Anna Chlumsky Interview about Gold Diggers
By Emily Forster:
Most 14-year-olds do not get a thrill out of watching black and white
movies, but actress Anna Chlumsky is an exception.
"I love...anything in black and white. Just put it on the TV, I´ll watch
it," she said."I love old movies, I love old musicals and I love Eddie
Cantor and his gold digger films. It's kind of ironic."
The irony Chlumsky mentions comes from the fact that she starts as the
misunderstood tomboy, Jody, in the soon to be ralated coming-of-age film
"Gold Diggers."
Best known as Vada Sultenfuss from "My Girl" and "My Girl 2", Chlumsky met
with The Bruin at the Four Seasons to discuss her character in "Gold
diggers" and her career.
She wanted the part of Judy for many reasons, but two stuck out in her mind.
"Jody was the kind of person I never played before. Plus all the stunts
really appealed to me, so I wanted to get on this project!"
The film loosely based on Mark Twain´s classic novel "The adventures of
Huckleberry Finn" required stunts that would have scared some actors and
actresses, but Anna Chlumsky found them fun, not frightening.
She particuarly enjoyed the stunt in which she and co-star Christina Ricci
were directed to swing over a gorge on a rope in a Tarzan-like fashion!
"It was better than SIX FLAGS. You kind of felt like you were flying because
all that you were connected to was the rope. It was very neat and safe, too,
so you felt fine", said Chlumsky.
Although she enjoyed swinging on ropes as much as her character, Chlumsky
made it clear taht she and Jody do not share important character traits. "We
both love the outdoors and we both are very adventuros. But I don´t steal
and I don´t beat people up. I´m not exactly like her." Despie the difference
between Chlumsky and her character, she was the first choice for the role.
But Chlumsky was as eager to play as the film´s producers were because she
is not usually considered for roles that she likes.
"Everyone thinks of me as Vada. They all still think, I´m really little, so
they keep offering me...kid´s stuff", said Chlumsky. But Anna is not
fretting over the recent absence of interesting projects. "It´s just kind of
a hobby for me, just like if I were on the softball team" Most hobbies,
however, do not give a teenager national attention. Anna Chlumsky is still
learning how to deal with the publicity.
Finding her face on posters and book covers, for instance, is just beginning
to feel comfortable to Chlumsky. "It´s kind of weird because in the pictures
and stuff they fill in some stuff that they don´t like, like your teeth.
It´s funny when you first see the poster and you want to pick out the stuff
that´s different, but you get used to it after a while. It´s just, oh,
that´s me! It´s kind of cool after a while"
Seeing reviews of her acting also took Chlumsky awhile to accept, but now
she has her own philisophy to help her deal with the publicity. "I don´t let
it bother me too much if someone doesn´t like me. I just figure there´s no
accounting for taste. It´s not me, it´my acting. It´s like if someone
doesn´t like someone´s food, they just don´t like my acting".
And acting is not a big priority in Anna´s life at the moment. "Right now
I´m just thinking about school and trying to get those grades and keep them
up!" Chlumsky is currently pondering a career in biology since she doesn´t
want to rely on the eye of the public. She has learned from the black and
white movies she loves, like "Sunset Boulevard", a film in which the main
character´s life turns pathetic after loosing a prestigious film carrer. As
Chlumsky said "In case I become a Norma Desmond when I grow up, I can have
something to fall back on!"