Trying Not To Be Snake Food
[
URL="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060818.BLANCHARD18/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Movies/"]GAYLE MACDONALD[/url]
It's an obvious question. What could have possibly motivated Toronto-born actress Rachel Blanchard to take a role in a movie where she is trapped for two months in a claustrophobic stage built as a plane, dodging falling luggage and deadly, venomous fangs?
"It was the funniest title I've ever heard," says the 30-year-old, who grew up in Toronto's Bloor West Village and co-stars alongside Samuel L. Jackson in Snakes on a Plane.
"I had just done this TV pilot that didn't get picked up, and my character was depressed and had all these issues," Blanchard explains from her home in Los Angeles. "I'd also just finished filming Where the Truth Lies [where she winds up murdered and naked in a bathtub], and I wanted to do something fun, something light. It's the ultimate popcorn movie."
The actress adds that she and her fellow cast members were never once asked by director David Ellis if they were ophidiophobic (afraid of snakes). "It was kind of odd," muses Blanchard, a leggy, 5-foot-8 blonde who graduated from Havergal, a Toronto private girls school, and, later, Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. "Usually when you audition for a film that involves any animals, they ask if you have any issues. I guess David figured none of us would have signed up in the first place if we had a thing for snakes."
In the campy film, which opens today and has been hyped beyond belief on the Internet, Blanchard plays a rich socialite in stilettos, toting a Chihuahua, who is not happy to be booted into economy after Jackson's secret-service-agent character takes over first class with his charge, who is in witness protection. "I get really #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& off and have big attitude," she says.
On her first day on set just outside Vancouver, Blanchard recalls, she was taken to the so-called snake room, which included a bathtub full of baby garter snakes, Tupperware drawers full of rattlers,
corn snakes and rat snakes, and Kitty, a 20-foot python that required 12 men to carry onto the set. "They told me not to stand too close to Kitty with the Chihuahua," adds Blanchard, laughing.
The mock aircraft was built atop row upon row of massive airbags, which could be levered to drop three feet any angle, any direction, any time. "It was the worst turbulence you've ever seen on in a plane, and it was like that every day," Blanchard says. "I got stitches when I fell on something and cut my leg open. But the toughest part was running everywhere with this purse, and cradling this Chihuahua, which is remarkably difficult in heels."
Blanchard, whose dad lives in British Columbia and mom is in Toronto, started acting at the age of 5. One of three kids, her career really got started when she landed the lead role of Cher in the 1996 TV series Clueless (based on the movie of the same name).
Switch-hitting from then on between TV roles (Peep Show and 7th Heaven) and feature films (Without a Paddle, Road Trip), Blanchard got her next big break when she got a part alongside Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Alison Lohman in Atom Egoyan's noir thriller Where the Truth Lies. In that role, she appeared nude in a steamy threesome with her male co-stars. She will also appear soon in the film Comeback Season, starring Ray Liotta.
"Where the Truth Lies got me noticed more within the industry," Blanchard says. And the nudity didn't put her off. "I'd been asked to do it before -- as an actress it comes up a lot. But I had always said no because I never felt the scenes warranted it. This time, it made sense. Clothes would have ruined the flow of the scene. Plus I felt very respected by the actors and by Atom, so I was comfortable with it."
While they were shooting Snakes on a Plane, Blanchard says, the Internet buzz just kept building. And the irony is not lost on her that this farcical flick could be what finally turns her into a household name. "We were amazed by what was circulating around the film," she says. "There was even a website -- not linked to New Line -- that was selling Snakes on a Plane mugs and thongs."
Asked if she has purchased a pair of the panties, the actress says not yet, but adds: "I'm going to see the final cut tomorrow night [at the film's premiere in L.A.]. Maybe I should get a pair for good luck."
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