Interview done by:
Paula Burr
Paula Burr
Born and raised in Oregon, Wade shocked her family at 18 by moving
to Los Angeles on her own, spending her first week homeless and
sleeping in her U-Haul. She eventually scored a gig as a receptionist
for an extras casting agency, and one of the job's perks landed her in
the backgrounds of movies such as Never Been Kissed (1999). Her
persistence paid off. In addition to Feast, Wade also appears in Rob
Reiner's semi-sequel to The Graduate (1967), Rumor Has It, starring
Jennifer Aniston and Shirley MacLaine.
to Los Angeles on her own, spending her first week homeless and
sleeping in her U-Haul. She eventually scored a gig as a receptionist
for an extras casting agency, and one of the job's perks landed her in
the backgrounds of movies such as Never Been Kissed (1999). Her
persistence paid off. In addition to Feast, Wade also appears in Rob
Reiner's semi-sequel to The Graduate (1967), Rumor Has It, starring
Jennifer Aniston and Shirley MacLaine.
Posted on:
June 7th, 2007
June 7th, 2007
HF: Hello Jenny, thanks for taking time out to chat with us. I like to start with a
little history about you please. Where you grew up, what kind of education
background.
JW: I grew up in Eugene, Oregon, which is something I’m really proud of. I can’t
say why except that is just the way I feel and I challenge anyone that’s been
there to disagree. I will pummel the concurrence into them. Not really. I don’t
fight except for the last packet of Ramen noodles and then it’s on. My family had
no money but everything they had went toward private school educations for
their kids. Oh, parents, I lauded thee for such selflessness, until I entered the
public school system at 13 and realized that I could not rustle up a gun for shit.
And that was no good because Jesus is certainly my rock but he doesn’t give
beat downs.
HF: How did you get into acting?
JW: I got into acting by just doing it. There’s no strategy except the one where
you decide you will do it no matter what and you are willing to take proverbial
punches to the nads every day to get it even if you take said punches for 8
years. I am very tired of getting punched for that long but also mad as hell about
it and I guess that’s why I keep going. There aren’t even Ramen noodles involved
but I’m downright upset about it and that’s why I’m not going anywhere.
HF: You have been cast in numerous kinds of projects from Nurse Betty, Rumor
Has It, Ice Harvest, Red Eye and most recently Feast. Can you tell me how you
got involved with FEAST?
JW: Yes I can. I was minding my own business perusing the outdoor shopping
cart selection at the Vons grocery store in Burbank when out of nowhere Feast
jumped me in the parking lot. We went down to the ground and Feast was like
“don’t touch my cart, bitch!” And I was all “the other one has a squeaky wheel,
BITCH!” And then we looked at one another and began laughing at the absurdity
of it all and the laughing quickly escalated to making out. And then I got all up in
that Feast. And I was like “you like that don’t you” and Feast was all “don’t tell
Krista Allen about this” and that’s how we became involved. Alright, what actually
happened was that I got the script from my agent who got it from the producers
who wanted me to do the role of Honey Pie. So I met with them and they said
will you and I said heck yes I’ll do this movie it’s awesome. I'm going with the first
story though because parts of it are a lot cooler than that.
HF: Can you tell me what it was like for you to work on Feast? Was it difficult for
you to prepare for your role?
JW: Working on FEAST was like…eating a caramel covered apple at the fair.
Where you look at it in the window and you’re like “holy crap that’s the most
glorious confection I’ve ever seen” and then you start to eat it and you’re like
“holy crap this sucks! It’s really sticky and it’s making my face hurt but I can’t
stop eating it” and then it’s in your tummy and all you remember is the part
about it being delicious and somehow the portion of eating where every 6th inch
of your body had caramel on it was the best thing ever. And you can’t wait to eat
another one.
HF: Can you tell me what it was like on set? Any funny moments you can share
with us?
