For someone who's still on the cusp of stardom, actress Michelle Rodriguez doesn't pull her punches.
Ask the 22-year-old newcomer how `Girlfight` has changed her life and she frowns. `It's opened a lot of doors for me, but it's been weird, too,` the outspoken Rodriguez says about reaction to her film debut. `I see people constantly smiling at me, telling me exactly what I want to hear. It's just a drag to see all these (industry types ) acting on their free time.`
Rodriguez is just as candid about her experiences at January's Sundance Film Festival, where `Girlfight,` powered by her knockout performance, landed the Grand Jury Prize.
`Everyone was talking about how Sundance was the place to see nuanced performances, but all I saw were stars and all I heard were cell phones going off in the middle of screenings.`
Eight months later, Rodriguez is going the festival route again, helping director Karyn Kusama introduce `Girlfight` to sold-out crowds at the Toronto International Film Festival.
If she feels tired of all the hullabaloo this time around, she's not letting on. Relaxing in her Toronto hotel suite, the actress looks softer and less imposing than she does onscreen. Maybe that's because she's dropped the 10 pounds of muscle she gained while training for the film.
In the movie, which opened Friday in Philadelphia and will open Oct. 13 in the Lehigh Valley, Rodriguez plays a disillusioned Brooklyn teenager who discovers salvation in the boxing ring. Before the final bell, she finds the strength to defeat male opponents and to stand up to her abusive father.
`Girlfight` clobbers the Hollywood stereotype of the Latina as malleable girlfriend or stand-by-your-man mother. Rodriguez' character refuses to go on the ropes for anyone, including her brother or her boxer-boyfriend (Santiago Douglas).
`All my life, I was told to suppress my aggression,` says Rodriguez. `In our culture, we're trained to look good, to fold our legs like a lady.
`That was never me. I was always the girl in Jersey City who was considered the tomboy, or the butch. I was always considered masculine because I wore a tank top and baggy pants with my boxers coming out. It was my defense because I didn't want to be this sexy girl that guys were always trying to hit on.
`It worked, too. Everyone considered me one of the guys, at least until I started growing breasts. Even then, I refused to be shy about my body.`
Born in Texas to a military officer father and housewife mom, Rodriguez spent her childhood years shuffling among San Antonio, the Dominican Republic and Jersey City, N.J.
`I had a very diverse upbringing, from being well-off to just having the basics,` she says. `I'm very grateful for that. It makes me open-minded.`
After graduating from high school, Rodriguez wanted to pursue acting but she couldn't work up the courage to go on auditions. So, she decided to become an extra instead.
She appeared in such New York-shot features as `For the Love of the Game` and `Summer of Sam.` But being a face in the crowd left Rodriguez feeling unfulfilled. She was ready to quit show business when she opened Backstage magazine and saw an open casting call for `Girlfight.`
Even though she'd never stepped inside a boxing ring before, Rodriguez decided, on a whim, to check it out.
`The only reason I went to the audition was because I was going to quit anyway,` recalls Rodriguez. `I was Rollerblading in New York and I got to the audition about an hour-and-a-half late. There were like 350 girls there. I walked in with a pessimistic attitude, on PMS, and I guess I made an impression.`
Director Kusama, 32, sat through hundreds of auditions and watched dozens of tapes before deciding to cast Rodriguez in the starring role.
`I needed Brando as a teenage girl, and I found her,` says the filmmaker, who once worked as an assistant to `Girlfight` executive producer John Sayles. `I really lucked out. Michelle just burns up the screen. She holds the screen by sheer presence.`
After snagging the part, Rodriguez trained for 4 months at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn. `I was already toned but I started doing intense calisthenics and weightlifting and protein-taking. I worked out two hours a week, five days a week. By the end of shooting, I was doing six hours a day, six days a week.`
And, yes, that's really Rodriguez getting smacked in the face by male opponents. `The professional boxers tried to go easy on me but when they get in the moment, they're unpredictable,` says the actress. `It felt like sneezing with your eyes closed. Imagine that flashing light and that lack of oxygen for a moment and you have an idea of the impact.`
The novice even sailed through a semi-nude bedroom scene. `It was only hard to do because I've never been in love,` offers Rodriguez. `I'm lucky if I last more than two months with a person. But it was beautiful to try and capture that emotion. I guess I used my memories of friendships for that scene.`
Rodriguez is being choosy about her next movie. She'd love to strike a blow for feminism and land the role of a distaff James Bond. `I think it's time for a female action hero,` she says.
Until then, Rodriguez is playing a psychotic cab driver opposite Pam Grier and Danny Glover in the Spike-Lee-produced `3 A.M.` And, she's portraying Vin Diesel's girlfriend in `Redline,` a drama about illegal drag-car racing currently shooting in Los Angeles.
`It's weird because I'm just hanging with the guys on the set,` admits Rodriguez. `I ignore the girls in their hoochie-mama get-ups. I guess I enjoy the feminizing of myself, if that's what you call wearing a tight leather miniskirt. But I had to add my own intricate touch. I'm wearing my own pocket knife on the side.`
