Actress Amy Smart falls in love with Des Moines

If you’ve hopped around any of the East Village’s haunts or high-end hideaways recently, you may have star-spotted actress Amy Smart, best known for her work in “Just Friends,“ “The Butterfly Effect” and the “Crank” franchise. The blonde, California-bred beauty is in Des Moines filming a role in the indie flick “Dylan’s Wake” starring opposite Nick Stahl and Rose McGowan. Before Smart skips on back to her home in celeb-filled L.A., we caught up with the actress to talk about the new movie, her fave Des Moines hotspots, getting recognized in the checkout line at Hy-Vee and the possibility she may be back in Iowa this fall.

For 'Dylan's Wake,' we hear you replaced another actress who was pregnant. Tell us about how you came to work in Iowa?
I came in so last minute. I was a replacement, and I found out Thursday night I had the offer, and I had to fly out Friday night to be at work on Saturday. That was the fastest cast turnaround I’ve ever had in my life. I didn’t even read the script until Thursday night. And I thought I had a quick turnaround on the film I did right before this one called ‘Columbus Circle’ with Jason Lee, Selma Blair, Giovanni Ribisi, Beau Beau and Kevin Pollack. The producer was working on a movie that fell apart last minute and they had already built these two huge apartment sets at the studio on the Radford lot in Los Angeles. But instead of taking the loss and firing the crew and not having a movie, the producer went to a director he’d worked with to see if they could make another movie based on these two apartments. That came together in three weeks, and I got the offer and started working the next week. That was nothing compared to this.

What was your first thought when you heard you’d be coming to Des Moines, Ia.?
I thought, 'I think my friend lives there.’ I have a friend named Clint (Curtis) who lives here, but other than that, I didn’t know anything about Des Moines, Ia., at all! I had no idea!

Tell me about what brought you here, your character in ‘Dylan’s Wake’?
I play Natalie, and Nick Stahl plays Dylan. We are high school sweethearts, lovers, soul mates. One night instead of picking up his parents from the airport, we sneak away and go have a campfire by the lake and make love, and he decides to have his parents take a cab home. The cab gets in an accident and they both die. So at that point, he shuts himself off from the world and our relationship ends because he associates me with his parents' death. So the movie starts out 10 years later when he’s working at a funeral home and he hasn’t seen my character in all that time, and my character has moved on and gotten engaged to another guy, but all along she has never stopped thinking about Dylan. Then there is a funeral for one of their high school friends - the quarterback - so it's sort of like a reunion, and I see Dylan. So their love story is rekindled after the funeral and they find a way into each other's lives. It’s a really cool story. And the director, Omar Naim, directed ‘The Final Cut,’ and he is the perfect fit for this story, which has a supernatural element to it like his previous film. And the cool thing about this movie is there are some lovely local actors working on the film, including Kim Grimaldi, who plays one of the owners of the funeral home. I actually went to a play of hers called ’The Trip to Bountiful.’ She is incredible. I was so surprised how amazing the play was, I felt like I witnessed some incredible performances at the Westminster Church. She is so good, I am talking like Academy Award-winning material. She really has that caliber of talent.

So how has the shoot been going?
It’s been great. The people are genuinely so kind here. And it’s really convenient. Everything has been local, so I’m shooting like five minutes from where I’m staying in the East Village. The farthest I’ve had to go for a location was like a 15 minute drive, and on some locations, it’s like a 45-minute trek to get to set. I’ve been on so many other locations, but what I like about it here is that there is a small town feel, but it’s cosmopolitan enough. And you really can feel the progressiveness of the city and of the state. Wasn’t it one of the first states to pass gay marriage?

Yes, it was. And speaking of gay, I’ve heard you have been spotted at the gay bar in the East Village.
We went to the Blazing Saddle the other night which was really fun. They play great music, and we played pool, and it’s fun to look at all the pretty gay boys and drag queens.

What else have you been doing around town at night?
Well, we went the Britney Spears concert. That was so fun, we had great tickets and it was so fun to watch the dancers and all that. I also was so excited for Bruce Springsteen. It's been fun because being on location, for me, I do a lot more things than I would normally when I am at home. When you are on location, you spend more time with the cast and crew getting out doing fun things.

