With her cool blonde elegance, Laurie Holden is a throwback to old-school Hollywood. But, to the delight of geeks everywhere, she?s been cast in a lot of contemporary genre fare. Starting with her screen debut, as a small child in the TV-miniseries adaptation of Ray Bradbury?s The Martian Chronicles, Holden?s found herself in everything from The X-Files (in which she starred as Fox Mulder?s icy informant Marita Covarrubias) to Fantastic Four to Silent Hill. She first worked with director Frank Darabont on The Majestic, and returns in his chilling new Stephen King adaptation The Mist. And there?s more than a hint of speculation that they?ll pair up a third time in another Ray Bradbury adaptation, Darabont?s take on Fahrenheit 451.

Holden chatted with a group of tongue-tied male journos at this week?s Mist press junket in New York City. Among them was FEARnet?s own Joe McCabe, who recovered sufficiently from his encounter with the alluring actress to post this record of their conversation?

So this is your second time working with Frank. Can you comment on the way he directs?

Well this was a very different experience then The Majestic. The Majestic was very Kubrick-esque, conventional filmmaking. And this was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, renegade film style. We never knew where the cameras were, and it was rather improvisational compared to The Majestic. So same director, but completely different movie.

When an actor approaches a performance like this, do you steep it in total reality? Do you realize there?s more of a leap of faith that audiences have to take because of a supernatural element? How do you ground yourself?

I play it for real. I think one of the things we lose, as we grow up and become adults is our imagination. That?s what?s so beautiful about children. I think that when you really use your imagination anything is possible. What if something happened and another dimension appeared and something from another world or time hit you, or was coming after you. You make it work for yourself. I just played it real and believed it was real so it would be real for the audience.

Was there a particular moment for you where you really had to access more of your imagination?

Oh, I would say most of the time. You have to understand so much of it is CGI, I?m not really seeing a big bird or spider or a bug. So I have to really, in my mind?s eye, imagine these horrific images and what they could possibly do to me.

How are you with bugs?

I?m okay with bugs. They don?t really bother me. But these weren?t really ?bug? bugs, these were monster bugs. So, they were worse then anything I could possibly imagine. But you know, our imaginations are a powerful thing and why not, anything?s possible.

What is it about the horror genre specifically that appeals to you? Because you were in this and Silent Hill.

It?s kind of fun to be scared. It?s like a roller coaster ride, having an adrenaline rush.

Can you explain your approach to your character when you played her on screen?

Well I?m maternal, I love kids. In that way Amanda and I are very similar. I built a biography for my character, based on conversations with Frank, and reading the novella and different ideas that I had. I just thought about what it took for me to become a third-grade teacher and why I made the choice to work with special ed kids, and my love for children. I think this natural maternal instinct came out as the character was very loving and motherly.

There are these political and social issues that are raised, especially by mob mentality and religious fanaticism. How much conversation did that generate on set amongst the actors especially while those sequences were going on? Afterwards, do you talk about it?

Well we talked about it a bit conceptually, but we didn?t have any rehearsal. And because of the nature of how we were shooting?it was so intense and living on such adrenaline?we weren?t able to really pontificate different ideas, and we really didn?t have any social time because we were working six-day weeks. But thematically we all understood the message we were trying to put forth.

Can you walk us through the day where you shot the scene where the mob turns on Sam Whitworth?s character? It seemed very, very intense for us as an audience, so I can imagine what it was like filming that scene. So there was no rehearsal filming that scene?

Well it was blocked, but it felt like on that day, a wave of panic and terror came over the entire store. I don?t know if you?ve ever been in a big crowd and a big mob, especially with that sort of adrenaline and those sorts of emotions, everyone picks up on that sort of energy and it fuels and fuels and fuels. It was a terrifying scene to shoot, it felt really real. It really was real, in many ways. It was rather terrifying. It was intense I remember my heart was just beating a thousand beats a minute, and people were pushing each other out of the way and we were just fighting to be there and it felt very primal.

How was it working with Nathan and having that maternal instinct, how was it watching everything going around, seeing a child so young experiencing all of this?

Well, he has a wonderful family, and his mom was there every step of the way. He?s got an incredible foundation, and Thomas Jane and myself and some of the other cast members, we really went out of our way to try and make him feel protected and safe. He knew it was make believe; and sometimes if I would scream a lot and cry a lot I?d say, ?Mason bear with me, I?m gonna have my moments today? and he?d be like, ?Okay.? So we tried to keep him informed so he wouldn?t be completely freaked out.

