Monday, May 20, 1996
The dark comedy ‘Welcome to the Dollhouse’ chronicles the plight
of a young girl in the depths of junior high. The movie might be
bleak, but director Todd Solondz and his young starlet Heather
Matarazzo couldn’t have it better.By Emily Forster
Daily Bruin Contributor
Some people are willing to try anything.
Take 13-year-old New Yorker Heather Matarazzo, star of Todd
Solondz’s Grand Jury Prize-winning film at this year’s Sundance
Film Festival, "Welcome to the Dollhouse." The teenager has starred
in a play, been in a Nickelodeon television show, performed in a
dance concert for an AIDS benefit, played on a softball team, and
begun her first screenplay.
And two years after playing Dawn Wiener, a nerdy seventh grader,
in Solondz’s critically praised comedy about the struggles of
junior high, Matarazzo’s explorations have only just begun.
"I’ve always been into science fiction and fantasy and it’s like
well, I might as well learn more about myself so I got a couple of
books on astrology," says Matarazzo. "I can’t get the meditation
thing down. I try to sit there in silence but it’s like I can’t be
quiet. You’re supposed to be in a calm state of mind and I’m always
like this."
Sitting at a table in her suite at the Bel Age, Matarazzo’s
talkative, energetic personality leads her through an explanation
of her trials with acting and how she has gained from them.
Her career as an actress began at the ripe age of two, when she
chanted along with Bruce Springsteen in the MTV videos her two
older brothers watched. Her mother recalls that Matarazzo always
had the gift.
"When she was that age, she wanted to be an actress," says
Camille Matarazzo. "Even before she could verbalize it, that was
what she wanted."
One of her first experiments with acting was performing as Helen
Keller in the play "The Miracle Worker." It was a rocky start.
"Opening night there was this ramp that I had to go down when I
threw water on Ann Sullivan and I lost my balance and tumbled into
the audience," recalls Matarazzo. "I was like oh my GOD. I was
still in character and the woman that played my mother was like
‘are you okay’ and I was like ‘yeah’ but my legs were still
shaking. I got back up stage, crying hysterically. I had to change
for the next scene and get right back on with the play, but at the
end of the night I was falling on the floor laughing."
Matarazzo did not let the embarrassment of the moment override
her love of acting. In fact, she even went on to try acting
classes, although they did not meet her expectations anymore than
astrology.
"I stayed for half of the class and I was like, ‘Mom, I hate
it,’" remembers Matarazzo. "It was a drag. The teacher was like
‘Okay, pretend you have acid in your hands,’ and we’d have to
pretend we were passing acid from one person to another. I wasn’t
into that. It’s not like I’m never going to be passing acid along,
hopefully."
Not all of Matarazzo’s acting experiences have been
unsatisfactory. Making "Welcome to the Dollhouse" was important for
her on many levels.
"I think I’ve made more friends in the business than I have in
school," says Matarazzo. "I have the same kind of spirit as other
people have in acting and sometimes your friends won’t understand
that. They’ll be like ‘Why are you even doing this?’ There’s a line
between your friends from school and your outside friends in the
acting business."
Her experience with the film has resulted in a struggle between
being an actress and being a regular teenager, not just in school,
but in every aspect of Matarazzo’s life.
"It’s like two separate lives. I feel more comfortable more in
my acting life than in my normal life. It can be bad because if you
get too involved in acting, you get so caught up in it that you
don’t even know what’s reality anymore. You have to have that
distinction that you’re just playing a role. It’s great to get away
from yourself and your problems and your stressful life, but you
gotta jump back into reality because they’re not going to go away.
They’re still going (to) be there when you get back."
Matarazzo is not worried about getting trapped in the movie
industry. She realizes the price that actors, particularly child
actors, pay for getting too wrapped up in the escape acting can
offer.
"I don’t want to have one of those Hollywood lives like Macaulay
Culkin or somebody that’s missing out on everything," says
Matarazzo. "I want to be able to go to the prom, get my driver
license, have my first boyfriend and basically have my own
life."
An avid football, baseball and basketball fan, sports have
helped Matarazzo retain some sense of normalcy in her otherwise
turbulent life.
"Being in sports makes my life more normal and I like sports
because I’m always on the verge to go," explains Matarazzo. "I have
so much energy to burn off and so much weight to burn off. I think
every teenager goes through that weight stage."
Watching her weight is just one of the worries that Matarazzo
will have to deal with as a young actress attempting to maintain
her image in Hollywood.
"I think every actor has to worry about his image," says
Matarazzo. "You say one bad remark, they can trash you, totally
exploit you. Look what happened to Charlie Sheen? He’s gotten
ripped by Hollywood.
"I think that physical appearance can sometimes, not always, but
sometimes show off who you are. If you look grungy and you look
streety it’s like, hey, here’s a kid who’s really streety. It’s not
necessarily a person’s weight, but just how they appear
overall."
But even with all the pressures of keeping up her image,
Matarazzo is eager to explore even more acting projects.
"I went to a screening for New Directors and New Films and I
wanted to see everybody’s reaction (to ‘Welcome to the
Dollhouse’)," says Matarazzo. "It was totally different from what I
expected. I didn’t think that they were going to laugh as much as
they did. I was like, ‘Wow, they thought that was funny? Okay.’ I
liked it a lot. It made me realize that I wanted to be doing that.
I’m ready to try it again."
Brendan Sexton, Jr. and Heather Matarazzo star in Todd Solondz’s
film.SHAWN LAKSMI/ Daily Bruin
Heather Matarazzo
Todd Solondz, director of "Welcome to the Dollhouse."