Sara Paxton: The Hot Girl Next Door

Bombshell actress Sara Paxton is a California blonde with big heart and her feet firmly on the ground. From Sleepover in 2004 through "Summerland" on TV and playing a mermaid in Aquamarine and a critter-friendly gal out in the bush in "Darcy's Wild Life", Sara has kept her friendly, non-diva-ish attitude. Her love-to-hate-her role in Sydney White was a fun departure for this gal who usually plays the heroine. Now, this week, Sara plays Kirsten Dunst.... Well, not exactly. She is the dream girl living next door to a Superhero in the send-up spoof Superhero Movie. That super guy across the fence is cutie Drake Bell and their experiences on the movie sound like a laff riot.

We curled up for an interview on the phone with Sara recently and dished like best galpals on everything from her next project (a horror film shooting in South Africa) to her moviestar crush, maintaining friendships in Hollywood and, hey, what it is like to be a really gorgeous actress anyway? Is she sick of being typecast as tall, thin, blonde and a knock out? Her answer will surprise you. Read on...

TeenHollywood: In this movie, you play Jill and you are the superhero's next door neighbor, right?

Sara: Yes. I'm like the Kirsten Dunst character in Spider-Man.

TeenHollywood: Did you have to watch that movie again or try not to be too much like her?

Sara: I kind of thought that I was going to have to but then I read the script and she's not very much like that character except for the fact that she's the girlfriend. She's not very similar. I didn't do her in a red-haired wig or anything like that. I was like 'is my hair gonna me red?' and they're like 'No'.

TeenHollywood: You are 19 and will be 20 on April 25th. Any birthday plans yet?

Sara: I'm actually going to be in South Africa for my birthday. I'm leaving in a couple of days to go film another movie. It's called Last House on the Left. It's actually a really scary movie. I'm pretty excited. It's my first really big, serious role. My dad's coming with me.

TeenHollywood: Had you ever watched any of the spoof movies like Naked Gun or Scary Movie?

Sara: Yeah, sure. I'm a big fan of Airplane and Naked Gun. I didn't see the Scary Movies as much as I did those. But, I was a big fan of those. That's why I was excited to work with David Zucker because he originated all those.

TeenHollywood: What was it like working will Drake Bell? Any fun moments between takes?

Sara: He was really fun. Mostly it was him in the mask. When he's in the mask, he's the Dragonfly superhero and it was really funny. Half the time I wasn't really working with him. If there were stunts, he can't really do all that stuff so I'd be with the stunt double pretending it was Drake and sometimes I'd get them mixed up because they look so much alike in the suits and I'd be like 'hey, Drake!' and it wasn't him. 'Oh, sorry, sorry'.

TeenHollywood: But there are some scenes where he's not wearing the mask?

Sara: We have a few scenes. There's a scene where he first comes to talk to me and we're talking in our backyards because we live next door to each other and he comes closer to me and touches the fence and the fence is electrified because my dad is weird.

TeenHollywood: That's funny! Talk about overprotective! Did the cast get to hang out at all after shooting?

Sara: We filmed in L.A. so it's a lot different when you film where your home is because you still have your life plus we spent so many hours on set. We worked at least 16 hours a day. It was fun but it was really long hours. It's like I was spending every single moment of the day with these people so when would I hang out with them? Four in the morning? It was like 'no offense. I love you but I've gotta go feed my dog'. I'd just go home and immediately crash, get up and do it all over again.

TeenHollywood: And they said filmmaking is glamorous. Was there any superhero movie that they didn't spoof that you think would have been fun to include?

Sara: They did X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Batman. I don't think we spoofed Superman. I'm not sure because there is some stuff that I'm not in. I'm not in the whole X-Men sequence. I didn't get to see any of that. Maybe there is Superman and I just wasn't in it!

TeenHollywood: What was your favorite scene to shoot?

Sara: There's a scene with me, Drake and Marion Ross. We've just had Thanksgiving dinner and she's curled up asleep on the couch and me and Drake are cleaning up dishes on the coffee table in front of her. We're about to have a romantic, get closer moment and Marion lets out the biggest fart ever! It was soooo funny. We are trying to ignore it.

TeenHollywood: So, did you actually hear the sound on set or did they put that in later?

Sara: They really wanted it to be there in the scene so they had this little air hose underneath Marion's dress and the director Greg set up speakers on the set and he was going nuts letting out the biggest noises. It sounded so real. The first time we did it, I could not keep a straight face. It took several times to get through the entire thing. It's especially hard when you can see the camera guys hunched over laughing really hard. You can't look at them or you can see that they are like dying!

TeenHollywood: Who is your favorite superhero?