How was it for that scene in the end when you?re all in the car? Was that difficult for him or for anybody else in the cast?

It was a hard scene, obviously, how do you prepare for a scene like that. It?s still kind of hard to wrap my brain around it, conceptually.

Is he aware of what happens to his character? Did he see that part of the film?
He hasn?t seen the movie yet. He?s going to see it at the premiere. But I?ve been told that his mom is going to cover his eyes and his grandfather is going to cover his ears.

How old were you when you did The Martian Chronicles?

I think I was six.

Has sci-fi stuck with you?

Yes, for some reason this seems to be my thing.

As a six year old, what conceptualizations did you have at that point, were you even cognizant of it?

Oh, I just thought it was all so glamorous and it was so neat to be in Malta and seeing Martians. I thought I went to Disney Land, but better. I mean it was just so exciting. It made me want to become an actress.

After doing Silent Hill what made you want to do another horror film?

Because Frank called me up and said that he had adapted Stephen King?s novella into one of his dream projects, The Mist, and that he had a wonderful part for me. It was a gift. I mean, Frank Darabont and Stephen King, what a combination!

You had mentioned after Martian Chronicles you were enticed by this profession. How progressive was it for you, did you just go back to school until you were eighteen? Or were you constantly doing little things?

Well, the reason why I got the Martian Chronicles is that the actress who was supposed to play that part, I think she couldn?t get her visa, and they needed a little girl, and I was the only little girl on that Mediterranean Island and they said ?Can she act?? I said ?Sure I can!? I was just so excited. So I got bitten by the bug then. But I did it more as something I did in the summertime, or as a hobby, because I took school very seriously. And I actually went to McGill and studied economics, cause I wanted to be an investment banker because I loved math. Not until I was eighteen or nineteen did something click in me that said that I wanted to be a performer. It was always a hobby and then it became a real love.

Are you quietly trying to become a scream Queen?

Noooo! Quietly? I don?t know if I?m [doing it] quietly, I?m screaming so much in this movie.

Speaking of The Martian Chronicles by the way, Frank said that his next film might be another Ray Bradbury project, Fahrenheit 451?any chance we might see you in that?

I?ve been told, I?ve been told. I think you need to ask him that because it?s not official until it?s official.

They?re restarting the X-Files franchise, can you see yourself returning to that world?

I would love to, I would love to. I haven?t heard anything yet. I?d love to be Marita Covarrubias again.

What is horror to you?

The embodiment of fear. Horror?s so different for everybody. Blood doesn?t scare me, evil scares me. Especially people. Spiders and all those things don?t scare me. It?s sociopathic people and people with no conscience. Evil people.

What about Marcia Gay Harden?s character in the film, did that scare you?

Well, yeah. I mean, she acts evil, I don?t know if she?s a sociopath or not, but she?s a scared, twisted sick lady. There?s a lot of people like Marcia?s character out there, they?re very fear-based. It?s interesting how they hide behind faith, when it?s just all fear-based.

Especially when she says ?kill the kid.?

?Kill the kid, in the name of god!? Well, we see a lot of that in this country, don?t we, or, in the world.

Your character, Amanda, is the film?s constant, she holds things together even when crazy things are going on. Is that how you would describe yourself in real life? In a situation where things are going crazy would you try and step in and hold everyone together?

I can?t imagine myself being in those circumstances, but I do share a very similar mentality in the character of Amanda, I do believe in the best in people. I am an optimist, so I would fight for peace, I would fight to preserve the good. I wouldn?t just fall back into negativity.

But in this film you end up in the opposite of what you say.

I know, my character starts the movie really feeling that there is goodness and she has faith in humanity but by the end of the film, that?s been crushed out of her. That?s her sad journey.

Would you say that this is a pessimistic film?

That?s Frank?s statement, that?s the director?s statement.

It?s interesting, because he comes off as such an optimist in person. He?s such a good natured guy. Yet it is, in a way, such a pessimistic film.

He is a good-natured person, and he?s a very happy, loving, jovial person. But I also think that there are a lot of scary things happening in this world and environmentally and politically and otherwise, and I think it?s infecting our consciousness and he?s making a statement.

What films have scared you?

The Shining, and Jaws. I wouldn?t swim in my swimming pool after that.

After this experience, will you think twice about going into a fog bank?

I would have no desire to go into a fog bank. To not see anything in front of you and have no sense of balance is absolutely terrifying. When we were shooting on the set, we couldn?t see ahead of us, we couldn?t see the camera guys. That was terrifying, to feel that unbalanced.