| By Fred Topel
In Theaters March 18
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Whenever an actor does a sports movie, you always hear about all their physical training. Disney’s Ice Princess is no exception, as Michelle Trachtenberg had to learn double axles and spirals and outside edge spreadeagles. But that was easy compared to dealing with the figure skating costumes.
“It’s cold and the skirts are short,” she said. “I thought, ‘Okay, I do a bikini scene [in Eurotrip, I’m done, that’s it, that’s my sex scene,’ you know. But you have the little skirts and everything. It’s an adjustment, but the tights are really thick. So you have the good skating tights on, which is great.”
Once she got used to the garb, Trachtenberg brought her own ideas to the film’s final costume, a revealing blue skirt covered in sparkles. “It was all hand done to me and each rhinestone was particularly placed, but I specifically was there because I wanted that moment to just be her crowning glory. It sort of feels like water because I think you’re reborn through water, I guess back in the day, so it just flows. And it felt so pretty.”
Training in ice skating and performing in the film for several months had a positive effect on Trachtenberg’s lower body. “I had killer thighs, just like rock hard. I don’t exercise at all, and I know that sounds really evil, but I just don’t like physical activity. So training for this movie was just quite an experience. This is the best shape I’ll ever be in for my entire life, because after today I’m going back to Nutella and crackers and cheese.”
The gain did not come without pain though, as Trachtenberg took some lumps performing many of her own stunts. “That’s probably why my knee cap’s off kilter because when you’re doing a spiral, you put all your weight on the knees. But basically, unless you’re doing crazy jumps, you can sort of prevent yourself from falling. You can see the distance and feel yourself on the ice, but I fell on my butt a couple of times in front of a couple of thousand extras. That was awesome. They’re like, ‘Yeah, Dawn fell on her ass!’ But for the most part, they were all very nice, so I laughed. When you laugh, it all goes away.”
Trachtenberg plays Casey Carlyle, a physics prodigy who studies ice skating as a college application project. Only in testing her theories in practice does she discover a true affinity for the sport. Ironically, it was easier for the actress to relate to the skating than the physics.
“It’s funny, I hate Math. I’m just going to get it out there. When I was in school I always thought Math was stupid and pointless until one day my teacher came up to me and he was like, ‘Yeah. It’s pointless. You won’t ever use Pythagorean theorems, you won’t ever apply any of these formulas, but you can solve problems.’ Yeah, yeah, everyone can solve problems. ‘No, math teaches you logic,’ so that was one way I was able to accept Math for getting to a, b, c. That’s what Math gives you. So that’s how I connected.”
Still, when it came to spouting technical jargon in the film, Trachtenberg knew her stuff. “I actually understood the physics. I was really proud of myself. I was like writing things out. I’m on my second or third year deferring from USC, so as I’m writing out all these physics, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m so smart, I remember these things!’ And I was able to write it out and then it was checked by a physics person, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s great, she’s good.’”
Ice Princess presents two different types of mothers. The “stage mom” type is played by Kim Cattrall, pushing her daughter in the skating world. The academic mom is played by Joan Cusack, who wants her daughter to focus on school. Fortunately for Trachtenberg, her real mom is somewhere in between.
“She is really proud of me, and is really happy that I’m doing something that I love and am most passionate about, but when I started acting, the first thing she said was, ‘Great. If you want to be an actress, that’s awesome. You have to go to school. You have to have your education, that’s first and foremost, and everything else comes separate.’ She’s never a stage mom so she never pushed any of her particular ideals or opinions on me. She always just did what was best and she’s been my inspiring force. She’s just always been there for me, and that’s really important. Very supportive and of course now she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m happy that you stuck with the acting thing. You’re so pretty out there honey.’ She gets so excited. Like we just got Tivo and she put my name in and now she watches every single thing. I’m like, ‘Mom, no, just don’t.’ She’s like, ‘But look, that episode from when you were five is on.’ Like, ‘Yeah, I can’t watch it.’ She gets really excited.”
The lesson Cattrall’s character teaches both her daughter and Casey is that you cannot succeed in skating unless you are prepared to go full force and devote your life to it. Trachtenberg related to that message with her own acting career.
“I know I’m incredibly lucky to have found my passion early in life, and the second that I say this sucks or it’s too hard, then I’m done because my heart and soul are not going into my projects any more. But I think that in order to really give respect to your audience, you have to be there full force. And there are so many girls out there that are actors that are sort of about the hype and about the this, and that’s fine, you’ll have your time, that’s cool, I respect you for your work. But what I want more than anything is longevity, so passion leads to longevity.”
Moving forward with that career may not leave much time to continue skating, now that Ice Princess has wrapped. “I’m honestly very busy right now with acting stuff because that is my first and foremost. To be an athlete takes a grueling amount of discipline and just everything. I don’t know that I have that focus right now because it’s all about acting. I think in a couple of years my friend’s going to have an ice skating party, and I’m going to be like, ‘Watch what I can do. Who thinks you’re cool now?’”
Ice Princess opens Friday, March 18. |
