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Victoria Pratt: UGO

Victoria Pratt of House of the Dead 2
Interview by Troy Rogers, contributing editor

The hot chicks of horror and sci-fi don't get any hotter than the butt-kicking beauty Victoria Pratt. Coming from the world of sci-fi/fantasy television on such shows as Mutant X, Cleopatra 2525 and Xena, Victoria recently made the transition to film (of the TV variety) with House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim, debuting February 11th on SCI FI Channel. With so much sci-fi and fantasy on her horizon, we got a chance to sit down and talk to the ex-mutant about her zombie-killing skills, what she does to keep that rock-hard body in shape and the allure of oysters.

UGO: With your first feature Legacy, what was it like working with David Hasselhoff?

VICTORIA PRATT: You know what, he's really cool. You didn't know what to expect because he's such a TV icon, everybody in the world knows him. Everybody in the Philippines went crazy over him, he was like a million feet taller than anyone in that country and they all looked up at him going, "Knight Rider, Knight Rider," and since I was blonde, everyone ran after me going, "Baywatch, Baywatch" and I wasn't even on the show.

UGO: Early in your career you did a number of TV shows, like Mutant X, Cleopatra 2525 and Xena. What do you miss most about working on a regular series?

VICTORIA: I love working on a series and I perfer that to movies, hands down. Mutant X was probably my favorite because it was a character that was kind of crafted for me and I got to be in Toronto, which is where my family is from. The cast and crew were amazing. The thing about working on a series is that as long as you get along with your cast and crew, it's the best feeling, the best environment, and it's like a big family. I still keep in close contact with a lot of people from Mutant X, I loved that show.

UGO: How do you feel about being known as a sci-fi/horror chick? Are there any fears of being typecast?

VICTORIA: I don't think so. Fantasy television had a real run, it was a big thing for a while and the way that I look at it is that it's something you can only do when you're young and there's going to come a point when they're not going to want to see me swinging around in next to nothing. I had a blast doing it and I've been able to do cool stuff afterwards, so I don't worry about getting typecast at all. That just means you've been working.

UGO: Lately your career has ramped up with a lot of projects. How often do you get to train these days?

VICTORIA: Fitness has always been a part of my life since I was a little kid. There's never been a time in my life where it hasn't been a big deal. I ran track for 15 years, I did kickboxing and I did the whole fitness thing. I work out in some form or another almost every day. I've really gotten into volleyball. It's actually called "wallyball," and we play on a raquetball court. It's crazy exercise and we play almost every day for two hours. I do lots of hiking and I just got back into my kickboxing again, which is great. I'm always active, it's the one thing that I can count on. When I was in New Zealand, I did some Thai kickboxing and it's ridiculous, unless you want to kill someone or be killed, it's so violent. It was all about grabbing someone's head and ramming it into your knee.

UGO: Do you still practice Shotokan Karate?

VICTORIA: I just do the North American kickboxing right now. It was really frustrating for me, you'd get a series and then move to another country or city and whatever program you were in, you'd have to stop and then start the whole belt process over again. I hated the stopping and starting. Now I've found something that I can just come back to all of the time and not have to worry about the belts, because I was obsessed with it. I just love it, but I can't devote that much of my time to it.

UGO: How did you prepare for your role of Henson in House of the Dead 2?

VICTORIA: I didn't have a lot of time to do any preparation for Henson. Charlie [Parrish] our gun guy was a real stickler for holding it right and knowing how to use the guns and stuff, and I love guns, so I was a very happy student. It was all about learning how to hold the gun, how to stand and run with it and stuff like that. As far as everything else, it wasn't a character that was so different from roles that I've already played. She was a tough, kick-ass woman and I didn't have to reach too far into my pocket to find that character.

UGO: Mark Altman also wrote the first film. Does he have a specific approach to zombies?

VICTORIA I don't know, I think he probably has it in his head what these zombies are all about. I don't think that he's only about zombies. He is kind of becoming the horror guy, which is funny because when you meet him, he's just so adorable that you can't imagine these psychotic things would ever come out of him. It's always the quiet ones.

UGO: House of the Dead is a huge video game property. How much of a gamer are you?

VICTORIA: You know what, I'm not allowed to play video games. When I did Cleopatra 2525, we shot that over in New Zealand and my friends gave me a Gameboy to take over on the plane and I got addicted to it. Tetris, that's all it was. It was just that one game and I got so completely pie-eyed obsessed with this game that I actually gave myself migranes and it was changing my vision. We didn't sleep over there because we were just working all the time and we had to be in the make-up chair by 5AM, so that meant getting up at 3:15AM to workout and a 45-minute drive to the set, it was ridiculous. At midnight I'd be sleeping and you know when you wake up to roll over, well, I would say, "Oh, I can't sleep, I better go play my game." There was a point on the show where I was looking at myself and I had these bags under my eyes and I was just exhausted, and it's because of that damned game. I can't do the games, man, because they'll take over. They just get me, I'm weak. I love them but I've got to control myself.

UGO: Your scenes with James Parks in House of the Dead 2 were pretty funny.

VICTORIA: He's the bad guy, of course. If you met James [Parks], you'd be like, "How can you be so psychotic?" He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet. We had this great relationship when the cameras weren't rolling, chatting and laughing, and as soon as the cameras started rolling we had to hate each other, it was so bizarre.

UGO: You have at least four projects in the works this year, Toxic and a few others. What can you tell us about them?

VICTORIA: Toxic is actually a role that I was attached to and then I decided not to do. What Love Is was this great movie, great script... I can't wait to see it. Mars Callahan is directing it and we actually just wrapped a couple of weeks ago. I play Cuba Gooding Jr.'s girlfriend, Anne Heche is in it and she's so funny, Gina Gershon, and Matthew Lillard, who's hysterical, has got a wingspan that is probably about 12 feet long. I've never seen a man with arms that long in my life. Also Sean Astin, who was really super sweet, it was a great cast and a great script. Mars wrote it, it's just amazing.

UGO: So what's the deal with you and oyster bars? I heard to want to open one.

VICTORIA: Yes, I definately want to do an oyster bar. It's because I worked in a fantastic oyster bar when I was in university and I moved out to LA and there just isn't one here, not with the same kind of vibe. I just think oysters are so interesting. I love it, and I definitely want to do it. I think LA needs one, I need one here.

© UGO

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