From HC to Cinderella:  Melanie Lynskey, appears as the kind step-sister in Ever After.

It isn't really a rags-to-riches story. However, Melanie Lynskey's move from starring in Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures" to working opposite Drew Barrymore in the big budget Hollywood movie "Ever After" is a story well worth hearing.

BY MICHELLE CRUICKSHANK

Living under the shadow of imposing famous icons seems to be a habit for Melanie Lynskey. The softly spoken actress, who catapulted onto our screens and into our conciousness with her stunning portrayal of a 1950s schoolgirl murderess in Peter Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES, grew up with the majestic figure of New Plymouth's Mt Taranaki as a backdrop to her childhood. These days, it's a man-made structure that frames her environment. Several stories tall, it spells out a metaphor for the unbridled dreams and shattered illusions of many Americans -- HOLLYWOOD.

Until recently, Lynskey has also been living in the shadow of her first ever co-star, the Oscar-nominated British darling of Hollywood, Kate Winslet, who played Lynskey's partner in crime in Jackson's internationally acclaimed film. But, while the 20-year-old is content being dwarfed by her surroundings, she's finally starting to make some serious headway establishing her own career as an in-demand actress. In fact, it seems that it may not be long before the shadow cast by her own career is as imposing and impressive as those of her successful peers in Hollywood.

Despite a worrisome lull of a couple of years after the making of HEAVENLY CREATURES, over the past two years Lynskey has won roles in no less than five films, all due to be released within the next 12 months. These roles will finally prove to the film studios, the public at large and Lynskey herself that what was essentially her lucky break with HEAVENLY CREATURES wasn't just a one-off piece of propitious casting. Of course, the highest profile film in this cavalcade of new roles is undoubtably EVER AFTER, a modern take on the Cinderella story starring non other than Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston and filmed in the south of France. Lynskey plays a somewhat mutated evil stepsister. "I was the nice stepsister," she explains over the phone from Los Angeles, where she's flatting in the Hollywood Hills, just beneath the infamous HOLLYWOOD sign. "It's the whole twist of the role. I was the good girl."

With EVER AFTER proving Barrymore's second consecutive hit film in America after the runaway success of THE WEDDING SINGER, Lynskey's role in the film is already providing her with the kind of attention HEAVENLY CREATURES promised yet largely failed to deliver. While it's stretching the truth to say the film offers are flooding in, at least Lynskey is now being sent the good scripts, given highly sought after auditions and getting work in an increasing number of interesting films. Meanwhile, the irony of her major Hollywood break coming in the form of the rags to riches fairy tale about Cinderella isn't lost on Lynskey.

Despite the attention and accolades generated by Lynskey's portrayal of Pauline Parker in Jackson's first foray into serious drama, her role in HEAVENLY CREATURES wasn't the kick-start to a film career many, including Lynskey herself, initially anticipated it would be. While critics and moviegoers were captivated by her performance as a sullen, sensitive and palpably unstable schoolgirl, Lynskey was actually living a far less glamourous life. Tucked away in a small New Zealand town intent on finishing her seventh form year at New Plymouth Girls' High School, she spent some long, hard months weighing up her future and worrying that her unexpected break into an acting career was destined to be very short-lived indeed.

"I think the hardest thing was to go back to school," she muses, quick to assure me that most people were extremely supportive of her success. "It's a pretty catty environment at an all-girls school and things happened. For example, 60 MINUTES came to do a story on me and followed me around for a day. At school, you just don't need that. And then I would have to go to New York or Sydney for a week and take time out. And, while they were amazing experiences, it was hard because I had these two completely separate lives. I think a lot of people resented that. It put me outside of them a bit."

For the academically-inclined Lynskey, finishing her final year at school was essential. But, while her classmates were relocating to various university hostels around the country, Lynskey was flying halfway around the world, convinced she was going to finally reap the benefits of HEAVENLY CREATURES' success. Only it didn't work out that way. After a month-and-a-half in LA expecting to walk through the doors that should have opened with the film's success, Lynskey made the disappointing trip home with nothing to show for her time abroad except some fairly hefty emotional baggage.

"I felt really self-conscious the first time I came here to LA," she explains. "HORRIBLY self-conscious! There were these girls at auditions who were all SO old and SO skinny...I wasn't ready for it. I was terrified of being here. I thought: 'I have to grow. I'm not ready for it yet.' Now, I feel like LA is my favourite place in the world but only because now I've got the strength to tackle it and to live it a bit. It's a very competitive environment and when I came here I was like 17 or 18.

"It's hard when you've gone away and everyone is like, 'Oh, she's gone to LA. She's going to be a movie star,'" Lynskey continues, explaining the disappointment and self-doubt she experienced on her less than triumphant return to New Zealand. "It's hard to turn around and say, 'I'm not ready for it'. It was a really hard thing to do and I felt like I'd failed. I thought: 'I should be ready for this. I should be able to do this.' I was scared. I thought: 'God, maybe I can't do it! Maybe I can't even remember how to act anymore! Maybe it was a big fluke!'"

