WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING:
An Interview with Actress Elaine Cassidy
by STEVE BALTIN

ONE of the most eagerly awaited films of the holiday season is Felicia's Journey, which teams Oscar-nominated writer/director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) with fellow Oscar nominee, actor Bob Hoskins. Based on author William Trevor's bestseller, it's the tale of Felicia, a pregnant teen who travels from Ireland to England in search of her boyfriend. In England, she encounters Joseph Hilditch (played brilliantly by Hoskins), a sad and lonely middle-aged man who runs a catering company. Although Hilditch kindly agrees to help Felicia find the father of her child, he secretly orchestrates a plan to make the naove girl dependent on him. Unbeknownst to Felicia, Hilditch is a monster, a serial killer who takes in troubled young women and murders them when they try to leave. As Hoskins puts it, Hilditch is a cross between Winnie the Pooh and Jack the Ripper.

To play opposite the veteran Hoskins, Egoyan cast Elaine Cassidy, a relative unknown. After auditioning hundreds for the part of Felicia, the director chose the 19-year-old Irish actress, despite a resume that listed just one feature film. (That picture, 1996's The Sun, the Moon and the Stars, saw her nominated for the Most Promising Actress at the Geneva Film Festival.) You might think the challenge of playing the title role in such a high-profile movie would be nerve-racking to someone so inexperienced. Cassidy, however, says she's much too busy having fun and going to rock festivals to worry about pressure. To her, it's all "just a holiday."

"Elaine's terrific," says Hoskins. "She's had so little experience, but she's got so much talent. What you get is absolutely straight from the heart. We worked together really well. I felt terrible about wanting to kill her."

drDrew.com: What was your response when you got the part of Felicia?
Elaine Cassidy: Relief. There was a waiting period of three weeks between the last audition and finding out that I got the part. They were kind of cruel the way they did it. They rang and were like, "The director doesn't know who he's gonna pick. We'll ring you 11 o'clock tomorrow and let you know." So I was waiting for the call, but not wanting it at the same time. When I found out I was like, "Whew, thank God."

drDrew.com: Do your friends and family back in Ireland understand how big this movie is?
EC: I think they're starting to. It's getting a lot of publicity in Ireland. In Ireland, when someone there does well, the newspapers push them up. Everyone's like, "Jesus Christ, will you ever get out of the bloody papers? Every time I open something you're in it."

drDrew.com: What have you done in the year since the film wrapped?
EC: I've done a pilot for a friend, which is more of a workshop than anything. That was so much fun. It was a lot of people all kind of the same age. We had such a laugh. It was a week's rehearsal, then two weeks shooting a full feature onto video. I've read a lot of scripts, but many of them have been really crap. Nothing's grabbed my attention like Felicia's Journey.

© Dr Drew