Jessica Alba in Elle: 'Good Actors Never Use the Script'

By Sarah Crow Posted Nov 4th 2010 05:30PM

Jessica Alba has filmed an impressive 25 movies over the course of her two decades in Hollywood, but the actress's most important role these days is playing mother to her daughter, Honor. The 'Machete' star, who appears on the cover of December's Elle Magazine, opens up in the issue about how her lack of confidence used to hold her back and how she views her previous roles. "I know I haven't been swimming in the deep end with some of the movies I've done. I wasn't trying to. I knew what they were," she says.

On acting: "Good actors, never use the script unless it's amazing writing. All the good actors I've worked with, they all say whatever they want to say."

On gaining confidence in her craft: "I'd been so afraid of criticism ever since I was young. Every time I'd get a critique or some redirection, I'd always just take it very personally, but now I have no problem with it. It's just a chance to try things a different way. To play more with a character. It also gives me a chance to have some input, to use my voice."

On taking a break from Hollywood after she unexpectedly got pregnant: "I had been working straight since the age of 12. And it was just so clear that there was something more important out there."

On being selective with her roles: "The time I'm not spending with my kid has to be worth it, so when I sat down with my agents after I was ready to go back to work, I told them: It's all about the directors."

On her feelings towards being a leading lady: "Now I prefer I'm not the lead. It's a totally different approach-way better."

Read the Full Interview More Photos

Tags: Elle Magazine, jessica alba

Comments

(32)

Thursday 04 November

By Deborah

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I guess this means Jessica will be sticking to the script...

Friday 05 November

By BTDT

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"Good actors, never use the script unless it's amazing writing. All the good actors I've worked with, they all say whatever they want to say."

What unmitigated nonsense.

By alex

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I hope Jessica Alba is being funny. I'm still not sure why she get's all this media coverage. She certainly can't act! She doesn't even look that good. Oiy the egos on some of these so called celebrities.

By ljsurf322

No she definitely looks good, it's the outspoken airheadedness that I can't stand. Other celebs are fine with me but for some reason I can't stand her.

By JBaer

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What?! Nobody accused her of being airbrushed??

By tana green

Remember when Joey Tribiani said something like this?

By courtney

certain celebrities aren't airheaded like Jessica is. some even great actors/actresses still have to use a script sometimes like in an emotional scene and forget the lines. if she wants to be her generations Patricia Neal she's got to learn to keep her mouth shut and take some actual acting lessons

By Kelley

There is an old Bette Davis movie where the main character says something similar. She turns out to be horribly wrong. Ms. Alba is equally wrong.

By J

She looks girlish in the photos...and sounds childish in the interview.

By Tiffany

"Now I prefer I'm not the lead. It's a totally different approach-way better."

yeah that's good, it means you won't be allowed to butcher good films! I saw the original Pang Brother's 'The Eye'. As soon as I found out they cast HER in the American remake... let's just say I was PO'd... She can't act, she's pretty sure, but how long is she's gonna be able to ride on that?

Saturday 06 November

By NYCWriter

I'm a writer. Alba is an idiot. And a bad actress. Enough said.

Tuesday 09 November

By AHatchIII

Sure you are. And I'm a pygmy aviator. Obviously, you're not doing much writing if you're here writing that crap. Talk to you later, I was just on my way to go for a unicorn ride. What a tool.

By N

I really can't say I've seen even one thing she's been in, but after seeing her in the tabloids the last few handful of years and looking at the mag covers at the top of the article, that girl has had some work done. What's up with that? She's a pretty woman! She's too young to be doing that mess already. Oi!

By OhBaby

For me Jessica Alba has always been one of if not the most beautiful woman on the planet. As far as I know she's all natural which totally turns me on. I don't know what you blind blockheads are looking at? On a scale of 1 to 10 she's a 12!

Monday 08 November

By kaysings

What are YOU looking at, OhBaby? Whether she is "one of the most beautiful women on the planet" is a matter of personal taste, but almost nobody in the entertainment industry is "totally natural". The only way the public sees celebrities "totally natural" is when they're caught off-guard eating or doing the laundry or something.

Oh, and these photos are airbrushed. Ms. Alba isn't that skinny.

@ OhBaby: I agree with you ... but what do we know...kaysings knows her personally and is herself a Hollywood A-lister.

Friday 12 November

By radiolassie82

An actor MUST use the script. Duh. Otherwise why would anyone write them? I mean really. A GOOD actor takes the script and injects the words written with life and depth that reveals the truth behind the scene. Watch The Devil Wears Prada. Merryl Streep says her written lines, but it's the look and intonation in which she delivers them that makes her a great actress. Actors say what they want. Puh-lease. Even movies that are 1/2 improvised have a script. They do the first few takes as written, then the next few as improv. But there's still a script, and it is important. If it weren't, there would be no need to award an Oscar or Golden Globe for best Screenplay.

By Trizone

She certainly has a lot of opinions about things she knows nothing about!

By pk1138

I guess this interview explains The Love Guru.

By Jay

Isn't her husband African-American? Someone told me he was the son of Michael Warren of the old Hill Street Blues TV show. True? Alba has always been beautiful, but a very limited actress. Good actors/actresses 'say what they want?' Ok, sure....

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