For the next 18 months after returning that first time, Lynskey attended Wellington's Victoria University, studying film, theatre and English. But the hardest lesson for the young actress to learn was adapting to life as an ordinary student after glimpsing what it would be like to live her dream. "There were times when I went back home and I felt like I was going crazy," she confesses. "I've always loved acting and I misssed it so much."

Just when Lynskey had virtually resigned herself to a life without any further Hollywood hype, in stepped a new fairy godmother in the form of Gaylene Preston (Frances Walsh, co-writer of HEAVENLY CREATURES and the woman who discovered and cast Lynskey in the film, will forever be her first fairy godmother). After auditioning for the lead in Preston's on-again, off-again film OPHELIA, the director took Lynskey aside and suggested that, before she throw herself into the thespian world, she needed to "do whatever she needed to do to make herself strong". The advice rang true for Lynskey, who was still suffering from low self-esteem after the failed pilgrimage to LA. The young actress began looking after herself physically, took voice lessons and "just grew up as a person".

While Lynskey was waiting to hear whether she would be Preston's Ophelia, another offer came in. It was a role in Mark Tapio Kines' independent film FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS, filmed in LA and co-starring Wil Wheaton of STAND BY ME and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION fame. Lynskey had already completed a small, blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo as a police officer in Jackson's THE FRIGHTENERS, filmed mostly in Wellington. But, finally, she was off to tinsel town again. Only, this time, she not only had a part in a film but a renewed confidence in her ability to become the actress she had always dreamed of being.

It was while she was filming FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS that Lynskey successfully auditioned for Andy Tennant's third feature, EVER AFTER, which meant she got to spend four months in Southern France, working and partying on a major Hollywood production. On her return to the United States, Lynskey found she had suddenly achieved a tangible name for herself as an actress. Roles in THE CHERRY ORCHARD, based on the Anton Chekov play and directed by Michael (ZORBA THE GREEK) Cacoyannis in Bulgaria, and DETROIT ROCK CITY, the tale of a group of teenagers and their exploits en route to a KISS concert, filmed in Toronto by Adam Riskin and starring T2's Eddie Furlong, followed. Filming has just wrapped on DETROIT ROCK CITY and Lynskey plans to return home for a fleeting festive visit. Before long though, she'll be back in LA to revisit the role of a teenage lesbian in the independent film BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER, which also stars her new friend from DETROIT ROCK CITY, Natasha Lyonnne (EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU, SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS), who recommmended Lynskey for the part.

Speaking to Lynskey from the Hollywood apartment she shares with one of her deep-voiced CHERRY ORCHARD co-stars (it's his voice on the answerphone), I oscillate between musing on how much her burgeoning success has changed her and how unaffected she still seems to be. There is a discernible new-found confidence in Lynskey's speech and attitude towards herself and her career. Yet, while she's forthcoming and honest about her rising fortunes, Lynskey is quick to downplay any talk of stardom. The first 10 minutes of our interview are entirely occupied with Lynskey excitedly recalling the successes of various people she grew up with in New Plymouth. And, when she does allow herself to admit that things for herself are looking better than they ever have, she quickly becomes concerned and sweetly inquires: "Do you think I'm really arrogant?"

The Interview

PAVEMENT: Like your character in HEAVENLY CREATURES, a lot of girls fantasise about growing up to be a famous actress. Was it the same for you?

Melanie Lynskey: Oh, yeah, completely! I always wanted to be an actress or a writer. I can't remember ever wanting to do anything else since I was 12, when I discovered that these options were open to me. It was always such an important part of mine, and the people I was growing up with's, lives. I mean, we went to drama class on Friday nights and it was a very social thing. It was so important to get that release every week, I guess, from where you were living. It was funny doing European press for EVER AFTER because they were all saying: 'Isn't it a dream of all young girls to grow up and be princesses?' And I sort of thought about it and I guess the modern daydream of young girls is to grow up and be a famous actress or a supermodel, God forbid, which are sort of modern day princesses.

P: Considering it was your ambition from the age of 12 to act and that Fran Walsh's discovery of you was such a lucky break, do you think there's some kind of fate or destiny at work in your life?

L: Yeah, I think so. I feel so lucky, I don't want to jinx it! They [HEAVENLY CREATURES' Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh] found me at the perfect moment in my life, when I could play this really individual character. They picked me out of 600 other people because they could see that it was the right time and they could see in me what they needed. I think it is some kind of destiny for someone to come to New Plymouth and find you in this group of girls and give you this amazing opportunity which has opened up so much for me.

P: So, do you think that if it had been a year earlier or a year later, you wouldn't have been the perfect girl for that role?

