It’s awful hard to make the jump from the WB to a legitimate film career; just ask Dawson, Pacey and the rest how they’re doing. But Jessica Biel seems to have a legitimate shot, and she’s making the most of it. In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, she’s taking up the mantle of scream queen as she runs from Leatherface and his messed-up family, and she’s already slated to appear in Blade III. Not bad for the girl from 7th Heaven. We sat down with Biel to discuss her past, present and future.

UGO: Were you familiar with the original movie before you signed on for the film?

Jessica Biel: Before I signed on, not really. But after it was shot, I saw it. I liked it! I thought it was really disturbing. It felt to me like I was peeking in on some sick, twisted family torturing. I liked it a lot.

UGO: Do you like horror movies?

JB: I do. I really like horror movies.

UGO: What’s the appeal of horror movies?

JB: Everyone asks me that. I never have a good answer for it. I don’t know what it is. I love to be scared, I think. But I think it has to be some sort of morbid fascination - a fascination with death and killing, but in a venue that’s harmless. You know it’s not really happening, but you can really get into it for an hour and a half, scare yourself to death, be afraid to go to sleep, but wake up the next morning and know that what you watched isn’t real. No one’s being tortured, so you can get into that kind of weird stuff, but not really.

UGO: What are some of your favorite horror movies?

JB: The Shining. I really liked Poltergeist.

UGO: So what is it like to be in a film that will scare audiences for years to come?

JB: It’s a lot of fun. I haven’t actually seen the movie yet, all together. But it sounds like it’s scaring people and if it didn’t, then I would be, of course, disappointed. But I’m very excited that we’re going to be scaring a lot of people.

UGO: There have been a string of teen slasher flicks the past couple of years. Why do you think people will see this one as different kind of horror movie?

JB: I think it has an appeal simply because of its title. You’re either going to be attracted to that title, or not be at all. Even if you didn’t see [the original], you’ve heard of it, and you’ve heard of this cult classic and the wave it made in the genre movies of the 1970s. That has an attraction right there, the whole “massacre.” I’m hoping that people will see a lot of the press that we’re doing for it and the people know that they’re not going to be seeing just a slasher movie. It’s really unique. The name says one thing and then we show you something very different. It is a remake, but it also stands alone as its own movie.

UGO: Was there any pressure to please the fans from the original film to enjoy this one?

JB: I initially didn’t really think about that. But now that we’re finished, I’m thinking a lot more about it, because it’s good. You never know when you’re in the middle of something if it’s good or not. It’s really hard to tell. Really, what it was for me was making a good remake and a movie that the cult followers would love. That was the major pressure I felt throughout the whole shoot. Is this going to be good enough for them?

UGO: When [Director] Marcus [Nispel] yells “Action!”, how do you work yourself into that frenzy of being really emotional?

JB: The movie was shot in order. Our first day was the first shot of us in the van, and we shot eight pages, which is crazy. I was disappointed and frustrated when we started going out of order. That was really hard for me, emotionally, going up and down all the time. But how I got there emotionally was that I really substituted my brother for every scene, for whoever it was. It was my mostly my brother that I used. Like when Mike [Vogel] is on the meat hook, I put my brother in his place, because that hits home. My brother just always brings emotion out of me, so I use him a lot. I would take my [script] pages and just write over and over, “I have to save my brother and it’s my fault. The other characters are my family and it’s my fault that they’re dead.” That would make me feel really guilty, and it would be my last shot to save him and get him out. Or I would have to stay alive to help him. That got me really hysterical all the time.

UGO: Were you prepared for the amount of physicality and emotion that was required for this part?

JB: I don’t think I was. I knew what I was getting into. I knew it was going to be a lot of work and hot, but I’m ready for it! Every day I would go on set and I would freak out in my trailer. I told myself, “I can do this, I can do this.” I would have these crazy emotional days and everything would be good. And then I would go home, and then I would get really nervous for the next day. “Can I do it? Can I pull this off?” I remember calling my mom and saying, “I don’t know, Mom. I don’t know what I got into. I don’t know if I can pull this off. Can I cry again?” It’s hard to know what a person would do in this situation.

UGO: Like the scene with the rats?

JB: Well, that was easy! (Laughs) I have no problem with rats. I was actually the rat wrangler that day! They would be going everywhere and I would be picking them up and bringing them back to actually rat guys.

UGO: What was the hardest scene for you to do?

JB: There were so many “hardest” scenes. The slaughterhouse was really hard, at first. I’m a big animal lover and I actually started the movie as a vegetarian. But I was in Texas and it was really hard! It’s hard to not eat meat and get enough protein to finish the day. It sounds like a cop out, and I do feel a little bit guilty about it.

UGO: When you chose this project, was it with the thought of doing something really different than what people know you for?

JB: It’s so weird. You always have some sort of a plan. You think, “Now it’s time to do an action piece. Or something Oscar worthy.” You have all these ideas that this is what’s going to come next and you’re going to hold out for it. But then, something like this falls in your lap. Initially, I was very intimidated and very concerned about making a remake of this classic, and then I read it and it was great. It just happens. You never think, “I’ve got to do a horror film. Or I’ve got to do an action movie to get out of what I’ve done before.” You want to do something completely different, but you never know what it’s going to be. Same thing with Blade [Trinity]. I was thinking, “I need to do a small, indie $2 million dollar movie.” Now I’m doing an $80 million action movie. Fighting vampires is so different.

UGO: Do you think people will see you as an action hero after this movie and Blade?

JB: I don’t know. I think image is a really hard thing to get. I’m sure after these movies, I’ll probably be looked at as an action hero, which is so funny, because I’m not.

By:Thomas Chau, UGO Contributing Editor