Sara: I was a big fan of Spider-Man and Batman. I read the comics and watched all the TV shows. I already knew a lot about those two. I was a big fan of the Spider-Man movies with Toby Maguire but a really big fan of the Batman with Christian Bale. I loved that one.

TeenHollywood: Are you friends with any of the young actresses you've worked with like Alexa Vega or Amanda Bynes?

Sara: Yeah. I worked with Alexa but it's hard to maintain your friendships. It's hard because you're busy and they're busy. They're flying here or there. I think Amanda wanted to be in New York for a little bit so I haven't seen her but I talked to her a little bit when she was doing the Teen Choice Awards. She's got her boyfriend, I think. I don't know. I actually don't know what she's been up to but whenever I run into her it's like 'hey!'. Alexa I see all the time and she's always nice. We worked in 2003 or 2004 on Sleepover. She's friends with JoJo so I see her a lot more.

TeenHollywood: I would think it would be hard to be friends with other busy actresses cuz they are never there.

Sara: Yeah. I'm really good friends with Emma [Roberts] from Aquamarine. We're like neighbors and our dads hang out all the time. I get up in the morning and there's Emma's dad [Eric Roberts] in my garage working on something. They live just down the street. But she's constantly working and I've been working and it's really hard to make time to get together.

TeenHollywood: 'Darcy's Wildlife' was fun. Are you ever going to go back to do a TV show?

Sara: Yeah. I would love to if something came along. It was hard with the Writer's Strike for a while but I'm totally about doing everything. If the right script came along with the right character and I really, really liked it, I would be totally down to do it.

TeenHollywood: Is it a curse to be a really pretty actress in Hollywood? Do you not get the meaty character roles because you are so pretty?

Sara: Number one, thank you! Number two, it's hard to say because every time an actress in Hollywood starts complaining about it, it's like 'oh stop. Oh, it's sooo difficult'. I know, I've seen Halle Berry say 'it's really tough' and I'm like 'oh please' but now that I'm getting more into acting I do see that there is a pretty big stereotype and I'm not saying in terms of being pretty or not pretty. I mostly see it in terms of being a tall, thin, blonde girl. I feel like it is so hard. I've been in to auditions for serious roles and they'll tell me straight to my face, 'you are the best actress that came in here today but you're not what we're looking for'. I'm like 'what do I need to do?' It's like they have no imagination.

TeenHollywood: Yeah, because if Charlize Theron can do it in Monster, you could do it.

Sara: She looked God awful in that movie! That proves anybody can be ugly. Not everybody can be a good actor but you can make anybody ugly. You should see me when I wake up in the morning. Take a picture! I'll come in and not brush my hair or shower or brush my teeth because I really want to get the message across. I can be ugly. And I can dye my hair but, whatever... It's not that much of a curse, 'oh gosh you're too blonde and cute'. I can't complain about that really. Maybe just privately.

TeenHollywood: How do you keep from going down that dark self-destructive path that so many young, female celebs are on lately?

Sara: I think it's a couple of things. I'm very, very close to my family. I'm an only child and it's been all about 'respect the family' growing up. My family is Mexican [on her mom's side] and it's always about respect. You've got to always keep the family with you. If something bad like that ever happened, I would be so embarrassed to be in my family. I would be so ashamed. I don't think I would ever want to do something like that to them. I think that, when you are close to your family, they instilled their morals in me and I have really strong values. I don't think that it's wrong to have fun. I just don't believe in having so much fun that it overpowers your work. I also think that a lot of it is that some people get too much power and money too soon and I think that's a perfect equation for destruction unless you have a strong family behind you and, from the beginning, you know about right and wrong and morals. I look at like Miley Cyrus and she seems to be on a good path so far. Good for her. There's a lot of temptation. I think people get so caught up in that world [partying] and they think that it's real. I've realized from watching all that on the news that it's not real. You can't start believing your own hype; going out to clubs every night.

TeenHollywood: Do you have any plans to go to college eventually?

Sara: I've applied every semester and then I'll get a part so I'm like 'gosh, maybe I shouldn't apply any more'. Maybe if I don't apply I won't get a job. I'm like, 'looks like there is a break coming soon. I'm gonna apply' and then I apply and it's 'yea! I got the part'. I'm starting to take some classes. I'm taking an art history class right now. It's really hard. I don't know how I'm going to keep up when I'm in South Africa. I want to major in either Business or History. I love history because I have fun studying that. You can't go wrong with Business. Either one of those would be great.

TeenHollywood: Have you been working on more music?

Sara: I have actually but it's going to be at a standstill while I'm gone in South Africa. I started working a couple of months ago. It's going to take a while. I've just started writing songs and working with a producer and getting the music in with the words that I've written. It's a long process doing everything on your own from scratch. When I was 16 I understood that I couldn't do everything on my own. I didn't have enough life experience but now I feel like I've had some experiences and can definitely write some stuff.