L: Yeah, I think so. I was going through all the normal teenage things, but some fairly intense teenage things as well, that I think were perfect. In a way, I was young enough but I had that kind of maturity that Pauline had as well. I was in a very sort of adult relationship and a close friend of ours had died. There was a lot of stuff that was open to me. I don't know that a lot of 15-year-old girls have access to a lot of the emotions that those two girls were feeling. But I had it all in me and if it had been a year earlier, I wouldn't have been ready. And if it had been a year later, I would have resolved it all.

P: In retrospect, was it a step backward for you to go to LA that first time to pursue your acting career, only to return to New Zealand unsuccessful and pretty depressed?

L: I think I just needed to grow up and I needed to believe in myself. I think that's the biggest thing you need here. You just have to have such confidence because you're getting turned down for things left, right and centre.

P: Did your parents ever give you the "It's time to stop dreaming and get a real job" speech?

L: They didn't do that. I mean, it was crazy of me to go to LA right off the bat. Maybe I could have gone to Australia and done that...Just a little step. I think they really felt for me. My parents understand me and they know me really well and they knew it wasn't a healthy choice I was making. So, when I came home, they were really protective of me. But, last year, when they saw that I was ready for it, that I couldn't do what I was doing anymore, that I couldn't stay in New Zealand because I was desperate to act--I was HUNGRY for it--they said: 'Go and do everything'. They were great about it.

P: Was it hard for you to understand why you weren't successful initially, especially considering how HEAVENLY CREATURES really seemed to launch Kate Winslet's career?

L: No, not really. I mean, Pauline in HEAVENLY CREATURES was an amazing performance and I'm very proud of it but it's not the kind of character that makes people in Hollywood go, 'Oh, my God! The girl can do anything!' I got a lot of attention from it and I'm finding that it's helping me now because...It sounds so dreadful to say this and I hate the way thing work here, but, physically, now I'm of a type that's accepted here. I lost a lot of weight and my face is a different shape and I just kind of grew up and grew into myself. So now I find that I'm going up for any type of role...The girlfriend, the pretty girl, whatever. Now I've got EVER AFTER behind me, where people can say 'Well, we know she can act because she's done this.' Whereas, with HEAVENLY CREATURES, it was like, 'Well, we know she can act but I don't think she could fit into this part or this part or this part...' With Kate, she's gorgeous and she played the part of a beautiful girl in the film and it's easy for people to watch it and go, 'I can imagine her in this and this and this...'

P: Still, despite your physical transformation, you're hardly the typical American beauty. Is that working in your favour now?

L: I think I'm comfortable with myself now and...I don't know how to say this because it's a funny thing to be talking about...Now, physically, I fit into a lot more places. There are a lot more different parts people can cast me in now. There are a lot more ways they can see me. I didn't go out and try to change myself so I could get work. It just happened when I spent that time growing up and taking care of myself. It just happened, honestly, when I had that talk with Gaylene Preston. I just felt like my whole life opened up and I got this new confidence in every way. Also, I think people's attitudes are changing. Because independent films have been so successful in recent years and more interesting actresses, like Christina Ricci, are being cast in bigger movies, I think people are more open to a quirky kind of attractiveness. I mean, by no means am I like most of the girls that are at these auditions with me. They're SO skinny. They look like they've never eaten in their lives and spent their whole lives on a tanning bed. The leathery waif...[laughs] I'm not like that, by any means. It's so funny. Maybe it's a New Zealand thing but I still get so much guilt about saying I look better.

P: Celebrities, especially actors, seem very fond of claiming that success hasn't changed them. But you don't even sound like the same person you were two years ago!

L: I mean, I'm still so nervous of even discussing this because I'm so scared that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it will all be gone. I know that I'm not experiencing any huge success or anything like that. I feel like it's going good and it could keep going well. I think the main thing that's changed is that, although I still get terrified, I think now, maybe, I could make this my life. I'm putting 'actor' on my forms for immigration. I always used to put 'unemployed' or 'student' or something and now I'm writing 'actor'. I can say that I do this. I think it's what I was always meant to do. And I just feel so lucky to be allowed to do it and it's made me happy--happy with myself--and that's changed me.

P: The other cliché actors often insist upon is that being in the movie industry isn't glamourous. But, here you are at 20, jet-setting around the world, living in LA, earning lots of money, going out to dinnner and getting drunk with people like Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston...Surely you can't say your life isn't glamourous!

L: It's so funny because when you get picked up at three o'clock in the morning to do a night shoot and it's horrible weather and you've got to make out with some guy you don't even know, it's not glamourous! The work isn't glamourius but the life is. I mean, I'm not living any movie star life but, like, the other night, Natasha Lyonne, Claire Duvall [also in BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER] and me got front row tickets to a KISS concert. And to treat ourselves, we hired a limo [laughs]. It sounds so terrible and decadent but we spent the night like three young actresses, roaming around LA in this limo, saying 'Take us here and take us there.'

