HANGIN' WITH Cool Cats

Girls' Life, April, 2001 by Kelly White

Haven't caught cat scratch fever? You will. Josie and the Pussycats (based on the groovy 70s 'toon) hits screens any day. We got catty with its rockin' star trio--Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson and Tara Reid. Fur real!

Girls' Life: So how does it feel to be a living cartoon character?

Rachael: Oh. I wouldn't know. I didn't want to start acting like a cartoon. It would take too much of the human element out of it. You know, we have to take these characters--who, granted, have their separate personalities but, on a lot of levels, are pretty two-dimensional--and make them into people with flaws, with insecurities. Josie needed more of a personality than what the cartoon had to offer.

Tara: Yeah, you don't really think of it completely necessarily like that because it's neat but you can't really base yourself on a cartoon because it's not real, but it's definitely a great concept. You know what I mean?

Rosario: It was definitely interesting because, I mean, I got to play a rock star but not just any rock star. I got to play a rock star who wears like ears and a tail and wears them with all seriousness. It was weird to kind of put my own spin on it.

Were you a fan of the cartoon?

Tara: Well, it kind of just missed me. I think I was a little too young for it at the time.

Rachael: The studio sent me a tape of a couple of episodes.

Rosario: My little brother watches Josie and the Pussycats because they play it on the Cartoon Network, so he's seen it a billion times. Actually, when I got the script I gave it to him to read first.

Are you cat lovers?

Rachael: Yes, I am. I have two cats at home in Minnesota with my family. Beau and Skippy. I miss them terribly.

Tara: I'm a dog lover, actually. I don't dislike cats, but I just like dogs so much more. I have a little dog, so it's like a cat but yet it barks.

Rosario: I really love cats, but I'm allergic. There's this one scene when there's like 8 billion cats all over us, and I like scrubbed myself afterward so I wouldn't get into a huge sneezing fit.

What was the best part about doing this flick?

Rachael: We just had the best time. It was so much fun. This was such a great cast. We're like sisters now. Tara and Rosario are great. They live in New York and I'm in LA. but, whenever one of them comes here or I go there, we all hang out. I guess I've done one other movie with a group of girls, but we weren't as close. I always say that even if this were the worst movie in the world, I'd do it again because it was such a good time.

Rosario: It was one of the funnest movies I ever worked on. It was really a blessing, I think, working on this movie. Not so much for the experience and everything but also because I got two really good new friends out of it that are very special people to me.

So no cat fig/its on the set?

Rachael: Certainly not.

Tara: No, none at all.

Rosario: No. We really got really close really quickly, and it's still really shocking to me.

What makes this friends/up triangle work?

Rachael: We're all around the same age, and we just have so much fun together.

Tara: Normally, when I do a movie I become friendly with people but not like this. I became so close with them that when Carson [Daly of MTV] asked me to marry him, I decided to ask them to be in my wedding party.

Rosario: To be a part of Tara's wedding, that's a heavy thing. We couldn't be more different, the three of us, but I really feel like these girls are going to be in my life forever.

And diamonds are forever. How big is that engagement rock?

Tara: I'm not going to say that!

Rosario: She's wearing a house with acreage and a two-car garage with both vehicles and an indoor/outdoor pool like on her finger! And she's a small girl so, basically, she's having to do finger exercises to keep that thing on.

When's the big day?

Rosario: That's incognito information.

Tara: Honestly, we really don't know yet. We have a couple different dates we're looking at, but we're not sure. It's hard because of our schedules. I have to work the wedding around movies and stuff, and I don't know what I'm doing. It's very confusing.

Will you be married by the time this issue of Girls' Life conies out?

Tara: Absolutely not.

What are the bridal dresses like?

Tara: Mine is like a plain simple white dress, and theirs are like gray.

Rosario: It's like purplish--this really beautiful classic Vera Wang dress we're all getting.

How 'bout the funky threads in the film? Were they cool to wear?

Rachael: Fun to wear, no. Fun to look at, yes. Not the most comfortable things in the whole world. But they looked great; it was worth it.

Tara: Yeah, they were really great--mere like costumes than real clothes, but like kind of glam, you know, rock glam. Edgy and cool. The really low hip huggers were cool.

Did you get to keep the ears?

Rachael: No, I really would have, but they took them back. I think the wardrobe department was getting audited or something. That always happens on movies, and you have to give back everything.

Tara: Yeah, I wanted to keep them too. The studio keeps them just in case we ever need to reshoot. If they give them to you and you lose them, they'd be in big trouble.