This article is currently appearing in this month's issue of Venice Magazine.
By Terry Keefe
“I know, Shannon, that you’re a poker player, and with this show, there’s no bluffing. What you see is what you get. What I saw tonight is a really good Jive,” said “Dancing With the Stars” judge Len Goodman to Shannon Elizabeth, who had just done a very athletically-charged Jive with partner Derek Hough that earned high scores. Elizabeth had been prepping for the Jive when we talked with her in the interview below, and she confessed to being a bit nervous about it, something she related again on the show, nervously remarking, “I have really long legs and that gives you more to mess up with.” The Jive requires some very controlled kicks, and Elizabeth prepared, in part, by doing a kick-boxing session. “I’m not comfortable with the Jive,” she joked, “But I am comfortable with kick-boxing.” The hardworking American tomboy on the hit reality series is a fairly different Shannon Elizabeth from the one introduced to most of the world nearly nine years ago as Nadia, the eastern European exchange student from American Pie who has perhaps the most famous nude scene of the decade. Arguably, any decade. High-profile roles followed in the likes of Scary Movie and Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the latter spotlighting Elizabeth as a jewel thief, both sexy and geeky at once, who falls for the foul-mouthed Jay, played by Jason Mewes. It’s a role where Elizabeth is quite sweet, charming, and believable as a hot nerd, and probably should have leapfrogged her career further. But the sex bomb Nadia cast a long shadow, and it’s just speculation, but typecasting likely prevented her from grabbing bigger roles in studio films. While reinvention is a difficult task, reality television has proven to be one of the greatest weapons a celebrity has in that mission, largely because it affords an opportunity for the star to present their “real,” or at least a different, persona to the world. And this real version of Shannon Elizabeth is winning a whole new audience of fans, while reintroducing herself to the old ones.
Physically, how is the training affecting you?
I got home from rehearsal yesterday and practically fell right asleep [laughs]. And I got up this morning and started walking and my feet hurt. The bottoms of my feet were so swollen. Killing me [laughs].
Do you Tivo the show and watch it through?
Yeah, I don’t watch it all, but I watch our performance, because I want to see what is coming across on TV. What the camera angles are. And I want to see how other people are seeing it. So I can change it and fix it. Play to camera. Or not play to camera. It’s kind of like watching playback and having another take. I can tweek things as we go.
Shannon in her upcoming film Deal.
Shannon plays a mean hand of poker.
Obviously, you had more of an affinity for it than your typical beginner. Did you quickly feel like you could be great at it when you started playing?
No, I was horrible in the beginning! [laughs]. The first time I played, that time on TV, I didn’t know what I was doing. It was once I started to understand the psychological aspects of it, that there was more to it than just the cards…that’s when I really began enjoying poker. When I first played, I never understand what was so much fun about a game where you just get two cards and you just play it out. How is that competitive? But there’s so much reading of what’s going on at the table…reading other people, through their actions, and their betting patterns. You’re always gathering information. That’s kind of what the game is all about.
Had you expected you could do as well as you did in the Heads-Up Tournament?
I went in there thinking I’d be out in the first round!
Did the other players take you seriously at the beginning at all?
Not until I made it past the third round. But maybe not until the end, I don’t know [laughs]. But when I beat a third round player, that meant something.
You surely faced typecasting after American Pie and reinventing a public image is hard. It seems like you’re finally doing that with the combination of “Dancing,” poker, and the new projects.
I’ve definitely always avoided taking on the same roles I had already done in American Pie, or anything else. Sometimes films get turned into something they weren’t meant to be in the beginning, and you can’t avoid it. But, for the most part, I’ve tried to pick different types of things. Although I don’t think I’ve ever really played myself, ever. So I sort of feel that nobody knows who I am, or what I’m like, because I’m always playing these made-up, glamorous characters, or the villain, or whatever it is. So, that’s the great thing about “Dancing” for me….you get to see a different part of me. You see that I’m a tomboy and I’m athletic…and that I’m willing to work really hard.
“Dancing with the Stars” airs Mondays at 8 on ABC, with the Results Show on at 9 on Tuesdays.
Deal will be released on April 25th via MGM.
