The Quick Rap: Three Questions for ... Sundance Champ Jess Weixler!
Tapping into equal amounts of Lilith Fair innocence and brink-of-adulthood allure, plucky Jess Weixler brings to life one of the most controversial, darkly humorous indie characters seen in ages in Teeth. She unflinchingly introduces an avenging, anti-female violence, super-hero-ish character, Dawn, who leaves mouths--and other (male) body parts--agape with her unique anatomical condition: formally known as vagina dentata.
Following her Sundance '07 Special Jury Acting Prize, Jess, who takes full pride in her offbeat role, revels in those recent work offers now coming her way, but snickers, "I hope people don’t limit me to, 'That’s the vagina girl!'"
Hollywood.com: What was it like premiering at Sundance with fears of facing a fest audience that can be so critical and loving at once? Jess Weixler: I was totally scared going into Sundance and our first audience was full of critics…or something? 'Cause ... it was kind of quiet! It was like, "What I have done?! This is
awful!" Then we showed it to a Salt Lake City crowd, which was just moviegoers. They. Went.
N-u-u-u-t-s! That was so gratifying to just see a crowd of people who ... were just there for the ride. And they loved it. When we showed it to the Eccles Theater, which was about 1,500 people, it was like a rock show!!
HW: Who were you excited to meet in Park City?
JW: Ohmygosh--I met
Molly Shannon and
John C. Reilly--just a sea of people who are incredible.
Sam Rockwell. People who I know are talented and everybody knows they’re talented. I felt honored to be in their zone.
HW: Your director, Mitchell Lichtenstein, shared you were mid-switching planes, and re-routed back to Park City when they heard about your Jury Prize win. What was that like?
JW: When I got the award I just went out of my mind. I’m such a fan of the people who were at Sundance that I was like, "You are
kid-d-d-d-ding?" It’s like I made this movie that’s not even--that’s some adaptation of a movie itself! And then you’re going to give me the award for acting? I was probably on some crazy adrenaline rush for like a week and people had a hard time talking to me cause I was like, '
Waaaaaaaaaahh?!!' I was so excited … Yeah, it was like a little fairytale moment.