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This site was created February 16, 1997
It was last updated June 1, 2001 

These are some online articles about Rachael that I have found. Some include interviews and articles on some of the films she has done. Enjoy!  
 

"Rachael Leigh Cook -- an actor, not a star
January 29, 1999
Jeff Strickler

Even though she has appeared in 11 movies in three years, RachaelLeighCook sees herself as an actor, not a movie star.

What seems a matter of semantics is an important distinction to Cook: Actors lose themselves inside their roles, while stars tend to be bigger than their characters.

"I could never be a movie star," said the Minneapolis native, who enjoyed meandering through her hometown while promoting her new movie, the teen comedy "She's All That." That, she said, is the mark of a journeyman actor. "I couldn't handle being in a grocery store and having someone come up and say, 'I can't believe it! Aren't you RachaelCook?' "

Of all the appearances on her resume -- including the movies "The Baby-Sitters Club," "Tom and Huck" and "Living Out Loud" -- only one has caused her to be recognized in public, an anti-heroin TV commercial in which she smashes up a kitchen, shouting, "This is what your family goes through! Your friends!" before assuming a take-no-prisoners stare and asking, "Any questions?"

"People used to say, 'Hey, you're the heroin girl,' " she said, rolling her eyes at the memory. "They made it sound like I was selling the stuff."

Another actor/star distinction is the type of projects they prefer. While Cook has been in several mainstream movies, she also has extensive experience in small, independent productions, including "The House of Yes," "The Naked Man" (a film co-written by Ethan Coen that's stranded in distribution limbo) and "Hi-Line," a drama that she and her co-star/boyfriend, Ryan Losio, were on their way to pitch at the Sundance Film Festival. The combined budgets of those three films wouldn't cover the catering costs of the typical studio production.

"The definition of 'independent' has been stretched to include any movie not made by a studio, even if it costs $20 million," she said, showing her displeasure with the change. "To me, an independent is when you have $6 and you want to make a movie."

Cutting the risks

By their very nature, independent films are risky. "You never know how well they will be executed," she said. "And then they get tied up [in distribution problems] for a year and a half."

As much as she supports independent films, she felt it was time to find something where the risk factor was low. One of the appeals of "She's All That" was that it had the backing of a studio that was committed to a firm schedule.

"This is the fastest I've ever had a movie come out," Cook said. "We just finished shooting in September. Usually when they send me out to do promotion, it's been so long since we did the movie that I can't remember it anymore. This feels like we did it last week."

The story begins with the stud of the senior class (Freddie Prinze Jr., who also was in "The House of Yes"). He makes a bet with his buddies that he can turn the school nerd (Cook) into the prom queen. In the process, he ends up falling for her. Yes, it's been done before -- "My Fair Lady" comes to mind -- but Cook doesn't see that as a negative.

"I don't like to call it formulaic, but to me that's really part of the beauty of it," she said. "It was a type of movie that has worked before, and one that I have loved. . . . It's as foolproof a project as I have found."

She also wanted to prove that she can do comedy. "I never get comedies," she said. When it was pointed out that she had a supporting role in Tom Arnold's "Carpool," she amended her stance with blunt honesty: "I've never been in a movie that's funny."

She describes her acting philosophy as "very much method," drawing a parallel with the classic image of the door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. "He didn't just tell you what the vacuum cleaner could do; he came in and threw dirt on the floor," she said. "That's how I audition: I throw the dirt on the floor."

Director was impressed

Robert Iscove, the director of "She's All That," was impressed by her approach. Everyone who auditioned was asked to play the character in various stages of her conversion from nerd to glamour queen.

"She made the transformation absolutely believable," he said by phone from his home in Los Angeles. "She brought an innate sense of discovery" to the role. "And she was very much involved in the shaping of the character. She was always coming to us with ideas. She's a very hard worker."

He dismissed her concerns about her ability to make people laugh. "She has a wonderful sense of comedic timing. The only thing was that she didn't trust herself at first. Once we got her to relax -- once we convinced her that she was right -- she got it."

At 19, Cook is entering womanhood. She has moved to Los Angeles (a move she described as "like going away to college"), and is serious enough about Losio that at Christmas they hosted a joint celebration for both of their families. She would like to start playing more adult roles, but she's enough of a pragmatist to realize that she looks young on screen -- much more so than in person -- and is likely to play teenagers for several years to come.

At the very least, "I'd like to get in a position where I could switch back and forth between 'older woman' and teen roles," she said. "The important thing is to get good parts. I don't care if I'm the lead or the lead's sister."

--Jeff Strickler

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