I think Adam had a really good voice and I think he knew how he wanted it to be funny and where he wanted it to be funny. Sometimes as actors we tend to play funny because something and you really try to keep a handle on that, so that it is as real as it can be.

JB:   Do you see yourself as funny?
KW:   In real life! (Laughter) You know…I can't watch my work after I'm done, but I just relied on Adam to give me direction. It was his movie and I'm just a pawn in his game. It was a character that was acting within the film, so it was kind of an interesting thing. I thought she was pretty funny.

JB:   You mentioned you're on lunch…what project are you on lunch from?
KW:   I'm doing a film called A Spider's Web and my costar is Stephen Baldwin. It's directed by this wonderful, sensitive and highly creative director named, Paul Levine. I'm really in a period of real transition in my life and in my work, so I'm trying something new. It's a character that I've never played before in such a way that I've never played myself before. I think I'm doing really good work and I feel really good about it. I'm having a really good day today actually.

JB:   Well that is good to hear.
KW:   Yeah. (Laughter)

JB:   Are you usually hard on yourself?
KW:   EXTREMELY! But, at this point I'm starting to take my work a lot more seriously than I have in the past. After a while the quantity of work starts weighing on me, so I've decided to choose quality over quantity. And that starts with me…how much effort and work I put into a project. I've never worked harder and never done my homework more thoroughly than I'm doing now. I see myself now as a different kind of actor than I've ever been in the past. I have more confidence and I definitely have a different vision for my future. I've kind of put it into play.

JB:   Does that vision still include a musical career?
KW:   Well, funny that you should ask that. (Laughter) I do a lot of things OK and I'd like to do something really well, so I'm really focusing on my acting right now. (Laughter) BUT, I recently have had an obsession with a ukulele. (Laughter) So my down time is really dedicated to my ukulele these days. (Laughter)

JB:   What a bizarre obsession to have. (Laughter)
KW:   I don't know why. Don't ask me why. It just popped into my head one day and it's just been going on now for a few weeks.

JB:   I can see it now: Kari Wurher…The Ukulele Album!
KW:   I don't know about that! (Laughter) Maybe I can use it in a film one day. I'll add it to my skills. It's something else to put on the resume.

JB:   I was doing a lot of research for our interview and I came across a lot of photos, both past and present. I noticed some of the photos had the cutesy, girl-next-door look while one cyber page later I was finding you decked out in a skull and crossbones bandana. I'm curious which one is more in sync with your real personality?
KW:   (Laughter) Baby, you've been looking at pictures over the scope of a decade…at least. I'm becoming more of a woman now. I'll be 35 this year and I'm definitely not the person I was a year ago or five years ago for that matter. I can't really put my finger on it. I just have more depth and more self-confidence in a way that my physical body is irrelevant at this point.

JB:   And as you mentioned, that new outlook is playing into your work?
KW:   Yeah! It really, really is. I've had a lot of support from the crew and cast that I'm working with now, as well as friends and family. It's been pretty eye opening. And it's fun because as an actor we really get to explore not only the characters we play, but also ourselves in the process. It's painful at times and it's definitely challenging. As hard as my life has been lately…I'm really grateful for the challenges.

JB:   So do you see some time off in the future or do you just want to keep working?
KW:   No, I really want to keep working. (Laughter) I just want to hit a stride that's different from where I've been in the past. I've got a big summer movie coming out later this year and…

JB:   I've been waiting for that movie. Eight Legged Freaks, right?
KW:   Yeah!

JB:   I've been dying to see it. I'm a big monster movie fan.
KW:   It's great. It's really a throwback to that 50's horror genre without being really campy.

JB:   I saw the trailer…
KW:   It's good, isn't it?

JB:   Oh yeah. But, I saw it at some point last year and have been wondering when we were going to get the chance to see it.
KW:   It's gotten so much better. The effects are just so much better. How do you go wrong with Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich? (Producers of films like Stargate and Independence Day) It's impossible!

JB:   So you did a lot of work with tennis balls on sticks?
KW:   Oh yeah, but I'm used to that. (Laughter) I did that with everything from Anaconda to Sliders. I've worked with a lot of tennis balls and green screens. But, actually in Eight Legged Freaks it wasn't about green screen. All the special effects have been worked on digitally for the last eight months and they're really amazing.

JB:   You play a police officer?
KW:   I play the sheriff of a small town in Arizona.

JB:   Stuff like giant spiders attacking people always happen in small towns.

KW:   Oh sure! (Laughter) And we really shot in one. It was crazy. So, I play the sheriff, but at the same time I'm a mother of a 16-year-old daughter played by Scarlett Johansson and a 12-year-old boy played by Scott Terra. So, that was a real challenge. It was kind of interesting how Warner Brothers could approve the casting of me. You know…teen pregnancy. It all works! (Laughter) It's testing quite well and nobody is questioning it.

JB:   Has it been given a release date?
KW:   Yes…July 12th.

JB:   That's right around the 4th. It's always a big time for the studios to send out their big guns.
KW:   Yeah! We've got a lot of competition this summer with Men in Black 2 and what not, but Warner Brothers is really confident so, I'm ready to be a summer leading lady. (Laughter)

JB:   Are you going to get your own action figure out of the deal?
KW:   I don't know, baby. I'm already an action figure. (Laughter)

JB:   Jumping back to your music, I'm curious when the last time was that you listened to your CD?
KW:   The last time I listened to my CD was in my hot tub with the lead singer and the DJ from Incubus. (Laughter) I was switching between that and Britney Spears. It was one of those kinds of nights. (Laughter)

JB:   And you say you play a mother of two in Eight Legged Freaks? (Laughter)
KW:   Yeah! Pretty cool mom, huh? (Laughter)

JB:   You mentioned how you were in this transition period, but does that mean you've thrown the bad girl vibe completely out the window?
KW:   Well, my life was about shock value for awhile and I'm definitely looking into my crystal ball a little deeper.

JB:   I also read that you have three cats?
KW:   I do.

JB:   I judge people on the originality…
KW:   What are you saying? That I'm never going to get a husband, right?

JB:   (Laughter) No. I judge people on the originality of their pet names.
KW:   Oh. (Laughter) I have a Sphinx that I've had for years. He's a hairless cat and his name is Roger Toes. (Laughter) It came to me in a dream. I have another who is the guru of life and he's kind of nutty, so his name is Monki. (With an "I") And then I have a black Cornish Rex who sort of disappears and is more mysterious, so his name is Houdini.

JB:   Well those are very original names. I dig cats because to me they have more personality. If you put three cats in a room, you can immediately tell the difference between each. They're more like people.
KW:   They are. I learn a lot from my cats actually. I've learned the art of stillness and "Who gives a fuck" from my cats.

When it comes to you Kari…we give a fuck!