Haylie Duff Hosts Reality Show, Takes a Stab at Horror Flick
By Rick Bentley, The Fresno Bee, Calif.
Jun. 2–Actors are always trying to find work that will stretch their acting skills. Haylie Duff is involved with two projects hitting the television screens over the next few days that do just that.
Her new reality series, "Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search For Elle Woods," premieres tonight on MTV. Duff hosts the competition series designed to find the actress to take over the lead from Tony Award-nominated Laura Bell Bundy in the Broadway show based on the movie "Legally Blonde."
Her other acting challenge is a horror film. Duff stars in the Spike TV original movie "Backwoods" that debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday. She and office colleagues head to a rural setting for a weekend of bonding and paintball. No one counted on a cult, most likely descendents of the "Deliverance" clan, providing a heavy dose of terror.
Women in most horror movies do little more than scream before being killed. Duff liked that her character wasn’t a victim.
"I like to find characters that push me and challenge me. This character was a real survivor. She is the kind of person who, when she is pushed, will fight back," Duff says in a recent interview before the launch of the reality series and her TV movie.
"Backwoods" gave Duff, 23, a chance to play a character who’s older than those she has performed in the past. She has played teens in most of her roles, including in "Joan of Arcadia" and "Seventh Heaven."
The outdoors part of the filming was no problem for the Texas native. She moved to Los Angeles with her family and started performing professionally in 1997, but she still considers herself to be a "ranch kid."
It also was less creepy because the backwood locations were shot around Los Angeles, places Duff already had visited.
No sooner had Duff finished work on "Backwoods," she started work on "The Search for Elle Woods." She’s not only the host for the program but also is an executive producer.
"I was approached to mentor the girls and serve as the host. When I found out what the show was about I realized it hit so close to home. I had done a Broadway show. That’s when I decided I wanted to be an executive producer," Duff says.
Duff felt an immediate connection to the 10 hopefuls. She was ready for the hosting duties. It was the executive producer tasks that created more work than she had experienced with any other job. She was one of the bosses.
"It was definitely a little scary," Duff says.
Duff says there was a joke on the set of "Elle Woods" that the show’s big twist was that at the end, all 10 hopefuls would be rejected and Duff would take the role. The actress/host never even considered such an idea.
She laughs and says, "Maybe I should have."
The reporter can be reached at rbentley@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6355.
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