Amy Smart

CRANICS SEXIEST STAR TALKS ABOUT THE RIGORS OF POLE DANCING, THE JOY OF SKINNY-DIPPING AND THE EXHILARATION OF PUBLIC SEX

PLAYBOY: You grew up near Los Angeles, in rustic, bohemia Topanga Canyon-home of hippies and mass murdered Are your old friends surprised you've gone on to star as th nice girl in movies like Just Friends and Rot Race, as well as a hot girl up for wild public sex in Crank! ¦£

SMART | was independent, a clown who loved to make people laugh. I've always had this playful, curious child in­side me. My rebelliousness came out in either spending the night at my friend's house and sneaking out to see boys or just plain sneaking out to see boys. I was good at that.

PLAYBG Good enough not to get caught by your parents? SMART: One night when I was like 15 or 16 my boyfriend and I went driving, parked and, well, you know, dot, dot, dot. My mom had a sixth sense that I wasn't in the house. At three a.m. I saw headlights coming up the hill and my father driving, look­ing around in panic and fury. When he was about to drive past my boyfriend's car, I stopped him and said, "I'm okay. Don't worry." I got grounded for a month.

PLAYBOY: Were you more physical or intellectual growing up SM "nT-| definitely wasn't bookish. I played baseball. I skate-boarded. I loved swimming and still do, but that may be because I've always loved skinny-dipping, so much that my boyfriend actually warns people about it. When I was a teenager I'd sneak

out to the rec-center pool with my girlfriends and boys. It was playful, fun andjjIfiMstuff you'd imagine it would be.

PLAYB' What do your friends hate about you? SMAPT My favorite thing in the world is scaring people, like hiding behind a door and jumping out when somebody comes home. When I'm supposed to meet a friend in a parking lot and I see they're already in their car, I love to sneak up and slap the windshield.

PLAYBOY: Despite all your sneaking out of the house, your parents let you enroll in acting classes and go abroad to model.

SMmk . I was 18, right out of school, and went to Italy, France and Tahiti. AM Larter and I met in Milan, where we modeled together, became roommates and bonded for life. I was this shy girl from Topanga, and Ali was out­spoken and from New Jersey, but we had the same goals, which were to sightsee and have experiences and fun. We also had the same prudish attitude toward guys. We en­joyed going out to dinner or whatever with very handsome guys, but at the end of the night it was like, "Well, good night." We led them all on. Anyway, later Varsity Blues turned out to be the first movie I got noticed in, and Ali certainly got noticed in it too.

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PLAYBOY: You also got attention in Starsky a- Hutch for a threesome kissing scene with Carmen Electra and Owen Wilson. Carmen has said that you and she really had chemistry in the audition and that she thought she wouldn't mind kissing you. SMART: It's funny, because I find more women sexy than men, but I prefer to be with men. I don't mind kissing a girl, but when men kiss they do it with much more strength. Women kiss much softer because women are very soft and sensual.

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PLAYBOY: Which famous people do you find sexy? SMART: Ralph Fiennes is so hot. Seeing him onstage in London and in the movie In Bruges, I thought, Yummy. Kate Winslet is such a great actress-sexy, curvy and gorgeous like a Botticelli. )oaquin Phoenix is one of our best actors and definitely sexy-the same for Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and Jude Law. Matt Damon is very hot. He does it for me. When I met him he was the nicest guy, but being around him made me so nervous I had to drink double cosmos all night.

Q8

PLAYBOY: You've ranked high on many magazines' lists of sexiest women. How do you rate yourself? SMART: The older I get, the more sexy I get. Crowing into my­self and being happy with the way I am makes me feel sexy. Sexy is not how you look. It's the energy you give off. I like some of my body parts better than others. I've never been a real stick­ler for having a perfect body. I like to look and feel good, but I'm not obsessed at the gym, because I think women are beautiful when they're womanly and curvy.

Q9

PLAYBOY: Your boyfriend is actor Branden Williams, but have you ever temporarily fallen for one of your co-stars-say, Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Reynolds or Jason Statham? SMART: I've been with the same guy for 15 years, and we've lived together for four. We've had off-and-on periods be­cause life is complicated, but overall it has been great. When you do a movie it's necessary to walk the line between flirt­ing and creating chemistry that works for the film. There's always flirtation. You meet a co-star and think, Oh my God, this could be the most amazing romance ever. But in a couple of weeks, after you get to know them, they turn into just an­other person, and you're glad you didn't dabble and ruin your real-life relationship.

