“Black Rock” hits theaters this week, starring Kate Bosworth, Lake Bell and director Katie Aselton. The latter two sat down to talk to us regarding the making of the thriller, set on a deserted island where three friends have to fight for their survival. Bell and Aselton forged a quick friendship, with Bell taking on a character far different from the one she plays on Cartoon Network’s “Children’s Hospital,” while actor/director Aselton faced off against the elements and sometimes husband/screenwriter Mark Duplass in her creation of a true labor of love.

BULLZ-EYE: Katie, could you tell me the genesis of the story?

KATIE ASELTON: It’s the story of three childhood friends who have grown apart, and in an effort to reconnect, revisit an island that they used to frequent as kids. The movie really starts off as a chick flick/romantic dramedy and takes a severe turn when they learn that they are not the only ones on the island. There are three men out there hunting. After a series of unfortunate events, they find themselves in a fight for survival in an effort to get off the island alive. My first film, “The Freebie,” was a very quiet, intimate, emotional, talky-talky movie that was all inside a very small, Spanish bungalow. I felt the need after that to get outside, move my body and maybe kill someone. It’s just something I had to do. I don’t know why.

LAKE BELL: You had to express yourself.

KATIE ASELTON: Honestly, I’m new at this whole filmmaking thing and I’m trying some different things out and experimenting with different genres and seeing what I like. This type of thriller, this approach to a thriller that is very reality based, very truthful and simple in story and concept is something that excited me. It’s the kind of movie that I love to watch. I love “Deliverance.” I love “Misery,” even “The River Wild.” I used those as my points of reference. I also loved the idea of working with women. The TV show that I am on, I am the only girl with five guys. So, it was really exciting to get the chance to sit with two girls and kick some guys’ asses. That was fun, too.

LAKE BELL: Including the crew.

KATIE ASELTON: Including the crew. I kicked their asses too. And I had female crew members as well. It was a movie about strong women made by strong women and female producers. I had a female DP. I, myself, am female.

LAKE BELL: She is female.

KATIE ASELTON: And I had Lake and Kate [Bosworth], who are super rad ladies. It was a really, really fun experience and something that I had never done before and something that I’m very glad I did.

BE: With this being your second feature, what advice did Mark give you?

KATIE ASELTON: Well, we came up together. We made all of the movies together. He is wonderful about letting me have my own independent voice that is not his movie. What’s special about our collaboration professionally is that he really lets me do my thing and tell the story I want to tell the way I want to tell it. He got to write a script that’s very different than what he’s ever written before. He’s just really supportive. I will definitely run things past him. There were certain things he was very supportive of and certain things he was very critical of and I will take it or leave it. (laughs)

BE: Did he let you practice your stunts on him?

KATIE ASELTON: Absolutely not. (laughs)

BE: Was Mark supportive of the arc of Kate Bosworth’s character, who brings you two together?

KATIE ASELTON: Absolutely. As a filmmaker, you have an idea in your head of what it’s going to look like and hopefully you can pull it off. That was definitely a moment that gets a response from a theater. It’s thrilling as a filmmaker when you can surprise an audience. It’s a really great moment and I’m really happy the way Hilary Spera, my DP, decided to shoot it and light it. I was really excited. Part of it was Ben Lovett, the way he did the score. It almost emotionally tricks you as to what’s about to happen. Everyone in editorial was like, “Oh, that’s a good one.”

BE: Was it a tough shoot filming outside?

KATIE ASELTON: No, it was really easy. (laughs) It was so hard. It was hands down, the most challenging shoot I could have ever conceived of. Everyday was a new challenge. Whether it was the weather… it rained when it was supposed to be sunny. It was sunny when it was supposed to have rained. The fog was so intense that you couldn’t even see where the characters were. The temperatures were super low. The water is as cold as we claim it to be in the story and colder. I almost killed Lake. Tides coming in and never going out.

LAKE BELL: Six hour night shoots.

KATIE ASELTON: Yes, we were shooting nights on the shortest nights of the year.

LAKE BELL: And naked.

KATIE ASELTON: And naked with no clothes on. That was my own fault. That was something I couldn’t control, but something I did encourage. (laughs)

LAKE BELL: Did Mark write that in as a goof?

KATIE ASELTON: He did. He was like, “Hey babe, take your clothes off.” It was a challenging film from start to finish. It was not like “The Freebie,” which we went in and pre-lit… where we could literally go in, plug in the plug and just start shooting. This was very different. Honestly, the logline for the film, “The fight for survival,” became a metaphor for our experience making the movie. We just needed to get out of the month of June alive. The fact that we have a movie that I love to show for it is really exciting and I’m very proud of that.

BE: How close is the film to the original concept of the film, and was it difficult shooting the nude scenes?

KATIE ASELTON: It’s hard to say if the movie was close to my original conception, because it took so many versions. I don’t remember. I know I loved the final product. I know there are scenes that far exceeded what I hoped they could be. I think you’re always critical of your own work and you always feel that you could do better, but I’m really proud of what we did. I don’t remember what I hoped it was going to be. As far as nudity…

LAKE BELL: I think because we shot it chronologically, preparing ourselves for certain moments to attack, literally and emotionally. That sort of cold, vulnerable, nude, very emotionally raw scene became just another thing to tackle. At that point, we had already done the water stuff.

KATIE ASELTON: Which, on a sidenote, she literally almost died. She went into a 24-hour panic attack. It was really cold temperatures and really scary. Anything after that was a win, because she was alive, clothes or no clothes.

LAKE BELL: Clothes, smothes. (laughs). I was like, “I can’t breathe.”

KATIE ASELTON: The way it was shot and how it was treated. We were joking that we would close the set for privacy.

LAKE BELL: Except we had, like, a four person crew.

KATIE ASELTON: Everyone had a job to do and you couldn’t tell them not to do it. It was very easy in a way.

LAKE BELL: We definitely had a moment of, “We’re doing this.” We took the robes off and it’s cold. We did the first scene and hair and makeup came over. It was one person. (laughs) They came over with the robe. We cover back up again and by the third take, it was like, “Let’s just keep it that way.”

KATIE ASELTON: It’s just a body. Everybody can see it now.

LAKE BELL: Everyone’s seen it now. The bugs certainly have.

KATIE ASELTON: We were sitting bare-bottomed. Initially, we were going to sit on a blanket, but you could see it on camera.

LAKE BELL: So, we lost that blanket.

KATIE ASELTON: A lot of ticks.

BE: Did either of you have any prior experience in the outdoors?

KATIE ASELTON: We shot, literally, in my childhood backyard. The woods that you see in the film, I played in as a child. The fort that we were in was a recreation of something that I had built with my best friend when we were five. It was horribly constructed, but it was all doodled. That was my playground. My closest friend lived three miles away. A lot of time I spent by myself in the woods. I knew them very well and the beaches that we were on. It was all very interesting and special to sit there and take a quiet moment and think that if anyone had told me that when I was six years old, and playing on this beach, that I would come back and make a movie that would end up premiering at the Arclight and playing at theaters across the country, I would think you were crazy. It was really special. My family was a huge part in making the movie. Lake and Kate became a part of my family. As far as drawing on nostalgia, yeah, because for me, it was really like going home. The town dock was my town dock. The guys on the docks were my friends’ dads from childhood.

BE: What did you guys do to keep yourselves occupied in the middle of Maine?

LAKE BELL: I have an iPhone full of weird pictures. (laughs) We would go over to her parent’s house. We lived in separate cabins. The girls lived in the girl cabin. The guys were in the guy cabin. We would go over to her parents house to the basement where we would find a VHS to play. It was like “Gee, what VHS did you get?” We had “Ghostbusters,” “The Right Stuff”… it was funny.

KATIE ASELTON: It was funny, because we shared a home together. We had a special summer camp-like experience. We’re lucky if we get a girl’s weekend all together. To get a whole month with girls that you really, really click with was great.

LAKE BELL: I went to boarding school, so I had moments and flashes of that where you’d go, “Did you see the label on my Tupperware, because that was my couscous. You can have some, obviously, but just…” It was vegan and weird.

KATIE ASELTON: There were moments where Lake and I would walk into the kitchen and Kate would be eating was eating a thing of ice cream and we’re like, “Of course you’d just eat a whole container of ice cream.”

BE: Lake, how was the chemistry with the women, and had you worked with them before?

LAKE BELL: Katie and I knew each other as sort of social acquaintances for a while. Obviously, during and after making this movie, I feel we graduated to family status. I do feel a sisterly bond. When you’re naked and in the woods with someone, embracing, shivering, crying and hitting each other, there is a certain bond that’s forged. Then, Katie was like, “In your opinion, who comes to mind when you think of Sarah? Who would be another comrade who would be super game, really cool, and a real girl’s girl?” Kate Bosworth came to mind. I knew her socially. We were pals. I really liked her, but I never got to socially hang out with her that much. So, I brought her up and told her about the script. She was interested, read it and was super jazzed on it. They met and fell in love. (laughs)

KATIE ASELTON: It was a bizarre three-way love affair. We just clicked in a way that doesn’t happen often.

LAKE BELL: You’d need to be bonded to take on this kind of endeavor.

BE: Did you guys get hurt during the filming of the movie?

KATIE ASELTON: Yes, we did. A lot.

LAKE BELL: Absolutely.

KATIE ASELTON: Thankfully, my producer’s dad came up to visit. He’s a chiropractor. In the very first fight, where they grab the girls in the dark, I wonked my back. I get whipped around and bodyslammed down numerous times. My back completely compressed and went crazy. He came in and he was like, “Are you okay?” and I’m like, “I’m better now!” It was intense. It was really intense.

BE: Could you discuss the choreography in the very intense last scene?

KATIE ASELTON: We didn’t do a lot of choreography and I think that was the key to making it look that way. I, very specifically, approached all of the fight scenes with as little training as possible, because I wanted these girls to be very relatable and very real. As an audience member, I automatically separate myself when I see someone throw a roundhouse kick I don’t know how to throw a roundhouse kick. That’s crazy. I’ve never personally thrown a punch in my life until I did this movie. Then, I was like, “Oh my god.” But they were all very sloppy and very gritty, and awkward. I wanted it to feel like these girls had nothing but their passion to survive. That’s their weapon. I think women are ferociously strong when they need to be. They’re the people who lift cars off of babies. They keep telling me that. I keep referencing it like I know it as a fact. (laughs) We have an incredible inner strength and that’s what I wanted to blast open and I wanted to really see. And that’s what happens. It becomes a battle of who wants to live more.

With “Liz & Dick” now available on DVD, Russell kindly set about doing a bit of press for the production, and in chatting with Bullz-Eye, she discussed how working alongside Lohan caused her maternal instincts to kick in, revealed how serious funnyman Bill Murray can be, and detailed the good and the bad about her short-lived stint as a series regular on The WB’s “Glory Days.”

