Maya Larkin.............................. WINONA RYDER
Peter Kelson............................. BEN CHAPLIN
Father Lareaux........................... JOHN HURT
Father James............................. PHILIP BAKER HALL
Claire................................... SARAH WYNTER
John Townsend............................ ELIAS KOTEAS
Henry Birdson............................ JOHN DIEHL
Father Jeremy............................ JAMES LANCASTER
Father THomas............................ VICTOR SLEZAK
Mike Smythe.............................. JOHN BEASLEY
Father Frank............................. BRIAN REDDY

Directed by.............................. JANUSZ KAMINSKI






The 29-year-old actress talks to JORDAN RIEFE about the film, her lack of sympathy for the Devil and how she's managed to survive in Hollywood...

What attracted you to 'Lost Souls'?

It's a genre film and I'd never done this type of genre film but always wanted to, secretly. When you're young and in the business growing up, you want to come across as serious and you only do dramatic stuff, but secretly we're all wishing we were in 'Alien'. So I got to fulfil the science fiction genre with 'Alien: Resurrection', but I've always wanted to look back and say that I did a supernatural movie. It's something I've always been fascinated with as an audience member. Also, I leapt at the opportunity to work with Ben [Chaplin] and Janusz [Kaminski, the film's director]. Janusz I had known and worked with, he's wonderful.

It's a really heavy film - did that mood carry over on the set?

I had a blast making this movie. We had so much fun, there was so much laughter. It's ironic that we were making this moody film because we were having such a good time. The tone was set by Janusz, he was so much fun. He had worked with all the crew before, so it was like hanging out with old friends for me.

Do you believe in the supernatural?

I don't believe in the Devil. I watched many tapes of exorcisms - I'm sure they'll have a new show on Fox, 'Real Life Exorcisms'. We talked to a prominent priest, Father LeBarre, which was great. He's performed many exorcisms and even he thinks it's bogus. So it was kind of cool that he was a skeptic too. When I watch these videotapes - they're all young girls, adolescents - I honestly believe I'm watching girls with severe mental problems, maybe hardcore schizophrenia. I lost a friend to schizophrenia a couple of years ago, so I've been around it. What you're capable of doing to your body when you're that far gone is unbelievable. You can contort yourself into unbelievable positions, you can break your own bones. My friend, who died from it, was hearing things.

Why don't you believe in the Devil?

My father's an atheist and my mother's a Buddhist, I never believed in the Devil, it's a myth. But it's fascinating to me the way we use religion and the Devil as an excuse for the things that we do. To instill the fear of the Devil in children is one of the most abusive things I can think of. To instill a fear that if you do something wrong you're going to burn in Hell is an abusive way to raise your child.

How did you research your role?

For research, I read the bible. I was impressed at how beautiful it is. My parents didn't bad mouth any religion. My father called it the opiate of the masses, but I was raised to get good things from all religions and make religion for yourself. When you watch the news, it's mind-boggling that this beautiful thing has been used for killing in places like Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland.

What's the reaction to the film been like?

I find that Catholics are really scared of the movie. One of my best friends was raised Catholic and hasn't practiced in 15 years, he's gay. Every time he takes the Lord's name in vain, he thinks he's going to Hell, even though he's not religious now. He still believes he's going to Hell for being gay. You're finally playing adults now, how does that feel? I've been doing it for a while. I feel like I've done a lot of movies as an adult. I'm 29 now. I'm really lucky in the sense that I'm able to play really young and older - I was able to do 'The Crucible', which was for a very young woman. I look back and I feel like I made the transition smoothly and that's largely due to directors giving me the opportunity, like Scorsese in 'The Age Of Innocence' - that was a crossover role. In 'Little Women', although it's geared toward younger women, my character spans from 16 to 26.



Why is it some young actors don't make the transition?

I'm always thinking about that because I worry about friends of mine who are young in the business. I've worked with girls who I'm so proud of - I worked with Christina Ricci, who's amazing and she's just doing so beautifully. Her first movie was 'Mermaids', so I've known her since she was a little kid. Kirsten Dunst [who starred with Ryder in 'Little Women'] is doing great; I really liked 'Bring It On', it was so funny. But I worry about the next couple of years [for them] because you can't go from playing a college freshman to playing a lawyer. There are a couple of years where you have to get by, and it's hard. It was hard for me. When I was 19-20, I was doing stuff like 'House Of The Spirits', more epic things that spanned a lot of time, or more genre movies. There are a hard couple of years where you're too young - that's why there are always roles like 'the rookie cop'. That's what you do in those years, you play a rookie cop who's teaming up with an old disgruntled guy who's going to quit the force but his one last job is to find the serial killer. But I have total faith in people like Christina and Kirsten, I'm so proud of them.

WINONA RYDER at the Los Angeles premiere of her new movie Lost Souls.










Produced by Meg Ryan and Nina R. Sadowsky, Lost Souls is written byPierce Gardner, based on a story he wrote with Betsy Stahl. Gardner and Stahl are executive producers.


Director Janusz Kaminski, a longtime collaborator of Steven Spielberg, received the Academy AwardŽ and BAFTA Award for Schindler's List, as well as honors from the both the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics. For Amistad, he received a nomination from the American Society of Cinematographers and his second OscarŽ nomination. He recently received his third OscarŽ nomination for Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Other credits include The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as well as Jerry Maguire for Cameron Crowe. Lost Souls will reunite him with Winona Ryder, who starred in the Kaminski-photographed How to Make an American Quilt.