JW: Really…there are so many. When you combine as many hubristic, confused,
idiosyncratic, cheerful, and belligerent characters as we did, funny will abound. Off
the top of my head…there’s a scene where Judah (Beer Guy) is pleading for some
chapstick…and he was just off the wall deliriously funny that day. I was laughing
so hard I could not stand upright. Love me some Judah.
HF: I can only imagine that it was a lot harder to work with extra cameras and
lights around. Was it difficult to film the movie and be filmed for TV? It seemed it
would be distracting?
JW: Yeah, man! It was awful. Awful. Awful. Just put a hot needle in my iris and be
done with it awful. One of the most important things to create for oneself as an
actor is a sense of privacy-and that is not easy to achieve when you are
constantly being reminded that you are on TV and what you do and say can be
used against you in the court of public opinion. We all had to do several
“interviews” a day, which was really just 10 minutes of Greenlight producers
trying to make one of us say something bad about the other one so they could
put it on TV and make a jerk out of somebody. Your often miserable reality is
someone else’s entertainment. Thumbs down.
I remember one day they said “how does it make you feel to have to work in
such a chaotic environment with a director that seems to have no direction?” and
I was all “how does it make you feel when I poo on your lapel mic and then pin it
back on your shirt?” I didn’t really say that but wouldn’t that be a kick in the
shorts.
HF: I love your character in FEAST, you get to be playful and get bloody on more
than one occasion, tell me all about the blood. There are some great scenes
where you being sprayed and are completely covered. How was it being bloody?
Did you have any problems with the blood?
JW: It’s funny a lot of the time on set I would hear someone say “hey don’t be
mad you’re covered in red dye/ maple syrup/ detergent/ green rancid oatmeal/
various blended fruit made to look like jizz! What kind of movie did you think you
signed up for?” It’s one thing to read a script like FEAST and it’s quite another to
actually make it my jolly good fellow. Of course there is nothing in the script that
says I will be washing blood off my lady parts or vomiting green apple, fig
Newton, and spaghetti particles into a utility sink. I guess you just show up with
your game face and try not to stab anyone with more script variations in their
eye socket. And when it’s all over you decide to be in the sequel because c’mon!
Fruit blended jizz? Let’s not be vulgar but it’s a girls dream come true am I right?
HF: You have been apart of a few scripts now that are in the horror genre,
including Red Eye. Did you meet Wes Craven? How was working on that movie
for you?
JW: Ah yes. Red Eye. If it wasn’t for me that movie just wouldn’t have been the
same. Stop it. Yes Wes…oh that looks weird. I was going to say Yes Wes and I
have met on several occasions but then it looked weird and I said nothing
productive at all. I originally auditioned to play Cynthia (Jayma Mays’ character) in
Red Eye…but I was told my look was too similar to Rachel McAdams. And we can’
t have that now can we Wes?!! Thanks for ruining my shot! That’s more joshing.
I hope I there is more Wes in my future because the Wes so far has been pretty
hot.
HF: What are some of your earliest moments being frightened?
JW: Oh my dad used to play this game where he’d hide under my bed at night
and when it was dark I couldn’t dangle my leg over the side or he’d grab it and
pull me on the floor and say “I eat little girls with eggs and toast and Tobasco
sauce, ha ha ha!” and I’d have to find his medicine and put him back to bed.
Thanks for bringing that up.
HF: What horror movie scared you as a child? Or is stuck with you still today?
I was really scared of the Never Ending Story. Especially the part where he had to
walk through those statues but they had laser eyes and he might get lasered to
death. Those scares were fun though especially since Tobasco sauce was rarely
involved.
HF: If given the opportunity, what would be your ideal horror movie character to
play?
JW: Feel free to be disappointed in me when I tell you that I don’t have a very
active horror imagination. In fact all I can think about most of the time are
bunnies lollipops rainbows Velveeta and Xanax. I wonder though how it would feel
to kick some ass and take some names. Oh! Lollipops!
HF: Who or what inspires you?