Bullz-Eye: I feel like I’m the only TV critic who didn’t get a chance to watch “Liz & Dick” when it originally aired, so I’m glad they sent me a copy of the DVD release in time to watch it before you and I talked.

Theresa Russell: And…? [Laughs.] What did you think?

BE: I enjoyed it well enough.

TR: It’s entertaining, I think.

BE: Well, I tend to enjoy bio-pics in general, if only just to see how a cast and crew decide to tackle the challenge of bringing someone’s life story to the screen.

TR: Yeah. I think Lindsay did a good job. And I didn’t realize that (Elizabeth Taylor’s) mom was so involved her life, either, until doing that, so I thought it was interesting. I actually met Liz. My former husband, Nicolas Roeg, did…I think it was for CBS, but it was Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth” with her. She was just a wonderful woman. I even tried on that damned diamond. [Laughs.] She goes, “Here, try it on!” I was, like, “Oh, my God…” We were standing around her pool. I put it on, and the thing was…I’m not a big jewelry person, so I thought it would look like a hunk of glass, but it didn’t. It was beautiful. I mean, looking into it was like looking into infinity. It was unbelievably beautiful. She was a trip, though. She was an amazing woman. She really was special. A special creature.

BE: Presumably you were at least somewhat aware of the way her relationship with Richard Burton was trumpeted to the heavens by the press. Do you have any particular recollections of that coverage?

TR: Well, I was still very, very young when most of it was going on. I remember my mom talking about it a little bit, though. And then when I got a little older, I asked her, “Why did she marry so much?” And she goes, “Well, you know, that’s what happened then: if you went to bed with a guy, you married them.”  I said, “Oh, okay! I guess you’ve got to get married lots of times, then!” [Laughs.] But she was great. One time, I was able to have a long conversation with her—she was actually with Larry Fortensky at the time—and she said that Richard was the love of her life. And that’s sad, really. Sad that they couldn’t figure that out and make it work between them.

BE: In playing Liz’s mother, did you do any research in regards to what Sara Taylor was really like?

TR: Well, I did what I could find. There wasn’t a heck of a lot on her, though. I basically looked online and found the things I could. She was an actress in her own right, for one thing. And she was born in Kansas, believe it or not. I always thought she was English. But, no, she moved to England and married an Englishman, and that’s why Elizabeth was born in England. And having had her own aspirations of being an actress, I guess that’s why she kind of guided Elizabeth into that area. Or it seems like it, anyway. She was a bit of a stage mom, but it doesn’t seem like there was any animosity between them. Not like poor Lindsay having a stage mom. It never seemed like that with Sara and Elizabeth.

BE: And on that note, how was it working with Ms. Lohan? “Liz & Dick” was obviously an attempt at a comeback for her.

TR: Yeah! Y’know what? She is so talented and so smart, and… [Hesitates.] It’s kind of scary and sad, really. She just did not have the tools. Nobody gave her the tools to figure this out. But I was playing her mom, and I also really am a mom, so maybe that’s why I felt even more maternal towards her…? I don’t know, but I was just, like, “Please…” I prayed for her to get it together. I want her to be my age. I want to see what she does in her life. But, y’know, there are times when it’s like being ruled by King Joffrey. [Laughs.] It’s, like, “C’mon, people, tell her what’s happening! Somebody around here be the grown-up!” I thought she did a good job. But sometimes it’s like she works off the drama. Nobody’s ever taught her otherwise, I guess.

BE: You were in your teens when you started acting. Was there every any point where you might’ve gone down a similar road yourself?

TR: Oh, no. [Laughs.] I’m just not that kind of girl. Not that kind of person. But also, I’m sure it makes a difference that I had my mother, and if my mother wasn’t around, then I had my grandmother. We were all very loved and very grounded in that way and knew how to behave. So I had a completely different upbringing. It was totally different.

BE: When you started your film career, it was with no small number of big names around you. Your first film, “The Last Tycoon,” where you co-starred with Robert DeNiro, Tony Curtis, and Robert Mitchum.

TR: Mitchum! I used to love old movies. When I came home from school, I was the oldest of five and had to look after my younger siblings, and…we only had four channels back then, y’know. [Laughs.] But one of them was…I think it was Channel 11 in those days, and it was just nothing but old movies, so that’s what I used to watch. So when (Elia) Kazan brought in DeNiro, I was, like, “Oh, hi,” and blah blah blah or whatever, and when DeNiro left the room, Kazan said, “Do you know who that is?” I said, “Oh, yeah, he’s great, I saw him in ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Taxi Driver.’” He said, “Well, you just seem very relaxed.” I said, “That’s ‘cause I’m more excited about working with Robert Mitchum!” I mean, he was amazing, Robert Mitchum. What a guy. He was such a man. He was great.

BE: You also worked with Bill Murray on “The Razor’s Edge,” before anyone knew he had it in him to be a dramatic actor.

TR: Yeah, that was his first dramatic part. That’s why he wanted to do it, I guess. I adore Bill. I wish I could work with him more. Because then I worked with him years later on “Wild Things.” I love him. I really do! Bill, if you’re out there, I want to work with you again! [Laughs.]

BE: How was he on the film? Did he seem at all out of his comfort zone, given that it was his first dramatic part?

TR: Well, no, but I think that’s because he’s the one who wanted to do it, y’know? That was one of the things he said to the studio. It was, like, “If you want me to do ‘Ghostbusters 2,’” or whatever it was, “then I want to do this!” It was a passion of his. In fact, after that movie, he ended up living in Paris for a long time, kind of going on odd treks of his own around the world. It seemed to change him somehow. But he’s a lovely man, and…well, y’know, it’s what they say, and it’s true, that most comedians really aren’t laughing and making jokes all the time. Not that he’s depressed, but he’s serious. He’s a serious guy. Comedy really is a serious business! But he was really serious about doing “The Razor’s Edge,” too. Not that we didn’t still have fun on the set, of course. But he’s a serious guy.

BE: Even putting “Liz & Dick” into the mix, you still really haven’t done a huge amount of TV work, but you tackled a regular series role in 2002 with “Glory Days” (also known as “Demontown”). It was short-lived, but how was the experience of the weekly-series grind? Did you enjoy it?

TR: Well, y’know, I did and I didn’t. (Executive producer) Kevin Williamson is a wonderful writer, but it got kind of… [Hesitates.] Something happened with the storyline, and he had to change it around because of the…well, I don’t want to go into the details, but, anyway, it was a little bit unfortunate, because it was supposed to have a different tone than it ended up having. So that was kind of a disappointment. For everyone, but mostly for him, I would think. But I loved Vancouver. We were up in Vancouver for the series, and I liked that. So, yeah I did enjoy it, but I also thought that…y’know, they just kill the crews on those things. I just thought, “Why do they do it?” And they’re, like, “Because this how we’ve always done it.” But why do you have to have a different director every week? This takes so much time to break them in and do this thing and that, and the hours just get longer and longer. Why not just have, like, three directors and rotate? I dunno, if I was gonna produce a TV series, I’d do it a lot differently than they do. [Laughs.] I mean, you talk to so many of these crews where these shows go on a long time, and people start getting sick, their marriages break up, they never see their kids…I just think that’s wrong. It’s so hard, y’know? Those kinds of hours are really just crazy hard. And it just seems like you don’t have to do it that way. I mean, I dunno, but it seems like a “save a dime to spend a dollar” situation to me. But other than that, I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun.

BE: Would you venture back to the small screen for a series again?

TR: Oh, sure. I’d love to be in an ensemble. That’d suit me very well. I wouldn’t want to be the lead. [Laughs.] But it’d be fun to be in an ensemble. I’d enjoy that very much.

BE: Do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on over the years that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

TR: Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I loved the films I did with Nic Roeg, y’know? My husband. But those are kind of cultish, and…well, I believe they were ahead of their time. People do bother to go back and look at “Bad Timing” and “Insignificance” and some of the other ones that we did together. Before MTV, that kind of cutting…it was, like, “Oh, it’s so strange! I don’t understand!” Now everybody’s used to that kind of non-linear sort of cutting things. But he was a real…he was an amazing, one-of-a-kind trendsetter. He really was. Is. I mean, he’s still alive! [Laughs.]

BE: I know you’re not in it, but I’ve got a seven-year-old daughter, and I’m just about to introduce her to his film “The Witches.” Not quite, but just about.

TR: Well, yeah, and that’s a terrific film. It really is. But I remember him being in fights with Jim Henson, arguing about the amount of farting. [Laughs.] I was, like, “Are you really? You’re gonna cause a real big problem with the producers and make Jim Henson mad at you because you want the mice, the boys, to fart more?” I mean, come on! That’s the kind of passion you get into when you’re filming, though, I guess. I do, too. But arguing about farting? How many farts and how long they can be, and what’s acceptable and what isn’t…? Okay…

BE: Just to wrap up, in looking at your filmography, there’s one movie that seems very out of your usual wheelhouse: “A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” How did you come to be a part of that production?

TR: Oh, I was living in London—I lived in London for almost 20 years—and it was just something that came up, that came down the pike. But I remember we were were shooting in Prague not very long after the Berlin Wall came down, and it was really amazing.

By the way, before we go, I’ve got two other films coming up. One’s called “Moving Mountains,” which is actually about mountain-top removal, and then there’s “A Winter Rose,” which is sort of an “A Star is Born” kind of thing.

BE: Do you have release dates on either them yet?

TR: No, no release dates yet. But they’re wrapped, so they’ll be out there someday! [Laughs.]

Even though he just recently finished his sophomore season at the University of Wisconsin, Traevon Jackson comes across just like his game- confident, smooth and mature.

For being just 20 years old, he’s so calm and composed, you can’t help but think about where you were in life at 20….and then sheepishly quit punishing yourself.

Some of that confidence undoubtedly comes from his famous genetics and being the son of NBA star player Jim Jackson, but the greater part of it comes from his faith and approach to life, off the court.

After getting limited minutes in the beginning of the year, Jackson became a starter and was a key contributor during the Badgers’ NCAA Tournament run, being named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team and hitting multiple game winning shots. Jackson was 15th in the Big Ten in assists as a true sophomore, also leading the team in both steals and finishing second in free throw shooting.

You get the feeling that it isn’t about what Jackson has accomplished thus far, but what he is going to accomplish. And that gets Badger fans excited.

Bullz-Eye- What was your experience like playing in the NCAA Tournament?
Traevon Jackson- “Obviously, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to.  Just the fact of me playing in the tournament was great because it’s the attitude of “loser goes home” and unfortunately we had to go home. But it really puts into perspective what you need to do to prepare for it going forward. And learning from that this year helps us next year.”

