From the straight-laced preacher’s daughter in “A
Walk to Remember” to an over-protected president’s
daughter in “Chasing Liberty,” Mandy Moore has
established her ability to play the good girl, and she plays it
well.
But her upcoming film, “Saved!,” a teen comedy about
a Christian high school that serves as a battle-ground for teenage
Jesus lovers and their outcasted counterparts, is sure to raise the
question ““ has this good girl finally gone bad?
Moore plays Hilary Faye, the domineering popular girl of
American Eagle Christian High School, who controls the school with
her own blind faith and an iron fist. In one scene, Hilary
organizes a mandatory prayer circle with the outward objective of
saving the soul of a classmate, Dean, who is revealed to be gay,
all the while knowingly tormenting her close friend Mary, played by
Jena Malone, who is Dean’s girlfriend.
“It’s always more fun to play this kind of
bitch,” Moore said. “My character is a little
over-zealous, but she means well at the end of the day; she’s
just a little misguided.”
As her first independent film, Moore joined the ranks of such
seasoned veterans as Malone and Heather Matarazzo. According to
Moore, although joining the cast at first was a lot like being the
new kid in school, passing up the opportunity to be in
“Saved!” was never a consideration.
“This was sort of a no-brainer; I couldn’t say no to
this movie,” she said. “Beyond the script being so
funny and so different and much cooler and interesting than
anything I have really read before, (there was) this amazing cast
of young great people that I have so much respect for.”
And while Moore’s singer-turned-actress image might have
stuck out like a sore thumb in this group of actors, proving she
had talent was no easy task, especially with such a challenging
character.
“You could read the script and totally see her as this
over-the-top caricature, and I didn’t want her to be like
that because there had to be a reason why people liked her and why
she was popular,” said Moore. “If she was just mean and
running around all the time, there’s no way that she would be
in that position at her school.”
And she does it well. According to the film’s director
Brian Dannelly, she even improvised many of the scenes that made it
into the final cut.
“I mean, who knew? In fact, by the end of the movie I was
even encouraging her to (improvise) in every scene,” said
Dannelly.
The cast did research, including going to a few Christian
concerts, to make sure their characters on screen didn’t seem
too much like cartoon versions of real people they were
portraying.
“The great thing about the film is that it’s not
mean-spirited; it’s not mocking anyone,” said Moore.
“These are real people, and while they do show up as
stereotypes ““ you have the good Christian, the villain, the
boy in the wheelchair, the Jewish girl ““ the film really
brings a reality to who they are and the situations they are
in.”
Moore’s own situation may be different, but it’s
just as complicated as her character’s. Her next film
project, “Romance & Cigarettes,” is a musical
comedy written and directed by John Turturro and set for larger
distribution. But she’s also considering her future in
independent films.
“It’s fun to just have a bit more creative
control,” said Moore. “You don’t have a bunch of
people standing around the monitors and going up to the director
and whispering ideas.”
What she’ll do with that control is another issue. While
she hopes to continue to grow and mature as an artist, she
doesn’t deny that her good-girl image will probably stick
with her for a while.
“I’m so edgy,” she said jokingly.
While Moore might not be the next Courtney Love, she’s
pushing the envelope with her career decisions. Since her 1999
break-out as the sugar-coated 15-year-old pop princess who
playfully belted out the hit “Candy,” Moore seems to
have left the days of so-sweet-it-hurts music behind her.
“Sometimes people say, “˜Mandy Moore, she’s
sweet,’ or “˜she’s cute,'” she said.
“I was really young, and it’s not necessarily that
people still see me in that light, but they see me as the good
girl, and it’s hard to break out of that.”
But her days atop the TRL charts might not be over yet.
Currently in pre-production of a new CD that she’s looking to
record this summer, Moore maintains that both singing and acting
are what she wants to pursue. While her last album,
“Coverage,” didn’t thrive atop the Billboard
charts, it did achieve critical acclaim for its ingenuity. Covering
songs from earlier generational greats such as Elton John, Carol
King and even Joni Mitchell, Moore proved she had a wider range of
musical tastes than some people twice her age.
Of the new things she’s taking on, Moore says that writing
her own music is one of the most important things to her. But
following the time-tested favorites on “Coverage” is a
hard act to follow.
“I’ve been writing a lot, literally sitting down and
starting and finishing a song,” said Moore. “It’s
new for me and it may sound cheesy, but it’s exciting ““
I’m going to be able to go on stage for as long as I’m
a recording artist and sing my own music that comes from me, my
heart and my mind.”
But changing her image has required more than just learning to
write music. From chopping off her girlish golden locks in exchange
for a more sophisticated brunette look to being pickier about the
movie roles she selects, Moore maintains that she’s more than
willing to do what it takes to achieve success. Or at least almost
anything.
“I’m not going to be an amateur porn star or
anything, but sometimes it’s hard to change people’s
perceptions of you,” she said.
And keeping her clothes on, as well as her dignity, has always
been something Moore has prided herself on. After emerging into an
era dominated by scantily-clad peers Britney Spears and Christina
Aguilera, in the past Moore had been both praised and criticized by
the media for her comparatively conservative look.
“The media wanted someone on the other side, who was doing
the exact opposite,” said Moore. “But people
don’t have it wrong ““ I am a good girl; I literally go
out once in a blue, blue moon.”
“I don’t like that world,” she added. “I
don’t like being around a bunch of drunk people.”
While Moore might avoid the Hollywood club scene, that
doesn’t mean she spends all her time in Bible study, like her
character in “Saved!” She said she falls in line with
one of the main themes of the film: That in the end, faith and
caring for your fellow man transcends any particular religion.
“I have a real respect for people that have belief and
faith in any of this stuff in their life because it’s
grounding,” said Moore. “Everyone needs something to
believe in, whether religious or not.”