JW: People with moral conviction. Anyone with musical talent (I have none).
Anyone that appears to be handling life in a more competent, blithe, meaningful
manner than I am at that moment.
HF: What are 2 things about you that nobody knows?
JW: I have this crazy idea that there are a lot of things nobody knows about me
and I really like that. Number one: I always have an irrepressible urge to sing or
hum when I have a headache. No I don’t know why if I did I would stop because I
have a headache. Number two: I’m really good with chopsticks. Oh what the
heck I love you! Number three: I am sentimental to a fault. Not the kind of fault
that prevents me from being functional in society but nearly.
little history about you please. Where you grew up, what kind of education
background.
JW: I grew up in Eugene, Oregon, which is something I’m really proud of. I can’t
say why except that is just the way I feel and I challenge anyone that’s been
there to disagree. I will pummel the concurrence into them. Not really. I don’t
fight except for the last packet of Ramen noodles and then it’s on. My family had
no money but everything they had went toward private school educations for
their kids. Oh, parents, I lauded thee for such selflessness, until I entered the
public school system at 13 and realized that I could not rustle up a gun for shit.
And that was no good because Jesus is certainly my rock but he doesn’t give
beat downs.
HF: How did you get into acting?
JW: I got into acting by just doing it. There’s no strategy except the one where
you decide you will do it no matter what and you are willing to take proverbial
punches to the nads every day to get it even if you take said punches for 8
years. I am very tired of getting punched for that long but also mad as hell about
it and I guess that’s why I keep going. There aren’t even Ramen noodles involved
but I’m downright upset about it and that’s why I’m not going anywhere.
HF: You have been cast in numerous kinds of projects from Nurse Betty, Rumor
Has It, Ice Harvest, Red Eye and most recently Feast. Can you tell me how you
got involved with FEAST?
JW: Yes I can. I was minding my own business perusing the outdoor shopping
cart selection at the Vons grocery store in Burbank when out of nowhere Feast
jumped me in the parking lot. We went down to the ground and Feast was like
“don’t touch my cart, bitch!” And I was all “the other one has a squeaky wheel,
BITCH!” And then we looked at one another and began laughing at the absurdity
of it all and the laughing quickly escalated to making out. And then I got all up in
that Feast. And I was like “you like that don’t you” and Feast was all “don’t tell
Krista Allen about this” and that’s how we became involved. Alright, what actually
happened was that I got the script from my agent who got it from the producers
who wanted me to do the role of Honey Pie. So I met with them and they said
will you and I said heck yes I’ll do this movie it’s awesome. I'm going with the first
story though because parts of it are a lot cooler than that.
HF: Can you tell me what it was like for you to work on Feast? Was it difficult for
you to prepare for your role?
JW: Working on FEAST was like…eating a caramel covered apple at the fair.
Where you look at it in the window and you’re like “holy crap that’s the most
glorious confection I’ve ever seen” and then you start to eat it and you’re like
“holy crap this sucks! It’s really sticky and it’s making my face hurt but I can’t
stop eating it” and then it’s in your tummy and all you remember is the part
about it being delicious and somehow the portion of eating where every 6th inch
of your body had caramel on it was the best thing ever. And you can’t wait to eat
another one.
HF: Can you tell me what it was like on set? Any funny moments you can share
with us?
JW: Really…there are so many. When you combine as many hubristic, confused,
idiosyncratic, cheerful, and belligerent characters as we did, funny will abound. Off
the top of my head…there’s a scene where Judah (Beer Guy) is pleading for some
chapstick…and he was just off the wall deliriously funny that day. I was laughing
so hard I could not stand upright. Love me some Judah.
HF: I can only imagine that it was a lot harder to work with extra cameras and
lights around. Was it difficult to film the movie and be filmed for TV? It seemed it
would be distracting?