You just finished your sophomore year you were a big part of the rotation. What helped your development the most between freshman and sophomore year?
“Mainly going home and working with Anthony Rhodman (Who also trained National Player of the Year Trey Burke). This was my first full summer going back home and doing all the skill work that I needed to work on. Coming back in this year I was way more confident and better overall. It took a little while, had to go thru adversity. I didn’t achieve all the goals I wanted to, but the little bit of success I had is like a glimpse of the future.”

What is one area you’ve improved the most on the court and the most off of it?
“It goes for both- just my faith on and off the court. I’ve always been somewhat of a faithful guy but Ant really opened my heart to the lord and it really took hold of everything I do in life, I do it for the Lord. It’s a bigger purpose now. It really took hold for me on and off the court, doing it for the right reasons, bringing glory to god’s name, when it used to be “I want be the best just for me.” But now it’s not just for me but it’s for, Him, the Lord as well.”

What’s the experience been like at Wisconsin since you committed, versus what you thought it would be?
“Coming out of high school, just like any other freshman I’m sure, I thought I’d come in, play major minutes and be the man. And that wasn’t the case at all. Rarely played in my freshman year, and coming into my sophomore year I wasn’t expected to play either. But some injuries happened and I still didn’t start in the beginning of the year, but as season went on I became starter. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned in my two years- overcoming adversity. And if you just stay in the fight because anything can happen if you put in the work.”

What’s the most annoying or creative heckling you have heard in any Big Ten arena?
“A lot of stuff about my dad, but I’ve heard that forever so it’s rare I hear anything new. Honestly, I don’t know. There was this one lady at Indiana after we beat them. It was after the game and I was walking off the court and she was just sitting there on the sidelines. I was walking off the court and apparently I was smiling and she said, “There’s nothing to be smiling at!” It caught me off guard and I thought, “Why are you so mad?” That’s one thing that comes to mind. Fans always say “Jimmy’s better!’ (laughing) but I’m so focused on the game I don’t even pay attention except at maybe at a dead ball.”

Is there added pressure based on who your dad is to succeed? What’s the dynamic of that like?
“Growing up, I felt it more than I do now, but now I don’t even think about it at all, actually. The pressure that I feel now the most is pleasing the Lord. That may sound cliché, but that’s an everyday type of task and the biggest thing for me. As long as I continue to grow in that aspect, there is no other question.”

Who would win a game of one on one right now?
“Oh, me of course (laughing). Easily. He can beat me in golf and all the other, cards, all that stuff, but he’s not beating me on the court.”

How did him moving, playing for 12 different NBA teams, impact you as you were growing up?
“It was great. I got to go to a lot of different cities and see a lot of places I wouldn’t have probably otherwise seen. But, just from watching him, I got to really go thru and experience his career. He started out as a top guy in the league and eventually became a productive role player. Just seeing how he handled it was awesome.  It taught me no matter what, and I think about it now when I go through adversity, I never saw him put his head down, he always found a way, just like my mom- keep working hard and good things will come.”

Contact Traevon on Twitter @T_Jacks12

Bullz-Eye: From what I understand, it sounds like we’re both on the same page as far as being unable to refresh our memories on “China Beach”: they tell me my copy of the complete-series set is due to arrive tomorrow.

Robert Picardo: Oh, good for you! But I did already get mine. [Laughs.] They got it to me yesterday, and I devoted some time to it. I watched a couple of the bonus features. There are 10 hours of bonus features, and I guess I watched about two hours of them, or thereabouts. And then, even though I had to get up very early this morning to do these interviews, I thought, “Well, I’ll pop in the pilot and just watch the first five minutes to see the quality of the transfer.” And, of course, I watched the entire pilot. I couldn’t turn it off! So that was a good thing. The fact that I was so captivated was a good sign.

I’m really happy to see that the show, which was a period piece to begin with…I mean, we made it in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but it was set from ’68 to ’71, principally, and then the last season we kind of skipped into the future as late as 1987. But basically it was a period piece to begin with, so in that respect it hasn’t aged. It’s still a great time capsule and doesn’t feel dated, and I’m so proud of the work in it. Dana is extraordinary, Marg Helgenberger is extraordinary, but the whole ensemble is just great. You know, it was a very special time in my career, and I know and I’ve heard Dana and Marg and pretty much all of the actors say the same, so to have it reach a new audience is really very gratifying and exciting.

BE: What do you remember about your first read of the pilot script?

RP: I remember reading it and thinking it was great. And important. It felt like an honor to be part of something like that, which was really about something, I mean, obviously, you’d…I guess you’d say the success of the movie “Platoon” led to the possibility of major television networks doing Vietnam dramas. And, of course, “Tour of Duty,” our sister show… [Laughs.] Well, that was really more about “Platoon” and about the soldiers fighting. What was unique and special about “China Beach” was that the point-of-view character was a woman, an Army nurse who served there. So it gave the show a special perspective. It wasn’t about combat, it was about saving lives. It was about supporting and helping soldiers. The war was like an offstage character.

We were the support group there—the nurses, the doctors, the USO people—to sort of support and patch the guys up and either send them back or, if they were too injured, send them home. And more often than not, if they were dead, you’d offer the last gesture of respect to them. That’s what Michael Boatman’s character did, the guy who ran the grave registration. What a terrific role, and an extraordinary performance for a 24-year-old guy. I mean, to have so much…what’s the word? He created such a character who had seen everything, and he was totally believable as a guy who…that was his life, just all of that death and loss. And what that had turned him into was sort of a 24-year-old old man. Anyway, it’s just great writing. William Broyles, who served in Vietnam and who co-created the series, said that he feels it’s the best war drama that’s ever been on television. And, well, yeah, you could say that he’s a little partial, since he co-created it. [Laughs.] But you know what? I agree with him.

BE: Regarding other war-themed series, to read the one-liner about your character on Wikipedia (“head surgeon and womanizer dealing with being drafted into Army and away from his family”), he sounds like the perfect amalgam of Hawkeye Pierce and B.J. Hunnicutt from “M*A*S*H.”

RP: Yeah, he… Well, first of all, “M*A*S*H” was set in the Korean War, of course, and those characters were obviously creations of…the sensibilities of those men were created in the ‘50s. The same goes with my character on “China Beach,” Dr. Richard. I think of him now, with “Mad Men” being such a popular show on TV, as having very much that same attitude as guys from the early seasons of that show. He thinks very highly of himself. [Laughs.] He’s a little full of himself. In the pilot, I think I pinch at least five women on the butt. So, uh, it was a good job. It’s not very politically correct nowadays, but it was fun to be able to recreate those old, politically incorrect moments.

BE: It took ages for the series to finally make it to DVD, due to the expense of licensing the music being seen as cost-prohibitive.

RP: Yeah, y’know, because I did a “Star Trek” series, I make a lot of personal appearances and go to a lot of conventions and stuff like that, and I would often get asked, “Why hasn’t ‘China Beach’ come out?” And I always have to explain that answer: back then, they never anticipated selling a television show like that, so they never secured the music rights for sale or even for broadcast for a certain number of years. So it’s been completely out of the marketplace. At least “The Wonder Years,” which has had a similar fate and can’t be released because they haven’t secured the rights, but that at least still seemed to be in rerun everywhere. But “China Beach” hasn’t even been seen for over a dozen years. And that’s why it’s such a pleasure that Time-Life did it right. They invested the million dollars or whatever, they hired the lawyers, they secured…oh, gosh, 262 songs, I think they told me. Songs by people like the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Van Morrison, Ben E. King, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin…I mean, that’s one of the things that made the show great: that music. So to have it out finally with that music intact makes it worth waiting for.

BE: Do you have a particular favorite episode of “China Beach,” perhaps a spotlight episode for Dr. Richard?

RP: Well, for my character, there’s an episode called “Crossing the Great Water,” which was in the second season. It’s one where my character finally deconstructs himself and the identity that he left the States with. I’m a married, suburban golf-playing doctor with two young kids and a beautiful wife, and the world is my oyster. That’s the life he leaves when he’s drafted. And, basically, that all falls apart for him while he’s gone. His wife starts having an affair, she divorces him, and…actually, one suggestion that I made was that he discovered the affair inadvertently through a drawing that his child has made. His young child keeps drawing pictures of “Mom and Uncle Doug.” [Laughs.] And I’m, like, “I don’t know who Uncle Doug is!” That was the suggestion that I made to the writers, which they ended up doing.

Anyway, in the episode “Crossing the Great Water,” his wife serves him with divorce papers, and he basically just loses it. What was fun about that was that it was nice to take a character who had this patina of arrogance and self-confidence who walks around going, “Get out of my way! I am the hands of God, and I will save that person if you just get out of my way!” That kind of shell, that professional shell he had, is completely cracked and destroyed, and then he had to completely rebuild himself after that, and he ultimately became a better man for it. But that made it a fun show to shoot for me, because there were so many different emotional levels to it.

BE: Would you say are there any elements of your “China Beach” character that people can spot in the EMH on “Star Trek: Voyager” if they’re looking for them?

RP: It’s a good question. I tried to hide that. [Laughs.] I would say that, if I had a stock and trade as an actor, it was to play characters that you initially didn’t like, or that you thought that you were not going to like and then grew to like in spite of that negative first impression. So the Doctor on “Star Trek,” they shared a certain arrogance, I think, the two of them. Obviously, because my character on “Star Trek” was an artificial creation, he was sort of a first-generation program for a holographic emergency medical physician, there was a certain artifice to the way he acted for the first season or two. But eventually, as the show went on, he became more and more successfully human-like. So they didn’t have that in common. But as far as the initial impression of being full of themselves and a little arrogant…I mean, you would never see the holographic doctor pinch a woman on the butt. [Laughs.] But he still had that “I’m the smartest guy in the room” feeling that I think Dr. Richard also tried to project.

BE: Lastly, do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on over the years that didn’t get the love you thought it deserved?

RP: Oh, let’s see… [Long pause.] Um…yeah. Although I don’t know if “love” is the right word. I did a small movie called “Sensored,” which is available on DVD and download or whatever. It’s a little horror movie, or a psychological thriller, and I play a really creepy guy, but I worked really hard on this and I really liked it. And it’s totally different from anything else I’ve ever done. Talk about a character that has nothing in common with…I mean, if you can find one moment in that performance that reminds you of me in “Star Trek,” then I will shoot myself in the head. [Laughs.] Because it really is totally unlike anything I’ve ever done.

But then this little company that bought it for DVD release and all that, they screwed up the DVD release! They just blew it. They literally had orders from Wal-Mart and all that, but – get this – they didn’t have the movie rated in time, and Wal-Mart will not sell an unrated movie. So this whole little roll-out we had, where it was going to be seen and it was going to be sold and people were going to be able to get it, was cancelled because the company forgot to get their own movie rated. It was idiotic. It’s, like, you can’t believe it. It’s like saying, “Ah, yes, we went to the hospital, and my wife and I, we had a child, but somehow we forgot to bring it home!” [Laughs.] I don’t get it.

