Cuthbert puts tears to good use in 'The Quiet'

August 6, 2006

BY CINDY PEARLMAN

She plays Jack Bauer's emotional daughter Kim on the megahit series "24," but don't call sexy Elisha Cuthbert a crybaby. It's true she has shed so many professional tears on the Fox series that she's probably dehydrated. How does she weep on cue?

"Oh, I can cry at the drop of a hat," Cuthbert says. "I don't think about relatives who have passed away or anything bad happening to puppies.

"I just really listen to the person I'm acting with and then I listen to myself. It sparks emotions," says the gorgeous actress who hails from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Cuthbert got her big break as a globe-trotting child reporter for the award-winning TV series "Popular Mechanics for Kids." (She was so popular at the time that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton invited her to the White House for a meet-and-greet.) Cuthbert switched to movie acting and starred in "Old School," "Love Actually," "The Girl Next Door" and "House of Wax."

These days she's starring in the film "The Quiet." Camilla Belle plays a young deaf woman who must live with her godparents (Edie Falco, Martin Donovan) and their daughter (Cuthbert). Dark secrets about the family are soon revealed.

Cuthbert tried not to give up too many of the film's secrets to FLUFF and moaned when we tried to coax some "24" secrets out of her.

I'm hoping to deviate from the typical summer blockbuster. It's one of those things where it's character driven and it's real. I wanted to do something outside the box.

I spent months on ['House of Wax'] running from someone who wanted to turn me into a human candle. It was time to rattle the industry.

Paris Hilton was great on "House of Wax." Really!

I talked to Dr. Drew [Pinsky] to get ready for 'The Quiet.' He told me the whole movie was about just being vulnerable. I tried to stay away from being the victim or the whining, crying girl. But the girl I play is vulnerable and I'm not like that at all.

He said my character had two choices given what happens to her. She can become a sex addict or [be] uncomfortable about sex. Those are not good choices.

I have a lot of good choices in my life. There's "24" where I play Kiefer Sutherland's daughter.

Plot secrets? Let's just say my option is open to return. And the last episode was basically about my character having a conversation with Jack played by Kiefer. And then he got dragged away.

No, I can't tell you why he got dragged away because they didn't tell me.

It's true that I cry a lot on '24.' But it feels right to me to cry on the show. I'm so connected to the character. I've played her for four years and she's deep inside of me now. And the truth is she does have a lot of emotional issues and needs to cry.

Will they kill Kim off this season? Obviously, that's always an option. If they want to kill her off to get to Jack someday then I'm all for it. I've had a great run."

Yes, a lot of magazines have voted me as one of the sexiest women around. It's so odd to me. I'm the girl who went through puberty late. My body didn't change until I was 17. All my friends developed at 14 or 15.

It was tough on me. I'd ask my mom, "Am I ever getting a body?" And she said, "It didn't happen to me until I was 18, either."

Oh, then I got plenty. Now, I wish I didn't have plenty. I wish I could go out in one of those cute tank tops with no bra, but no go. Be careful what you wish for.

I have someone in my life, but I don't go there with the press. I can tell you that I'm not one of those go-out-all-the-time party girls. I'd rather figure out how to work with [Steven] Spielberg than go to some club opening