Eliza Dushku’s first role was at a young age playing opposite Juliette Lewis in 1993’s “That Night.” Since then, she has starred in high profile TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Dollhouse,” and “Tru Calling.” She’s also had major roles in cult films like “Bring It On,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” and “Soul Survivors.”
Dushku was in town for the Dallas Sci-Fi Expo and I had the opportunity to participate in a question and answer session with the talented actor.
Did you find it hard sometimes to transition between the different characters on “Dollhouse”?
It was awesome. It was exactly what I asked Joss [Whedon, show creator] for. I just told him I didn’t want to do the same thing or wear the same wardrobe every day. Be careful what you wish for. It was great.
Sometimes I wish there was a little more time. A TV schedule is pretty tight. I wish there was a little more time to prepare some of the roles or some of the different accents. It was a dream thing.
What was it like playing the character of Echo and being on the set of “Dollhouse”?
I liked Echo when she was in action. It was fun. There were so many great people to work with. The Dollhouse was like the cushiest massage/getaway/resort. We’d always find crew members passed out in the pod or on the massage table. It was a nice place to spend our time.
Other times we’d get to go out on location and ride horses and rock climb. It was definitely an [action-packed] show. I had a good time as Echo. I liked being Echo more than [playing] Caroline. Echo was schizo, thanks to Joss.
Who was your favorite doll to play?
I’m not good with favorites. I liked a lot of them for different reasons. I did like the bow hunting episode because Joss wrote it based on a little story I told him a week before. We had lunch together. He came up with the show in the bathroom during a four-hour lunch over pizza. He went off and I went off.
It’s funny because, as people, we change. I was out elk hunting in Colorado and I wrote Joss this email about how we just killed this elk. I’m a vegan now. That’s how fast people change. At the time I wrote him the story, he sent me the entire pitch for “Dollhouse.” Literally within the same few seconds our emails had crossed and we had lunch two weeks before that. It was a kind of a trippy sci-fi moment. I loved it.
He wanted to incorporate parts of stories from my life. He asked me from the very beginning, “You’re kind of insane. I never know what you’re going to be doing by the end of the week. If you can please write [the crazy things Dushku did] down and send them to me, we’ll try to incorporate them into the show.”
He also let me be a little rock star singer for one episode. I apologize for the noise that came out of my mouth.
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Eric Shirey is the founder and former editor of Rondo Award nominated movie news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other entertainment websites. Eric has interviewed and worked with actors like Harrison Ford, Brooke Shields, Gerard Butler, Brendan Fraser, Selena Gomez, and many more.