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Amy Smart Discusses 'The Rat Race'
Aired August 08, 2001 - 16:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: Doing a little showbiz news of our own here on the "NEWS SITE" this afternoon, talking about one of the hottest young actresses in Hollywood right now. She has several feature films already to her credit, and right now Amy Smart is starring in a remake of an old classic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY SMART, ACTRESS: A little detour. It'll just take a minute. I just want to say hi to my boyfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Oh.
SMART: I can't believe it. That's Charlene's car.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Charlene?
SMART: His ex-girlfriend, or so I thought.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Come on now, I'm sure there's a perfectly innocent explanation. She probably came by just to pick up some clothes or -- oh...
SMART: Agh!
Did I come at a bad time? I'll ram this helicopter right down your throat!
Do you have a minute? I want to talk about our relationship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Now that is way for a woman to make an entrance. Amy Smart makes an entrance here with us in the CNN newsroom to talk a little bit more about this movie.
SMART: Yeah, "The Rat Race."
CHEN: And it's a remake of a movie.
SMART: Well, it's not a remake...
CHEN: Sort of.
SMART: ... but it has a similar format.
CHEN: All right. To?
SMART: And it starts off in a Las Vegas casino.
CHEN: Wait, wait. What is the remake element of this movie? It's a movie that'll be familiar to a lot of us in the older setting. That's all right.
SMART: Right. Similar to "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."
CHEN: Ah, yes. You remember that one?
SMART: Right.
But it takes place in Vegas. Everyone gets a gold coin, and six groups. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) guest services and everyone gets a key to basically win $2 million in a locker in Silver City, New Mexico. And...
CHEN: And you're all in the chase.
SMART: Yes. And I play a helicopter pilot, as you have just seen.
CHEN: A very effective helicopter pilot.
SMART: With a slight...
CHEN: A little problem with the boyfriend.
SMART: Yeah. A little jealousy going on.
CHEN: I think many women in our audience can understand how your character might have felt at that point.
SMART: Yeah.
CHEN: Apparently, your boyfriend has...
SMART: I've got to, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for other women.
CHEN: All right. There are a lot of big-name folks in this. Tell us about some of them and the characters they play.
SMART: Well, Cuba Gooding Jr. He's hilarious. He was so fun to work with. And then Whoopi Goldberg.
CHEN: John Cleese.
SMART: John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, who's Mr. Bean. We have Kathy Najimy, Jon Lovits, Seth Green, Breckin Meyer. Just a wonderful cast. I was so lucky to work on this film.
CHEN: Yeah, you are young relative to some of these big stars...
SMART: Yeah, definitely.
CHEN: ... names that folks have been more familiar with. What was that like for you?
SMART: You know, it just -- I felt like it really upped my performance and challenged me, and I felt the need to constantly push myself. And trusting Jerry Zucker, because he's such a brilliant filmmaker, that I just went with it. And we had Kathy Bates as a, you know, cameo.
CHEN: Yeah, and how can you mess with her?
Now, you know, "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad" -- wait, how many mads are there?
SMART: Four.
CHEN: "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," familiar to those, as I said, and a generation slightly older than yours, Amy.
SMART: Right.
CHEN: But is that a movie that you looked to for a little inspiration, or did you not want to see that?
SMART: Yeah. I kind of felt like this was innovative because it's bringing back the classics, of this great ensemble cast.
CHEN: It's very depressing, by the way, Amy, to be of a generation that watched the classics. But OK, all right, go ahead. It's all right.
SMART: Sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
CHEN: I'm feeling like a classic right now.
SMART: No, no, no, no. But it's just revamping that instead of all these teen gross-out comedies.
It's appealing to families as well. You know, Jerry Zucker really wanted to make a film that families would go and enjoy as well as every age group. So...
CHEN: Now, I have emphasized your age in all of this, but you have already done a number of movies that will be familiar to all of us.
SMART: Yes.
CHEN: Run us through a little bit of your filmography.
SMART: Well, I have done "Road Trip" and "Outside Providence," "Varsity Blues," "Felicity," "The '70s" miniseries. A little bit in "Starship Troopers." Just been working my way up. CHEN: Well, you've done pretty well. Amy Smart, part of "The Rat Race"...
SMART: Yeah.
CHEN: ... and part of the rat race of Hollywood as well. Appreciate you coming in, spending a little time with us.
SMART: Oh, gosh, so happy to be here at CNN.
CHEN: Thanks very much, and you'll see Amy as well on cnn.com with a chat there as well later.
SMART: Right, August 17th.
CHEN: Thanks very much, Amy.
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