Speaking of fun things, what else do you love about Des Moines?
I love the Gateway Market. I love Gong Fu Tea, I’m a big tea drinker so I’ve been there a lot. I also think Lucca is a delicious restaurant. And Ban Thai has the best pad Thai I’ve ever had in my life. I love sitting outside at Centro. They have great panacotta and it’s a great atmosphere, you really want to stay and hang out and drink wine for hours. I also love the boutique Aimee. It’s a great store and I’m gonna buy a coat there. We also got to go to the Prairie Center. It was really beautiful and we saw a buffalo cross the road. They have a cool museum where you act like you are the size of a badger going underground. That was so fun. Rose (McGowan) went to the Living History Farms, and I want to go there. The only bad thing I have to say about this city is that there is a wretched smell that comes through every so often. It’s disgusting. Some of the crew is staying at the Holiday Inn, and the bartender there said it’s from the meatpacking plant. It makes you not want to eat meat when you smell that.

And the bad thing for you is that you may have to smell it for a while because I hear you may do another movie in Iowa called ‘Amnesia.’ Is that true?
I'm looking at this script right now, so, yes, there is a possibility I may be here longer, coming back in October - which would be great because I love it here, and I love the loft I’m staying in. It’s very modern and clean and I have some great neighbors. I’ve already made friends with them and their dog which makes me miss my three animals back in LA.Why don’t you bring them to Des Moines?
It would be fun to have them here, but my boyfriend is watching them back in L.A., and I don’t want to disrupt their routine. I had to fly back one weekend for my boyfriend's mom’s wedding so I got to see them, but I miss my furry little animals!

There is talk that filming here could halt completely due to the tax-credit scandal. What is your reaction to that?
I heard the same that everyone else is hearing, that one of the films took advantage and was buying Range Rovers or something. I don’t think filming will stop completely, but they need to put a stop to people taking advantage. The producers are supposed to do their next film here, but I hear they won’t be affected by it.

I’ve seen a few people approach you when you’re out and about. Have you been surprised by that?
I actually have been really lucky. People have been so nice. Many have been fans of ’Just Friends’ and ’Rat Race,’ but mostly ’Just Friends,’ which was a studio movie that really got out there. I have done indies that haven’t gotten out to a huge audience, and seeing the way people respond to ’Just Friends’ makes me want to do more romantic comedies. But it's weird, I am constantly having these experiences where people have seen my movies the night before or two days before. I was at Hy-Vee, and the checkout woman said she watched it last night. I seem to have this synchronicity with people where I see them right after they see one of my films.

How do you feel when people come up to you?
I don’t feel like I put out the energy of ‘look at me.’ I like to be subtle and understated. I don’t like to draw attention to myself when I don’t need to. For me, I love doing simple daily things like grocery shopping and doing errands. I don’t try to separate myself from the general public. Celebrities sometimes lose touch with reality, and it's almost as if they are living in an invisible bubble. To me that creates more of a problem, but I get it if you have paparazzi chasing you around constantly, which I do sometimes in L.A. The nicest thing is to be here and not feel like a camera is watching me constantly; it’s so relaxing. I live in the hills of Beverly Hills, and if I am running into Nate and Al’s to grab something, its like they know my car, and so I come out and they are like ‘Ha! We got you!’ So I feel like I need a new car. Many times if they are following me, I’ll just pull over and let them take a picture of me so they leave me alone. As soon as you play that cat and mouse game, you are screwed. You have to give them what they want and they will leave you alone.

Speaking of your regular life, you are known as quite the environmentalist. Is there anything off-camera you are working on right now for the environment?
Yes, we are working on launching a campaign because the Copenhagen event is coming up in December. It’s like the same thing as the Kyoto protocol, and we are working on launching a campaign to get (President) Obama to really go into this meeting and start to figure out how to deal with global warming on a global scale. I am helping out with that and other actors. It‘s the beginning of it right now but it's in December so we are moving really fast.

In what ways are you environmentally friendly in your day-to-day life?
In tons of ways. At all times I carry reusable bags with me that I can use instead of shopping bags. I use eco-friendly cleaning products and I buy recycled paper products like toilet paper. I also buy organic food because you know that it hasn’t been sprayed. I recently started composting. And I have a water filter so use only reusable bottles in my home. To me it’s about baby steps: You do one thing and then you are like, 'Oh I can do this and I can do this.' I’m figuring out new ways all the time because in the end it’s about the lifestyle, having a greener lifestyle.

Another personal question: You have been dating the same guy for more than a decade now (actor Branden Williams). Any plans for marriage?
We just take it day to day. We have been together for a long time and have deep love for each other, and we really enjoy each other. I’d like to have kids at some point, but I’m just trying to figure out when that point will be.”