Dollhouse

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - ``Hi,’’ Eliza Dushku says slyly. ``Welcome to our dollhouse.’’

Dushku appears relaxed in the cool, amber light of the vast interior laboratory set where Dollhouse is made, but she’s actually a study in coiled energy. She has just changed into her street clothes, and she’s unwinding after a day of playing Echo, the character she plays in Joss Whedon’s high-tech conspiracy thriller Dollhouse.

Dollhouse is Dushku’s first leading TV role since Tru Calling, the 2003-2005 series in which she played a morgue attendant who sees dead people, literally and figuratively. Tru Calling was based in Vancouver - a city she enjoyed for its ``cool vibe,’’ and which reminded her, she says, of her hometown of Boston.

Dollhouse is different, though, and not just because it’s based in Los Angeles. It’s Dushku’s first chance to work again with Whedon since the Emmy nominated cult series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whedon designed Dollhouse with Dushku in mind - Dushku, 28, is also a producer on the series - and she’s been thrust back into the pop-cultural spotlight. Filming Tru Calling in Vancouver was a fun experience, but the stakes are higher with Dollhouse. Among fanboys - and fangirls - on the Internet, it is the most eagerly anticipated series debut since JJ Abrams’ Fringe.

``People always ask me if I feel pressure,’’ Dushku says quietly. ``There are different kinds of pressure. To me, this is all about the excitement, the constant questions, constant attention. It’s a good pressure. People are excited, so it’s hard for me not to be excited, too.’’

If Dushku is Whedon’s muse on Dollhouse, Whedon is her sage.

``It’s like a dream to be working with someone who has such a serious soul and such a serious voice,’’ Dushku said. ``He knows what he has created and what he is saying, and how important and relevant it is. And he is liberated, man. He’s a liberated, clever guy. He wants people to think he’s super-cynical, but he’s not at all. He has this view of the world where nothing is black or white. He likes to play in the grey area. He plays with good vs. evil in ways that always take me by surprise. It’s just so exciting for me to play with him in this world. In all the years I’ve been working in the entertainment business, he’s the only one I’ve met who gave me that.’’

Dushku grew up in Boston as the daughter of a professor mother of Danish- American heritage and an Albanian-American administrator father.

``I tripped and fell at my brother’s audition when I was nine years old, and got my first part. My mom was a college professor, and her attitude was, `Well, it’ll be a good experience, and she’ll meet a lot of people and travel a lot, and who knows? Then, when it fizzles out, she’ll do what she wants to do and go back to school and be whoever she wants to be.’’’

It never really fizzled out, though.

As a teenager, Dushku appeared in This Boy’s Life, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, followed by an appearance in James Cameron’s True Lies with Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Most recently, she appeared in Bottle Shock, featuring Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman.

In between, Dushku appeared in a number of movies she’d just as soon forget.

``You can’t win them all,’’ Dushku said. ``But everyone has those movies where you want to buy every copy and put in the closet and burn. I have more than a few, maybe. But I always try. Things can seem like a good idea at the time, and I’m really proud of some of the work that I’ve done. But when it comes down to it, if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.’’

Whedon, who gave Dushku her first big opportunity on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has always been positive and supportive of her abilities - even during the tough times.

``I’ve had some awesome luck, but the real luck was when I met Joss when I was 17, and I came out to L.A. to do Buffy,’’ Dushku explained. ``He was one of the first people who made it ultra-exciting for me.’’

After one too many bum movie roles, Dushku called Whedon in a crisis of confidence and asked to meet over pizza - ``hot steamy Gouda’’ - at the Ivy, a hip Hollywood eatery. Four hours later, the idea for Dollhouse was born.

``I’m just Eliza,’’ Dushku said quietly. ``I never took acting classes, and I never put myself in an environment where I was trying to pick a period piece, followed by this really heavy dramatic role, followed by a light comedy. I got typecast as this bad girl, and I played myself a lot. I picked a lot of roles that did exactly that, but then I hit this point of, OK, what now?’’

Dollhouse mirrors her own life in many respects.

``I was having this identity crisis every day where it was like, `Who do people want me to be?’ I’m never ashamed or threatened or made to feel uncomfortable when I’m typecast as this strong, smart young woman. I can think of worse things to be typecast as. Joss just takes it to a whole other level, though. When I’m with him, I feel it’s an opportunity to grow and show more of my colours.’’