Anna Van Hooft

We think you're lovely - and especially those eyes!! That's something that fits you in very well with the part of Aura, are the eyes. So what's your ethnic background? ... And have you ever modeled? I just think you're gorgeous so I'm going to assume you've probably got some modeling shots somewhere...

I'm pretty completely Dutch. My grandparents came over on my father's side, and my mother's Dutch. Although I don't have the eyes of either of my parents, but they're Dutch from somewhere back there... You know, I've done three modeling test shoots, and I'm NOT a model!! (laughs)

It seems like whoever does your make-up for that show agrees with us too, because they really accent your eyes a lot on that show, every episode that you've ever been in.

Well, my make-up artist, everytime ... we've gotta do something new with the make-up - we'll sit down and be like, okay what can we do today? And sometimes its based on make-up I wear ... in my own personal life. And it was fun! It was just always like what colors can we do, what's something new that we can do? ... I mean, she's a princess! It's really got to be, like, as over the top as you can.

And that seems like that'd be a really fun aspect of that character too. The weird clothes....

Well, it's funny. It is and it isn't. When I first started working on the show, getting used to just wearing heels and skirts was really really hard! I'm hard-core into jeans and flip-flops!! I own three pairs of shoes, period. So trying to get around in heels, trying to run in heels, um, trying to NOT flash anyone! I mean, I swear I must have flashed the whole crew dozens of times!! ... Not always fun, but it was definitely interesting!

Aura and Flash - they have this great sexual tension on the show, and I love that aspect. If the show goes on, let's just assume that it will, do you think those two will ever really take that anywhere? Do you think that they should?

I don't know... But the truth of the matter is that I don't think Flash is really that attracted to Aura... She's definitely attracted to him. I think that, physically, he's a man and he's attracted to her, but she's so bratty so often! Noble Flash will never really put up with that.

But you have to admit, your character in the last four or five episodes kind of started changing a bit, and got away from the brattiness a little bit.

That's true. Which could change things - but who knows? I would like to see them get together or have a little something. I like the flirtiness.

It seems like, really, the way the character's evolved, she's becoming more of a likeable character over the last four or five episodes.

Yeah, absolutely. I think so too. You started, well the show started off a little bit younger I think. Aura was younger and brattier... and it's kind of about her growing up, and when she starts to stand up to her father and now she has her brother to sort of back her up. She's not quite as helpless, which is where she became so bratty before - she's so helpless. So now she's sort of standing on her own and she has some confidence. I think she's going to become really quite intellectual, and quite a leader.

Yeah, that's the way it seems to us. So if the series goes on, have you seen any of the screenplays that might be used, or the plots?

No I haven't. I've talked to our writer, I talked to Peter Hume about it, 'cause we were talking about Season 2 and he's like "Hey have you got any ideas??" And I was like, "Oh yeah yeah yeah!!" So I told him kind of what I wanted to see happen, and he liked them but we'll see.

What do you think Aura's place is going to be on Mongo now that she's sided with her brother?

I think she sided with her brother but then she became just as skeptical of her brother as she became of her father. So everything is very very up in the air that way! I think her place is very unstable. I think all of Mongo is very unstable in terms of who is going to rule when and how and you know, it's very up in the air as to where her is place is going to be. I think it's going to be all over. I think sometimes it's going to be in the citadel, and I think sometimes it won't be, and I think sometimes she might be passed out, who knows? I think it's going to be very all over the place. At least I hope it's going to be - I hope we don't get stuck in, you know, the same power struggles.

Well it seemed like that her brother made her just as helpless as her dad ever did, once he got the power, like he had used her up and threw her away.

I think it's kind of a matter of an extreme left and an extreme right is really full circle. Ming may have been very very much one way, and Terek is trying to counter him by going very very much the other way, so they sort of meet up at the same point. So how can a character like Terek not be hugely bitter? So I think that would definitely have to come into play...

Sometimes we would be stealing scripts from the head of, like, the make-up department or the hair department! Or we'd just find a script laying around and one of us would steal it and sort of hand it around! Like "What's going on? Who knows, who knows?" We never really knew what was happening in advance... Eric probably did, because Eric, well he's Flash, you know? If anyone would get to talk to the big people in LA, it would be him.

Do you like the way the storyline finally went? Are you happy with it this past season?

Yeah! I am! ... I was really glad when she (Aura) started standing up to him (Ming), and she became a more impressive character. I think that was really, really necessary. And then in the end, I was really glad with how the ending went - I think that was a good call.

I have to agree with you - that's what I said, the last four episodes brought everything together and it was just outstanding, across the board.

Which is interesting - the last four episodes were all hugely affected by the writers' strike! There was times when we'd go into work, and it would be like "We're going to shoot a scene this afternoon. It's not written yet. We're working on it, it's going to be something with you and your father." Um. Oh, okay. Sure, just let me know when you know what its about. So they were written in a big hurry! I actually think that's one of the reasons why they're so good. I think when you have, all, so many people's opinions going into it, it's so easy to sort of veto things, but there was no time to veto anything in the last couple episodes. It was just all done so quickly.

Well the other good thing about that is with the last few episodes, you basically just had a war. And war is chaotic and hurried and when you get into fighting, you make your plan, and who knows if it's going to work? So maybe that's what made it seem more real - it really was chaotic, and it kind of fit in with the theme of the show!

Yeah, it was fun to work on too! That was sooo much fun! I got to do more cool things in the last couple of episodes than the whole sixteen episodes before that. So that was awesome too - I got to carry a big gun for once! I was really excited! Actually, that was never written into the script - I asked for a couple of big guns for the last couple of episodes because, you know...

So what's it like working with Karen Cliche and Gina Holden?

