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Title: [SDCC PREVIEW] THE LADIES OF ‘D.O.A.: DEAD OR ALIVE’
Source: Wizard Universe.Com
Date: July 21, 2006

Sarah Carter, Holly Valance and Jaime Pressly share their experiences filming abroad and why they’re happy to be home again

They may be actresses, but don’t let the beauty and sweet personality fool you, any one of them could make you cry...and we’re not just talking about them turning you down for a date.

Shot in China and filmed under director Corey Yuen, the upcoming film "D.O.A.: Dead or Alive" is being released in August from Dimension Films. Three of its stars, Jaime Pressly, Sarah Carter and Holly Valance, sat down with Wizard Universe before their appearance today at San Diego Comic-Con International to chat about filming in extreme conditions and being shown up by a bunch of 9-year-old gymnasts.

PART 1: SARAH CARTER

WIZARD: Could you tell us about the movie and your character?

SARAH CARTER: Well I’m playing Helena Douglas and she is the cheerleader of the group. She is driven by her heart and by revenge. Her father is the one that has died in the film and her mother is missing. Her father left her with an island and she is in a tournament, but she is more driven to take over the whole island.

Have you played the game? Are you familiar with the character from the game at all?

CARTER: That’s all we did in China. There was nothing else to do.

Your character in the game, she has some specific personality traits. There is the background: her mother has been killed and she is out for revenge, and there is a possibility that Natassia [Malthe]’s character is behind the murder. Is any of this in the movie or part of your character?

CARTER: It is.

Is there any conflict with her and Natassia’s character?

CARTER: No, Natassia’s character and Devon [Aoki]’s character, Kasumi, have a more direct conflicting relationship. My character also has some conflict with Christy, Holly’s character. But not to worry, there should be a happy ending.

We always like a happy ending. So you think the movie sticks pretty close to what fans are used to in the games?

CARTER: It does, but I’m not an opera singer.

So you have done your research!

CARTER: Oh, definitely. But even though Helena doesn’t do any opera singing, I do use the same moves...the snake form.

So you had to learn specific moves for your character? The training must have been pretty intense.

CARTER: Yeah, we all trained together three months prior to leaving for China, and then a month in China we did a lot of wire training. We studied wu shu and kung fu, and then I studied snake form [and] samurai sword fighting. We each had specific weapons that we had to learn to use. That part was great.

Have you continued to keep up with any of the training after the movie?

CARTER: I gave myself a break and just recently I began getting back into it and getting into kickboxing with Holly.

So you still have relationships with some of the other actresses from the movie?

CARTER: Yeah, we went through that intense experience together, so I think we’re forever bonded.

You mentioned that there wasn’t much to do other than play the video game in China. Did you guys hang out off-set in China?

CARTER: Yeah, we were always in each others’ rooms. It feels like we’re family now. And actually, I’ve worked with both Holly and Natassia. Natassia, I worked with five other times, and Holly I’ve worked with three other times. And it’s just coincidence. So we’re all quite close.

We’ve heard the conditions in China were a little intense with the heat and the food. It didn’t sound like your typical Hollywood-type environment.

CARTER: No, D.O.A. was a guinea-pig production. Now, there are several films being shot there. When we arrived, there were rats all over the studio.

Rats?

CARTER: Yes. They would burn them alive outside the studio. It was pretty rough and we were sick the whole time, which lends itself to some interesting stories that we won’t get into. They were not exaggerating; it was excruciating fighting in that heat. We didn’t have air-conditioned trailers, we had tents with a fan that we all shared so there was nothing glamorous about shooting this film. But it looks beautiful, so it’s all worth it. Every film is different and this experience was not glamorous but life-changing. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

It sounds like, for better or worse, it was an experience. Did you take anything really positive from it? Not so much from the film, but from your experience in China. Did you experience anything cool or see anything that you can only see in China?

CARTER: I’m just grateful to have seen that part of the world; it’s shocking to see that we share the same planet as these people. The poverty was so extreme, I just feel grateful for every single moment that I spend in North America. It’s just such a blessing to live the way that we live. I cried the second I got off the plane and when I landed in Los Angeles I wanted to kiss the ground. To see the way that these people live and to have the lifestyle that we all have here...the worst-case scenario in North America is not anything close to how these people live. But the best thing is that they’re happy. Chinese people are always smiling and they know how to hang out like no one else I’ve ever met. And they work so hard...it’s just another way of life. That’s what China means to me. That’s what "D.O.A." was to me.

... And back to "D.O.A." Was there any volleyball played? Does it tie into the D.O.A. volleyball game?

CARTER: Oh yes, there’s a sexy volleyball game. But it’s just for fun. It’s the place in the movie where all the girls bond for the first time.

