Crystal Hunt stars in “Sydney White” as sorority sweetie, Dinky. Crystal told The Mirror a little more about her character, the film and life off-camera.
TM: Tell me about your character in Sydney White.
CH: It is a college spin on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The original working title was Sydney White and the Seven Dorks, which I thought was adorable, but I guess a lot of kids felt it sounded like a kid movie. They were like, “it can’t sound like a kid movie,” so you know how that works. So I play Dinky, who is kind of the only middle man in the movie. There’s the bad crowd, and then there’s the good crowd, and I’m sort of the only one in the middle. I have the exterior of the standard of the Legally Blonde sorority but yet I actually have a warm thought for Sydney, and I’m always rooting for her, but I’m secretly trying to help her out but yet have the ________ of the exterior that I’m in the sorority.
TM: Does Dinky compare to any character in the real Snow White, or is she a completely new role?
CH: She’s a total new character. In fact, at the premiere, I learned that the producer was actually saying that he created Dinky off of a girl he went to high school with. So I thought that was really cool, I was like, “Wow, she actually exists! I made her proud! And I made her proud!” So that’s good!
TM: How did Sydney White actually compare to Snow White?
CH: I think that they did it very loosely, which I think might have been better, instead of being cheesy and exactly like the pulling the Snow White too much and kind of underlying it. Instead of throwing it in your face, it was subtle, and I like the way that was.
TM: Dinky is different from your character in Guiding Light. What kind of characters do you enjoy playing? CH: I don’t think there’s a specific character I enjoy playing more. I like being different. I like playing different characters and having a broad spectrum and the thing I loved so much about this is that I got to do comedy which is something I’ve wanted to do so badly so the fact that I got the chance to do it, I was just beyond thrilled. It was unreal.
TM: Do you think Sydney White relates more to high school or college students? Who do you think the target audience is?
CH: I think they originally targeted it for high school/college, but I think it’s broader than that. I feel it’s for older than that and I feel like it also appeals for younger than that as well. Going to see the film with a mixed crowd in there, I feel like the younger ones were laughing just as hard as the 60-70 year old people. And that’s the same thing, so it’s really kind of cool that everyone really did think it was funny. It’s hilarious. It’s really funny and we all crack up the entire film. But it’s clean. It’s refreshing. And that doesn’t happen much.
TM: Do you think the interpretation of college life and the sorority world was realistic compared to real life? CH: Well, I’ve never been to college. I started Soap when I was 17, so I can only guess how it is, because it kind of reminds me of high school, so that’s the only thing I could really compare it to, so I would say yeah.
TM: Which project have you worked on that you’re most proud of, or which you’d like to be remembered most for?
CH: I don’t know if I’ve done anything that I would say I’d like to be remembered for it, but I think I’m really proud of this. I’m a hard critic on myself so if I were to tell somebody to see something with me in it, I would definitely tell them to go see Sydney White. That would be the first thing.
TM: How is working on television different than movies?
CH: It’s a 180! I’ll tell you that! The speed of it is extremely different. Where on daytime you shoot 40+ pages a day, a whole hours worth of material, in film you may shoot a page and a half, that’s like a big day. A page and a half! So it was just unreal for me! I’m like, “What!? I don’t have to memorize 40 pages?!” It’s so easy you don’t even have to think about learning your lines until the day of! You’re like, “Oh my gosh, this is awesome! That’s all I have to do?” Then you see how much you have to do. You have to do so many different angles, so many different times, you know for everybody who’s in the scene you have to see from their angle, take close-ups, wide shots, everything, so then you see what takes so much time in that page and a half. It’s very different, whereas in daytime there’s four cameras, and they do it once and it catches it all.
TM: Where was Sydney White shot?
CH:Sydney White was shot in Winter Park, Florida.
TM: How long did it take to shoot Sydney White?
CH: Six weeks! And we had such a great group of people that even when you were done with work, you wanted to hang out with them, because everybody got along so well and everybody was so funny and so fun to be around.
TM: On that note, how was it like working with Amanda Bynes, Matt Long, and Sara Paxton?
CH: Oh my gosh, they’re awesome. They are great. And then when you’re there that long, your family comes to visit and things like that, and then you see why Amanda and Sara and all of them are such good people, because their parents are splitting images of them! You see exactly why they’re such good people, because their parents are just awesome. They’re great people. Amanda’s dad is like a comedian himself, he’s so funny! The second he shows up on set you can guarantee you’re gonna laugh. He’s a funny guy!