Karen was soo much fun! Actually Karen kind of became a role model of mine right from the beginning, when we started working. She's done so much stuff! She is so funny, and she's so confident... And she's probably the funniest person I've ever met - she's got the loudest, most boisterous laugh! Gina I didn't know as well, because we didn't work together that much... But she's really sweet, she's really perky, she's really smart. I think she's probably an amazing business woman... I actually wanted to play [Karen's] role. I had a callback for it, and they're like, no... but when I first read Baylin's lines, I was like "Oh they're so funny!" And I'd love to play the badass girl who with the knives and the guns, that does all the kicking ass!! And I would be terrible at it! ... I didn't have a whole lot of fighting. I really had none - I got choked a couple times, that's about it.

Now, they still haven't put out if Flash Gordon's going to be renewed, it's going to be cancelled, it's kind of left us all in limbo. What do you know?

It is in limbo, but that's why. We're not exactly sure what's going to happen. I think we are supposed to find out soon. But, they could just not tell us and never go back to being shot again... S ome of the actors have options, right, and their options are up at a certain point. I never had one, so I'm not sure when that is. But when their options are up, they could start booking other stuff and won't necesarily be available so that would make it a lot more difficult for it to go back into production.

The only thing that worried me, Flash Gordon started off good. And then in the middle, it really went bad. It got a lot of bad reviews from a lot of people including me. Not you, never talked about you, but the show...

I know what you mean. The show definitely evolved.

But then by the end, and I started picking up and looking at it again, it really picked up and I would say the last four episodes were really awesome. I really turned my thing around and I said okay, they're coming out, but I got a bad feeling it's going to be like Painkiller Jane. That show did the same exact thing - started off good, went bad, and then went good again. But it didn't get saved, so that's the only thing.

Was this your first big role - Flash Gordon?

It was my first time working on a TV series for more than one episode - it was the longest I've ever worked.

Now let me ask you this question - have you got to the point where people are recognizing you now when you go out into public?

Well, it's not airing in Canada, and I haven't been back to the states, so far... It hasn't happened yet - which is good! To be honest, I would feel quite awkward if I was, like, walking down the street and someone knew who I was: how that would go, what I would have to say or do, you know?

Do you have any roles coming in anything besides Flash Gordon?

Not so far. The Writers' Strike has been just a real vacation for everyone! It's been, I guess, I had a couple auditions last week but it's still been pretty slow.

Are you allowed to tell us what the auditions are?

I don't think so! I don't know, but I don't want to get in trouble!

Are you looking to kind of stay in the sci-fi genre, or are you looking at you don't want to get typecast? 'Cause that happens to a lot of folks.

Well, I mean, to be honest, I don't feel I'm in a position right now to turn down any roles. I like the sci-fi genre, [but]... I'm allergic to special effects smoke! Which is in EVERYTHING, especially sci-fi, they like to use it in so many shots, and when you're in different lands and stuff like that they like to make it all smoky and hazey, so I actually don't really feel like I am going to be terribly welcome on most sci-fi sets. I like it, I mean I'd like to do other things to other than just stick to sci-fi. It's been a lot of fun, so we'll see. Well the nice thing about sci-fi though, is you have these really loyal fans, and you have people who are really into it. And that can support you for so long, you know? It's nice that people are really into and knowledgeable about what you're doing.

What would be your dream role? It could be in a real movie or TV show that's upcoming, or something that you would like to see made.

Oooh! You know what I would really like to see made... it sounds probably kind of ridiculous, but the real story of The Little Mermaid - like, the story that was actually written, which is this really dark, morbid story! I'd LOVE to play a mermaid! I don't know why, I actually can't swim very well, so I don't see it actually happening, but I think that would just be so fun! ... A lot of the old fairy tales, I find them really fascinating, these dark horrible, horrible, scary stories... It would be really beautiful to shoot and it would be a really interesting story. And it's fun when you compare it to, like, Disney's The Little Mermaid, which is just, you know, it's for children - but the real story behind it is, like, there's a huge moral to the story, and it's dark, and it's really interesting...

I'm not good at [watching] scary movies. I broke my nose watching, like, Valentine, when I was a teenager! Which WAS scary! See, I like them, sort of, but I have to know that I'm not sleeping by myself for the next two weeks! I saw The Grudge - I don't even know what happened in that movie! - and I couldn't sleep for two weeks. So it was just like, I feel like there's some sort of Asian lady hanging out at the end of my bed! I was so stressed out! I was watching it in the movie theater and I wanted to cry! I was like, "I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it!"

Tell us, we're gonna intrude a little bit on the love life - any boyfriends, girlfriends, children, anything like that?

No! No children! I have a boyfriend right now, so we'll see...

Who do you think's hot - besides your boyfriend?

That's a good question - I have a HUGE thing for Adrien Brody. I think he's sexy - I really like his nose. I have a thing about noses. He's got a good nose!!

Well what are you planning on doing in the future? Are you really looking to stay in the acting, or are you looking to get into other parts of it?

I definitely want to stay an actor - for now. It's not something that I see myself doing when I'm, say, thirty-five or something. Just because the industry is not really nice to women as we age and I'm not too sure if I'm a person who can handle that. I'd like to not have to worry about that. But, no, for sure I love love love what I'm doing now. I would like to go be a writer eventually - but not yet.

Writer, as in, writing books or writing screen plays?

Writing books... I really like childrens' books - I have some childrens' books. I'd like to work more on novels and stuff like that, but you really have to sit down and you know, WRITE. A lot. And I don't have that kind of attention span or time right now.

Last update : 19-05-2008

Keywords : News, Interviews, Anna Van Hooft, Exclusive, Interview, Flash Gordon, Princess Aura, Aura, SciFi Channel, celebrity,

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