So, before they all get together and start kicking ass, they play a little volleyball together?

CARTER: Yeah. And we discover Ayane there, too.

Oh, ok. Now we also saw in the trailer this crazy scene...I think it’s Holly’s character...and she’s fighting in her underwear and beating the crap out of some guy with a towel. Do you have any scenes like that or anything that we will be surprised to see? Any unexpected craziness going on?

CARTER: Well, I go for the nerd. Donovan’s assistant Wetherby has a crush on me and you don’t think for a second that she’s going to fall in love with him, but it gets intimate.

A lot of the video-game nerds will appreciate that.

CARTER: Wetherby is the light note in the film. I was so happy to be working with Steve Howey. I used to laugh through all my days with him.

Do you think we can expect a "D.O.A." sequel? And will you be signed on if there is one?

CARTER: There has been talk about a sequel. I hope there will be a sequel. I think that people will be really impressed with it. The stunts are great. We do all of our own stunts, they’re true to the forms of the game, it’s about the fighting 100 percent and the story line is adorable. It’s "Charlie’s Angels" meets "Hero." It’s got all the elements for a fun summer movie.

Do you think it will break the video-game-movie mold?

CARTER: I do. It’s testing really well with young girls.

Really? That’s something you wouldn’t expect from a video-game movie.

CARTER: Exactly. I think it’s got a character for everybody.

Do you have any particular memory or moment from the filming that will stick with you?

CARTER: One of the most brilliant moments was the last shot... We’re jumping off a cliff into the ocean and each of us had to belly flop 15 feet onto a semi-soft gymnastics mat...literally, a belly flop...with the big fan blowing in our face. It was the perfect way to end the shooting, throwing ourselves onto this mat. It was terrifying. It was like a full surrender; it was hilarious cheering each other on. It should be in the DVD. I think the b-roll is even better than the film. It’s the real story. You definitely have to get the DVD.

PART 2: JAIME PRESSLY

Can you back up the stories? We’ve heard about the conditions working on this movie. They said it was really brutal...you guys were sick all the time and it was really hot.

JAIME PRESSLY: Yeah, we were sick all the time. It was a really, really difficult shoot. I had a rat the first location and it was 115 degrees with 100-percent humidity. So to go and run in those types of conditions, it was really difficult. And they don’t care if you’re tired. All the moving around was a rough, rough situation. We went to where they eventually shot "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero." And we were the first; it’s an absolutely beautiful set. We were the first western film to shoot at that location. We were the guinea pigs...and being the guinea pig is never, never fun.

Sounds like you had to be pretty tough to make it through this film.

PRESSLY: Yeah, I’m a tough girl. But I have never dealt with that kind of situation.

It couldn’t have all been bad, could it?

PRESSLY: The lucky part was, in transition from one location to another, we had three days off where the girls and I went to Shanghai and hit the Ritz Carlton. One time, I flew in some of the girls that work for me for my clothing company. We had four days and went to Shanghai and had a great time. The very last week we were filming, we were in Hong Kong, which was the best place ever. But I’m at this great place and I couldn’t do anything, because I had to work all day, and it’s the one place I wanted to visit. So, it was definitely the most difficult job I have ever had. It was definitely nice to come back to [ "My Name is Earl," the best job I’ve ever had.

That experience had to be a far cry from the set of "My Name is Earl."

PRESSLY: No kidding. ["Earl" is] the best job I’ve ever had. We laugh all day long and everything’s great. It’s difficult to be far away, especially when it is 13 hours away and nine hours ahead. It’s rough because you can’t fly home on the weekends and you can’t have the comfort foods, like grilled cheese. They didn’t even have cheese.

That’s too bad, because cheese makes everything taste better. Some things must get lost in the translation.

PRESSLY: It really does. And translation was hard. We had four different dialects going on set at all times: English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and whatever slang was used in the area we were in. So, if we had a translator that spoke Mandarin and most of the set spoke Cantonese, what were we supposed to do then? They didn’t understand. How are you going to be my translator if you don’t understand them? It was rough, but I tell everybody it gave me the patience of a parent.

Does it make you appreciate what you have?

PRESSLY: You bet. That cliché about kissing the ground... I really did it.

You know, Sarah said the same thing...that she kissed the ground when they came back.

PRESSLY: Yeah, she was on a flight with me on the way home. But one really funny, ironic thing was, when we got home, Sarah was taken in. They searched her because she’s Canadian. And I finally get all my bags¬...I’ve been gone for four months, so I have five bags...and little ol’ me was trying to get a cart. I finally grab one and a man came up to me and just took it away. He said, "You have to ask for those," and he snatched it back. My first thought was, "I just kissed the ground to come back here? Great." So off I went, with five bags falling off of one cart because I can’t push two. Then, I’m trying to get into the line at customs, but it was five miles long. No way I could hold it that long. I asked a man if there was any way to jump in line. I knew there were a million people in line, but I’d been gone for four months and I had all those bags... It wasn’t like, "I’m Jaime Pressly," though. He just looked at me and told me to get in the back of the line.