TM: Tell me about Brooklyn to Manhattan.
CH: It is a suspense thriller which Andrew Klavan wrote, same guy who did “Don’t Say a Word.” It’s like a smart suspense. It’s about these high school kids, Upper East Sider kids who are into popping pills and things like that and they get in trouble. It’s a long story; it’s like a long suspense chase that happens all around talks of a drug deal in the upper higher end schools in Manhattan. It starts off this huge chase that goes throughout the entire film.
TM: Do you know when it’s coming out?
CH: I believe they’re shooting for February or March of next year.
TM: Who did you work with on that?
CH: Arielle Kebbel and Evan Ross, Diana Ross’ son. Dania Ramirez who’s the new hero on “Heroes,” she was on the “Soprano’s.” And Rob Mayes, who was the lead and Sean Faris, who’s got another movie coming out soon. A lot of good people.
TM: Have you finished working on that yet?
CH: [laughs] I actually shot that before Sydney White! The day I finished [Brooklyn to Manhattan], the following day I started “Sydney White.” So you can see how much they rushed the production of Sydney White!
TM: I understand you work with ChildHelpUSA. How did you get involved in that?
CH: I’ve always been a big fan of helping children and I’ve always heard that was such a great organization, so I got involved with that and I tried to become a celebrity ambassador and I got approved. Then I started also paying attention to making everything I do whether I make a calendar for my fan club or whatever it may be, I donate all the money to ChildHelp. When I have fundraisers, I donate the money to ChildHelp. So anything I can do to help them, I do. I also started checking around my hometown to see children’s homes that were in my hometown and they’re pretty much orphans at these homes. There this children’s home here in Tampa, in my hometown, that the kids have been so abused that their parents have lost 100% parental rights. I’m telling you, they’re so humble, and they’re such great kids. And you just show up there and just to see the way they react when you just show up and talk to them and just to spend time with them, it’s like you gave them a million dollars. It’s just so amazing. I have my nieces and nephews and I have a ton of cousins and I just see, you know kids and their friends, and things like that, and I see how kids they grow to expect things. And that’s fine, because they’re in a comfortable situation, they can expect that they’re going to get fed, and they’re going to get toys and things like that. But these kids, they don’t know whether they’re going to get toys, or if they’re going to have somebody come see them. You just want to spend so much time with them because it’s such an honor for them, just to show up and just talk with them. For Christmas, I got each of them a gift, and that was like I bought them a car. You would not believe the way that they reacted. It was just extremely amazing the way it makes you feel like you conquered the world.
TM: Who else do you work with at ChildHelp USA? Who are the other ambassadors?
CH: There’s a lot. Betty White is one, Matthew Perry is one. I mean there’s a lot, there’s a huge list of ambassadors, there’s a ton and a half.
TM: What do you like to do off-camera?
CH: I like going to the gun ranges and shooting shot guns and hand guns but I don’t shoot the animals. I love cars. I like flying helicopters. I really like just spending time with my family, especially when I have time off. My sister just gave birth to my fifth niece. It’s just amazing being able to be around her and spending time with her. Family is just such an incredible gift, and not everyone has a family. Its just the best way to spend your time when you have some free time.
Samm Levine has played a wide variety of freaks, geeks and dorks throughout his career. He told The Mirror about his experience playing a happy dork.
The Mirror: Tell me about your character in Sydney White. You play one of the “Seven Dorks,” right?
Samm Levine: Yes, that’s right. I play one of the “Seven Dorks” who takes in Sydney after she’s ousted from the Kappa Phi Nu sorority. Anyway, we take her in … because now she’s an outcast like the rest of us. I’m the happiest of the dorks. (wink wink). My character’s name is Spanky.
TM: How did you feel about the interpretation of “Snow White” in “Sydney White”? How did that work out?
SL: I felt it was as good as it was gonna get. We didn’t want to drill people in the head with it. It wasn’t really a remake of “Snow White” as much as a “loose retelling.”
TM: You seem to play a lot of geeks and dorks, starting on “Freeks and Geeks.” How do you feel about that kind of character?
SL: You know, it does not bother me because the parts are easier to play – how ’bout that?! It’s something about not having to stretch as an actor. It doesn’t bother me at all. I love it. The world is inhabited by so many geeks and dorks and nerds that I love to play them all!
TM: Who would you say you’ve worked with that you were the most star-struck by?