By Terry Keefe
“I know, Shannon, that you’re a poker player, and with this show, there’s no bluffing. What you see is what you get. What I saw tonight is a really good Jive,” said “Dancing With the Stars” judge Len Goodman to Shannon Elizabeth, who had just done a very athletically-charged Jive with partner Derek Hough that earned high scores. Elizabeth had been prepping for the Jive when we talked with her in the interview below, and she confessed to being a bit nervous about it, something she related again on the show, nervously remarking, “I have really long legs and that gives you more to mess up with.” The Jive requires some very controlled kicks, and Elizabeth prepared, in part, by doing a kick-boxing session. “I’m not comfortable with the Jive,” she joked, “But I am comfortable with kick-boxing.” The hardworking American tomboy on the hit reality series is a fairly different Shannon Elizabeth from the one introduced to most of the world nearly nine years ago as Nadia, the eastern European exchange student from American Pie who has perhaps the most famous nude scene of the decade. Arguably, any decade. High-profile roles followed in the likes of Scary Movie and Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the latter spotlighting Elizabeth as a jewel thief, both sexy and geeky at once, who falls for the foul-mouthed Jay, played by Jason Mewes. It’s a role where Elizabeth is quite sweet, charming, and believable as a hot nerd, and probably should have leapfrogged her career further. But the sex bomb Nadia cast a long shadow, and it’s just speculation, but typecasting likely prevented her from grabbing bigger roles in studio films. While reinvention is a difficult task, reality television has proven to be one of the greatest weapons a celebrity has in that mission, largely because it affords an opportunity for the star to present their “real,” or at least a different, persona to the world. And this real version of Shannon Elizabeth is winning a whole new audience of fans, while reintroducing herself to the old ones.
Shannon and partner Derek Hough on "Dancing with the Stars".
It was also reality television which introduced Elizabeth to a second career five years ago via Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown.” Although Elizabeth didn’t win the tournament, she soon developed a love for poker, not to mention some serious skills which have made her a very competitive professional poker player. Last year, she managed to place third in NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, beating out a slew of the world’s top poker players. It all coincides nicely with her latest feature film, Deal, directed by Gil Cates Jr., and also starring Burt Reynolds and Bret Harrison (of “Reaper”). The tight, very entertaining film is sort of a Color of Money in the poker world, in which retired former poker star Reynolds takes the young and green Harrison under his wing, giving him gems of advice like “Play the player, not the cards.” Much of Reynold’s tutelage revolves around teaching Harrison to recognize “tells,” poker-speak for the physical tics of another player that tip off a good, or poor, hand.
We don’t know Shannon Elizabeth’s tell, but we think she’s likely holding some good cards this year.
Had you been asked to do “Dancing with the Stars” prior to this season?
Shannon Elizabeth: They’ve actually asked me to do it multiple seasons. I just haven’t been able to fit into my schedule before. I had always watched and liked the show, and I think everyone, myself included, always wonders what it would be like to get out there and try this type of thing. So, I had watched it, but I had never watched it for dance technicality. I had only watched it and said about a couple, “Oh, it looks like they did it well” and they’d get top scores, but I’d never understand exactly why [laughs].
You took some dance lessons as a kid. Have they helped at all?
When I was little, I did ballet, tap, and some jazz. But it’s completely different than all of this, and it hasn’t carried over at all. In fact, I think there are some things [about that training] that gave me some bad instinctual habits that I’m having to break for a lot of these dances.
What are some of those habits?
With jazz, a lot of things are big and mounded. So, with the cha-cha’s…when I point my toe and bring it from the front to the back, I kept wanting to do it with a big circular motion. And you have to do it in a straight line, right by the other foot. That was a really tough technique for me to grasp. So Derek was constantly correcting that, and fixing that. That’s just one of many things where I kept thinking it should be done another way.
Any hesitations as to doing the show?
Yeah, lots of hesitations [laughs]. I didn’t want to go out there and flop and bomb and just do horribly! It’s a lot to think about, and it’s a huge time commitment. And I’m such a lazy person in general [laughs]. We started training a month before the first show. They assign you a partner, and you don’t know who it’s going to be until they show up on the first day of training. We started training about 5 days a week, and around 4-5 hours a day.
How did that first day go with Derek?
It was really weird because he was teaching me technique kind of things for the cha-cha, and it wasn’t anything like I expected it to be. And I was walking in the heels for the first time. I think he lost some confidence in me on that first day, but a couple of days later he got it back [laughs]. Now we’re training every day we can, because now we only have 5 days [between shows] to prepare a routine.
Are there are any particular dance styles you’re looking forward to doing? Or not?
I’ve always thought I’d like to do the Paso Doble. I always thought that would be a fun dance for me. But I think you have to make it a little further along to get to that. So we’ll see. We just have time to train for the dance we’re going to do next.
How are all of the contestants getting along?
Everybody’s been pretty friendly. We only see each other on set, really, or events we’re all at, but we all get along really well. You’ve always seen a kind of camaraderie between the contestants [in other seasons] before. I’ve had friends on every season, and I never used to understand why everyone on the show would get so upset when other contestants were kicked off. But we all flew to Chicago to do “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and we got to know each other there and then flew home together. And because we all sort of had similar fears and doubts [about doing the show], that’s sort of what bonds you on this.
