SIMR's interview with Brittany Snow

It’s half past noon. After running five blocks I finally get to Planet Hollywood, where I will be interviewing Brittany Snow about her new movie “Finding Amanda”. I press the three button on the elevator and then head straight to the photographers pit, a small area at the front of the dining room reserved by velvet ropes. A little platform bench that’s facing a stage furnishes the space where all the magic will happen.
After about ten minutes, Brittany arrives at Planet Hollywood looking simple and elegant in classic blue jeans and a loose fitting black blazer. Her blonde hair hangs past her shoulders in big soft waves.
Within seconds all you can see are flashing lights and all you can hear are the sounds of the photographers calling out to Brittany to look in their direction so they could capture the perfect shot.
She answers some questions and they ask her to fill a clay mold with her handprints and her signature. Amidst the chaos, as she holds her clay stained hands in the air, I notice a young woman that is shocked that all this excitement is for her. I immediately can sense that she doesn’t view herself as a celebrity, rather just Brittany Snow.
As she exits the stage to make her way towards the room I will be interviewing her in, she makes a point to stop and indulge the crowd of fans rapidly forming around her.
Brittany meets me in an empty part of the restaurant. Here we will sit and talk about her new movie “Finding Amanda”.
Brittany stars as Amanda, twenty years old and beautiful. She lives in Las Vegas and works as a dancer. Her family discovers she is a really a prostitute and they believe she is hooking for drug money. Matthew Broderick co-stars as her uncle, Taylor Mendon, a little respected sitcom writer/producer. Taylor also a drug user, alcoholic and compulsive gambler kicks his bad habits; all except one. When his longtime wife discovers he’s been lying to her about his addictions she leaves him. In an effort to get her back he sets out to find his niece and help her overcome her demons in this dark comedy drama written and directed by Peter Tolan.


“What was it like working with Peter Tolan?”

“ It was very exciting. I have wanted to work with him for a long time; I really loved his sense of humor. He does excellent work and has an amazing ability to find the humor in life, whether it’s good or bad, his life or someone else’s. What comes to mind when I think about Peter was how he would always try to encourage me to relax and try to enjoy life better—because I really can be a perfectionist about things.”

“What was your initial reaction when you first read the script?”

“That it was the smartest script I have ever read. It’s about hard issues. It was also a role I felt really passionate about because it was a lot different then what I’ve done in the past. Doing different things has always been very important to me, I wouldn’t want a career where I had to play the same role in different films.”


“Amanda was a very racy girl, did that make it challenging to get into character?”

“Well, I feel you learn something from every role. Every role presents a bit a challenge at first. The thing about Amanda was that she was very over the top about everything. She was constantly trying to convince herself she was happy about her life and the things she was doing. She was overly honest about her job and her life and that really lead her to become really dishonest with herself.”


“What are your thoughts on Amanda? Do you feel you could identify with her in anyway?”

“Yes, because Amanda had so many layers. I felt that she was always ready to unravel- she would put on this façade that everything was fine which is something we all do at times. If only I had the perfect car, or that new bag or a husband I would be happy. I ultimately think she had to learn to respect herself and to realize that material things don’t matter when it comes to true happiness.”


“How was it working with Matthew Broderick?”

“ I really enjoyed working with him. Matthew has this amazing ability to make everything funny, he could even make nothing at all funny… so it was great to work with him and be able to learn from him.”


“ Your character is extremely relevant now with everything going on in today’s youth—Did you use any of that for research?”

“ Actually I did. I spoke to some strippers and I also talked to a prostitute and I really learned a lot! These people are not what everyone thinks of them. I found some of them to be very smart and articulate. Some I felt I could be friends with, some had traumatic lives and some did it because the enjoyed it. And you know its not just something of today, prostitution is one of the worlds oldest professions that people have done to make money and find a way to survive.”


“ Finally, you’ve made the transition from T.V. to movies recently, do you prefer one over the other?”

“ It’s been about three years since I’ve done T.V. and I really love both. I loved doing T.V. and I would go back, it really just depends on the project and if I am passionate about it. I wouldn’t do anything I didn’t feel challenged or a little scared at first doing. I am always excited to try something new. I am very grateful for where I am, I feel very lucky to be here.”