So, yes, the movie “Sensored” would be my answer, but the reason I say that “love” is maybe not the right word is because I play a very creepy guy. I’m a weird-ass, creepy guy. And you don’t know how much of the terrible things I’m doing are real and how much I’m imagining them. But I worked very hard on the role, and I wish it’d gotten seen by a larger audience. So that’s why I think it qualifies.

Bullz-Eye: First of all, I’m supposed to tell you that Donal Logue says, “Hello.”

Megyn Price: Awwwwwww… I love him! We’ve been going back and forth on Twitter. My former TV husband…

BE: Yeah, he and I just did an interview in conjunction with his debut on “Vikings” for the Onion AV Club.

MP: Oh, you did? Oh, great! That’s fun. He’s such a great guy, isn’t he? Did you have a 400-hour interview with him? ‘Cause he can not stop talking. [Laughs.]

BE: Well, actually, it started out a phoner, and then we ended up doing a bit more by email. It was for a feature called Random Roles, and I wanted to try to cover as many of his roles as possible. Lord knows he’s got enough of ‘em…

MP: Oh, God, I bet he loved that! He has the best stories. He used to tell a story about being on “The Patriot” anytime wardrobe would come up to us on “Grounded for Life,” about how there was this stampede, where everyone was getting run over by horses, and he said that wardrobe would come up to him and fix his collar. He’s, like, “Okay, you don’t need to fix my collar. I’m about to get run over by a horse!” [Laughs.]

BE: Okay, on to the topic at hand: your directorial debut. What took you so long to get behind the camera?

MP: It’s hard to get the shot, y’know? There are no small directing jobs. There are small acting jobs, but no small directing jobs. Somebody’s really got to be generous and kind, like our producers were on this show, and give you a shot. And, y’know, I think I had to earn it a little bit. A) I had to have the experience, but B) I had to do a lot of research and a lot of studying with other directors and prove that I was serious about it all.

BE: Was it something that you’d been wanting to do for awhile?

MP: Yes. Like, my whole life. [Laughs.] It’s something where…I always look at shows, look at scenes, look at projects that I choose from the directing standpoint. I mean always. I always think of myself as sort of a reluctant actor, because I think I’m really good at acting, but it only engages one side of my brain, which is the really base monkey brain that just goes and does it. I don’t really think about it. I just can do it. But the directing is much more the analytical side. It’s a creative side as well, but it’s, like, you get both sides of your brain working, which to me is a dream come true.

BE: You mentioned that you had to study with other directors. I’d guess that Ted Wass must’ve been one of those directors, given how many episodes of “Rules of Engagement” he’s helmed over the years.

MP: Actually, no! I’ve worked with Ted a million times, but Ted has a style that is really interactive, so…you almost don’t have to study Ted, because it’s so apparent when he’s working, so I went and shadowed people who are a little quieter. Not that Ted’s a big loudmouth. [Laughs.] But I shadowed Mark Cendrowski, who loves to teach what he knows, and I shadowed Andy Ackerman a couple of times, ‘cause he’s probably my favorite director that I’ve ever worked with. He’s so quiet that I really wanted to just sit on his shoulder and watch was he was doing, which was so informative. It was amazing. And Andy works really well with actors who are having a hard time, which I didn’t know until I watched him. He’s so kind, and he becomes almost like a dad. He was just great. But I think that once I kind of realized that I might have a shot at directing our show, I started hyper-watching everybody who directed our show.

BE: I’m sure you picked up more than a few things, but was there any particular lesson that you learned while shadowing these directors that really surprised you, something that you’d never really noticed before?

MP: [Laughs.] Well, I’ll tell you: the thing that was the most interesting to me was a conversation I had with Anthony Rich, who is one of my dear, dear friends, but he’s also been directing “The Big Bang Theory” for the last couple of years. I think he’s directed six or seven episodes at this point. But I called him the morning of the taping, and I said, “Anthony, I just can’t believe how vulnerable actors are!” He goes, “What are you talking about? You’re one of ‘em!” I said, “No, but I’m not a vulnerable actor! It’s amazing to me that your main job as a director is to make sure the actors are comfortable.” And he said the greatest thing I’ve ever heard: he started laughing, and he goes, “I love that you’re now realizing this. I’ve always called directing…it’s like wrangling unicorns. Because actors are magical people, and if you make them comfortable, their magic turns out…and if you make them uncomfortable, their magic turns off. So that’s your main job: to make sure that everyone’s comfortable enough that they can let their magic show.” And it’s great advice, because it’s so true! I know it from the other side: if I’m worrying about stuff, I’m not a good actor.

BE: Was it weird being on the other side of the camera for your own show?

MP: No, it was weird being an actor the week I was directing. Which sounds completely insane, but it was. It was weird. Because, like I told you, when I act, I don’t think about anything else at all. I’m just totally present, doing my thing. And when I’m acting and I’m directing, my head’s going, “I wonder what this looks like. I wonder if we need to tighten up that shot. Oh, he needs to say that differently…but I can’t say that ‘cause now I’m an actor in the scene!” [Laughs.] It was a bit of a schizophrenic kind of experience. But I think the night of taping I figured out a few tricks to really just turn off my directing head once the shots were set and just actually be an actor, so I didn’t ruin the show.

BE: How was it directing your cast members? Did they treat you with kid gloves, knowing that it was your first big shot behind the camera?

MP: They were beyond incredible. Talk about turning on their magic! They turned on their magic in rehearsal. They were unbelievable. They were so great. And I will tell you that, when you work with people for seven years on a show, there are many weeks when – I myself included – do not bring the A-game during rehearsal. [Laughs.] But they really did. Every single one of ‘em. And it was a rough week for David (Spade) and Adhir (Kalyan), because they had tricky stuff to do. I know you haven’t seen the episode, but…well, it’s called “Timmy Quits,” and they had to kind of play it real a little bit, because it was kind of an intense thing that Timmy was quitting, and then there was a joke five seconds later. So it was a tricky week for them, but they worked their little buns off.

BE: You guys are coming up on the end of the season, and CBS’s press department has already released a photo from the finale which shows Audrey and Jeff holding their new baby. Now, when I talked to Patrick Warbuton a few years ago, he said he’d fight against it if they ever tried to add a baby to the mix, and the last time I talked to you, you said, “Oh, God, every time we read even hints of that, we’re, like, ‘That can’t happen.’”

MP: [Laughs.] Yeah, famous last words, huh? Well, you know, we knew it was inevitable. I think that Patrick and I had been fighting against having a baby on the show the same way we’d fight against having a monkey on the show: we’d love having a monkey on the show, but that’d be a big, difficult shoot, wouldn’t it? Every time we have all eight thousand of Liz’s cats on the show, it takes two extra hours to film! But once we had an actual baby on the set, well, of course we just melted. We’re a couple big, sappy idiots.

BE: So what’s the status of the show? Is it still in flux? Will there be a Season 8?

MP: You know, every year we say it’ll take a miracle, and this year it felt done. I mean, we did 100 episodes, and it felt like, “Well, that’s an amazing number for any show to get to.” But as ever with this show, I guess you never know.

(Writer’s note: Funnily enough, if you go back and look at the interview I did with Warburton during the show’s third season, when I ask him about the possibility of Jeff and Audrey having a baby, he replied, “Yeah, well, hopefully, that will be season eight.”)

BE: When you look back at the run of the show thus far, do you have a particular favorite – or favorites – that leap to mind immediately?

MP: Oh, man, I have a million. And the truth is, my favorite…I don’t think of a whole episode as a favorite, generally, as much as particular scenes. Oh, no, wait, there is one. It’s called “Atlantic City.” Jeff lies to Audrey that he’s going to Atlantic City, and Audrey lies to Jeff that she’s going to a spa, but they’re both telling each other complete and total untruths for absolutely no personal gain. And then it just keeps avalanching, snowballing down a hill, lie upon lie upon lie, with both of them trying to race home to prove that the other one is lying while still somehow covering up their own lie. And yet, again, none of it is for personal gain. They’re not doing anything that the other would even care about! [Laughs.] So, yeah, I love that one, ‘cause to me it feels like a Noel Coward play. It was crazy, and very fun to do. But I love anything with Jeff and Audrey just talking about life. Nothing big happening, just their interaction. To me, it always sounds like a real couple. A real messed-up couple, but a real couple nonetheless.

BE: It really is a realistic dynamic that they’ve got between them.

MP: Yeah. I don’t know which one of the writers’ relationships it is, or if it’s an amalgamation of all of them. [Laughs.] It makes me feel sad for their wives.

BE: “Rules of Engagement” is one of those shows that’s been a stalwart of the CBS lineup even as it pretty consistently flies under the critical radar. Does that bother you, or are you just glad that you’ve got the dependable fans who keep coming back to watch the show?

MP: Well, I’ll tell ya: it falls under the critical radar except when they criticize it, but it makes us really appreciative of the people who notice the little things. Like, Patrick called me a couple of weeks ago, and he was, like, “I can’t believe this! I can’t believe this!” In USA Today, one of the writers had written that our relationship was the most realistic, funniest couple that’s ever been on television. And I’m, like, “What, in Season7 They just wrote that?” He said, “Yeah, there’s a whole article about how great our characters are!” And I was, like, “That’s, uh, unbelievably kind!” [Laughs.] Because, y’know, I feel like a lot of fans know that, but we haven’t really heard it in the press too much.

But, then again, our show has been a little inconsistent. I mean, when you have only a few episodes each year, or when you’re pulled and then put back on…we turned over a lot of writing staff, so I think there were years when it was a really, really well-written show, there were years when it was okay, there were years when we had new writers, and years when we had amazing writers who then left and, uh, went to do “Modern Family.” [Laughs.] It’s tough to keep your writing staff consistent when you never know when you’re coming back.

BE: In regards to the writing, is there any plot development related to Audrey that just rang untrue for you?

MP: [Long pause.] Yeah. I think it was very tough for me to constantly…well, I shouldn’t say “constantly,” but it was tough for me to do anything that rings in my ears to be, like, Clichéd Sitcom Wife. So if I’d have scenes where I’m going, “Hey, you’re supposed to be taking care of your health, we’re having a baby,” or that sort of thru-line, it’d just make me nuts. Cliché sitcom couple stuff has always been my biggest pet peeve, starting with taking the show with Donal. The only reason I wanted to do “Grounded for Life” was because that was not a couple that I had seen on TV. So for this couple, for me, every time Audrey feels like any other TV wife, I just get my hackles up.

BE: Well, to start wrapping up, since you brought up “Grounded for Life,” I have to tell you that, in the comments section for that interview I did with Donal, one of the recurring motifs involved people first praising the show, then praising “the hot wife.”