Did your friends who had done the show previously give you any advice?
Just have fun. That’s all they kept saying [laughs].
Do you see the Judges at all other than the day of shooting?
No, we’re not allowed to see them or talk to them, or, really, they’re not allowed to see us. There was never even an official introduction to them. You’re just sort of out there the first time, and there they are [laughs].
Shannon and Derek awaiting the Judges' response.
We don’t know Shannon Elizabeth’s tell, but we think she’s likely holding some good cards this year.
Had you been asked to do “Dancing with the Stars” prior to this season?
Shannon Elizabeth: They’ve actually asked me to do it multiple seasons. I just haven’t been able to fit into my schedule before. I had always watched and liked the show, and I think everyone, myself included, always wonders what it would be like to get out there and try this type of thing. So, I had watched it, but I had never watched it for dance technicality. I had only watched it and said about a couple, “Oh, it looks like they did it well” and they’d get top scores, but I’d never understand exactly why [laughs].
You took some dance lessons as a kid. Have they helped at all?
When I was little, I did ballet, tap, and some jazz. But it’s completely different than all of this, and it hasn’t carried over at all. In fact, I think there are some things [about that training] that gave me some bad instinctual habits that I’m having to break for a lot of these dances.
What are some of those habits?
With jazz, a lot of things are big and mounded. So, with the cha-cha’s…when I point my toe and bring it from the front to the back, I kept wanting to do it with a big circular motion. And you have to do it in a straight line, right by the other foot. That was a really tough technique for me to grasp. So Derek was constantly correcting that, and fixing that. That’s just one of many things where I kept thinking it should be done another way.
Any hesitations as to doing the show?
Yeah, lots of hesitations [laughs]. I didn’t want to go out there and flop and bomb and just do horribly! It’s a lot to think about, and it’s a huge time commitment. And I’m such a lazy person in general [laughs]. We started training a month before the first show. They assign you a partner, and you don’t know who it’s going to be until they show up on the first day of training. We started training about 5 days a week, and around 4-5 hours a day.
How did that first day go with Derek?
It was really weird because he was teaching me technique kind of things for the cha-cha, and it wasn’t anything like I expected it to be. And I was walking in the heels for the first time. I think he lost some confidence in me on that first day, but a couple of days later he got it back [laughs]. Now we’re training every day we can, because now we only have 5 days [between shows] to prepare a routine.
Are there are any particular dance styles you’re looking forward to doing? Or not?
I’ve always thought I’d like to do the Paso Doble. I always thought that would be a fun dance for me. But I think you have to make it a little further along to get to that. So we’ll see. We just have time to train for the dance we’re going to do next.
How are all of the contestants getting along?
Everybody’s been pretty friendly. We only see each other on set, really, or events we’re all at, but we all get along really well. You’ve always seen a kind of camaraderie between the contestants [in other seasons] before. I’ve had friends on every season, and I never used to understand why everyone on the show would get so upset when other contestants were kicked off. But we all flew to Chicago to do “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and we got to know each other there and then flew home together. And because we all sort of had similar fears and doubts [about doing the show], that’s sort of what bonds you on this.
Did your friends who had done the show previously give you any advice?
Just have fun. That’s all they kept saying [laughs].
Do you see the Judges at all other than the day of shooting?
No, we’re not allowed to see them or talk to them, or, really, they’re not allowed to see us. There was never even an official introduction to them. You’re just sort of out there the first time, and there they are [laughs].
Shannon and Derek awaiting the Judges' response.
Physically, how is the training affecting you?
I got home from rehearsal yesterday and practically fell right asleep [laughs]. And I got up this morning and started walking and my feet hurt. The bottoms of my feet were so swollen. Killing me [laughs].
Do you Tivo the show and watch it through?
Yeah, I don’t watch it all, but I watch our performance, because I want to see what is coming across on TV. What the camera angles are. And I want to see how other people are seeing it. So I can change it and fix it. Play to camera. Or not play to camera. It’s kind of like watching playback and having another take. I can tweek things as we go.
Shannon in her upcoming film Deal.
Did your professional poker expertise have anything to do with you working on Deal?
Well, not necessarily, because I’m not in the actual poker scenes. Being able to work with someone like Burt Reynolds was much more of a factor for doing it. He’s kind of amazing. He just comes out with these amazing deliveries and performances. You just never know what he’s going to up with.
Meaning that he’ll try different takes in different ways?
Yeah, he does. It’s always great to work off of somebody like that, because then you can change up what you’re doing as well. [Director] Gil Cates Jr. was a lot of fun as well. He gave us the freedom that we needed here and there, to kind of improve and change things.
