(Photo: Patrick McMullan)

Your character has a vagina dentata. Did you know what that was?
I had no idea. I could sort of figure it out from the two words, but I didn’t know it was based on an ancient myth and that Freud had coined the term for man’s castration anxiety. I didn’t know how deep it went.

In a figurative sense, of course.
Yes!

There’s a scene in which someone threatens your chastity, with gory results. Was there talk of showing the actual vagina?
I think Mitchell thought it would be more powerful not to. You also never see blood on her, which helps add to the superhero aspect of her character: She never gets tarnished.

Did people react negatively when they heard about this role?
Plenty of people advised me not to do the movie. The good news is that I didn’t listen to them. As for my family, I grew up in Kentucky with my father, and he was extremely supportive. He came to see the movie with me, and he totally laughed through it and was really proud of me. I told him when to look away.

Related:

• Archive: “Movie Features”
• Articles by Sara Cardace
• Table of Contents: Jan 21, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!