MP: That’s hilarious! You know, I once overheard these kids talking about me when I was on a plane. We were actually in the middle of shooting “Grounded,” and I was trying to get home from Arizona, and my flight was canceled. So I wound up with the last available seat on a Southwest flight back to L.A., so I could make it back for shooting. So I’m sitting in the middle of the aisle in the back of a Southwest plane, and these two teenage boys are sitting behind me, and they keep punching each other and arguing, and they’re whispering back and forth. Finally, one of ‘em goes, “Dude! If that was the hot mom from ‘Grounded for Life,’ she’d have her own plane!” [Laughs.] That’d be nice, wouldn’t it, my own plane? Mostly, though, I was going, “They think I’m hot? That’s so cool!” I also got free flip-flops at a surf store once because the clerk had been 16 when “Grounded for Life” was on!

BE: Okay, lastly, I just wanted to let you know that you were directly responsible for one of my wife’s favorite moments from the Television Critics Association press tour. It was at a Sony party a couple of years ago, and you were talking to my wife when Matthew Perry came up. You and he talked for a few minutes, but then you got called away to do an interview, at which point Matthew Perry turns to my wife and says, “So I suppose you want to talk to me now.” And because she’s not a journalist, she just looks at him and says, “Oh, GOD, no.” His jaw dropped. Then he burst out laughing.

MP: Oh. My. God. That is hilarious! That is so funny. He always loves to bring up how I blew him off when he was doing “Friends.” I was at Jennifer Aniston’s birthday party, and I was totally ignoring him, and he walked up to me and he goes, “I don’t think you understand, little girl: you better date me now, ‘cause my star is on the rise!” And I think in his head he was totally kidding…or he wasn’t, and now he claims that he was kidding. Because at the time it did not sound like he was kidding. I was, like, “How big is your ego, dude? Move on!” [Laughs.] So, yeah, now he likes to bring up how I misunderstood that he was joking. Uh-huh. Sure he was. In the heat of “Friends,” I’m real sure…

My favorite Television Critics Association story was when we were launching “Grounded for Life,” and there was all this talk about how I was only 10 years older than Lynsey Bartilson, who played my daughter, and…I mean, they just could not get off the subject. And finally, this big, fat guy raises his hand and goes, “Hey! Megyn! How old are you?” And I’m up on the dais, in front of this huge group of people. And I go, “How much do you weigh? Can we move on from the rude questions, mister?” It’s, like, “How rude are you, asking ‘how old are you’ to an actress?” And he said it in such a rude way. Thankfully, everybody in the whole room starting laughing, but, I mean, seriously, how inappropriate is that question? But I will say that usually I have fun at the TCAs. They tell you, “Oh, I’m sorry, you have to go to this thing,” but I like it, because it’s not all Hollywood types. It’s normal people. Well, you know, for the most part. [Laughs.]

Olga Kurylenko has starred alongside “Seven Psychopaths” and nearly taken out superspy James Bond in “Quantum of Solace.” It seems only obvious that her latest role would be fighting side-by-side with Tom Cruise in the new sci-fi film “Oblivion.” As Julia, she helps Cruise determine his role as he fights to save the Earth. The beautiful Ukrainian actress recently sat down with us to discuss her latest role, as well as how being a Bond girl prepared her for it.

Bullz-Eye: Did the director give you a lot of leeway in expanding your character?

Olga Kurylenko: It’s always teamwork. I spoke with him a lot. He, Tom and I would have meetings and discuss our characters, the backstory and we rehearsed. I watched videos of astronaut trainings. I watched some old romantic movies as preparation and inspiration. It’s a working process and you grow together.

BE: Was it hard to play a character that’s so mysterious early on?

Olga Kurylenko: That’s what I found initially very interesting. There’s this mystery to Julia and that I couldn’t reveal everything right away with the first appearance of her. The fact that she had to unravel and uncover her story during the whole film, she’s a completely different thing in the end from what we see in the beginning. All that mystery was interesting to work on.

BE: You’ve recently worked with two of the biggest stars in Hollywood. How is it different working with Tom Cruise and Daniel Craig?

Olga Kurylenko: A couple of things that they both have in common is that they’re both action heroes. I think another similar thing is that they both do their stunts by themselves. They train a lot and physically work a lot. They’re very hard-working. Tom is fascinating. I don’t know what that man doesn’t know how to do. He flies a plane, a helicopter, everything. It’s very inspiring to work with them, but don’t try to outshine them in action scenes. It’s just incredible. I think a stunt guy tried to compete in running with Tom Cruise and Tom ran faster. And stunt guys are tough. They’re the strongest, the fastest, and Tom Cruise is still stronger and faster. He’s one of a kind.

BE: Creatively, what was it like working with Tom?

Olga Kurylenko: Very interesting, creatively. It was unexpected to see how much he gives. He’s a big star and a wonderful actor, but only his partners and other actors know how much he gives to the other. He gives so much. He’s such a generous partner and that’s not always the case. I’ve never seen him sit in his trailer. Even if he’s far away or in my eyeline, he would prefer to be there. He would never leave the set, even if I told him, “Seriously, I don’t need you.” (laughs) He would still be there. He is involved a hundred percent and that’s a wonderful thing. He is very supportive, of course. He’s done all these stunts. When I came on set and there was this gimbal that was spinning, he talked me through it. He knows how it works. It’s very reassuring and it’s very reassuring to have a partner like that. He’s not just an actor who is there who has no idea. He actually, technically, knows how things work. You feel safe with him.

BE: How was it being in the bubble ship? Did it ever make you nauseous?

Olga Kurylenko: I threw up in the beginning of the film, when I came out of the pod. (laughs) I don’t get sick from motion. I don’t care. I can be on a boat and everything. I don’t like it psychologically, being thrown around. I don’t enjoy roller coasters. That was like being on a roller coaster and a washing machine, because it was spinning all the same time. I usually don’t like going into washing machines, when I have a choice. But here, I didn’t have a choice. Tom told me, “You don’t have a choice.” In a way, there’s all these great memories. Here, today, they all sound very funny. It was funny how I slowly adjusted to that machine, because in the end, I was fine. In the beginning, it was tough. In the end, I couldn’t care less. Joe was telling me, “I can see you smiling.” I said, “No, I’m not.” But I kind of was. (laughs)

BE: Was Tom or Joe laughing at you?

Olga Kurylenko: Everybody was cracking up. We were laughing and screaming at the same time. It’s amazing. It creates such an atmosphere on the set. Those scenes are usually very exciting and they’re also intense, because you’re working with machinery. There are all these buttons that have to be pushed. There were guys controlling it. It’s fascinating how they built that thing also. It can rotate all kinds of ways.

BE: Do you treat big budget and independent films the same way as an actress, in regards to preparation?

Olga Kurylenko: I approach them the same way — a small budget, artsy, independent, or whatever you want to call it, as a big commercial movie. I have to get in my character and I concentrate on the story, researching on certain training and if I have to be prepared physically. I think that’s the most important thing. We play fairy tales on the red carpet and it’s all Cinderella, but when the clock strikes midnight, I turn into a grey mouse and go home. (laughs)

BE: What was your reaction when you saw the finished movie, and did you know the song “Whiter Shade of Pale” was going to be in the movie?

Olga Kurylenko: We actually had a different song and it was replaced. I was surprised.

BE: Which song?

Olga Kurylenko: “Unforgettable.” I had it sent by Joe. It’s a beautiful song. The music is wonderful. They played the music at all or most of the premieres on the red carpets. The music is so touching. I think I was in Dublin, and at some point, I almost cried. I was thinking, “I can’t cry on the red carpet.” (laughs) It’s just so heartbreaking. It’s so emotional. It shows us that music is such an important part of a movie, too. It can just bring you to so many emotions. It can evoke so many feelings and memories, nostalgia, things that are connected to our past. It’s so important. I find it fits perfectly in the movie.

BE: How does “Oblivion” compare to your upcoming project with Terrence Malick?

Olga Kurylenko: It’s very different. They couldn’t be further apart from each other. In Malick’s film, there was no script. Here, the script is very detailed and very precise. The way Malick worked with us, he never rehearsed and he was actually against every rehearsal. In “Oblivion,” we rehearsed many scenes, especially the technical scenes, because you can’t just step on set and improvise when you’re working with all this machinery and flying bubble ships that can be very dangerous. It has to be very well rehearsed and prepared. Malick just throws actors in, but there is a backstory. Once again, lots of conversations. The way I built my character was by talking to Terrence. We just spoke, spoke, spoke. I had a little homework to do before I started the movie. I had to read three Russian novels: “Anna Karenina,” “Ilyiad” and “The Brothers Karamazov.” Those are very little novels. (laughs) After that, I didn’t need to read a script. We just spoke and it was just discussions about what I drew from the books, how we can compose the character, what similarities there are between Marina and other female characters in those books. That’s where the character was kind of born.

BE: Did you do any special training for “Oblivion” and were you hurt at all?

Olga Kurylenko: I wouldn’t tell you about that. (laughs) I’m tough. Of course, I get hurt all the time, but I like it. It’s not the most physically involved role I’ve had. If you compare Julia to Camille in “Quantum of Solace,” Julia’s a much more romantic character, while Camille is actually competing with Bond, trying to kill him, trying to fight him. She was pretty much an equivalent to James Bond in a female character, which was very different. And she didn’t have any romantic story with Bond, which was very different from Bond girls and very different from Julia. For me, physically, the most intense character and the most I’ve been involved in with action was Bond, but this one was probably the second. I’m kind of a secondary character, because I don’t manipulate those things. I’m either sitting next to Tom or behind Tom. So, I was sitting next to him or behind him on the motorcycle and the bubbleship. At one point, I pick up a machine gun and shoot. In that, the Bond girl school served me, because I did come prepared. They asked me how I knew how to do it and I said, “I went to Bond school.” (laughs)

Fans might think it would be a burden to not only be one of the most respected actors in film, but to have a voice that is universally recognized. From science documentaries to films involving a certain caped crusader, Morgan Freeman has seemingly done it all and shows no signs of slowing down. He sat down recently to talk about his relationship with fans and working with a screen idol of his, Tom Cruise, in the new sci-fi flick “Oblivion.”

Bullz-Eye: This is the first time you’ve worked with Tom. Do you have differing ways of how you approach a role?

Morgan Freeman: I don’t know. Everybody works the same. Preparation, very often, may be different, but you can’t work differently. You have to say the words that were written on the page. You have to make your marks. That’s the work.

BE: This film has many aspects that sci-fi purists enjoy. What do you think sets it apart?