Really? That’s harsh.

PRESSLY: The man in front of him was Chinese, and he let me in front of him. I just got back from Hell, where women are treated like peons. It’s really old-fashioned over there.

Then, I come home to America and I kiss the ground and I’m treated like crap by a man not wanting to help a woman. And the Chinese man is the one that says, "Go right ahead. I will help you." I just thought how funny the world works.

Did you come away with anything really positive from China?

PRESSLY: I gained a huge amount of respect for the crew that worked over in China and the director, Corey Yuen. I had a lot of respect for him before, and the crew always worked so hard. These people were working two units, 17 hours a day, getting fours hours of sleep, and getting back up and doing it again. And they don’t have anything called "overtime" there. The background artists made $10 a day and that’s a lot to them. And Cory worked tirelessly on this. He knew what he wanted when it comes to the fight sequences. He’s really amazing at shooting action and I had the opportunity of shooting my last day, just him and I. Everyone else had gone home already. I have this picture of the two of us sitting on the back of what’s supposed to be my yacht where we were shooting my opening sequence.

So they shot your opening sequence at the end of the movie?

PRESSLY: Yes, which is harder because I had to get back into shape. There is a picture of us sitting on the side of each other and we’re looking in the camera and we look so tired. It’s this really great photo, but we just look so damn tired. It’s written all over our faces and it looks like Cory needs to go to bed for two months. There is this really great sense of what it was like to shoot this movie.

How did all this fit into your television schedule?

PRESSLY: I shot the pilot for "My Name is Earl" and then left for China. I came back and immediately starting filming again for the show.

So you didn’t get much of a break? What can you tell us about your character in the movie? Were you at all familiar with the D.O.A. games or your character, Tina?

PRESSLY: I was made aware of her. We were all made aware of our characters. I don’t really play video games. We were given a tape of our character where somebody else had played them like a pro and we got to watch them. So we knew all the moves our characters could do and all the people that we could fight. We studied that, and then we were each given an X-Box and the videogame so we could all play and learn more about it.

So you got some hands-on time?

PRESSLY: Yeah. I know my character pretty well. But, we don’t have any of the actress/ model stuff in there. We made it more about the fighting and the relationship she has with her father. She basically just wants to prove herself as not a fake anymore. People call her a fake because she’s actually a wrestler and that’s considered a fake sport. And her dad is mortified because it’s Dead or Alive, so either you’re going to live or you’re going to die. He decides if I’m going to do this, he will be the one to take me out. So, he comes and fights me.

Did you personally get to do a lot of the fighting in the movie?

PRESSLY: I did everything I was allowed to do. I’ve been training with my own trainer for the last nine years, martial arts.

So you were already familiar with that stuff?

PRESSLY: Yes, very familiar. I did some stuff on the "Mortal Kombat" TV series way back. Way back.

That was like 1999, so we’re going back a ways. Did you take anything from that experience?

PRESSLY: Not really. Honestly, one had nothing to do with the other. They’re not really alike. They’re completely the opposite of each other. Tina’s a tomboy. At one point, she’s in a bathing suit like everybody else, but that’s not really her thing. She likes to fight. She’s a bruiser. She grew up with her dad and all boys because her mother passed away when she was young.

There’s a story in the game about Tina’s relationship with her father. Do we actually see them fight in the movie?

PRESSLY: Yeah ,they do, because she has to prove herself to him. Yeah, we focus on that, but the movie is not just about Tina. That’s why I think there will be more than one movie, because there is a lot to cover with four characters...really six characters...but four main ones.

How about the volleyball stuff? In the series that’s an entirely separate game.

PRESSLY: Yeah, they tried to work that in there. We definitely play volleyball. But it’s great volleyball playing. We had to train in that, too.

How about a sequel? Would you be in it?

PRESSLY: Well, we’ll have to see when the time comes. There definitely would have to be a different paycheck on the table and a different location. I love doing action films, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, I’m focused on different things.

Your success has skyrocketed lately...

PRESSLY: Well, it comes and goes depending what you’re working on. You have to keep your wits about you.

PART 3: HOLLY VALANCE

Give us a quick overview of what "D.O.A.: Dead or Alive" is about? How does the movie tie into the game?

HOLLY VALANCE: Well it’s cool because there are various story lines going on, all at the same time with all the characters. We are the most elite fighters in the world and basically go to this island to see who the best fighter in the world is.

Nothing wrong with that.