JW: Yeah, man! It was awful. Awful. Awful. Just put a hot needle in my iris and be
done with it awful. One of the most important things to create for oneself as an
actor is a sense of privacy-and that is not easy to achieve when you are
constantly being reminded that you are on TV and what you do and say can be
used against you in the court of public opinion. We all had to do several
“interviews” a day, which was really just 10 minutes of Greenlight producers
trying to make one of us say something bad about the other one so they could
put it on TV and make a jerk out of somebody. Your often miserable reality is
someone else’s entertainment. Thumbs down.
I remember one day they said “how does it make you feel to have to work in
such a chaotic environment with a director that seems to have no direction?” and
I was all “how does it make you feel when I poo on your lapel mic and then pin it
back on your shirt?” I didn’t really say that but wouldn’t that be a kick in the
shorts.
HF: I love your character in FEAST, you get to be playful and get bloody on more
than one occasion, tell me all about the blood. There are some great scenes
where you being sprayed and are completely covered. How was it being bloody?
Did you have any problems with the blood?
JW: It’s funny a lot of the time on set I would hear someone say “hey don’t be
mad you’re covered in red dye/ maple syrup/ detergent/ green rancid oatmeal/
various blended fruit made to look like jizz! What kind of movie did you think you
signed up for?” It’s one thing to read a script like FEAST and it’s quite another to
actually make it my jolly good fellow. Of course there is nothing in the script that
says I will be washing blood off my lady parts or vomiting green apple, fig
Newton, and spaghetti particles into a utility sink. I guess you just show up with
your game face and try not to stab anyone with more script variations in their
eye socket. And when it’s all over you decide to be in the sequel because c’mon!
Fruit blended jizz? Let’s not be vulgar but it’s a girls dream come true am I right?
HF: You have been apart of a few scripts now that are in the horror genre,
including Red Eye. Did you meet Wes Craven? How was working on that movie
for you?
JW: Ah yes. Red Eye. If it wasn’t for me that movie just wouldn’t have been the
same. Stop it. Yes Wes…oh that looks weird. I was going to say Yes Wes and I
have met on several occasions but then it looked weird and I said nothing
productive at all. I originally auditioned to play Cynthia (Jayma Mays’ character) in
Red Eye…but I was told my look was too similar to Rachel McAdams. And we can’
t have that now can we Wes?!! Thanks for ruining my shot! That’s more joshing.
I hope I there is more Wes in my future because the Wes so far has been pretty
hot.
HF: What are some of your earliest moments being frightened?
JW: Oh my dad used to play this game where he’d hide under my bed at night
and when it was dark I couldn’t dangle my leg over the side or he’d grab it and
pull me on the floor and say “I eat little girls with eggs and toast and Tobasco
sauce, ha ha ha!” and I’d have to find his medicine and put him back to bed.
Thanks for bringing that up.
HF: What horror movie scared you as a child? Or is stuck with you still today?
I was really scared of the Never Ending Story. Especially the part where he had to
walk through those statues but they had laser eyes and he might get lasered to
death. Those scares were fun though especially since Tobasco sauce was rarely
involved.
HF: If given the opportunity, what would be your ideal horror movie character to
play?
JW: Feel free to be disappointed in me when I tell you that I don’t have a very
active horror imagination. In fact all I can think about most of the time are
bunnies lollipops rainbows Velveeta and Xanax. I wonder though how it would feel
to kick some ass and take some names. Oh! Lollipops!
HF: Who or what inspires you?
JW: People with moral conviction. Anyone with musical talent (I have none).
Anyone that appears to be handling life in a more competent, blithe, meaningful
manner than I am at that moment.
HF: What are 2 things about you that nobody knows?
JW: I have this crazy idea that there are a lot of things nobody knows about me
and I really like that. Number one: I always have an irrepressible urge to sing or
hum when I have a headache. No I don’t know why if I did I would stop because I
have a headache. Number two: I’m really good with chopsticks. Oh what the
heck I love you! Number three: I am sentimental to a fault. Not the kind of fault
that prevents me from being functional in society but nearly.