A lot of the plot points of Deal revolve around figuring out another player’s “tells,” as the key to beating them. How much of that is accurate in your experience?
You know, tells are only accurate, as in really accurate, on beginners. When you have a pro at the table, usually the tells are scripted on. If they think you’re a beginner and you’re trying to read them, they might try to give you an “opposite tell.” Or an opposite opposite tell, a double reverse tell. But a real tell…it has to be the immediate reaction of a person when this situation occurs. The card comes out and they look at their cards or whatever happens. It’s always that immediate reaction, and usually, the more of a beginner they are, the more accurate it is.
Is that something that you’ve worked to become skilled at picking up?
Absolutely, but the tells in the film, and the tells shown in most movies…they’re usually actions like, you know, scratching your nose. It’s not usually like that [laughs]. But then, when you see somebody bouncing their legs up and down under the table, that’s an excited movement. That usually means they have a big hand.
Your game has evolved quickly. You started playing for the first time when Bravo did their “Celebrity Poker Showdown.”
And I just did that to raise money for my charity. But I kept playing different events like that to raise money. Eventually, I just started to understand what the game was all about, and started really liking it.
Well, not necessarily, because I’m not in the actual poker scenes. Being able to work with someone like Burt Reynolds was much more of a factor for doing it. He’s kind of amazing. He just comes out with these amazing deliveries and performances. You just never know what he’s going to up with.
Meaning that he’ll try different takes in different ways?
Yeah, he does. It’s always great to work off of somebody like that, because then you can change up what you’re doing as well. [Director] Gil Cates Jr. was a lot of fun as well. He gave us the freedom that we needed here and there, to kind of improve and change things.
A lot of the plot points of Deal revolve around figuring out another player’s “tells,” as the key to beating them. How much of that is accurate in your experience?
You know, tells are only accurate, as in really accurate, on beginners. When you have a pro at the table, usually the tells are scripted on. If they think you’re a beginner and you’re trying to read them, they might try to give you an “opposite tell.” Or an opposite opposite tell, a double reverse tell. But a real tell…it has to be the immediate reaction of a person when this situation occurs. The card comes out and they look at their cards or whatever happens. It’s always that immediate reaction, and usually, the more of a beginner they are, the more accurate it is.
Is that something that you’ve worked to become skilled at picking up?
Absolutely, but the tells in the film, and the tells shown in most movies…they’re usually actions like, you know, scratching your nose. It’s not usually like that [laughs]. But then, when you see somebody bouncing their legs up and down under the table, that’s an excited movement. That usually means they have a big hand.
Your game has evolved quickly. You started playing for the first time when Bravo did their “Celebrity Poker Showdown.”
And I just did that to raise money for my charity. But I kept playing different events like that to raise money. Eventually, I just started to understand what the game was all about, and started really liking it.
Shannon plays a mean hand of poker.
Obviously, you had more of an affinity for it than your typical beginner. Did you quickly feel like you could be great at it when you started playing?
No, I was horrible in the beginning! [laughs]. The first time I played, that time on TV, I didn’t know what I was doing. It was once I started to understand the psychological aspects of it, that there was more to it than just the cards…that’s when I really began enjoying poker. When I first played, I never understand what was so much fun about a game where you just get two cards and you just play it out. How is that competitive? But there’s so much reading of what’s going on at the table…reading other people, through their actions, and their betting patterns. You’re always gathering information. That’s kind of what the game is all about.
Had you expected you could do as well as you did in the Heads-Up Tournament?
I went in there thinking I’d be out in the first round!
Did the other players take you seriously at the beginning at all?
Not until I made it past the third round. But maybe not until the end, I don’t know [laughs]. But when I beat a third round player, that meant something.
You surely faced typecasting after American Pie and reinventing a public image is hard. It seems like you’re finally doing that with the combination of “Dancing,” poker, and the new projects.
I’ve definitely always avoided taking on the same roles I had already done in American Pie, or anything else. Sometimes films get turned into something they weren’t meant to be in the beginning, and you can’t avoid it. But, for the most part, I’ve tried to pick different types of things. Although I don’t think I’ve ever really played myself, ever. So I sort of feel that nobody knows who I am, or what I’m like, because I’m always playing these made-up, glamorous characters, or the villain, or whatever it is. So, that’s the great thing about “Dancing” for me….you get to see a different part of me. You see that I’m a tomboy and I’m athletic…and that I’m willing to work really hard.
“Dancing with the Stars” airs Mondays at 8 on ABC, with the Results Show on at 9 on Tuesdays.
Deal will be released on April 25th via MGM.
Check out the trailer for Deal here:
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