'Wanting Moore'
She's been a pop music sensation for little more than a year, but Mandy Moore is already branching out into acting with The Princess Diaries. Here she talks about how she made the leap to film, what she thinks of her music competitors -- Jessica, Britney, and Christina -- and what made her fall for that '70s guy Wilmer Valderrama.
MANDY & HER MUSIC
Q: Tell me about your new record.
A: It has more guitar-driven songs on it. It's more mature-sounding, with strings and live insturments.
Q: Are you more a rocker chick inside?
A: A little bit. I feel more like a rocker girl than a pop chick.
Q: How did you get started singing?
A: By taking voice lessons and performing in musical theater.
Q: How did you get signed by Sony Music?
A: I was recording a demo at a studio in Florida and the FedEx guy heard me sing. He did me a favor and sent my demo to an executive that he knew at Sony Music. After that, they called me and the rest is history.
Q: Do female fans react differently to your music from male ones?
A: Female fans will come right up to me and tell me how much they like my music, whereas guys will just try to act cool and be like, "Hey, what's up?"
Q: What is it like working at MTV?
A: The people at MTV are great, but it's awkward at times being the host and having to interview other musicians.
Q: Your song "I Wanna Be With You" was featured in Center Stage. What was it like going to see the film and hearing your voice?
A: I never saw the movie.
Q: You're kidding!
A: I know, I haven't even rented it. I'm going to.
It was barely more than a year ago that Mandy Moore joined the ranks of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson as a blonde pop-star darling with the release of her debut album So Real, which spawned the hit single "Candy." She's since released the follow-up album, I Wanna Be With You, opened for the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, and hosted her own talk show for MTV ("Mandy"), as well as "TRL" and various specials. And her squeaky-clean, fresh-as-morning-dew good looks have livened up ads for Neutrogena.
You'd think that with all Mandy has accomplished in the past year, she'd want to sit on a Hawaiian island for a few months. Instead, she's taken a supporting part opposite newcomer Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries, a rags-to-riches comedy about a girl who must be schooled in the ways of etiquette by her grandmother after she's told she's a princess in a foreign country. Garry Marshall, who made a star of Julia Roberts with Pretty Woman, is directing. Mandy is also busy with her music. She has a new album coming out in May, and this fall she'll return to MTV with a new version of her talk show. All this and she's only 17.
Perhaps Mandy's so driven because she's been performing since early childhood. Born in Nashua, New Hampshire, and raised in Orlando, Florida, Mandy became interested in singing at age nine while attending a summer musical-theater camp. She went on to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" for her city's major sports teams, and also lent her voice to numerous commercials and TV pilots.
I'm expecting to meet a type-A personality, a hard-driven woman who's all business and ambition. After all, isn't that the type of person who gets so much done in so few years? But when I meet the singer on the beach in Santa Monica during the photo shoot for tm, I realize I'm way off. Mandy, who still lives with her parents, Don and Stacy, and brothers, Scott and Kyle, in Orlando, is relaxed and friendly and greets me like an old friend.
Q: How did you get the role in The Princess Diaries?
A: I always thought that I wanted to be like Whitney Houston and do a movie similar to The Bodyguard where I could portray myself as a performer, but as I thought more about it, I started feeling it wasn't a good idea. Then The Princess Diaries came along, and I figured you can't get any better than working with Garry Marshall. My audition was with Garry, the casting people and executives from the studio. It was so nerve-wracking. I've never been under such pressure. When I was on tour in Asia, my agent called me and told me I got the part.
Q: Whom do you play in the movie?
A: A mean, crude witch whom everyone loves to hate, but she's still popular.
Q: Was it fun being mean?
A: Yes, it was so much fun.
Q: Were you popular at your high school?
A: Absolutely not! I was somewhere in between. The really popular kids thought it was cool to smoke and drink. My friends and I weren't into that crowd. It wasn't that we were goody-two-shoes, but we thought those kids were stupid. We didn't need drugs to have fun.
Q: Did you become good friends with anyone from the movie?
A: Heather Matarazzo. It was so cool because her film Welcome to the Dollhouse is one of my favorites. I liked that I was able to hang out with people my age. Usually when I'm on tour, everyone is so much older and I'm pretty much the only girl. In the last two years I've lost friends, so being on the set of The Princess Diaries was great because I made new friends.
Q: What was it like working with Garry Marshall, who made a star of Julia Roberts?
A: He's very quirky. I found the best way to work with Garry was to abandon all my thoughts about my character and let Garry mold me like a lump of clay.
Q: How long have you wanted to be an actress?
A: I started out doing musical theater, so I think those roots have always been with me. I'm more passionate about singing and performing. One of my ultimate goals in life is to be on Broadway. My favorite Broadway shows are Rent and Guys and Dolls.
Q: When you go on auditions, do people take you seriously because you're already a pop star?
A: No. I think they assume since I'm this pop chick that I probably got here just because I'm this singer, and I didn't have to go through everything that everyone else did. But I did. It's a risk. You have to face the possibility of rejection. It still hurts when I don't get a role. But if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be.
Q: Which actresses do you admire?
A: Michelle Pfeiffer -- she's the epitome of beauty and class. I liked her last film, What Lies Beneath, so much I saw it twice. I also love Julianne Moore.
Q: What about younger actresses?
A: Kate Hudson, who was so good in Almost Famous. I also like Kirsten Dunst, Christina Ricci and Reese Witherspoon, who was great in Election.
