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Owen: You made your film speaking debut as a prostitute in 'Don't Look Back' with Eric Stoltz for HBO. Was seeing yourself in your first real role in a movie a dream come true or did you take it in stride? Athena: It wasn’t my dream come true at the time. I was acting as side work to help pay the bills. And I never did get to see myself on the big screen because my scene was cut for the final movie. But meeting and working with Eric Stoltz whom I had always liked was a real dream. He was wonderful to work with and very funny. He helped fuel my desire to do more acting and move to LA to start a new dream. Owen: Cut? That sucks. Well, tell me about your role as the first victim of 'The Blood Gnome'? Athena: That was a cameo I did. It was basically me getting to beat the shit out of the director/producer in a scene but just when I was starting to have a bit too much fun, these little Gnomes come in and eat us both. Owen: One of your best parts was as Angelina in 'The Halfway House' with the incomparable Mary Woronov as a crazed nun. What was the filming experience like? Athena: That was the most wonderful experience of my feature film career. The cast and crew were all amazing and everyone worked together towards one common goal. NO DIVAS and NO ATTITUDE on that shoot. I would work with any of them again especially Ken Hall. Owen: What about Ms. Woronov took you by surprise? Athena: Her writing. I love to read her books. My favorite is "Swimming Underground." If you have not read it, go get it today. I believe it’s available in most bookstores or on Amazon. Wow!! What a great and true story. She is a fantastic storyteller. Owen: I have also heard that a different actress was originally slated to play Eddie (eventually played by Monica Shere) but that she was fired for having a negative attitude. Was that a great lesson to see and learn about the independent movie business? Athena: No. I have seen plenty actresses with attitude get thrown off a set, even in the middle of a shot. I saw an actress once argue with the director. He took her aside and we never saw her again. We shot some other stuff for a while till another actress showed up and we proceeded to shoot all those scenes again. This time with no problem and better acting. Most of the attitude actors also have very little talent and they know it which is why the attitude. Owen: Going along with that, are a lot of roles in the low budget arena referrals from people you have worked with and or repeat directors, word of mouth, that sort of thing? Athena: 85% of all my independent work has come from referrals or repeat performances. I am extremely easy to work with and put up with a lot of situations that most people could not deal with. For example, during Halfway House we shot a lot at night (all night). The night of my death was especially long because several actors had to die that night. I had two setups. One where my boyfriend gets his head cut off and covers my nude body with fake blood and the other tied to an altar and being eaten by a monster. However, the set up between the two took about 2 or 3 hours. So I stayed naked with drying fake blood caked all over my entire body (hair, face, breasts, you get the pic) freezing my ass off with nothing more then a towel. But I wanted to maintain continuity and not disturb the blood or wipe it off. So I just dealt with it with a smile on my face. When I finally had my scene, I hopped up on the altar and did my screaming till the jaws ate me. And of course, more blood to splatter on my body. Owen: Tell me about your cameo in 'Creepies 2'. Athena: That was a quick day of shower, spider, prat fall, wake and give birth to a giant monster spider, scream and die. All with very little clothing. Owen: You also played Captain Kir'oss in the 4.5 promotion film of 'Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming' to bring back the series. Were you a fan of the original series? Athena: I was a fan of the original series and had a wonderful time on that set. We worked very hard to make that production as seamless as possible. I'm not particularly fond of the new series they went with. Too many changes to the original. They should have just continued the story line from 20 years ago the way Richard Hatch wrote. Owen: How was Richard Hatch as the star, writer, and director of the project? Athena: Richard was amazing. He has so much experience in all those fields and knows how to get his message across. He was also very compassionate and hard working. Owen: You also wrote the horror movie 'Out of the Darkness' which your boyfriend at the time the time somewhat ineptly filmed. Are you ever tempted to resurrect the project with a seasoned professional at the helm this time? Athena: Oh yes. I would love to do it the way I wanted to. My ex changed everything starting with the script. He changed who the characters were, the place where they went, and many of the circumstances. I have rewritten the script back to the way it was supposed to me and would love to have someone else take a crack at it, someone who knows what they are doing. Maybe I'll show it to Ken Hall and see what he thinks. Owen: What projects do you have lined up in the near future? Athena: Right now my only projects are the house I just bought and my wedding coming up in January. Those two are taking 150% of my time right now. I do need to get back to acting and hope to film something this fall. Owen: Congratulations! Looking over your resume I also love that not only did you go to school for Criminal Justice but you also ran for political office (city council). What was your platform? Athena: I just wanted all the students in the town to be treated more fairly. I went to school in Huntsville, TX where over 1/2 the population were students and many of those students worked in the area prisons (13 total). Yet we were treated like transients. So I ran for office to show the local community that we were a financial force in the city and we should be treated with respect. I did not win, but my point was taken and a position was set up on the council, which a student would occupy and speak on their behalf. So I did what I set out to do. Owen: What are the top 5 movies on your horror "must see" list? Athena: Humanoids from the
Deep Athena: Not much. I have little scares like when my dog got out and ran away and I thought I would lose him forever. But then he came back and all was wonderful in the world again. Actually, knowing who our president is and how the rest of the world sees him, scares me. Knowing that there are people out there that hate our president so much that they hate all Americans and want us all dead is really scary. And knowing that he could never really protect us, nor would he. |