Morgan Freeman: One of the things that stands out in this film is the love story. It’s not like one we’ve seen before. Then, there’s the awesome technology. The bubble ship can be remotely controlled. I agree that this is unlike many we’ve seen, or any we’ve seen prior. It’s very intelligent and extremely creative. Joseph designed these doggone toys. Awesome. Those drones are things you can’t believe, but there they are… believable.

BE: What aspect of the script most appealed to you?

Morgan Freeman: When I first read it, it talked about the mysteriousness of this group. At the outset, you don’t see them. They’re there, but you don’t see them. Then, when they are finally revealed, they’re the good guys and I’m the leader.

BE: In “Olympus Has Fallen,” you play your usual authoritative figure, but in this movie, you got to use some heavy machinery. Was that a choice on your part?

Morgan Freeman: No, I don’t make choices like that. (laughs) That’s written in that he goes up there and mans the machine gun. How these things work out is strictly the writer’s thing. It’s not the director. It’s not the actor. It’s strictly the writer.

BE: Was it fun?

Morgan Freeman: It was fun. That was dual 50-calibers on that tractor. I’d never fired a 50-caliber machine gun before.

BE: What was it specifically about “Oblivion” that made you pick this role?

Morgan Freeman: Tom Cruise. It’s a Tom Cruise movie, so if I was going to be a truck driver hauling supplies, I would’ve taken the job. I’m one of his huge fans — have been for I don’t know how many years. I know, at this point, I’m not going to be offered a minor role. You compare the script to the movie and they don’t compare, but I was excited about the script. The movie is so much more than what you can read on a page, but it’s a big draw. It’s a big science fiction film with Tom Cruise. It’s hard to go wrong.

BE: Joseph had said you and Tom wanted to make a movie for a while. Why did it take so long?

Morgan Freeman: When we said we wanted to work together, it’s not an active thing. Were that the case, I would’ve been in “Mission Impossible 1, 2 or 3.” But when the right project comes along, it’s sort of a domino effect. Everything falls into place. I think this was the perfect genre for me to be involved with Tom in. So, I no longer resent not having done anything with him. (laughs)

BE: Tom spoke of meeting you in 1990 when you were both nominated for an Oscar. What were you impressions of him then?

Morgan Freeman: The first time I saw him was in “Risky Business.” He was awesome. When his parents walked out of the house and he slid into frame in his Jockeys and did that whole thing, it was like, “This kid is awesome.” I don’t know if there is anything that he has done that I haven’t seen and appreciated. I’d seen stuff he’d done even before then. He’d done this fairy tale movie, “Legend.” He was just born to do this.

BE: Your character had a unique costume. How important are the costumes to you?

Morgan Freeman: Costume is always an asset. With a normal costume, you have a lot of say. If you’re wearing suits and ties, what color you want or how it will be cut, or whether or not you’ll wear a hat. But when you’re wearing a special costume… and costume is probably the second ingredient in character, with script being first. I always find that the costume does a lot to cement your character, to put it firmly in mind. This costume, I remember going for the fitting. It took maybe a half an hour to get into it. Then, I looked at it and I was walking all over the office, showing it off. It was, shall we say, instructive.

BE: You looked very good in a cape.

Morgan Freeman: Thank you very much. Maybe I’ll just buy myself one and wear it.

BE: You’ve been doing this for a while. Do you still enjoy it?

Morgan Freeman: I enjoy it every single day. I’m born to do this, too. I enjoy it every single day. It’s not like I have to get up every morning Monday through Friday and go to a job. You do a movie. However long it lasts, it begins and it ends in a relatively short period of time. So, in a given period of time, say a year, you can have four or five different experiences. It’s kind of exciting.

BE: Do you enjoy red carpets and interacting with the public?

Morgan Freeman: I was watching Jack Parr. Jack Parr was “The Tonight Show” host before Johnny Carson. One night, one of my movie heroes, Humphrey Bogart, was on. Humphrey was asked a similar question about pictures and autographs and the public. Bogart said, “I don’t owe the public anything, but a good performance.” I tried to take that to heart, but not quite so. Somebody once told me, “No, no, you belong to us. You’re in the public.” So, you can’t quite get away from it. I don’t do autographs. They’re a waste of time. Photographs stay. Touching someone’s hand, hugging a beautiful lady, all of that works out very well. So, I wanted to adopt Humphrey Bogart’s dictum, but it doesn’t work for me. I think I owe the public more than just a good performance. I owe them just a little bit of time…if I’m cornered.

BE: Also, what’s your idea of an ideal future?

Morgan Freeman: We would all live in trees. We would all hunt for our food. We would walk wherever we went. The planet would be rejuvenated. We wouldn’t be killing off all of the animals just to feed us. I would change it like that.

BE: Does Joseph Kosinski’s approach to filmmaking differ from some of the older directors you’ve worked with like Clint Eastwood and Rob Reiner?

Morgan Freeman: The two older directors that you mentioned happen to have a couple of things in common, speed being one of them. I like speed. Younger directors don’t seem to embrace that so much. As they get older and more secure with what they’re doing, they develop a lack of a need to spend more time shooting more film. You kind of know when you’ve got it. Nowadays, you may not know when you’ve got it. If you’ve only done two or three movies, you don’t want to go back to post and have your editors go, “Why did we do this or that?” It’s a see/why type thing. I give them credit for that.

BE: Do you embrace the role you’ve had over the last few years as the voice that explains the plot or provides exposition?

Morgan Freeman: It’s just the way shit works out. (laughs)

BE: What do you look for in scripts these days?

Morgan Freeman: I don’t know. It’s different things. I can’t say. If you sat down and wrote a script, you may write something that’s way beyond what you’ve ever seen me do, but if you thought of me to do it, I would be flattered to be asked to do something other than be wise.

Bullz-Eye: “Hemlock Grove” marks the first time you’ve ever taken on a series-regular role for television. Did you have any trepidation about taking that kind of a plunge for a show that’s being delivered to viewers in a non-traditional manner, or was that part of what drew you to it?

Famke Janssen: Trepidation about that element? No. Doing a series, period? Yes. [Laughs.] But to me, I think the fact that it was for Netflix and not your traditional network or cable show was one of the deciding factors—or certainly an added bonus, anyway—because it felt like we were kind of in the wild west, with new territory to explore. It wasn’t this whole weight of a specific way of working that we had to carry through in some way. So with that, I was hoping that there would be less control coming from above, and not so much like a big studio standing there with a whip, making you feel like you’re more of a puppet than anything else. Also, the whole 13-episode part was attractive as well, because I’m designed my life in such a way now that I’m trying to go back and forth between writing and directing and acting, and signing up for something that would’ve taken an entire year, as a network show would’ve…I hadn’t considered that at all, just because I don’t have the time for it. I don’t want to tie myself down. So in that regard, it was a perfect set-up, because I can make money and then I can pursue my passion of writing and directing in my free time.

BE: So what can you tell us about Olivia Godfrey without divulging anything too spoiler-y?

FJ: Olivia’s still mysterious even to me, and I’ve lived with her now for 13 hours onscreen, not to mention many more hours shooting the series, of course. She’s married into this Godfrey family, a family with a lot of money, but she comes from a lot of money as well…or she seems to, anyway. But whether she does come from a lot of money or where she really comes from or what her deal really is, nobody really knows, and maybe nobody will ever find out. [Laughs.] She’s highly manipulative. She loves her children, but she’s also somebody who just has an agenda most of the time. And she’s in love with her husband’s brother, and…there are all sorts of integral relationships with bizarre things going on within this small town as well as with these family members. [Shrugs.] It feels like “Twin Peaks” to me. That’s what it felt like. That’s the reason why I really liked it: because it is, in a good way, nonsensical. It’s not linear. You’re not gonna…not everything is going to be explained. There are going to be a lot of mysteries surrounding it all. Nothing is going to be wrapped up with a neat bow.

BE: It’s certainly appropriate for an Eli Roth production to have a David Lynch feel to it, given that the latter did a fair amount to launch the career of the former.

FJ: Exactly. Yeah, and it was one of the things that we all talked about in the beginning, in terms of the look of the show and the feel of the show and all of that.

BE: Obviously, Mr. Roth wasn’t able to be here today for the “Hemlock Grove” panel, but how interactive was he as far as the day-to-day goings-on of the series?

FJ: Well, in addition to producing, he also directed the pilot. But then, like the way that both network and cable TV shows are filmed, you have circulating directors who come in and out for the other episodes.

BE: The choice of phrase they’ve used to describe the show is “a murder mystery wrapped in a class-warefare struggle.”

FJ: [Long pause.] Okay, I’ll go with that. [Laughs.] If that’s what they want to call it, then I’ll go with that.

BE: You brought it up a moment ago, but I wanted to ask you a bit about the experience of writing and directing “Bringing Up Bobby,” which you produced as well. Clearly, it was a positive one.

FJ: Yeah! It was really… Actually, just yesterday, I got the most incredible review, one where I was finally, like, “Okay, that’s exactly what I tried to do, and somebody got it.” It felt so good. I know, you’re not supposed to read reviews, because if you’re gonna believe the good ones, then you’ve gotta believe the bad ones, and all that stuff. But once in awhile, it’s nice when someone gets exactly what you’re trying to do. It’s now going to be released on DVD, and it’ll be viewable on Netflix on Demand soon and you’ll also be able to order the DVD from them as well. It’s just been such an incredible learning experience, and that’s what I wanted it to be. I made many mistakes on it, but I learned an incredible amount of stuff, so I can’t wait to do it again. I can’t wait to get better at it. I love film so much that it’s frustrating for me to be an actor sometimes, because I’m only allowed to be part of a tiny little element of it. It’s that feeling when…it’s, like, you’re on set, you film your portion, and then they go, “You can go now,” but you go, “I don’t want to go! I want to stay! I want to watch what happens!” [Laughs.] That’s the great thing about being a director: you’re always there. I loved it. And it suits my personality.

BE: Are you willing to admit to the biggest mistake that you made while working on it?

FJ: [Long pause.] I don’t know that I could narrow it down to just one. [Laughs.] There were so many! It’s also that I don’t know that, had I known certain things, I wouldn’t have still made some of the same mistakes. A lot of it also had to do with our time restrictions. We had 20 days to shoot the film, it was 105 degrees in Oklahoma where we shot it, we had money complications, as everybody does with independent films these days, and actors falling out or coming in at the last minute. They call it guerilla filmmaking for a very good reason. So we had a lot of hurdles to overcome, but it turned into an hour and a half movie that came in on time and on budget, and…that’s at least something, right? And we sold it all over the world. Literally. And I’ve gone to almost every festival that you can imagine, including some in China, Germany, Italy, Holland, Russia, France, Canada, all over America…I mean, everywhere. It’s been all over the world. And that, to me, is something that a lot of people can’t say about the first film they directed. So it’s been fantastic. Fantastically difficult. But the emphasis is definitely still on the “fantastic.”

