Dollhouse

Eliza Dushku is hiding something ... her several tattoos.

“They’re all actually in places that can be covered with just a swimsuit [so] sometimes we cover them up.” In fact, in the March issue of Maxim, which features Dushku on the cover, the actress shared, “I love catching a glimpse of my tattoos when I strip down and take a shower. Kat Von D did a beautiful symbolic feather on my ribs."

Is it any wonder that Dushku has made AfterEllen’s Hot 100 list the last two years?

Speaking to AfterEllen.com from New York City while promoting her new Fox series Dollhouse, Dushku admitted that she is not clueless about her strong female following. “I have been made aware of that over the years," she said, "particularly around my Buffy years.”

With the intense girl-on-girl fight scenes with Sarah Michelle Gellar on the cult WB series, Dushku said it wasn’t difficult to read between the lines with her role of Faith.

“I know during Buffy there were a lot of people who really dissected that show," she said. "I remember a lot of people leaning to Faith and Buffy having this deep down love for one another.”

The Massachusetts native says that she understands why she might get attention from both sexes.

“I’m obviously very girly,” she said, “but I grew up with a lot of boys and so there’s definitely a tomboy in me and I’ve found just that I have fans equally in males and females."

Her cheerleader-with-an-attitude role in Bring it On was a big hit with queer men and women.

"I have a lot of lesbian-love fans out there," she said, "and a lot of gay men who still do cheers in supermarkets from Bring It On.”

Dushku is clearly grateful that she has such an eclectic fan base.

“I think it’s awesome," she said. "I love hearing from all sides in my fan world, so I appreciate every individual that appreciates watching me at work.”

In Dollhouse, Dushku plays Echo, an “active” whose personality and memories have been wiped clean and is reprogrammed with a new personality fitting the desires of the mysterious organization’s wealthy clients.

While the focus of the show will be more about intrigue and action, the 28-year old actress said that Dollhouse plans to focus on a variety of issues, including homosexuality.

“To be honest, there was a gay story that was pitched and somehow it didn’t make it into the first 13 episodes,” she said.

But assuming the series is a hit and lives to see a second season, Dushku and the show’s writers already have plans for future provocative stories. “We’re exploring every element of human desire and I think — I know that given the opportunity we’ll explore every form of sexuality.”

The lunch where Dushku and Whedon hammered out thoughts on what Dollhouse would become is now infamous since fans of both have been rabid for any details about the new series. In fact, the power of the Internet played into the planning of the series and how Dushku’s character would fit into the fictional world.

We were talking about the Internet and how people can get so much and with just the click of a button find anything that they want or need or desire or think that they want or need or desire, and then what actually happens when they get that. We were absolutely talking about sexuality, and what’s taboo and objectification, and just things that are relevant to us. Four hours later Joss absolutely sort of sprang forward with the idea, with the basis for the show and said, ’It will be called Dollhouse and it will be basically exactly this. It will be you with the ability to be imprinted to be someone sexy or to be anything or to be objectified every week or multiple times a week and how that affects people. We’re going to stir people up and we’re going to make people uncomfortable, because that’s sort of interesting to us.’

Having recently completed filming the first season’s thirteen episodes, one would think that Dushku, who also serves an Executive Producer on the project and very involved with the writers in the direction of the series, would be ready for a break. Not so.

“Joss and I today were going, ’we’re finally here!’ And yet Joss said it’s crazy because we just finished these 13 episodes, and it’s been such a hustle and it’s been so crazy, and yet now that I haven’t been in the writers’ room in a week, I’m already thinking up ideas for the next 13 episodes,” Dushku said. “I’m already dying to get back in the writers room and tell more stories.”

With Dollhouse getting a huge publicity push, Dushku isn’t going away anytime soon — though we wouldn’t mind if she forgot to cover up those tattoos.