MONDO EXTRAS

CB: But do you ever finish up a tough scene and think to yourself, "Wow, that was really unpleasant!" That is, regardless of how you feel you did in your performance, are the emotions you have to bring up to achieve it sometimes a bad experience?

JD: Well, it can kind of wear you out. But it never sticks with me, I guess -- I never feel like I want to go do something terrible. But it's like -- when we did the tie-up scene, we shot that from a lot of different angles -- it was tough. But whatever -- it's part of the job.

CB: One more thing about the McVeigh role -- it must not be the most pleasant idea to be playing such a notorious figure. Are you taking any special steps to prepare for the role?

JD: Well, they're still trying to put financing together for it, so it's not a total done deal yet. But there are definitely things to know about him: he was on crystal meth and he got very thin, and he carried his body in a weird way. Those are things I'll work on when the time comes.

CB: Are you at all intimidated by the thought of being identified with someone with such a bad reputation?

JD: I guess it's crossed my mind pretty recently. I don't know what you do -- you have a lot of actors these days playing tough roles...I don't know. You know the movie Hostel that just came out? It's crazy, right? I talked to the director of that, and he said it was kind of hard to make and they had to cut some things and couldn't say certain names, because that stuff really goes on. Something like that would be hard to be in too. I don't know.

CB: Moving on to the show, how did you hear about it? I assume your agent called you and told you about the audition.

JD: That's right.

CB: And how was it pitched to you? The reason I ask is that one thing I talked about with Rob last year, and this I think was especially true in the beginning, was that the short description of the show, "teen girl PI in training," sounds kind of stupid.

JD: Totally. But I didn't really think about that at the time. I'm sure you know that I originally auditioned for the part of Duncan. I went in there, prepared for a little while on that one, and just...I'd love to see my tape on that. [We both laugh.] Whatever -- it came off a little darker than I thought it would -- maybe that's why they said, "Why don't you read for this other one."