Lizzy Caplan: The Meanest Girl in Hollywood?

She's in a new monster smash produced by a TV exec who revels in fake names and lost islands. It's poised to become the biggest studio feature of 2008, and still, the former freak (and geek) can't seem to catch a break.

Caplan, above, not in “Cloverfield.”

Lizzy Caplan won over the hearts of outcasts everywhere in 2004’s Mean Girls, when she opened her venomous mouth to explain, “Evil takes a human form in Regina George. Don’t be fooled, because she may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing slut faced ho-bag, but in reality, she’s so much more than that.” After the success of that film, the trained pianist went on to play a handful of misfits, quick wits, and eye-rollers in various short-lived TV series. Now, with the top-secret, J.J. Abrams-produced monster adventure ”Cloverfield” (not the film’s actual name, we’re guessing), Caplan is back to take on all sorts of scary beasts. This time around, however, they aren’t hidden beneath the lip-glossy veneer of high school cheerleaders and square-jawed football sleazes. Below, the rising star gets candid about losing roles, looking bad, and impersonating Jennifer Garner. 

BLACKBOOK: Is being in the public eye something that you enjoy?

LIZZY CAPLAN: I haven’t had to deal with it on a huge scale yet, but I try to avoid it—even on a small scale—whenever possible. It’s not something that I’m entirely comfortable with.

BB: What are the best and worst parts about celebrity?

LC: I feel really fortunate that I don’t need another job, and that I get to make a living doing this. On the other hand, I’m really not looking forward to random strangers commenting on my daily comings and goings. That scares the shit out of me, because, 90 percent of the time, I don’t look that nice.

BB: What were you doing before you got noticed?

LC: Well, the first time I did any acting was in high school, when I wasn’t taking the whole thing all that seriously. As the years started to pass, I was like, “Holy shit, all my eggs are in this basket.” So, I never really entertained the thought that it wasn’t going to work out.

BB: What can you tell me about Cloverfield? Is that even the name of the movie?

LC: I can’t even tell you that. It’s so weird, and I’m fully aware of how obnoxious it is.

BB: Have you seen it yet?

LC: No. I saw the newest trailer, though, which should be coming out in a few weeks. I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised, because this is a much bigger trailer [than the existing teaser], with more explosions and whatnot. It’s either going to be really good, or really disappointing. I don’t think that there’s much chance of gray area.

BB: What drew you to the character in the first place?

LC: Well, we weren’t exactly clear about the characters we were playing when we signed on. The producers sat us down and we auditioned with scenes that aren’t in the movie. Some were from “Alias” and some had been written specifically for the audition. And they were all very misleading.

BB: So, in casting, you read from Jennifer Garner’s lines?

LC: I’ve never really watched “Alias,” but I think they were Jennifer Garner’s lines. I had to plunge a syringe into some guy’s chest, and we were in France, and I didn’t have any idea what was going on.

BB: What convinced you to take the part?

LC: I’m a fan of “Lost.” That was it. During the first few weeks, it was like, “Oh god, this is what we’re doing? I had no idea. I’ll never sign on to another film again not knowing full well what it is.” But honestly, if Woody Allen or Wes Anderson called me today, and said, “Hey you want to do something? You don’t get to read the script,” I’d be like, “Yes, yes, yes!”

BB: How did J.J. Abrams ensure that the story wasn’t leaked? Did you get to take the script home with you?

LC: They’re actually coming by to pick it up today. We had to swap out every new set of pages with the old pages. They’re bright red, the scripts, and watermarked with our names. So, nobody wanted to be the one to accidentally leak it. They’re pretty hardcore about all of that. I don’t know how they’ve managed to keep it so secretive, though, because people obviously want to know more. And nobody knows anything. The speculation is very inaccurate.

BB: What are some of the more ridiculous speculations?

LC: There’s all this YouTube stuff about analyzing the trailer. People are seeing things that aren’t there and making up stuff that isn’t true. There’s this one still of me and Jessica Lucas, who’s another actress in the film, and people thought there was some crazy lion behind us. But people are wrong.

BB: Have the paparazzi been diligent about trying to get on set?

LC: There have been a few instances. The movie has gone though a bunch of different, strange names so that people don’t catch on. At one point, the title was Chocolate Outrage. But it’s interesting because nobody in the movie is famous. The movie is the celebrity. So it was almost like we were existing in the belly of Julia Roberts, where nobody cares about us. They were just taking pictures of this person that we were living inside.

BB: How has this project been different from, say, your experience with Mean Girls?

LC: The physically demanding elements were definitely different, and it’s shot in a very specific way. There’s no turning around, no close-ups, and no coverage. Also, because there were no recognizable names in it, the movie looks like it cost 150 million dollars even though it doesn’t. It was done really cheaply. People trying to make large-scale movies are going to be forced to do them for a lot less money after this comes out.

BB: Have you revealed any of the secrets to your friends or family?

LC: I’m a big fan of keeping secrets. I didn’t tell my agent. I didn’t tell my manager. I haven’t told anybody.

BB: Are you consciously trying to get away from the outsider roles that you often play?

LC: My character in this movie is kind of sarcastic, and she’s not great friends with people, so there are still outsider parts to it.

BB: Do you ever worry about being pigeonholed as the sassy best friend?

LC: I think it’s important to spread your wings and try to do as many different things as possible. Right now, I’m just more interested in playing the sarcastic third-lead than some boring ingénue. That said, I don’t think I can do all that many more of these without getting really tired of it.

BB: Have you been overlooked for many roles that you really wanted?

LC: Yeah, there have been a handful that really kicked my ass. There’s a movie that Topher Grace did that’s coming out really soon called Kids in America. Man, I wanted that part really, really badly.

BB: Who ended up getting it?

LC: Anna Faris, who is fantastic. I find that I lose roles to the same few girls, more famous versions of me. And that gets old really quick.

BB: And what about your other movie, Bachelor No. 2?

LC: Ugh.

BB: Really? That bad?

LC: I haven’t seen it, but, uh, it should be funny. The script is pretty funny and Alec Baldwin’s in it.

BB: What do you do to relax when you’re not working?

LC: I do a lot of staring at the wall, with like a book open next to me.

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