After supporting roles in films including Dude, Where's My Car and Pearl
Harbor, Jennifer Garner kicked (literally!) her way to fame in ABC's super-cool
spy series Alias. These days, Jennifer's fighting even more bad guys as
Elektra Natchios, in the blockbuster flick Daredevil, co-starring Ben
Affleck. We caught up with Jennifer recently and asked her about how she
finds the time to be a superhero and a spy. She's also married to A.U.S.A.
star Scott Foley. Here's what she had to say:
Q & A
Q: We've heard a story that Ben saved you on the set of Daredevil. What's
that about?
Jennifer: We were on top of a building, but there was a brick wall. I
was [supposed] to run at the wall full speed, run up the wall, throw my
legs back over, flip, and land. I had wires on for safety so that I wouldn't
fall on my head and to help me land more gently because I had heels on.
My stunt double, Shauna Duggins, who's been with me for two years on Alias
and also on Daredevil, coached me through it on the sidelines. She could
do it perfectly the first time, so she says, "Jennifer, run at the
wall with everything that you have, and the next thing you know, you'll
be running up the wall. Then, throw your hips over your head. No big deal."
We do it, and I can't believe that it's worked! It's about the sixth or
seventh take and I got entangled in the wires that were there for my safety.
My arms were caught and there was nothing that I could really do. I was
coming headfirst toward the wall with such velocity [that] I was about
to smash my head into the wall. I couldn't manipulate my way out of it
at all. Out of nowhere comes this six-foot-four red devil, and he just
puts his arms out and goes, "I've got her!" I was like, "I've
got my own superhero." It felt like I was being swooped up.
Q: Did you ever get to save Ben?
Jennifer: No, I never saved Ben. He always saved me.
Q: Was Ben proud of himself when he saved you?
Jennifer: Yeah, I think that he tossed it in my face a few times. When
I kicked him in the head a few days later, he was like, "I save your
head, and you kick my head? I don't understand how this works?" Ben
and I had this huge fight [scene] in a playground, and we were taught
to fight by the Master Cheung-Yan Yuen and the Chinese wire team. We didn't
have two or three months beforehand [to] work on the fights. I was working
on Alias and Ben was being Ben all over the world, so we didn't have any
kind of preparation time.
Q: Did you hurt each other?
Jennifer: [Laughs] No, but I did take, like, a divot of skin out of his
nose. His makeup artist had to fill it in every day for a month. It's
kind of like, "Is that nose insured?"
Q: Were you worried that you might have taken on too much with this movie
and Alias?
Jennifer: No. You know how when you're learning something new and you
love it so much? Acting has always had this kind of fascination for me,
even when I thought that I was going to be a doctor or a lawyer or a librarian.
I always couldn't get enough of being on stage and learning how to be
better. With Alias, this whole world of using my body as an actor in this
huge, physical way opened up to me, and I couldn't get enough of it. I
knew that Daredevil would help me get to that [next] level. As much as
I knew that it was going to be a painful summer, I wanted that.
Q: Wait a second, you wanted to be a librarian?
Jennifer: Yeah, when I was little I wanted to be a librarian and a poet.
Q: What was your favorite book as a kid?
Jennifer: Harriet the Spy, which is kind of ironic. I'm not even kidding!
My mom bought me a [tiny] writing notebook, and I would run around the
neighborhood, watch my neighbors, and write things like, "Very suspicious"
and "Danny Moore is acting particularly odd today." That was
[when I was in] third grade and I would help the school librarian out.
I would order books, shelve the books, set up the card catalogue, and
I thought that it was the most romantic thing in the world to be surrounded
by books. So, [I loved] Harriet the Spy and all the Beverly Cleary and
Shel Silverstein books. I could quote them. Every time that I go home,
I kind of start at the beginning and reread them.
Q: How did you become interested in acting?
Jennifer: I was a ballet dancer...and I had this great teacher who insisted
on discipline and giving something your everything. That was right up
my alley! I did everything that I could [in ballet] and when I learned
that there was a musical theater company in the neighborhood, I wanted
to do that. [When] I got to college, I learned about plays. Then, I couldn't
stop doing plays. It's kind of been like that.
Q: Do you get recognized in public often?
Jennifer: I don't go to shopping malls. I'm working. Alias is a very,
very full time job. I'm literally working every waking moment—16
hours would be my average day. People say hello, but I'm from a small
town where everyone said hello. It doesn't seem as odd to me as I think
that it should. I don't think that I've had to deal with the downside
[of fame] yet. So far, people are really nice to me, and I'm married so
there's no scandal in my life.
Q: Has there been talk of an Elektra movie based on your character?
Jennifer: I don't know. I hear them talking about it, but I don't know
how serious they are. If Shauna, my stunt double, is up for it, I'm up
for it. I wouldn't do it without her.
Q: Did you find that the amount of time spent on this movie was good,
or were you feeling like you wanted to get through it?
Jennifer: I never felt that way. I never felt like, "Oh gosh, this
is taking so long." There was always so much to do, so much to be
accomplished, and we were always fighting the clock in regard to knowing
the fights that were coming up either later that night or the next day.
Ben and I could probably get up and rehearse our playground fight right
now and still feel like we needed to work on it. So no, I was never drumming
my fingers.
Q: What's the main difference between Sidney Bristow and Elektra?
Jennifer: I think that Elektra is much more vengeful and much more violent.
Sydney fights because she has to. Elektra goes out looking for it.
Q: Is there going to be an Alias movie?
Jennifer: I would love that. We've never really talked about it, but
I would love nothing more.