P: Acting the lifestyle...

L: Yeah, completely. And I thought then: 'It is kind of glamourous.' Even though we were just playing, it was fun. Nobody had a clue who any of us were but it was something fun and girly and glamourous!

P: Something which really struck me when I was going through the EVER AFTER press kit was how visually similar you and Drew look in the film.

L: Everyone says that. It's so funny.

P: What's it like to be compared to this woman who men and women go crazy over?

L: Well, I mean, obviously it's amazing! [laughs] It's such a huge compliment. I don't know... I can't see it myself. Drew, it's like she's got this light inside of her, which I think is why people love her so much and are so drawn to her. And it's so bright inside her that I think: 'Oh my God! I can't compare myself to Drew!' Because, honestly, she's like she's from another world or something. We've both got chubby faces and long chins...She'd love it if she read that!

P: On the subject of Drew, there's been a rumour circulating back here that the two of you had a torrid affair while you were making EVER AFTER...

L: [Laughs] That's not true! I was going out with her production assistant! [laughs] She's got a boyfriend who she's been with for years. Oh, I wonder where that got started? We're pretty close, though, Drew and I. She's pretty touchy-feely; she's a huggy girl. But that's cool. We weren't making out in each other's trailers or anything! I wouldn't mind! [laughs] I'm selling that one to Woman's Day. It's an exclusive, I'm afraid [laughs].

P: Keeping that rumour in mind, and considering that BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER will be your second lesbian role, do you think that you might replace Lucy Lawless as New Zealand's new lesbian icon?

L: Oh God! [laughs] I think I already am! But I think CHEERLEADER is definitely going to contribute to that.

P: Okay, despite the fact that we can't all fantasise about you and Drew together now, it must have been pretty wild to be getting drunk with people like Drew and Anjelica, whom you must have previously considered these movie icons far removed from your own reality...

L: At first, it was terrifying. Drew was cool. I mean, for a long time, it was just me and her cast in the movie, so we had lots of correspondence. She said how excited she was to be working with me and I said it back. So we kind of broke the ice and she's my age and she's very easy-going. But the first time I met Anjelica, we were having makeup tests and she came in in this big white robe [laughs]. And her hair was all swept up and she's got that amazing, gorgeous face. And I was like 'Oh my God! Oh my God! What do I say?' And she came over to me and said [mimics American accent]: 'I think you're a marvellous actress and I loved HEAVENLY CREATURES'. And from then on it just got cool. There were moments when we were sitting around drunk, doing some ridiculous thing, or crying or something, and I'd go: 'Oh my God. It's Anjelica Huston!' Or: 'It's Drew Barrymore!'"

P: So they always made you feel part of that lifestyle?

L: It's weird because we were in France and we were sort of shut away from everything and we had a normal kind of social life. Then when I came back to LA, the times I've gone out to dinner with Anjelica here are weird because she's got a defence--and Drew has, as well--just to shut off from the fact that people are openly staring or following her around. It's terrifying to me. I went into a bar one night with Drew and we were in this little curtained booth, for celebrities or something, and someone came in and pulled back the curtain and started taking pictures of her. People were sliding bits of paper under the curtain all night, saying 'Can I have your autograph?' She was bugged all night and yet she's so sweet and so gracious about it. I was just thinking: 'How can she live that way?' She's so famous, it's crazy. I mean, it's even weirder for Kate, I think, because the British press are so unbelieveably cruel and invasive.

P: Although you want to be a successful actress, does an experience like that make you question whether it's worth aspiring to be in that league of fame?

L: Yeah! I mean, the only benefit of fame I guess I can see is that you get the first choice of all the best movies. Everything that I audition for, Drew's been offered, Kate's been offered...And I've really got to work to get them.

P: Are you working towards any grand plan, then?

L: I will win two Oscars in the next year! That's my plan [laughs]. Best Supporting and Best Actress in the same year! No, I just want to keep doing it. I mean, my agents have a plan, which is a bit scary to me. They don't want to sit me down because they know what I'm like. They know I'd panic. But, occasionally, they slip up and say, 'Well, the next film has to be a lead.' And I'm like, 'Why? How do you know that? What do you mean?' I'm too scared to make plans because who knows what's going to happen. I just want to keep working, to keep doing cool things. I'm just so happy with where I am. I mean, I'm going into meetings and people are respecting me and saying things like: 'Oh, I love your work.' And I think: 'Oh God! I actually have a body of work!' I feel like that's an achievement. Like, this is my dream come true. Obviously, it would be nice to get statues and houses and whatever else. But I imagined my life would be doing plays and doing a movie, if I was lucky. And now, it's just incredible!