Q10

PLAYBOY: Which co-star have you most been momentarily tempted to dabble with?

SMART: I love Jason Statham, and we got along so well doing Crank. Already being in a relationship offscreen keeps the sparks hot on-screen, though, because when you're making a movie you can't have that co-star. Since it's taboo, you want them more. If you were single, you could just say, "Hey, I'm available. Bring it on." But it was great working again with Jason on Crank 2: High Voltage. He's a real gentleman, and we'd already gotten past that getting-to-know-each-other period.

Q11

PLAYBOY: After seeing your funny erotic scene with Statham in the first Crank, an adrenaline-charged action movie about a poi­soned hit man, some people can't go to Chinatown without think­ing about the two of you having public sex all over the place.

SMART: [Loughs] That scene was part of the audition, by the way. They brought in a cute guy for me to read with and wanted us to totally go for it. When we shot the scene with Jason, a part of me was shy about it, but we got past "Do we look hot?" and "Is it funny?" and just did it. Crank 2: High Voltage also has a scene like that. They tried to top it.

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PLAYBOY: How does the scene figure into the action? SMART: Crank2 begins a few months afterthe first movie ends. Obviously, Jason's character doesn't die at the end of Crank, and all I can say about the scene is "horse racetrack." It's more comi­cal than the scene in the first movie. If we keep making Crank movies, we'll eventually run out of public places and situations. Maybe we'll do bungee sex next.

Q13

PLAYBOY: You play a hit man's girlfriend in these movies. What's your character up to this time?

SMART: She is sexually liberated and has taken up pole danc­ing professionally, which she finds empowering. She's trying out new things on her own terms. We shot in seedy, nasty clubs in east Los Angeles, and I made sure they sanitized that pole before I did my moves.

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PLAYBOY: Did you have to research those moves, or did they come naturally?

SMART: I talked to several dancers in the clubs, but it was more a matter of watching their body language. Some women are amazing pole dancers. They just have it in their body to be sensual and sexual, and they know how to work it. Unlike some of the women I watched, my character is naive and still having fun with it. She likes showing off and being seen in a sexy way.

Q15

PLAYBOY: Did you show off any of your moves in real life, like to your boyfriend?

SMART: No, because I don't have a pole at my house. Peo­ple may not realize that to pole dance you have to be a real dancer and very strong. Although I don't pole dance in real life, every part I play is cathartic and allows me to dive into different aspects of myself. (concluded on page 105)

AMYSMART

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Q16

playboy: How do you get yourself ener­gized offscreen?

SMART: I deliberately try to be 10 min­utes late for everything. It's almost a game with me. Rushing gets my adren­aline going. I grew up driving in the mountains, so I am a really good driver but a pretty fast one. When I'm on a plane that's taking off, instead of just relaxing and enjoying the amazing feel­ing of ascending and soaring into the air, I'm like, Are we going to veer the wrong way?

Q17

playboy: Have any of your adventures included having sex on a plane? smart: Yeah, in the bathroom, which makes me a member of the mile-high club. One key to a great relationship is a healthy sex life. My boyfriend loves to buy me sexy lingerie, and when he's lucky I give him a little show. Maybe it would be hot if I bought him a police­man's uniform.

Q18

playboy: Where is the most adventurous place you've made love? SMART: I've been to a lot of great places, but adventurous? I'd say on the beach in Bali, where we had been relaxing on vaca­tion for days. We were both tan. The sun was going down. It was gorgeous and warm, and the beach was pretty deserted— but not entirely. I felt like we were living a dream, even if it was only temporary.

Q19

playboy: Since Crank came out, do fans react any differently to you? smart Before Crank most people would talk to me about a sweet and funny movie like/!/.?/ Friends or a comedy like Rat Race. Now I feel I'm being looked at in a more adult way. I hope that lasts, because I want to keep changing the roles I play and entertaining people. 1 love that I have another sweet movie coming out around the same time as Crank 2, called Love N' Dancing. It's about the West Coast swing-dancing scene. Being paid to dance made doing that movie a dream come true.

Q20

P1.AYBOY: Your name is a popular Google search term. What do you think when you read about yourself on the Internet? smari: The Internet is the best inven­tion because it's so open and free. But everyone on it has an opinion. I've read things people have posted about me, and I'm like, Who are you? I've never even met you! I'm glad you think I'm ugly. Fine. Sorry. Don't go to my movies. Just get a life and do something that makes you happy.