Jessica Alba discusses career, new movie

By: Arlinda Arriaga

Posted: 2/1/08

"The Eye," directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud is a remake of the Hong Kong film "Jian Gui" and hits theaters today. Jessica Alba plays Sydney, a blind violinist who gets the chance to see the world for the first time since childhood through a transplant. With inherited vision she discovers mysteries that frighten her to the edge of insanity.
The Daily got the opportunity to speak with Alba about her career and her experiences in "The Eye."

Q What sort of research did you do for the role in the "The Eye" and how did it feel to have to pretend to be blind at first?

A I went to a blind orientation center in LA and one in New Mexico and I lived among people who were learning to deal with blindness. I learned how to read braille, walk with my cane and label everything in the house. I did apply all of those things to my home so that I could just practice at home with the sleep shades on. I also spent time with a girl in her late twenties, speaks three different languages, travels around Europe by herself, travels around the States by herself, lives by herself, goes to Boston University and converts all of her textbooks to braille. She's really my inspiration because she was so self-efficient and independent.

Q The Hong Kong version of "The Eye" was very, very original. With the remake, will American audiences be treated to a similar experience?

A It's catered to American audience, the more Western way of thinking about ghosts. You're familiar with the Eastern way of making ghost stories and these horror movies. It's more part of the culture and goes to more accepted on spirits and mysticism. They just have a different mentality about it. In Western culture people think you're absolutely nuts if you believe in ghosts or if you see ghosts and you're basically going insane. We dealt with the ghosts in this film similar to that.

Q You recently did "Awake" as well, which is another thriller. How do you compare "The Eye" to "Awake?"

A It's a horror movie, for sure. "Awake" is more a psychological thriller and about someone who is dealing with a surgery and trust. Everyone in his life is sort of betraying him. In this film, it's about a girl who has a corneal transplant. She gains the ability to see, she takes on psychic abilities of the girl, of the donor, and starts to see death before it happens, and she doesn't understand. Not only is she taking in the world for the first time, she's taking in, seeing horrible things. So "The Eye" is a lot more scary.

Q How long did it take to film this movie and were there any funny or scary incidents while working on the set?

A It took about three months. I'd say 2 1/2 months. I don't know what made it to the final cut, but in any car sequence we were blasting the Beatles and singing it at the top of our lungs. And everyone who has earphones, all the crew, they were like jamming to the Beatles and stuff. Oh and when I was playing the violin, because it was so horrible, everyone wore earplugs. It made me feel so good. I'm like, "but I'm playing the notes, it doesn't sound like Beethoven?"

Q You tend to play a lot of dominant female roles, and now obviously in "The Eye." Why is it that you choose to do those types of roles?

A Well it's funny that you say that. Dark Angel, yes. "Fantastic Four", yes. "Sin City", not really. She was kind of a damsel in distress. She was kind of a victim in that movie. But I do more than anything play more dominant, stronger women than I do weak women. I don't know, probably because it's kind of who I am. I don't channel the victim maybe as well as I can channel someone who can go in and do her own thing.

Q What kind of roles do you find yourself gravitating more towards now that you're going to be a mother and is there any type of role that you haven't done yet that you'd like to try?

A I think initially I'm going to probably do maybe a little bit more character driven roles, kind of more Indies, ensemble casts, smaller budget. Not necessarily the big, box office movies. I've had my eye out for an action movie since I finished Dark Angel. And it's been this long since I finished and I still haven't found a good female driven action, so I've been looking.

Q Is there anybody that you are dying to work with that you haven't been able to work with in the past?

A There's everyone that I'm dying to work with. From David O. Russell, to Bos Lerman, to Meryl Streep, to Daniel Day-Lewis. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. There's a lot of fine actors and directors out there that I would absolutely kill to work with. I have a few independents that I read and that I attached myself to. But everything's a little bit on hold because of the strike. People are kind of pushing things, and rewrites are a little strange. I think people are just trying to figure out whether the actors are really going to go on strike in June or not. If it can get resolved before then.