Erika Smith is an actress that burst onto the underground film scene in 2003. She first caught my attention in 2004’s “Bite Me!” as a clumsy burlesque dancer. Since then, she has co-stared with Misty Mundae (aka. Erin Brown) in “Sinful”, “Shock-O Rama,” and “Splatter Beach,” along with appearances most recently in "Skinned Alive" (aka. "Eat Your Heart Out") and "Bachelor Party 2." Today, she is here today to talk about her new film “Crimson” which will be released this Tuesday from Passion River Entertainment.
1) Tell us about yourself and how you got into acting?
I wanted to be an actress since I was about 12. I saw the film "Gone With The Wind" and was blown away, pardon the pun. I just wanted to be a part of things like that, that were so moving and glamorous. I also had a dreamy obsession with New York City as a teenager and was fascinated with the artists and writers and musicians who had made it a scene in the past. I wanted to be involved in all that so I eventually moved here and went to music school and acting school and just started auditioning for stuff.
2) I’ve noticed that you've been in some very good horror films
from
Shock-O-Rama Cinema such as Bite Me, Shock-O-Rama and Sinful. Which of these films are you most proud of?
I've always had a special place in my heart for "Bite Me!" It was the first film I did with Shock-o-rama and I worked really hard on it. I like my dance sequence.
3) Now, onto Crimson, which will be available at retail stores on July 8th. These are also some of the same questions that I recently asked your fellow co-star Stuart Brazell. How did you become involved in this project?
I had worked with the director, Richard Poche, on another project called "The Wanderer." He emailed me about a year after that and asked if I would do "Crimson," sent me the script and asked me to play Rachel.
4) Tell us about the film and your character Rachel.
It's about a dorm of nursing students who become caught up with a couple girls who are running from a vampire cult. Rachel is the leader of the cult and she is out to get those girls and bring them back into the fold. She's got that thing going on that head vampires always seem to have in movies where she's ultra confident and has a lot of witty one-liners. It was a fun role for me to play because she doesn't care about normal every day things like being polite and caring about people, so I got to just let loose and be really driven and out there.
5) One of things that I noticed in the film was the fact that the film was pretty much an all female cast. What was it like on the set with each of your co-stars?
Most of my scenes were with Jade, and she and I became friends on set. She read my palm and taught me how to read palms. The rest of the girls I actually didn't work with that much, but we all kinda got goofy and overtired towards the end. I remember trying to film that scene where I'm threatening to kill Elizabeth's character and trying to get all those big vampirific words and sentences out and Stuart and I just cracking up. I actually had to use the fact that we were working with one camera and plan my giggles and line flubs around times when I knew the camera wasn't on me and we could just edit it out, because we were doing a lot of the dialogue separately anyway, and having it dubbed in later, for sound reasons. Richard was a good sport.
6) What was your best moment that you had on the set of Crimson?
I liked wearing the vampire teeth and dripping fake blood around my mouth, it made me feel fierce.
Richard is so easy going and has a great, dry sense of humor. He also made sure all the actors were really well taken care of and that he wasn't demanding too much of us.
8) I also noticed that recently, you were in Skinned Alive (aka Ea
t Your Heart Out), which I had to privilege to review for this site. The film arrives on DVD on August 26th. What are your thoughts about that film and also the fact that it was picked up by Lionsgate?Joshua Nelson wrote me that great monologue I have in the film and that was so much fun to do. I think there are a lot of great performances and it's got a kind of bittersweet message to it that's put across in a really twisted way. I didn't know that Lionsgate picked it up, that's great! I hope a lot of people see it.
9) Any upcoming projects that you are involved in that you wish to share with the readers of FilmArcade.net?I believe "The Soulkiller" is coming out soon, and I just shot a small part in "The Wrestler," which is not a horror film, but that will be out early next year. I've been talking to Greg Lamberson about starring in the sequel to "Slime City," which should shoot next spring. I am also developing my own television pilot, which I've written and am helping to produce, we should be shooting that sometime this summer.
10) What advice would you give to any actress that is looking to break into the film industry?
Choose something else!!! No, if it's your dream, you have to go for it. Just realize that it's a business like anything else, you have to pay your dues, and it takes a long time to build a career. Try to enjoy every bit of the process.
I want to thank you for your time and good luck with Crimson, which hits DVD shelves on July 8th from Passion River and with your future projects.
Thanks!
Crimson hits DVD shelves this Tuesday. To read my review of the film, you can go to: http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/06/reviews-from-horror-chamber-crimson.html
Also, you can visit the film’s website at http://www.crimsonthemovie.com
In the next edition of Ten Questions, I will have an interview with another actress from “Crimson”.
Great interview!!