BE: I don’t know how much time we have, but I always try to ask folks about at least a couple of obscurities in their back catalog, and I feel like I have to ask you about “Deep Rising.”

FJ: Oh, do we call that one obscure? I can think of many more obscure films I’ve done. [Laughs.]

BE: Fair enough. What’s your favorite obscurity?

FJ: Well, I did “Monument Ave,” which probably nobody saw, that Ted Demme directed.

BE: Actually, that’s funny you should mention that movie: I actually talked to Greg Dulli (who played Shang in “Monument Ave.”) about it a few months back.

FJ: Oh, okay, then that’s not that obscure, either, is it? [Laughs.] I’m sure anything I say won’t be obscure to somebody, but how about…oh, what’s the one with Harvey Keitel? It’s set in part of L.A. “City of Industry”! I have a big list of obscurities. There’s also “The Gingerbread Man,” by Robert Altman. A lot of people didn’t see that.

BE: How was it to work for Robert Altman?

FJ: Fantastic. You know, Deran Sarafian, who’s one of our big directors on “Hemlock Grove,” he was an incredible influence throughout this whole process for all of us, somebody who really helped us a lot in finding the look and feel of the characters on the show…he’s related to Robert Altman.

BE: What was it like when you met with Altman for “The Gingerbread Man”? It seems like everyone I’ve spoken with who’s been in one of his films , they didn’t so much audition as they just kind of met with him for a bit and chatted.

FJ: I don’t know! It’s a good question, but…I can’t even remember! But then I’m just so blown away that I had that experience at all, that I got to work with him.

BE: There’s a story which has made the rounds that you were up for the role of Jadzia Dax on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” True?

FJ: Yep. They offered to me, I believe, but I didn’t do it. I’ve always been very scared of television series.

BE: Setting aside its horror-themed content, was “Hemlock Grove” as scary as you’d feared? You survived 13 episodes, anyway.

FJ: And 13 was just enough. [Laughs.] That’s not a statement on the show. It’s just that, to me, television is…oh, this is a terrible comparison, because it’s really not fair, but it’s like having a good nine-to-five job, like working at a bank or something. I never want to have that feeling, because to me, what draws me so much to what I do is that every day is different. And I’ve seen it with friends who are on television shows, mostly network, where they go all year and…it becomes a little bit like that. So, yeah, 13 episodes was just enough. My life is full of surprises, and I love that aspect of it.

BE: And yet you did have a pilot (“Alibi”)  in the works a few years ago, didn’t you?

FJ: I did, yeah. It was with the people from “House” (David Shore and Peter Blake).

BE: That must’ve been a scary prospect, then.

FJ: Oh, I was definitely sweating buckets on that one. [Laughs.] But it didn’t get picked up, so…everything worked out for a wonderful reason, I guess, in this case, because I ended up being able to make my own movie, and I’ve worked with a very interesting group of people on this show, while continuing to do all the things that I want to do on the side.

BE: Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the experience of being a Bond girl in “Goldeneye,” especially with the film franchise having celebrated 50 years.  

FJ: Well, can I just tell you that I presented at the National Board of Review? I presented to Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig, because (screenwriter/producer) Michael G. Wilson couldn’t be there, the William K. Everson Award for Film History for 50 years of James Bond. So it was great to be a part of it. They put this incredible montage together, kind of an elongated trailer, of all 50 years of Bond, and it was just so astonishing to look at. Because, I mean, we’ve all seen the movies, but to put them all together in one show reel, it’s just…I’m so blown away by what they’ve done, how they’ve kept this franchise alive for 50 years. Can you even imagine? And they haven’t even changed it that dramatically over that time. Just enough. And before you can get bored of any Bond, he’s been replaced with another one. And little tweaks like making M a woman or…whatever thing happens. The women, who were clearly completely objectified, have moved into having a little bit more to do. [Laughs.] Like my character, who I feel was a very strong, interesting character to play, yet still with a wink to the audience. So I’m very impressed with the way they’ve kept the franchise going.

BE: How was it working with Pierce Brosnan, given that it was his first time at bat in the role?

FJ: Well, it was a lot of pressure, both for him and for the franchise, because it was the first Bond film in, what, seven years? So there was a lot riding on it…and probably, had our film not worked, it might have ended the franchise. So I’m sure there was a lot of pressure for him, but he did it swimmingly. And I had fun. In fact, to me, it’s the reason why I’m here today. Not just in “Hemlock Grove,” but I couldn’t even have directed “Bringing up Bobby” without the help of having been in a Bond movie. That’s the way I see it. It really catapulted me into…some type of stardom, I suppose. [Laughs.] Some level of recognition, anyway!  So it was great. And I’m still very grateful.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced its network deal with FOX. The deal was reached in August of 2011, and since that time, the UFC has held six live events on the national network, with the seventh event taking place this Saturday.

The man behind all the action this weekend is UFC President Dana White, who took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with us about Saturday’s card, the UFC’s partnership with FOX, and the buzz around the new women’s bantamweight division. White, a Boston native, also gives his thoughts on the tragic Boston Marathon attack on Monday afternoon.

BULLZ-EYE: Thanks for your time Dana. Can you give everybody a little rundown of the UFC on FOX 7 event that is taking place this Saturday night in San Jose?

DANA WHITE: One of the things I was really excited about with this deal with FOX was being able to bring big fights back to free television. That has always been my goal since we bought this company. Coming off “The Ultimate Fighter” finale last weekend, every fight was sick, it was an amazing finale. We pulled 1.7 million viewers. We were the highest-rated thing on network and cable television with males 18-34. This fight on FOX is going to be a big one. Ben Henderson is defending his lightweight title again, this time against Gilbert Melendez, who is probably the toughest guy at 155 pounds that has never had a shot in the UFC. Everybody thinks this guy might be the best in the world, so we are going to find out on Saturday.

BE: When Ben Henderson came into the UFC from the WEC, what were your initial thoughts on where he fit in at 155, and have you been impressed with what he has done thus far in the octagon?

DANA WHITE: Absolutely. You never really know about a fight or a fighter until the fight happens, but Ben has been phenomenal. If you look at the guys that he has beaten since he has been here, he’s been outstanding.

BE: You have a lot of former Strikeforce fighters competing and being featured on this card. How have you assessed the Strikeforce fighters and their performance in the UFC thus far?

DANA WHITE: I have been thrilled with the Strikeforce fighters. A lot of bad stuff happened at Strikeforce. A lot of guys didn’t get paid for a while and these guys are hungry. First of all, they are happy to be back fighting and getting paid to do it. These guys want to prove to the world that they can fight and become the best in the world. The UFC is the place to do that. These guys have been fighting like maniacs, and I love it.

BE: There can be a lot of added emotion and pressure when you fight for the first time in the UFC. We saw that with Cat Zingano last Saturday as she was fighting back tears just walking out to the octagon. How do you think fighters like Melendez and Daniel Cormier will handle fighting in the UFC for the first time?

DANA WHITE: I think they are going to be fine. They have had big fights on TV before. I think it is tough if it is your first time on TV and you are making your UFC debut, but these guys have had big fights before. Cormier fought Josh Barnett — that’s a big fight. I think they are going to do fine.

BW: Can you talk about the exposure that these fighters get by being in the main event of a nationally televised broadcast like the one on Saturday on FOX?

DANA WHITE: That’s why Ben Henderson is a guy that came over from the WEC, and we’ve been getting him nothing but exposure on FOX. I think in beating Gilbert Melendez, if he wins this fight, he is going to finally start getting the credit he deserves. If Gilbert Melendez wins this fight, he is going to really get noticed. Melendez has been around forever, and a lot of people have been considering him the best 155-pounder in the world. Beating Ben Henderson on national television would definitely be great for him and do big things for his career.

BE: What do you feel are the keys to the Henderson vs. Melendez fight? They both seem very similar in styles and are well-rounded fighters.

DANA WHITE: I agree with you 100 percent. They both are well-rounded and have very similar styles. When you get down to a fight like that, you really just find out who is the more talented guy. Is one guy more talented than the other? When two fighters are so evenly matched it usually comes down to little details, or it just comes down to who wants it more.

BE: Frank Mir is coming into Saturday fighting a guy like Cormier that has a lot of hype coming into his UFC debut. Mir has been around for a while and is coming off a loss. How big is this fight for Frank?

DANA WHITE: It’s a huge fight for Frank. He has fought so many huge guys in the UFC already. Now he is fighting Cormier, who just beat Josh Barnett, and is a guy that is highly regarded, not only at heavyweight, but light heavyweight as well. It is a really big fight for Frank. It would be a very important win for him. It’s a really important win for both guys, obviously.

BE: You have Nate Diaz facing Josh Thomson on the FOX card as well in a lightweight bout. Just talk about putting those two on this card knowing how exciting their fights have been in the past.

DANA WHITE: Both these guys go a million miles an hour. Nate Diaz is never involved in boring fights. That kid gives it everything he’s got. Same goes for Thomson. We know this isn’t going to be a boring fight.

BE: The UFC has been with FOX now for well over a year. How do you feel things are progressing with the network, and do you feel you are getting everything you hoped for out of the deal?

DANA WHITE: Things could not be better. The relationship could not be better. Everything that these guys said they would do, they have done. We continue to progress and do better and better every time we air an event on FOX or their other networks.

BE: FOX has announced that the UFC will be a big part of FOX Sports 1 when it comes out later this year, and “The Ultimate Fighter” will be moving from FX to FOX Sports 1. What are your thoughts on being a focal point for this new channel?

DANA WHITE: I am excited about it. I always thought that that is where we belong, on a sports network. These guys don’t do anything half-assed. They really go at it. I love how young and aggressive this company is — they really fit well with us. I am pumped and proud to be part of it.

BE: The UFC has really expanded over the last 10 years and now you have a much bigger international presence. Where do you see the direction of the company going right now and what role will FOX play in that?

DANA WHITE: As we continue to go into other countries… right now we are in 175 different countries, 20 different languages and over a billion homes worldwide. What we are really focused on is building the market here in the United States and increasing the fanbase and creating more fighters. FOX is a very big part of all that.

BE: Last Saturday’s card featured an amazing women’s bantamweight fight between Cat Zingano and Miesha Tate. This was coming off an exciting fight between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. Have you been surprised by how exciting these fights have been and how the fans have really seemed to embrace the women’s division?

DANA WHITE: I am very impressed, very impressed. You mentioned the success we had with Ronda’s pay-per-view, and when you look at last week’s card, it was stacked top to bottom with amazing fights. Cat and Miesha went out there and had the fight of the night. That was a tremendous fight.

BE: I was really impressed by the constant action that they were able to sustain for nearly 15 minutes and they certainly weren’t afraid to dish out the punishment. They really left it in the octagon.

