Film Review - Special 19

Wuhrer arrives at our 11:00am meeting in Universal City, Los Angeles, precisely on time and clutching a copy of the script of her next movie. She's instantly likeable, an attractive gregarious 30- year-old who knows exactly how to play the Hollywood game, yet refuses to let it rule her life.

If her face and name are not instantly recognizable, then her credentials should be: she was Jack Nicholson's liaison in The Crossing Guard, played a supporting role in John Singleton's Higher Learning, appeared with Andrew Dice Clay in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, played the vengeful gypsy woman in Stephen King's Thinner, while on television she had a recurring role in Beverly Hills 90210 and Class of '96.

1997 looks like being her year: in addition to the starring role in the US box office topper Anaconda, Wuhrer can been seen in Sex and the Single Man (opposite Ron Eldard and Stanley Tucci), and she is a recent addition to the regular cast of Fox Network's cult fantasy show Sliders.

Anaconda tells the story of a documentary film crew who are scouring the Brazilian Rainforest in search of the legendary Shirishama Indians. Led by anthropologist Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), the team comprises director Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez), cameraman Danny (Ice Cube), sound mixer Gary (Owen Wilson), narrator Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde) and production manager Denise.

While travelling down river they discover Paul Sarone (Jon Voight), who is stranded on a deserted boat, and take him aboard. This proves to be their downfall: Sarone is obsessed with tracking a deadly 40-foot Anaconda, a killer that wraps itself around its prey, crushes it to death, then swallows it whole...

Wuhrer auditioned for the role of Denise immediately after wrapping on An Occasional Hell, in which she starred opposite Tom Berenger. She grimaces when she recalls that day: her long hair, which had been bleached blonde for that movie, was beginning to fall out. She had no choice but to undergo a drastic crop - and for the first time in her life Wuhrer had short hair.

"It was like you'd cut my nuts off if I was a guy," she insists. "I had to learn how to be strong and feminine and sexy without this hair. I went in to audition really overcompensating for the fact I had no hair. I was being funny and attacked this material. I think they were either really really scared or they thought I could bring some life to the set when we were down in the Amazon."

Much of the filming for Anaconda took place in Brazil, as director Luis Llosa led a crew of over 200 in the spectacular river city of Manaus. Everyday problems included a lack of light in the jungle, the organizing of supplies, plus the sometimes aggressive local population of monkeys.

"We were at the mercy of the elements of nature," Wuhrer concurs. "It rained every day in Brazil. And like the documentary film crew, we were battling not only the river and the weather, but the animals. It was an awesome experience as well. Being among the rainstorms and the heat and the monkeys and the river kept us all in character and in the moment. I wish we could have done the whole movie down there."

While nature presented its own challenges, science too seemed intent on hampering Anaconda's production. The 40 foot snake in the movie is the creation of Walter Conti, the special effects supervisor who provided dolphins for Flipper and the whales in Free Willy and Free Willy II. Conti studied the movements and behaviour of real snakes and brought them to life using hydraulics, electronics and computers. While the results are extraordinary, such complex effects take time to achieve. "Animatronics are all done on hydraulics," explains Wuhrer. "With Jurassic Park they made these elaborate creatures, but they stayed on dry land. The snake was always in the water, and electronics in the water are never very easy and so we were always getting these little setbacks.

"We had so many problems with that damn snake when we were shooting that by the time we saw the movie and it was all working perfectly I was just really relieved. Walter Conti made it work so well that all the waiting was worth it. It looks really good. I think the way they used the animatronics with the CGI was groundbreaking."

At one point during the production a power surge caused the animatronic snake to go haywire. Suddenly the massive bulk of electronics went out of control, thrashing around so impressively that some of the footage of this mishap actually made it into the movie.

"I got a lot of sleep in my trailer," beams the actress when asked if the snake delayed shooting. 'There were days I'd get there at eight in the morning and go home at midnight and never have worked an hour, but I got the overtime.

"It was interesting being on the set around Luis Llosa - every director in the world should take a lesson from this guy. He had so much patience. He was so pleasant - we called him the Peruvian Gatsby because he'd always come onto the set with the dapperest white shorts, the dapperest white shirt, white socks... He wouldn't sweat in 120 degree temperatures. He'd never lose his temper - the guy was unbelievable. Watching him work was incredible. It didn't matter how many setbacks that we had."

In many respects Wuhrer found Anaconda a great learning experience. Never before had she been forced to spend hours standing in front of the camera, screaming at something that wasn't there. "Most of the shots in Anaconda are of me freaking out to this guy holding a cardboard cut-out!" she laughs. 'Then we did a show with dinosaurs in Sliders where we were running, and I was like 'Oh I'm an old pro at this - gimme that damn cardboard cut-out!"'

