A - She’s a superb young actress and
she had qualities we were looking for: intelligence,
verbal acuity and youthful innocence. She
also had a chameleon quality that allowed her
to take on the constant lying and bluffing that the gambler, by
definition, employs. She
also had the ability to go to a darker place when the story needed her
to. Elisha is
completely natural. This brought credibility and empathy to her role. As
an audience, we
have to be able to sympathize with Katlin as bad things start happening
to her, and
especially as she starts to do bad things.
Q - What special qualities does
(Director) John Fawcett bring to the shoot?
A - John has a really strong ability to
analyze script and story. We worked together with the
writers until we had the story he felt he could shoot; that was credible
and dramatic.
He is as sweet as pie, a pleasure to work with; and we had fun even when
under
tremendous pressure due to the practicalities of the shoot. John is very
knowledgeable
about the process of filmmaking. He understands every part of it and how
interdependent
we all are. Focussed, prepared and hard working. There was very little
of the traditional
director/producer tensions, and we had a very collaborative time.
Q - Because of the subject matter, has it
been a tough shoot?
A - No. There were times when it was
hard for Elisha, as there were some emotionally
difficult scenes; but I also know she really enjoyed the challenge as an
actor. We had an
easy going and open environment on set. All hands were on deck to make
it as supportive
as possible for the actors and especially for Elisha.
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Source: Question & Anwer with John
Fawcett (Lucky Girl´s director)
Q - How did you find the actress
to play Katlin?
A - It took a long time to figure out
who she’d be. We’d never heard of Elisha Cuthbert.
She was living with her parents in Montreal and was brought to the
casting process quite late
on. When we saw her, she was right for the character. Physically she’s
like a normal
pretty girl – but not a model. She’s smart, funny and charming, so
she can do the sweet
aspects, but could also go for the darker aspects in an unbelievably
great way. We see the
desperation it takes to make almost immoral choices. It was pretty cool
to see her do it.
People will be amazed at what she is capable of. There are not that many
roles like this.