Q: If you could do a guest role on any WB series, which would it be?
A: This is really bad, but the only WB show I've ever watched is "7th Heaven." I'm not the typical teen when it comes to that. I'll wtch anything that's on MTV because music is in my blood.
Q: Which film role in the past year would you have loved to have played?
A: A Band Aid, one of the rock groupies in Almost Famous. That would have been cool.
Q: Which male star would you like to act opposite in a love story?
A: There are so many -- Tobey Maguire is gorgeous. I really like Josh Hartnett. He is so cute. I also adore musicians. I used to die for Enrique Iglesias and Gavin Rossdale from Bush.
Q: Would you feel weird if you were asked to do a love scene in a movie?
A: Funny you should ask. The first day on the set of The Princess Diaries, I had to make out with someone. It was very odd because I think the boy was trying to flirt with me. When we were kissing he was trying to put his tongue down my throat. I was like, "Slow down!" I felt very uncomfortable.
Q: If you could be guaranteed a movie career, would you ever give up singing?
A: No, I love music first.
Q: Since you've been in Hollywood, have you seen anything weird?
A: I live in an adult world now whether I like it or not. But you learn at a young age what to do and what not to do.
Q: When did you stop going to school?
A: I left school halfway through my freshman year. I still go to school, but I do correspondence through the Internet. My tutor in Orlando e-mails me my homework. It's getting increasingly difficult to find the time to do the work. I'm motivated by the fact that I want to go to college.
Q: You, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson are always mentioned together in the press. How are you different?
A: My age sets me apart because I'm only 17. Plus, what we sing about is different, as is the way we dress, how we perform and what we stand for. It's easier to notice the similarities than the differences.
Q: How do you think they're different?
A: Britney puts more of an emphasis on the dancing in her show whereas Christina puts more focus on her voice. She's a total diva. Jessica is somewhere in between.
Q: Have you met them?
A: I've met all three. They're all lovely girls. I'm really good friends with Jessica Simpson. We chat on our cell phones every now and then.
Q: What did you think of Britney's revealing outfit on the MTV awards?
A: It doesn't bother me. I don't have the self-confidence to pull that off. She obviously does. It's much easier to be sexy because you get much more attention for being that way than being classy.
Q: Describe your perfect day.
A: Waking up, checking my e-mail, having a bagel. I love AOL! I go on my message boards all the time at www.mandymoore.com. I talk to people, check in. People are always asking me who my boyfriend is.
Q: Who is your boyfriend?
A: Wilmer Valderrama. He's on "That '70s Show." We've been dating for six months. He is so cute.
Q: Did he give you that beautiful diamond band on your finger?
A: Yes, for Christmas.
Q: What did you give him?
A: Nothing good. I gave him things like clothes and little gifts.
Q: How did you meet?
A: I interviewed him for a magazine. The next thing I knew, he was asking me out at the photo shoot.
Q: Where did you go on your first date?
A: The Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica. Wilmer and I totally clicked. He's so funny. He keeps me laughing all the time. He has a huge heart. It's weird being in love. I miss Wilmer when I'm not with him. He's the perfect boyfriend. He is so understanding of my career.
Q: Is there any star you'd like to meet?
A: Benicio Del Toro. I think he is so good-looking and I loved him in Traffic.
Q: Do you read the tabloids?
A: Sometimes... I try not to pay attention to what they write. But I do find it humorous.
Q: What's your favorite fast food?
A: I love McDonald's. My favorite meal is a kid's meal, a cheeseburger with a Coke.
Q: Do you watch what you eat?
A: No, I don't eat healthy food. I eat brownies, Fruit Roll-ups, ice cream and pretzels. I don't think about my weight at all. I can't tell you the last time I weighed myself. I'm still growing. I don't want to have to worry about that.
Q: If you could go shopping anywhere in the world, where would it be?
A: I love London. I like Bond Street and New Bond Street. I love the store Joseph because they have the best pants.
Q: They're very expensive. Does it feel weird to be able to spend so much money on clothes?
A: Yeah, I went from shopping at the mall to shopping at expensive stores. But I'm in the business and this is the way it is.
Q: Is it weird that you make more money than some of your parents' friends?
A: Yes. I just bought a gold BMW X5, which was a big splurge. I do feel strange driving such an expensive car.
Q: Britney Spears just bought a $3 million house in L.A. Could you see moving here, too?
A: I actually just bought a two-bedroom condo in L.A. It's a brand-new building and I love it.
Q: But most of the time you live in Florida with your family. What's that like?
A: My mom is like my sister. She goes on the road with me. We love to go shopping and get manicures. We have a great relationship. My dad is a pilot for American Airlines. I also have two brothers. My older brother, Scott, is 20 and is in college, and my younger brother, Kyle, is 15 and a freshman in high school.
Q: What are the 10 things you can't live without?
A: Wilmer, my computer, my three cats (Milo, Chloe and Zoe), my family, water -- I'm constantly drinking water -- my cell phone, my CD player and Kiehl's lip balm.
Q: What's your average day like?
A: There is no average day. People think it's all glitz and glamour, but I'm usually working. Some days I get up at 4 a.m. to catch a flight, arrive in a city and go straight to sound check, then go back to the hotel to get ready for a show. I'm constantly on the go. I've been working nonstop for a year and a half with only 40 days off. Some days I just want to stay in bed and watch TV.