DANA WHITE: These women have been amazing, and they have fought just as hard as anyone else, if not harder. It’s like everyone in the women’s division has a giant chip on their shoulder. They all feel like they have something to prove, and so far they have gone out and performed and put on amazing fights.

BE: Before I let you go, I just wanted to get your thoughts on the tragic situation in Boston on Monday. I know you have a lot of history with that city. What were your initial thoughts when you heard what happened, and how do you think the city will bounce back?

DANA WHITE: It really bummed me out because when the city that you lived in gets attacked like that…you know, you think about when I lived there, we used to watch the race all the time, we would walk up and down Newbury Street. It was just a disgustingly, cowardly act. It makes me sick. To attack a race like that, where people have trained to run this thing from all over the world and their friends and family are waiting at the finish line for them, it’s just so (expletive) cowardly that it makes me sick. The one thing about the city of Boston and the United States as a whole, it’s one of those things where people will all come together, just like 9/11, and the city will bounce back. It’s just unfortunate that…not to mention that it’s the most popular marathon in the world and the oldest marathon in this country, to just do something like that is just… ugh. I can’t even put it into words without going crazy and sounding like an absolute psycho.

BE: I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on that and wish you the best of luck with this weekend’s card.

DANA WHITE: Thank you, it was my pleasure.

The UFC on FOX weekend will get started on Friday with the weigh-ins taking place at 7 pm ET. Those will air live on FUEL TV. Once Saturday’s fights on FOX have completed, fans can turn the channel to FUEL TV, where they can catch the UFC Postfight Show hosted by FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer, UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and UFC middleweight Brian Stann.

The UFC will return to FOX on July 27 from the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington with a card that has yet to be announced.

Ashley Tisdale and Simon Rex have different credits to their comedic resumes, but both seem ideal for the latest incarnation of “Scary Movie.” While Tisdale is the idol of kids, tweens, and more than a few adults with her weekly portrayal of Candace Flynn on the Disney Channel animated series “Phineas and Ferb,” Simon is a veteran of the franchise, having starred in the last two installments. The pair recently sat down with Bullz-Eye to discuss “Scary Movie 5,” the latest chapter of the comedy series, featuring parodies of films like “Mama” and “Paranormal Activity,” as well as non-horror movies like “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Black Swan.”

BULLZ-EYE: When did you guys get to see “Mama,” which is the main plot of the movie?

ASHLEY TISDALE: I saw it opening weekend, just because I wanted to go see the movie.

SIMON REX: Then, we went and saw it together.

ASHLEY TISDALE: I came out of the theaters and texted the producers and said, “We should be spoofing ‘Mama’ because it works so well.” Then, Phil [Beauman] said, “We’re actually going to spoof ‘Mama’.”

BE: How much did the additional “Mama” shooting entail?

ASHLEY TISDALE: A lot. About 60 percent (laughs).

SIMON REX: We shot for about a 10-day reshoot when we got back to L.A.

ASHLEY TISDALE: It was a lot of work with really long days.

SIMON REX: We had to update it. The movies we spoofed were already a year or two old. “Black Swan” wasn’t really a horror movie. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” wasn’t really a horror movie, so it needed some current horror stuff. With “Evil Dead,” which isn’t even out yet, we spoofed the trailer.

BE: Are either of you horror fans?

SIMON REX: I’m more of a fan of the comedy genre or spoofs like this, from Mel Brooks to all of David Zucker’s movies. I am a fan of what we did more than horror movies.

ASHLEY TISDALE: I’ve always been scared of scary movies, because I live by myself. Seeing something and having a big imagination, I’ll think someone is there. It’s funny — this movie has made me like them. Now, I’ll go see “Mama,” because now I’ll see things and think, “That is so spoofable.”

BE: Ashley, when you’re humping the microwave, are you thinking, “This is comedy gold”?

ASHLEY TISDALE: No. (laughs) That was part of the reshoots. I had already humped a potted plant and that was nerve-wracking. There was only one camera guy and they kept it really quiet. When it got to the point with the chair and the microwave, I was like, “Oh, I’ve got this. It’s fine that everybody’s watching.” I do remember the hardwood chair hitting me from behind and I looked from behind like I was all into it. Simon was like, “You’re getting slammed by a chair right now.” And I just started hysterically laughing. It was one of those moments where you never think you’re going to be in that position.

BE: Who was moving the chair?

ASHLEY TISDALE: The prop guy. (laughs) They were saying, “Do it harder.” And I said, “It’s hardwood. It hurts.” (laughs) I wish there was a camera on the prop guy. He was jamming it behind me. It was just so wrong.

SIMON REX: It was funny, though.

BE: Did you feel that you had to outdo what’s been previously done in the “Scary Movie” films?

ASHLEY TISDALE: As a comedian, I like to just go for things and go for the joke. I’m not thinking about what I look like or what expression I’m making. You kind of have to be free as a comedian and not take yourself too seriously. Every single time they’d say, “Oh, he’s going to hit you from behind,” or, “You’re going to land in a toilet,” I’d say, “Ok, cool… just make sure of the water.” (laughs)

BE: Was it ever awkward for you and the prop guy?

ASHLEY TISDALE: I couldn’t look him in the eye. (laughs)

BE: In the closing credits, Erica [Ash] had her fingers in your mouth a lot. How was that day of shooting?

ASHLEY TISDALE: It’s funny, because I had just been through a lot in this production. I had lost my voice for three days, so the whole ending was pretty much ADR. (laughs) I had a sinus infection, so I was like, “Props to you for sticking your finger in my mouth.” There was also a cut scene where Heather Locklear also sticks her finger in my mouth, so I was not a virgin anymore with the finger in the mouth. She was all over the place. It got me when they’d say, “Put your finger in her nose.” Then, they’d say, “Put it back in her mouth.” And I would be like, “Just stop. This is gross.” (laughs) They could just keep going with that stuff.

BE: How was Heather during that scene?

ASHLEY TISDALE: She was saying, “I’m really sorry I have to put my finger in your mouth.” She was really sweet.

BE: Simon, was there ever a time where you had to check your humility at the door?

SIMON REX: No, she had more love scenes with objects and with Erica. All we did was lay in bed next to each other. That was about it. She had more of the erotic kind of stuff going on. My stuff was just falling down a lot, which is what I love doing. It was fun to get into the fight scenes with the housekeeper. Since we got to shoot like “Paranormal Activity,” it was like a silent film in certain parts, where it sped up to look like an old Charlie Chaplain movie. I liked that.

BE: Do you guys remember discovering this style of humor?

SIMON REX: I do. I’m a bit older than her, so I grew up on “Airplane” and “Naked Gun.”

ASHLEY TISDALE: I saw it once.

SIMON REX: As a kid, I grew up on them, so I loved those kind of movies.

BE: Ashley, which fans usually approach you?

ASHLEY TISDALE: I always feel like it’s going to be “High School Musical.” I was at the Kids Choice Awards backstage and Jon Stewart comes up to me. He said, “Every time I hear your voice, I think I’m busted.” I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” I do an animation series called “Phineas and Ferb,” so I get that a lot. It’s so funny, but I have all these comedians that I look up to who love it.

BE: I read you studied ballet for the part, but you don’t dance in the movie. What happened?

ASHLEY TISDALE: Yeah, that got cut. It was a whole dance sequence. We trained for a month and [they] just cut it right out. (laughs) With this type of movie, you just have to roll with it. In the end, we spoofed “Mama” more and cut some of the “Black Swan” stuff.

BE: Did you pick up any of Jessica Chastain’s characteristics in “Mama”?

ASHLEY TISDALE: Yes, and with each movie that we spoofed. I really watched Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” with her hurried actions. The cool part is that it really blends well together. I just felt that how people are in “Paranormal,” like, “What do you hear?” and Natalie Portman felt like something was after her in “Black Swan.” I think it worked all together. With Jessica Chastain, the wig and the whole outfit helped me get into it. I became badass when I put the wig on and I was not really nice to the kids. (laughs) Then, I’d take it off and be super nice. I love kids.

BE: Which movie did you enjoy spoofing the most?

SIMON REX: I’d say “Paranormal Activity.” They were all pretty cool horror movies. I like it when they leave it up to your imagination. For me, playing the monkey trainer in a laboratory, I actually liked “[Rise of the] Planet of the Apes.” I remember watching it and being pleasantly surprised with that movie. I didn’t think it would be as good as it was.

BE: Were there actors in this movie that you regret not sharing a scene with?

SIMON REX: Chris Elliot, who got edited out. I went down at two in the morning to see him work and drove 30 minutes across Atlanta to see him work. To me, he’s just the best. He’s been in one or two of the “Scary Movies,” but I never got to meet him or work with him. So, that was a dream for me, and Molly Shannon, we both just adore. She was just so funny and a really sweet person.

BE: Did you guys lose it a lot during filming, especially with Molly Shannon?

ASHLEY TISDALE: Whenever I think of Molly Shannon, I just laugh so hard. It was definitely a reoccurring problem. I tried not to. A good actress doesn’t break character and I was trying not to break character, but she’s just so funny. She’s just hilarious to be with.

SIMON REX: And Katt Williams had you busting up.

ASHLEY TISDALE: If I’m laughing and they’ll say to pick it up and not cut, I’ll start laughing again and keep laughing. It’s kind of shit after that. It’s not going to go anywhere good. That was the hardest part of doing this movie.

BE: What’s your favorite comedy film?

ASHLEY TISDALE: I love “Bridesmaids.” It’s so funny.

SIMON REX: There are so many. There’s a movie called “American Movie,” which I feel is so brilliant, because it was so real. It’s so bizarre. I like darker comedies.

BE: Would you both be up to doing “Scary Movie 6”?

ASHLEY TISDALE: Definitely.

SIMON REX: Yes, they’re fun to make and they’re always going to be making horror movies.

BE: What do you guys have coming up?

ASHLEY TISDALE: I’m just reading scripts right now and I have my production company. I just finished producing a movie for the Disney Channel.

BE: Are you doing “Left Behind” with Nicolas Cage?

ASHLEY TISDALE: Yes, I don’t know when. I can’t wait. It’s completely different from this movie. I think it’s a really cool book series.

BE: Will you guys be approaching it more as an action blockbuster and less with the religious aspects?

ASHLEY TISDALE: Yes, that’s what they’re saying.

SIMON REX: I’m doing a spoof of telenovelas called “El Gringo Loco” and she’s in an episode with me. It’s on my YouTube page at youtube.com/dirtnasty. I have a music album coming out. I have a character called Dirt Nasty that’s a very dirty rapper.

ASHLEY TISDALE: We’re going to do a song together.

SIMON REX: Because she sings really beautifully and I rap really comedic. We’re going to do something together.

ASHLEY TISDALE: Yeah, maybe it’ll be Dirt N Ashley,