[IMG:L]Fans know Jolene Blalock best as Sub-Commander T’Pol on Star Trek: Enterprise, but the former model has shed her Vulcan visage for something a little less alien. The actress stars as Nora Timmer in the upcoming thriller Slow Burn alongside Ray Liotta and Mekhi Phifer. The film centers on District Attorney Ford Cole (Liotta), who finds his chances at running for mayor at risk when his assistant Nora admits to killing a man in self-defense.
Hollywood.com caught up with Blalock to find out more about her latest project, her favorite thrillers, and what it’s like to attend a Star Trek convention.
Hollywood.com: How did you get involved in this film?
Jolene Blalock: I was just back from Jamaica with a new husband and a new title, Mrs. Michael James Rapino, sporting a kick-ass set of corn rows and coincidentally [the producer] Bonnie Timmerman was looking for someone with an ethnic flare to cast as Nora Timmer in a Greenstreet Films/Lionsgate production called Slow Burn. Bonnie introduced me to Ray Liotta and this instant chemistry hit the ceiling fan.
HW: What was it like working with Ray and Mekhi?
JB: Mekhi is an absolute doll. His smile arrives on his face with such ease and it lights up a room. I keep expecting to see a glint of light spin off one of his molars like in a crest commercial. Ray is an intense person and when he lets down his guard you realize that your experiencing a rare a special gift within his willingness to be vulnerable.
[IMG:R]HW: What was the most challenging part of the project?
JB: The schedule. I was simultaneously working in Los Angeles at Paramount Studios on my television series Star Trek: Enterprise. Slow Burn shot in Montreal. So I would be at work on the Paramount lot at 5 a.m. Monday to Wednesday. Catch the red eye to Montreal through Chicago sleeping on the plane. Go straight to set to have my hair weaved for Nora, work Thursday through Saturday then remove the weave and fly back to Los Angeles and start all over again. For three months this lasted, and I loved every minute of it. I’d do it again tomorrow.
HW: Are you a fan of thriller movies? What are some of your favorites?
JB: Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Reservoir Dogs, Rear Window, The Usual Suspects, Raiders of the Lost Ark, North by Northwest, Vertigo, M, Leon The Professional, Alien, The Manchurian Candidate, The Departed, Pulp Fiction, Kalifornia, Memento, The Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Fight Club and on and on and on …
HW: Although you shot the movie in 2003, you had to wait a few years for the release. How does it feel to know an audience will finally get to see it?
JB: Exhilarating!!!
HW: Is it nice playing a character where you get to look more like you, compared to your role as T’Pol on Star Trek: Enterprise?
JB: I still have yet to play a character that resembles me as I walk my public streets and private halls.
HW: I’m sure you still have a following from your time on Enterprise. What do fans want to know when they meet you?
JB: If I’ve ever worn my ears home. And the answer is “yes,” to show my nephew Jeremy who turns 13 on the same day Slow Burn comes to theaters Friday the 13th.
HW: Have you embraced having a Trekkie following? Do you attend the conventions?
JB: I do embrace the Treks, I am one. I find the conventions exciting because it’s not often one gets to stand before a large captivated audience for no other reason except I’m me. I’ve received many token treasures and odd gifts from my fans and I appreciate their graciousness with me.
HW: What’s next? What new projects are you working on?
JB: There are a few things in the works right now and am at the moment heading to a table reading of one project that I am considering. But I won’t let the cat out of the bag until I’m certain myself.