TeenHollywood: What kind of music do you want to put out there?

Sara: I would love to do a Spanish album, eventually. What it's been turning into is kind of a mixture of Gwen Stefani, her solo album and Kylie Minogue, kind of a funky dance feel I guess. I think it will take a few months to get all the music worked out. I only have two or three songs completed and one is for the movie Superheros. I hope it gets on [the soundtrack].

TeenHollywood: Do you have more fun playing the bad girls like Rachel Witchburn in Sydney White or are the good gal roles more fulfilling?

Sara: It is really fun getting to play the villain. It's different and interesting for me, especially in a comedy like Sydney White. That was really fun but I so rarely get to play the heroine. I would really love to do that again. I think Aquamarine was one of the only times I got to play that part. I miss it. I really want to be the heroine again. I'm the heroine in this next movie but it's really not a comedy. It's scary.

TeenHollywood: Who is in The Last House on the Left with you?

Sara: They are still casting but Monica Potter is playing my mom and they're still trying to get the dad, maybe Chris Cooper or Willem Dafoe. My best friend is played by Martha McIssac. She was in Superbad. And Garret Dillahunt is the murderer/rapist.

TeenHollywood: What are you really good at and what are you pretty bad at?

Sara: I'm really good at videogames and swimming. I'm not really good at sports. I'm not very coordinated. I never played sports when I was little. I'm pretty bad at hip-hop dancing. When I was little, I was doing more ballet and jazz where everything is more centered and rigid. Now, I'm doing kind of funk jazz, hip hop mixed with jazz and that's fun. I can do the steps but it's so hard to loosen up because of doing ballet all those years. I'm working on it.

TeenHollywood: Favorite musical artists?

Sara: I'm a big fan of classic rock like The Stones and The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin. That's always on my I-Pod and it never goes out of style. I like Weezer a lot and Gwen Stefani. I like Rihanna, Beyonce. I like Jay-Z and Eminem, all that stuff. A little of everything.

TeenHollywood: What would be ideal date activities for you?

Sara: Definitely dinner some place quiet where you are able to talk. On my first date I went to a restaurant and it was so loud that you couldn't hear each other. I'm up for anything; a day date, get some lunch and go to Santa Monica pier and go ride some rides or go to the beach. I'm definitely down for outside beach activities or dinner and a movie. One thing about that, is afterwards, you've gotta get dessert because you can't talk during the movie. Go to Pinkberry afterwards.

TeenHollywood: Yum! So is there someone in your life you will miss when you go to South Africa? [Jake McDorman? Lucas Grabeel? We don't know].

Sara: Yeah. I have somebody special in my life right now. We've been together a while so he's kind of used to this 'me leaving' thing. It's still hard. I'm going to miss everything. I'll be in this beautiful place and meet these new people. It's a great opportunity and I'm so grateful they gave me this serious role. I'm gonna miss him and my mom and my dog and my family. They'll cry when I leave. We're shooting in Capetown.

TeenHollywood: Any moviestar crushes that you haven't gotten to act with yet?

Sara: Who did I have on my wall when I was 16 or 14? Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp. I didn't really like Orlando in the "Pirates" movies. I liked him in The Lord of the Rings. That's what I was obsessed with. Then I saw him in person and I was like 'wow!'. Jake Gyllenhaal. He's seems like a sweet guy.

TeenHollywood: I've interviewed him and he's got that really witty humor.

Sara: I like that a lot. I feel intelligence along with humor is very important to me.

TeenHollywood: Do you have a pet project you would like to develop for yourself?

Sara: Every time I have an idea in my head, a year later I see it on screen. I really wanted to do an American version of Roman Holiday the one with Audrey Hepburn. Then, I think a movie came out with Katie Holmes where she was the President's daughter and it was like Roman Holiday. I was like 'bummer'. They stole my idea. Marie Antoinette has already been done. I don't know if anything historical really suits me.

TeenHollywood: Whose career would you like to have?

Sara: I'd say the top three for me... my idol of all time is Goldie Hawn. I will always love her. I love her movies. She's amazing. I've been a fan since I was a little kid and read her autobiography. I'm a fan of the way she handles her children and her personal life. Reese Witherspoon of course and Rachel McAdams. I will always be her fan. I loved The Notebook.

TeenHollywood: Any message to your fans about Superhero Movie?

Sara: I've only seen little bits of it but what I have seen is absolutely Ha-Larious! I was watching the monitor dying laughing. I want people to know it's not just like Scary Movie. This movie really does have a story and I want people to go to see the story; there's a love story there with the comedy surrounding it.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.