INT: Emmanuelle Chriqui

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

The Arrow
interviews Emmanuelle Chriqui

Before
I get into the nitty-gritty of this interview, allow me to “come
clean” with some of the details that made this one a lot more
strenuous than my usual one-on-ones.

You
see, I interviewed the incredibly charming Emmanuelle Chriqui (of
“Wrong Turn”, “Crow 4”, “Ricky 6” and
“On The Line”) a month back and it was easily one of
the best interviews I’ve ever conducted. She was the sweetest girl
ever and the fact that we’re both around the same age, turned the phoner into a
lively chit-chat session, as opposed to a more standard interview.

Once done, I couldn’t wait to put it
all up on the site, but when I went to
transcribe it off my digital recorder, I learned the hard way that
something was amiss and that I could hear my voice just fine, but
little of Emmanuelle’s. After playing with the sound levels
and purchasing software to help me clean the sound up failed
miserably, I gave up, cussed to high heavens and decided to write out
what I “caught” off the recorder and my big ol’ memory.

Needless to say, there was way, way, way more to this interview than
what you will read below and yes, I’m still very bummed about the whole
affair, but I guess “shit happens” as they say.
Incidentally, that recorder is now at the bottom of a river,
swimming with the fishes, where it freakin’ belongs! Now here’s
Chriqui!

With Emmanuelle being busy on The
Crow 4: Wicked Prayer shoot in Lake City Utah; it took a while for this interview to
happen. Her schedule kept changing and so did mine. After a
couple of weeks of trying to find a time to hook up, we finally
coordinated a free
day, but alas, the poor gal got sick and we had to postpone again.

Then it happened. She was free, I was
free, it was “on” baby! I called Emmanuelle at her hotel and it began. I
first inquired as to how she was feeling. She told me that she was
finally feeling great. I then asked if bad burritos were the culprit
in terms of her recent sharing of her lunch with the floor, to which
she laughed and answered “No”. She said that she didn’t know what happened
there and that she must’ve caught some “bug” or something. I guess along with Carrot
Top’s fame, Emmanuelle’s spewing will forever remain a mystery.
Where’s Mulder when you need him?

I then slyly moved in
to the more “official” line of questioning. The first question up to bat was
about acting: had it always been long-term goal or did she just fall into it? It
seems that “acting” had always been in Emmanuelle’s blood since she was a wee girl and that she always knew she
wanted to take that route. I told her that was
a beautiful thing because lots of people out there have no idea as to what
they want to do and never feel passionate enough about anything to go
full speed ahead with it. My little statement sparked a
moment of reflection on her part, as she agreed and told me that she
“felt lucky”. Being that she
was born in my hometown of Montreal, I shared with her that I too was
from that fair city and that I was calling her from there at that very moment. She got excited
there with a happy “Oh yeah!” ringing in my ear. I then asked her if she
had started acting in Montreal (like I did), but she actually moved out of
here pretty early on (at around 6 years old), but still had family up here.

I can also tell you that Emmanuelle
speaks great French…yes, I tested her and she passed with an admirable
75% grade. Good for you, M!

I proceeded to ask her about how how it was
living in both LA and New York. She was initially taken aback that I
knew she had a place in New York. She asked me how I knew that and I
told her that I did my research and had caught that somewhere
(to be honest, my second job is stalking her….just kidding). She
then
went on to share that she felt at home in New York City and that the town just
talked to her. L.A, on the other hand, was a rougher deal where the
lifestyle didn’t fully click with her (she doesn’t even own a cell
phone…you gotta respect that!) She went on to say that when in L.A. she
often wonders “what she’s doing there” to herself. I told her that what
she was doing there was kicking that ass with her career shifting into
high gear. I propped her on it and told her that she should be proud– all
the hard work was finally paying off. She laughed and humbly thanked
me for my my encouraging words.

