With new movie THE EYE, a wedding and a baby due in 2008, JESSICA ALBA says its shaping up to be a very big year but still finds time to talk Chinese horror films and method acting. SIGRID BROWN reports.

Star of the upcoming horror flick The Eye, Jessica Alba said she has been a fan of the genre from an early age and has just been waiting for the right script to come along.

“I’d been wanting to do a horror movie. In enjoy the genre. I’m a fan. I don’t know why, some twisted little thing in my head. My mom’s a huge fan, so she probably first turned me on to them.”

The Eye, directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, and follows the story of Sydney Wells (Alba) who is a blind concert violinist who sees disturbing images after her double corneal transplant operation that restores her sight. The film is based on a Chinese horror film and also stars Alessandro Nivola and Parker Posey.

Alba said she chose The Eye over other horror scripts because, “it wasn’t about people’s bodies being ripped apart. It wasn’t gross for gross sake. I thought it was interesting and different. The character was complex.”

She said she had no reservations on taking on a remake of an extremely popular Chinese horror film.

“I wanted to do a remake of it. A Western interpretation. We definitely did our own version. But we did pay homage to the original.

“In Eastern culture, ghosts are more prominent. In Western culture, they’re considered outlandish, they’re not accepted at all as being a part of anybody’s everyday reality.  We obviously had to make our ghost story more Western in that sense. We also have a different ending,” she said of changes made to the original Chinese script.

Alba said preparation for the film was extensive as she learnt new skills and formed a new appreciation of those with disabilities. She studied violin lessons with three different classical violinists over six months. “It was really tough,” she said.

“I play in the film. They had me play Beethoven and Mozart. Four different pieces. I needed to learn how to hold a violin. How to position myself properly. How to look like I knew how to play the notes. And to actually play the notes.”

In addition to the violin lessons, Alba also prepared for the role by visiting two orientation centres for the blind.

“I spent a lot of time with a woman who’s blind, Jessica Bachicha. She’s a vocalist. She lives in Boston by herself. She goes to university there. She travels on planes and subways, goes to New York, completely independent and completely blind. She always has her hair done. She always has jewellery on. She always matches. She showed me that just because you’re blind, it doesn’t mean that you’re randomly thrown together.

“If you didn’t know she was blind, you would never know. For example, after she’s spent twenty minutes in a room scoping it out, she puts her cane away and walks around without it. It was really inspiring to see someone so independent. She definitely opened my eyes to whatever stigmas I may have had about blind people.”

THE EYE hits Australian screens in March. See our Win Stuff section for a chance to win a double pass to the film.

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