Surprisingly, Wuhrer has no fear of snakes herself, having owned a pet python as a child. She'll admit to a slight aversion to cockroaches ("because I lived in New York for so long"), but even that is a phobia she is willing to overcome. Given that many people have a genuine loathing of snakes, did the actress expect Anaconda to do well at the box office?

"I was really hoping," she says. "I've put of a lot of work into a lot of independent movies that don't end up being released except in the video stores. I've had movies that just barely missed Sundance, haven't gone to Cannes, and a lot of disappointments - to the point where I think I'm cursed. I'm really happy that Anaconda's doing well, but I knew it would because Jennifer Lopez had all of the blessings and all of the luck that I didn't get. I knew because of her fortune that the Gods were going to be kind to the movie."

Wuhrer was raised in Connecticut and moved to New York when she was 18 to pursue an acting career. She paid the bills doing stage work, commercials and the odd feature, but an interest in music suggested that a career as a pop singer was on the cards. After playing in bands in the Big Apple, she auditioned for MTV's innovative gameshow Remote Control in 1989.

"I thought MTV was a great place for me to be because I was in punk bands and I wanted to get my music heard," she offers. "It was my 21st birthday, and if a truck were to hit me it would have gone right through me. I was invincible that day. I met up with these MTV people, and when you're 21 you have this blind confidence. I don't know where it comes from, but no one can touch you. The older you get, the more insecure it seems you become, whereas it should be the other way around. I walked into the office and I basically told them that this job was mine - and it was!"

Within two years of working at MTV, Wuhrer had formulated a career plan. She wanted to get her music heard by Rick Ruban, the producer who owns American Records, and noted that comedian Andrew Dice Clay was signed to his label.

"Andrew was doing this movie out in Hollywood, and I knew I had to get into this movie because this was the way I was going to meet Rick Ruban, who had moved to LA. So I auditioned for Renny Harlin, and I auditioned for the lead and I was good, but I didn't get the part. Joel Silver called me up at home and he goes, 'You were just too pretty for the lead, I want you to do the smaller role if you can fly yourself out and put yourself up'. So I flew myself out to LA and did the whole Hollywood thing - anything to meet Rick Ruban.

"When I was on set I always had my demo tape of my band in my pocket, and I finally got to him on the set one day. So we go down to his Stingray and we listened to this tape, which was like this Gothic metal music. He said, 'I like the voice but we've gotta work on the songs, meet me in my office at 9 o'clock'. So I go into his office and sign the crappiest deal anybody in the music industry has ever signed to be on his label, and that was it -1 had arrived.

"I moved all my stuff out to LA and I was going to be a big pop star. He took over my life -1 was so in awe of him I would have done anything he said. Literally I have done some things that he wanted me to do that, to this day, I am still freaked out about. After a couple of years of working with him and waiting and waiting -1 would be over at his house hanging out with him and we wouldn't be in his studio -1 finally said, 1 can't do this any more', and I left."

Wuhrer's frustrations with the music business served to focus her ambitions to succeed in Hollywood. She became more serious about pursuing television and film work, but found the harsh competitiveness of Tinseltown somewhat disconcerting.

"It never affected me until maybe two years ago," she muses. "I always thought that I was above it and that I wasn't competing with anybody. But when you get to a certain level and those really great parts becoming more tangible, and you get a little older and some of that blind confidence is gone, that's when you start feeling that competition. The last couple of years have been really scary in that respect, and I've had to put it all together to root for the chicks - because I could really become a woman hater in this town. It's taken every ounce of strength to support the other women, friends of mine that are in the business, and be confident with myself and know that no one's really in direct competition. There's so many factors involved - there's politics, the look, there's being in the right place at the right time, and I've just gotta forge my own path and stay on that."

With the exposure of appearing on a weekly network show, and the popularity of Anaconda, Wuhrer is certainly well placed to make the step from playing the supporting character to leading roles. Nevertheless, she refuses to be blinded by the notion of fame and success.

"I don't like the fact that fame isn't very selective," she reasons, "or that it's given to people who haven't really worked for it, or that it's fleeting or that people get 15 minutes. It's almost like shopping at a trendy clothing store - you know that you're not going to wear that outfit next year, so it had better be cheap. That's kind of what fame is in LA - you know they're not going to be around next year, so they don't have to have any substance.

"I think if you work really, really hard consistently for a number of years you should get what's coming to you. I don't mind that I'm building myself slowly and I'm getting a lot of stuff under my belt. I'd rather be known for having a good body of work than having one hit."