when it comes to acting.

"I’m terrified of everything. I’m terrified of not doing a good
job, of them (the audience) laughing in my face. But, that doesn’t
stop me from doing it," Hewitt says.

"I want to be able to say that everything that I wanted to do on
the planet, I did at least once ­ that I at least did it. So,
of course, I’m scared all the time."

Being scared was one side effect of making the movie. Although
the young scream queen had practice from the first horror flick,
Hewitt says she still had nightmares during the second round.

"When I’m at work, I really try to psyche myself out and make
myself believe that I’m really in this terrible situation. I hate
going to things and going ‘Wow, look at this actor playing this
part.’ I like going ‘Wow, I forgot that for two hours that was
Johnny Depp playing Donnie Brasco.’ That was Donnie Brasco to me,"
says Hewitt.

"When you go home after 19 hours of believing that you’re scared
and that someone is after you and everything, it’s still fresh in
your mind and you have to go to sleep. I have nightmares,
definitely."

One anxiety that Brandy faced was doing scenes with sexual
innuendo with on-screen boyfriend Phifer. Making her film debut,
she was afraid how her mother would react to her 19-year-old
daughter’s kissing and touching.

"My mom wasn’t in Mexico. So, that’s why I got away with a lot
of stuff. She saw the movie and she had a heart attack," the singer
says. "She said ‘Brandy, my daughter is growing up.’ I said ‘No
Mom. That’s just a movie.’ She says, ‘Brandy, is this what you do
behind my back?’ I say ‘No! I don’t have a boyfriend.’"

Aside from sexual tension, the film has brushes with vulgar
language, under-age drinking and pot smoking. Even though the movie
primarily aims at the impressionable adolescent audience, Cannon is
not apologetic about including these taboos.

"I’m not about to run away from any of these things. People do
smoke pot; the kids didn’t (in the film). They chose not to."
Cannon says. "The bad language I will apologize for because you go
with it, and those kids needed to put a certain amount of energy
into the film. And I need it then because I need to be honest about
it as well."

Although Brandy is grateful to play a role more feisty than her
sitcom persona on TV’s "Moesha," she understands that her fans may
not distinguish her from her on-screen character.

"It’s hard being a role model because I’m scared to death about
this movie. I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh my God. Brandy’s
changing.’"

FILM: "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" opens
Friday.Photos courtesy of Mandalay Entertainment

Jennifer Love Hewitt (left) and Brandy star in "I Still Know
What You Did Last Summer."

A tropical vacation goes wrong for college friends played by
(from left) Jennifer Love Hewitt, Brandy and Jennifer Esposito.

Mekhi Phifer (left) and Brandy play college sweethearts in "I
Still Know What You Did last Summer."

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