[See also our interview with Watchmen's Jackie Earl Haley, a.k.a. Rorschach]

Swedish-born actress Malin Akerman has had quite a busy few years. She starred in numerous character-based romantic comedies such as 27 Dresses and The Heartbreak Kid. In Watchmen, Akerman turns up the heat taking on the role of superhero Laurie Jupiter, a.k.a. Silk Spectre. Watchmen is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated movies of 2009; directed by Zack Snyder, it also stars Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, Matthew Goode, and Patrick Wilson. “All the characters have real human qualities,” says Akerman. “We’re not superhuman. We’re just people trying to figure out within ourselves good vs. evil.”

Tell me about your character in Watchmen. I approached Laurie like a woman who had a stage mom who pushed her into a career that wasn’t really her own choice. When we first start this movie, we come into Laurie’s life where she is sort of breaking free because she had been this sheltered woman. She hasn’t really had her own identity or her own choice in life. She just followed and did what she had been told.

All in all, I think Laurie’s just a regular woman on a journey with these crazy circumstances around her in a really unusual job that she does. I love her because you can relate to her in so many ways.

Did you read the Watchmen graphic novel before you read the script? I read the script first. I loved it. It took me a while though. Already on page one, it was so dense. When I finally read it, it blew me away and I couldn’t put it down. It was amazing. Then I ran out and got the actual graphic novel. That blew me away even more. I wasn’t well-versed in the comic book world, so I didn’t really know what to expect. And it was well beyond my expectations. It was so well-written and complex.

Do you find it to be a lot of pressure jumping into a movie that has such a large pre-existing fan base? Yes and no. At first, because I didn’t know it existed, it was in increments that I kind of felt the pressure. The script was really great, the graphic novel was amazing, and then I went to Comic-Con and saw all the fans. It was a lot of pressure. But then you yourself become a fan, and you realize you have to make this the best it can be. Then once we started filming, all of that just went away. We were so focused on collaborating and making it the best we could. It was a really cool experience because I’ve never done a film where there's existing source material. It was helpful in many ways. Now, it’s sort of the aftermath, where the pressure is more than just a regular film because you have two audiences to please -- the general public and this hardcore fan base. I think we’re pretty confident at this point that the fans are going to love it because we had Zack as our leader.

If you could have any superpower in real life, what would it be? If I had to bring on a superpower, it would be to turn into a genie and grant three wishes.

In the film you probably have the ultimate MILF in Carla Gugino. How was it to work with Gugino and have her play your mother? It was great. When I first heard that Carla was cast as my mother, I couldn’t wrap my head around it because we are almost the same age. Of course, with tons of amazing prosthetics, she looks like a 60-year-old woman. It was amazing to see her transform. I was so happy it was Carla playing my mother because she is one of the best actresses that exist on the face of the earth right now. We had a great connection, and we are now really good friends in real life. We spent a full month in Vancouver before we starting filming getting to know each other. Not exactly forming a mother/daughter relationship, but just a relationship. We talked a lot and found points where we had similarities in our own families, and how that made us both feel. I don’t think I could have imagined anyone else playing my mother.

What do you think are the similarities between you in real life and the character that you’re playing? That’s a good question. I have definitely had complicated relations with my mother during my life. Going through stages, especially when you’re a teenager. It’s a time when you’re trying to be yourself and having your independence. Laurie’s story is a life story in the time span of two and a half hours. It really is breaking free and finding out who you want to be in life, which is something we all do at a certain time. What do I want in life? Who am I? And, also, falling in love. We all fall in love hopefully once or more in our lives. I have had all of those experiences in my life, so it wasn’t hard to relate. However, I never had fighting experience. So that was a new sort of deal, which was amazing and a bonus to it all.

How much training did you have prior to filming? We had two months. The first month was just raw physical training. The second month was fight coordination. That was when we started getting into learning how to punch and making it look as real as possible. Then, pretty much during the whole six months of filming, we continued to do fight training for the different sequences. It was full on.

You spent six months wearing latex. How do you feel about it now? Well, let’s just say six months in an elastic band ... how would anyone feel about it? It’s not the most amazing thing, but it really served its purpose. The end result is what you’re going for and it looks phenomenal. It’s fierce.

Sounds like it was worth the stretch. Yes, it was worth the stretch, no pun intended. Latex is not like wearing track pants and a T-shirt by any means.

Your character in Watchmen has dark hair. Do you feel blondes still have more fun? Absolutely.