VALANCE: We all meet on the island, where everyone is extremely competitive. There are problems between some of the fighters and the friendships that form. But I don’t want to ruin it. Then no one would have to go see it. I want to make rent.

We understand that. Are you familiar with the series?

VALANCE: I am. I am very, very familiar. One character I really like is Fast, just because he is brutal and mean. It’s fun snapping people’s backs over your knee.

Now, your character in the game, Christie, is known for being kind of superficial, kind of brutal. She doesn’t care too much for people and just wants to get the job done...

VALANCE: Yeah, I think it probably stems from a fear of getting hurt. Someone who puts their guard up is generally insecure. But there is a character she’s involved with in the film...she’s in love with him but she’d never tell him and does get jealous at one point, but it’s funny to watch because she does warm up. It was important for the act of the character to make her more human in the video game.

It sounds like you put into the character some of the elements that people will be familiar with from the game?

VALANCE: Definitely. We got to play it a lot in research because I think Yuen did a very good job and I have actually seen it. I have seen a final edit and I’m happy with it. I think it is going to be great. I think the fans of the game are going to be happy because it’s very, very similar.

The trailer opens up with a scene in which you and the other girls take on 300 guys. How was it?

VALANCE: All in a days work. And those guys were actually all there. We were shooting in Hung Jo and those poor boys were hired from the area. We shot in 125-degree heat over the summer and those poor guys were just wonderful. Ten hours and they were all clothed up with all their weapons and everything. Some of them passed out.

You were in China for four months. How was that?

VALANCE: [It was] one of the best and worst things that has ever happened to me. But it’s an incredible experience if anyone is interested in going and really toughing it. I made some serious friends for life. It is very, very un-Western. Things are quite upside down. They think we are crazy, and we think they are crazy. So it was constantly a battle. But I met some absolutely gorgeous Chinese people over there. They have a brilliant sense of humor which I wasn’t aware of. I have done a lot of work in Asian countries, more Japan and Southeast Asia than China. I loved their sense of humor. They were very, very happy people even in the poorest areas, smiling all the time.

How did you deal with the time away from home?

VALANCE: We all pretty much had our moms and families and boyfriends send us packages. They consisted of cans of tuna and baked beans and protein bars and everything we could eat between meals to not have to eat too much of the local stuff. When we were in the cities, the big cities, it was world class. Shanghai was just gorgeous and I would love to go back there, but mostly we weren’t [in Shanghai]. We were an eight-hour drive into the middle of nowhere. But we got through it.

That’s interesting to hear. A lot of people have this vision of big Hollywood movies and all of these pampered, beautiful actresses and...

VALANCE: I bet. The big Hollywood movie has trailers. We had a tent, a plastic rug and fan. There were 20 of us that would have happily shared one trailer just to not be on the ground with some big spider crawling up your leg. But it was hilarious. I had some of the most funny, crazy moments I will probably never, ever have again...talk about 900 photos each. We are all still scared, but at the same time, I came back knowing exactly what I wanted out of life and how I was going to get it. I had a lot of thinking time to work out what’s really important. I take absolutely nothing for granted now.

What about the training that you did or the preparation that you did to get into this?

VALANCE: We did four months before we started shooting in China. We trained for six hours a day, nearly every day of the week...which ended up being twice a day towards the end when we added volleyball in the afternoon. Basically, we just did a lot of kung-fu training, and I was totally up for that, because I’ve trained in [the kickboxing style] muay thai since I was about 14. But it was very, very different, so things that I thought I did really well were completely wrong for kung-fu style. I had to relearn a lot of things. It’s harder than just learning something new. And it didn’t help that we were training at an Olympic gym, so there would be these 9-year-old little gymnasts that put us to shame. We were wincing about a few sit-ups.

Have you kept up with the martial arts training since the filming?

VALANCE: Yeah, I am still doing it like five days a week. I don’t think the other girls are doing it. Jaime is just amazing. Her physique is ridiculous. She trains more with weights, and Sara is very into her yoga and dance and goes running a lot. I was always more into just straight kickboxing. I don’t feel like I am exercising because I am too busy trying not to get punched in the face.

bYou mentioned the other actresses. Do you still keep in touch with those girls at all?

VALANCE: Yeah, all the time. I made some amazing friends and we are all pretty spread out, so e-mail is the best way to keep in touch. But we all definitely made amazing friendships. There were only 30 of us or so that spoke any English, so we really just had ourselves, because no one could communicate.

Are there any plans to get together again for another entry into this series?

VALANCE: Possibly. While we were shooting, they were pretty amped about doing sequels. I haven’t heard anything definitely, but I think that is something that depends on how it goes in August. We all made them promise that it wouldn’t be in China. We were like, "Can we shoot the next one in Barbados or Marseille?"