Interview: Stacey Travis

By Joseph Green. Originally appeared, in slightly different form, in the San Antonio Current.

Stacey Travis, who plays "Dana" in the new film Ghost World, grew up in Plano but has a familial connection to San Antonio. She is a distant relative of William B. Travis. "My grandmother always contended [that it was so]." She's aware that the name has a certain Southern resonance to it. "I was in Austin and shot some stuff out by Lake Travis, and it's was kind of strange. It's amazing how many places are named after him." She also notes that her first experience with mole came along the Riverwalk. She's had small roles in a number of big films, including last year's Traffic. Texas should be proud to claim her – besides being a fine actress, Travis proves to be both pleasant and exceptionally smart.

Tell me a little bit about your character in Ghost World.

She's just a really normal real estate woman. I think the back-story in the script tells you that she's been burned a few times by men, so when Seymour (Steve Buscemi) contacts her she initially doesn't do anything about it. She thinks to herself, "He's not really my type." But she's definitely trying to make a romantic connection in the most normal way, with an abnormal guy.

Were you familiar with the Daniel Clowes comic?

I wasn't – but I have friends who are writers, and I told them I was going to be in this and they just said "What!" I felt very uncool and unhip, because they worshiped the guy. I went down to the Virgin store and they have a whole section dedicated to him, but they were sold out of Ghost World, so I eventually borrowed a copy from a friend. When he [Clowes] came down to the set, I had him sign a bunch of things for all my friends – and myself. I'll have to work some more just so I can afford to buy more Clowes stuff. [laughs]

Everyone seems to be happy with the film. It's different – an expansion, as Seymour isn't in the book, and neither is my character, but the film stays very true to the book. It's used as a perfect bouncing pad.

You grew up in the Dallas area, but went to school in California. Were you specifically looking for an acting career, or was it an accident?

I wanted to be an actress. I had a four-year theater scholarship to Pepperdine, but I left after one year because I didn't like it. I spent some time studying in London, then spent three years at USC, graduating with a film degree.

You've worked quite a bit in both television and film.

Maybe if you look at it on paper, it seems that way. [laughs] It doesn't feel that way, because it's all so spread out. You can do five things one year, and then the year after everyone thinks you're working constantly, because it takes so long to come out. So maybe you haven't worked in six months, but people don't realize it.

Looking at the films you've done, you've worked with some of the most talented people in Hollywood – people like Mike Nichols and Albert Brooks.

I've taken leads in B movies, in small movies, but I'm not going to get lead roles in bigger films. What I can do is take smaller parts working for people I admire. I'm very director-oriented. "Mike Nichols is doing the movie? Ok, I'll stand in the background." You just want to be on set with them. I had loved Albert Brooks for years, so I read for five little things, [in The Muse] just to be there. Same with [Steven] Soderbergh.

Was that also true with Terry Zwigoff? Did you know Crumb?

Yes. I didn't know Ghost World except that it was comic book, but I knew it wouldn't be a normal comic-book thing with Terry Zwigoff making it. I'm so behind the times – I told him, I have a laserdisc player, but only about 10 laserdiscs that I actually own. And one of them is Crumb. It's not something you want to put on every day, but I loved it.

Do you approach television differently from film?

Sometimes you do stuff just to pay the rent. You know, you wouldn't be caught dead watching the show, but you do it just because you need the work that month. The thing about acting is that work begets work. The makers of Ghost World knew a "Seinfeld" episode that I had been in. And I've been taking meetings lately, and they know Ghost World. I took a small part in Heartbreakers, as Gene Hackman's nurse, but got cut out of the movie. But now people tell me they loved me in Heartbreakers. "Thank you, but my scenes got cut."

Of course, now with DVD. . .

You come back in the deleted scenes. When you lose scenes just because a movie's running long or the scenes are not integral to the plot, there's now the chance you can come back. Of course, the experience remains – I took the part in Heartbreakers because I respect Gene Hackman so much, and my experience on the set doesn't go away just because the scenes were cut.

So who would you most want to work with?

[instantly] The Cohen Brothers! Lots of people. Woody Allen. I'm a big Gladiator fan, so Ridley Scott. Also, I'd love to work with Soderbergh again. He's so kind to actors. You tend to find that the most talented directors are also the nicest ones.

You have another movie coming up after Ghost World.

A Barry Levinson movie called Bandits. It's about two bank robbers who stay at the bank manager's home overnight, then take him to bank the next morning to rob it before anyone gets there. I play Chloe, the wife of the first bank manager, and mostly I'm terrified. Because you don't know if the bank robbers [Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton] are killers, or goofballs, or what, because they're wearing these bizarre masks.

It sounds unusual for a Levinson picture.

It is. But it's very much character-driven. It's not The Rock or anything. I love the movie, and I hear it's testing well, whatever that means – but so far it's gotten a good reaction. He wouldn't make a complete popcorn movie. Although that's all you get in the summer, all these content-free movies.

I'm also in Sleepeasy Hutch Rhyme, which will come out in the fall sometime on Showtime. I play Rachel Rhyme, the wife of Steven Weber's character. Swoosie Kurtz is also in it, and it's a kind of dark noir set in the present time.

Who inspires you, from an acting standpoint?

Gena Rowlands, from all those Cassavetes films. Amazing. Carole Lombard, a great screwball comedian. She had such a light touch, and you cared about her, and she was attractive.

I've been lucky. I've been able to work with lots of people I really admire. I did an episode of "Diagnosis: Murder" just because I loved Dick Van Dyke so much when I was kid. I remember being on a set, talking to an actress friend of mine, and Mary Tyler Moore walked up to say hello to my friend. And it just floored me, because here's Mary Tyler Moore with her hair in curlers and I'm getting a chance to meet her.

Can you tell me a little about the process of getting into a film?

Well, the film stars get cast first. Once that's done, they send breakdowns for the rest of the casting. Sometimes they'll know they want a particular person, sometimes they won't. Once you read, they take it to the director and producers to see if they like you. Television is much more complicated. It's very producer-driven. You end up going before a board of about fifteen people, who will choose from one out of the three who made it. The result is that you get a very watered down choice, a mass-appeal choice.

That's what was so great about working with Terry Zwigoff on Ghost World. You know, if you've seen Crumb, that he's not going to cater to the Gap-Starbucks homogenization of culture. Ghost World isn't like that at all.

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