VOA常速英语2008年-Eva Longoria Makes Shift from TV to Silver Scre

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
04 February 2008

Desperate Housewives co-star Eva Longoria goes from TV to the big screen to play a jealous ghost in a light romantic comedy co-starring Paul Rudd, Lake Bell and Jason Biggs. Alan Silverman has a look at Over Her Dead Body.

It's that odd comedy that starts out with a main character's death. Eva Longoria plays Kate, who is so obsessed¹ with every detail of her wedding day that she doesn't see the toppling ice sculpture (of an angel) ...until it's too late.

With just hours to go before her nuptials², Kate is crushed and her husband-to-be - Henry, played by Paul Rudd - is left with a broken heart. Flash forward to a year later and Henry's meddling³ sister takes him to a medium - an attractive, young medium, by the way - in an effort to help him deal with the tragedy:

Skeptical⁴ Henry doesn't believe any communication is possible; so his sister slips some secrets to the medium, Ashley.

Ethical⁵ dilemma⁶ aside, she finds Henry attractive and he seems drawn⁷ to her, too. The trouble is Kate ...or Kate's spirit ...is watching and determined⁸ to nip the romance in the bud. Kate reveals herself to Ashley (apparently she really does have a gift); but only the medium can see or hear the ghost.

As the jealous spirit, Longoria gets to slip in and out of scenes and make everyone's life a comic nightmare.

"When I read the script I thought 'how fun to play a ghost' because anything is possible," Longoria says. " I get to float and levitate⁹ and make noises. In movies I feel like you have to have that extreme circumstance, especially in a comedy. If you're going to go for it, go for it. I thought it was necessary to go there and make it real for me. It's possible. Walking through doors and people. I find that it's pretty believable (laughs)."

Lake Bell, known for her recurring¹⁰ character on the TV series Boston Legal,  is medium Ashley whose little white lies in the name of love have unexpected complications. Bell says she has no problem surrendering to the romantic comedy genre¹¹.

"In terms of love and life I think you always end up doing strange things anyway ...even in real life: the kind of things where you look back in 10 years and say 'I can't believe I did that," Bell says. "Why did I say that? I can't believe I sent that e-mail!' All those things are sort of realistic because love can be absurdist, sometimes."

Jason Biggs who, in the American Pie movies proved how far he is willing to go for the sake of comedy, plays Ashley's close friend and confidante.

" The hope is that the characters are as based in reality as possible; and even if they're not because, let's be honest, my character in Over Her Dead Body is keeping up this ruse¹² for five years," Biggs says. "You either have to be so romantic or so psycho to do that ...or a little bit of both. It's serious suspension of disbelief. Part of that is you kind of give in to the genre and cinematic credibility; you just kind of go along with it, but my hope was that I played the character as real as possible even though the character himself was doing sort of unrealistic things or, at least, things that not many people can relate to."

Television veteran Jeff Lowell makes his feature film directing debut¹³ with Over Her Dead Body for which he also wrote the screenplay.

"I am obviously a fan of the genre or I wouldn't write in it; and I'm a student of the genre," Lowell says. "To me the toughest thing about romantic comedy is that you know the ending: the two people on the poster kissing will end up together and you know it going in. You know that Lake is going to end up with Paul because they are the only two people in the romantic triangle who are alive. It is not a matter of 'will Eva get the man?' You know that she won't. So hopefully the comedy comes from the complications of getting the two together."

Over Her Dead Body also features comedy veterans Lindsay Sloane as the meddling sister and Stephen Root plays the sculptor¹⁴ whose toppling ice angel ends a life and begins a romance. Also of note in the cast list: with this film the newly-wed star introduces her married name in the credits: Eva Longoria Parker.

1 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

2 nuptials   

n.婚礼；婚礼( nuptial的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their nuptials were performed by the local priest. 他们的婚礼由当地牧师主持。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• If he married, when the nuptials would take place, and under what circumstances? 如果他结婚，那么什么时候举行婚礼？在什么情况下举行婚礼？ 来自辞典例句

3 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

4 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

5 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

6 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 levitate   

v.升在空中

参考例句：

• I often dream that I can levitate.我经常梦想我能够飞起来在空中飘浮。
• The guru claimed that he could levitate.这位宗教领袖声称他能够浮在空中。

10 recurring   

adj.往复的，再次发生的

参考例句：

• This kind of problem is recurring often. 这类问题经常发生。
• For our own country, it has been a time for recurring trial. 就我们国家而言，它经过了一个反复考验的时期。

11 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

12 ruse   

n.诡计，计策；诡计

参考例句：

• The children thought of a clever ruse to get their mother to leave the house so they could get ready for her surprise.孩子们想出一个聪明的办法使妈妈离家，以便他们能准备给她一个惊喜。It is now clear that this was a ruse to divide them.现在已清楚这是一个离间他们的诡计。

13 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

14 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。