You could never tell from “Saving Silverman” that Amanda Detmer, a petite California blonde who’s previously been seen in “Final Destination,” “Boys and Girls” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” is afraid of heights. Playing Jason Biggs’ high school dreamgirl, whom crazy buddies Jack Black and Steve Zahn use to break up their friend’s engagement to a hard-bitten woman they both detest, in one scene Detmer dangles on a trapeze and in another dives from a dizzying height off a pier into the ocean. But despite her phobia, that’s actually her in both shots. Recalling her stint on the trapeze during an interview in Dallas, she explained, “Had I known better, I probably would have said, ‘Why do I have to do this?’ But it never occurred to me to question it. I figured that they [director Dennis Dugan and his crew] knew what they were doing. It made for a long day, but I was really proud of myself when it was over.” Her dive into the sea, on the other hand, was her own idea. “I didn’t have to [do it],” she explained. “But I was bragging all day long that I should be the one to do it. Finally Dennis said, ‘Fine.’ I didn’t think he’d ever let me. At that point it was too late–once I had put myself in that position, there was no going back. I wanted to, but I’m glad I did it.”
Detmer’s feistiness during the “Silverman” shoot parallels her personal drive to act. A native of Chico, she confesses that she was an indifferent undergraduate at Chico State, disliking any courses not having to do with acting and just getting by in them. But she went on to the next educational level. “I decided the only thing I could do to redeem my decision to become an actor was to get my master’s degree,” she laughed. So she won a place at the Tisch School of NYU. “That was the best decision I ever made for myself,” she remembered as she looked back on her years of work there. “It was totally hard, but it did all the things I needed it to do. It made me feel more confident that I was going to pursue acting as a career. And it changed my life.” Her New York experience also taught her how to do comedy. “I had no clue how to be funny at all,” she said. “So for three years that’s all they made me do.”
The happy result is that she felt reasonably comfortable working on screen with the likes of Biggs, Black and Zahn, all known for their comic skill, even if she was a bit awed by singer Neil Diamond, who has a small but pivotal role as himself in the picture. “I think we were all really a little star-struck when it came down to it,” she admitted. “Neil handled it by giving us a big group hug when he arrived.” Asked whether she was pleased with her own performance, however, Detmer couldn’t say, because she’d only viewed the completed “Silverman” once. “It was the first time I’d seen it, and I was sort of like a bundle of tension. The whole time I don’t think I even breathed,” she said. “It’s weird for me to watch myself. I’ll have more objectivity when I see it a second time”–a prospect that was making her look forward to the gala L.A. premiere scheduled for the following night.
Detmar’s recently-acquired comedic talents will be put to a further test in her next movie, in which she’ll play opposite Jim Carrey under the direction of Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile”). “I’m a little nervous about that–but excited,” she said of the prospect of co-starring with the wildly funny Grinch. “I don’t know if anything can really prepare me [for that],” she added laughing. “He could be very normal, for all I know! I’m just grateful that I know Frank now; if I really need to run and hide, it will be behind him.”