SL: [For “Sydney White”] I’ve known Amanda [Bynes] for five years. I did an episode of “What I Like About You” in its first season, so I’ve known Amanda since she was 16 years old.
TM: What do you like to do off-camera?
SL: I’m into poker. I’m not a “Johnny come lately” on that bandwagon, but I’ve been playing poker and Hold-em for, oh, let’s see, how old am I now … at least 10 or 12 years. So, I play poker a lot with a lot of friends. I also like to jump out of planes every now and then.
TM:I think most people from Fairfield will remember you most from “Not Another Teen Movie.” What are your fondest memories from that film? How was it like working with Lacey Chabert?
SL: As a matter of fact, Lacey wound up playing, well, I should say I played her boyfriend on an episode of the “Drew Carey Show” a couple years after that. She’s great. She’s so much fun and she’s so down to earth, and she’s just a really sweet girl and very talented. The movie sticks out in my mind like crazy. It was my first movie, or my first big movie I should say, and I had never really worked with a big movie cast like that before, and so many of those actors have gone on to great success, you know, like Chris Evans, and Chyler Leigh, and Jaime Pressly just won an Emmy, so I feel like it was a real treat to work with all of them, and I had a lot of fun, I learned a lot of Hollywood lessons working on that movie.
TM: Back to “Sydney White”, who do you think the target audience is? Do you think its more of a high school movie or a college movie?
SL: I don’t know, I’ve seen it now with a couple different crowds, we had some screenings before it came out, and I feel like the youngest people in the audience, maybe 10 or 11 year olds certainly got it and they enjoyed it for what it was and on the flip side, there were also a couple of people in their twenties in there who also seemed to really like it, so I don’t know. I guess if we had to pick a genuine target audience, I guess probably 12-18 year old girls, but I definitely saw a lot of people outside of that range who also seemed to enjoy it, so I don’t know.
TM: Do you think the interpretation of college life was realistic? SL: Well, I’m going to out myself here, I never actually went to college. I started working pretty much full-time right out of high school. So I couldn’t speak from experience, but I’ve certainly been on enough college campuses and hung around enough Greek friends of mine to know that a lot of the things that go on in the movie are pretty close to accurate. But, I don’t know, it is a comedy at the end of the day, so we take a little bit of creative license when we have to.
TM: How old were you when you did “One Life to Live?”
SL: I only did the one episode of that, and I think I was 14 or 15 when I did that, which was really crazy. That was the first non-commercial I ever was ever hired to do, and it was a whirlwind experience doing a day on a soap opera.
TM: How was it like starting your career so early?
SL: It was fine for me, I knew it was something I wanted to do at a relatively early age, I think by 11 or 12 I had pretty much decided that I really wanted to pursue that. You know, my parents were on the fence about it because it’s pretty much a big commitment on my end and theirs. I wound up booking the very first thing I ever auditioned for, which was for a toy commercial for a toy that never wound up getting made. But after I booked that, they thought, “oh well, okay, maybe, he should be allowed to take a shot at it,” so [I’m] awful glad they let me.
TM: What are your upcoming projects?
SL: Well, I just wrapped a really, really funny romantic comedy called “Made For Each Other,” which should hopefully be out sometime next year. Certainly, I do not think it would have many of the same audience appeal as Sydney White does. That key group. But it may be a little older. But I’m really proud of that film, and I haven’t seen it yet because we really did just finish shooting. But I’m excited to, and when that comes out, I certainly think that would be up in the college area, hopefully that’ll play pretty well there.
TM: Who did you work with on “Made For Each Other?”
SL: I worked with Chris and Danny Masterson, of “Malcolm in the Middle” and “That ’70s Show” fame respectively, and George Segal, my old pal from “Just Shoot Me,” and Patrick Warburton, he’s on “Rules of Engagement” right now, really funny guy. Bijou Phillips, a really, really talented cast, and yeah, it’s a pretty raunchy but pretty funny movie.
TM: What’s it about? SL: It’s a romantic comedy about a man who finds himself in the position that he has accidentally cheated on his wife, his new wife and rather than come clean to her, he feels that the only way he can save his marriage is to trick her into having an affair as well, and then when he comes clean to her, she has to forgive him otherwise she’ll be a hypocrite. But I know that sounds weird, but I assure you we handle it with such raunchy, raunchy tactlessness that it really is just hilarious.
TM: We’re sure Fairfield students will love it! SL: I guarantee they will. It’s pretty ridiculous and very funny.
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