Note
on the positive Chriqui “joo-joo”: I have to share this.
If there’s one thing I
picked up about Emmanuelle during our talk, it was that she had a genuinely positive and
kind energy about her. When talking to her, I could feel her radiant
smile from the other end of the phone and when she laughed, it sounded
like a soothing “mermaid” swan song. Yes, she totally wooed
me and made me feel very at ease from the get-go. She had me at hello.
A class act! End of Note

Wrong Turn
was next on the tip of my tongue as I recounted how most horror
fans loved the film and how her death scene was definitely one that we all
remembered. She was happy to hear that, but showed some
disappointment in regards to the film not getting the marketing push
it should’ve gotten. I addressed the flip side of that coin by letting her know that
the film did make its money back and that it would definitely be seen by even more
gore hounds on home
video/DVD. I then asked her about the shoot, which she said was very
“physical” and that she actually almost dislocated a shoulder (an old injury).
Luckily, she wound up being okay. If the shoulder would’ve popped out fully
that would’ve meant lots of physical therapy for our gal. I asked her
how the energy was on set and she said that the whole cast and crew
had lots of fun with lots of laughing and joking around in tow. We then came
to the conclusion that she wasn’t a method actress. She’ll meditate
sometimes before a scene to be able to reach that required emotional level, but she
won’t brainwash
herself, think of a childhood trauma or bang her head on a brick wall
to attain it. 

Crow 4:
Wicked Prayer was next up on the menu. She first shared her
immense love for the original “The Crow” starring Brandon
Lee and went on
to say that Edward Furlong was amazing in this third sequel and that
he would blow us all away with his performance. She believed that it will be
his come back. I asked if the lad was pumped up (I heard he hit the
gym for the role) and she answered that he’s all around awesome guy and
that we’d have to wait and see for ourselves.

“KNOCK KNOCK”…somebody is at
Emmanuelle’s door, she politely asks me to wait.  Her lunch has
arrived. She returns and I inquire as to what she’s gobbling on. Winds up
that the girl is on a healthy diet of cereal and fruits. I tell her
that her diet sounds like mine, where I won’t eat any carbs to keep my
body tight. We then side-tracked to talk about “meat” and how although
not a veggie, she only recently had a hamburger and that she hadn’t had
one in years. I told her that the power of McDonalds is strong and
that it can break anybody– who can resist? She laughed it up…yes, that
laugh again…

So what about her about her role in Crow
4? I take a wild guess and say: “You play the girl that gets
murdered and that The Crow must avenge, right?” She laughs and tells me
that I’m right again! We then determined that her part is mostly
present in flashbacks (as per the previous films). She then went on
to share a really kool story as to how her character was somehow
connected to her in an odd way, pointing out how she got the role with
a “meant to be” vibe behind it. Sadly, I can’t “catch” the full story on
the recorder, so I won’t blindly write it down in fear of getting
some facts wrong (damn you to hell recorder…DAMN YOU!). Her little tale
sparked a side-step in our
conversation though, where we spoke about signs and how in life there are no
coincidences, everything happens for a reason, etc… She told me how strongly
she believes
in that concept and how she lives by it. This block ended with me recommending her to see
“The Crow”: Salvation” for Eric Mabius’ performance alone
(she hasn’t seen the
sequels). The man was great in the film, in my opinion.

I
then tell her that I have two last
questions, to which she replies that there’s no rush and to chill. I
jokingly answer that I’m in an “Arrow Interview” machine mode and to go
with it. She laughs and we continue.  I ask her if she has
any other movie
biz related aspirations apart from acting and she says that “right now” acting
is it for her, but that one day she’d like to make films that she’d
like to see herself…more intimate films. I tell her that the magic of acting is that no matter what level you’re at in terms of experience,
there’s always something to learn. She fervently agreed on that. I
then asked her what she does to relax. I mean, she’s on a roll these days “bada
bing- bada boom”. She said that nowadays
she liked to watch movies because while growing up she wasn’t allowed to
have a TV. I tell her that this was likely a “wise move” on her parents’
part and that TV is garbage
and that she didn’t miss much.

So now she’s on a movie-renting
spree. I ask her if she’s seen “East of Eden” starring James
Dean and she said that she did and liked it. I ask her if she’d seen all
of the James Dean movies and she said that she hadn’t. I then told her
to go rent them, like…RIGHT NOW! She
laughed it up and said that she would. We ended the conversation with her
expressing her need to take it easy after “Crow 4” in terms of acting;
the girl wants to relax a bit…nothing wrong with that…she’s earned it.
We then went “off the record” and talked some more. When I hung up, I
had a huge grin on my face. Emmanuelle Chriqui was a pleasure to
talk to and yes, the words “One Class Act” popped into my noggin. Wow…now
that was an interview!

I’d like to thank Emmanuelle’s team StellarQuest for being
so professional and
extremely courteous throughout this whole process and I’d also like to thank
Emmanuelle for taking so much time out of her day to speak with me.
When “The Crow: Wicked Prayer” promo blitz begins, expect me to try to nab another
interview with the lady. Yes , I bought a new recorder… bugh.