Discipline. Energy. Beauty. Strength. A killer fashion sense. Do you have what it takes to join the D.E.B.S.?
D.E.B.S. Movie Trailer. In this girl-power adventure comedy, the four young women of the Academy’s “A” squad have learned stealth surveillance, firearms training and martial arts – they are almost finished with their D.E.B.S. spy training. Amy (Sara Foster) is a straight A student and the only girl ever to earn a perfect score on the secret test. Max (Meagan Good) is a fierce leader – the take-no-prisoners, leaveno-stone-unturned captain of the squad.
The only girl in her squad not to have earned the requisite pregraduation stripes, Janet (Jill Ritchie) is timid, proper and never-been-kissed. Lastly, Domique (Devon Aoki) – with her devil-may-care attitude, nicotine addiction and inability to keep boys out of her bedroom after curfew – makes up the final member of this super sleuth squad.
Under the tutelage of tough-as-nails headmistress Mrs. Peatree (Emmy-winning actress Holland Taylor) and Academy President Phipps (Michael Clarke Duncan), these uniquely individual girls have been carefully selected and trained to be strong, lethal and incredibly adept with an eyebrow pencil. Now they must combine all their skills to save the world from vexing vixen Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster), the most deadly criminal the world has ever known – and the sexiest woman to ever take hostages and wield an Uzi.
About the Production
Though D.E.B.S. is an action-packed adventure comedy, the making of the film was more like a Cinderella story. It all began several years ago when writer/director Angela Robinson sketched a few comic book drawings of an idea she had for an all-girl crew of high school secret agents. D.E.B.S. wasborn, quite literally, on the drawing board.
With colorful characters, a sexy uber-villain, and a Technicolor premise, Robinson felt her story seemed perfectly suited to a comic book or cartoon. Although she flirted with turning the project into a web animation, it never materialized. Fresh from film school, Robinson received a grant from an organization called “Power Up” to produce a ten-minute short, and she decided to move her drawings from paper to the big screen; bringing to life the film version of D.E.B.S.
Shot on a small budget – but with high hopes – Robinson and her producers, Andrea Sperling and Jasmine Kosovic, shot the D.E.B.S. short film in the summer of 2002. Once completed, they submitted and were accepted into the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. To their excitement, it was met with a great deal of praise and a lot of laughter. Everyone enjoyed the high-concept idea of girls equally at home withmartial arts and make-up, and the short created a great deal of buzz. Producer Sperling says it was a hit at the festival because “the idea and the concept hadn’t been done before – and all-girl teen action movie with a twist in the love story. It was great.”
The true Cinderella moment came when D.E.B.S. caught the attention of Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper, who wanted to create a full-length version of the short film. “Fortunately,” says Robinson, “I had already completed a script that elaborated on the premise of the short.” Adds producer Kosovic, “After Angela wrote and directed the short, she was so inspired and so psyched she wrote the feature script in no time; it just flowed.” They began shooting the feature only a few short months later.
Elaborating on her creative process, Robinson says it was mostly a matter of figuring out where to go with her idea. “I was able to write the feature quickly after getting on the right track,” she says. “The actors helped create it when they read the script, and I was able to adapt things to fit the different girls. The project continually evolved, and it was a wonderful thing to see it take shape; I’m proud and humbled by the experience.”
Having shot the first film only a few months before, Robinson and her producers had the experience fresh in their minds when shooting the feature, and they were elated and surprised at the differences between the two. “I’m from a short film indie background,” says Robinson, “where you hold the boom and turn it on, then yell ‘Action!’ and run for the camera. To have a whole crew was amazing.”
The filmmakers were able to bring back many of the crew from the short film. The filmmakers were happy to be able to compensate artists for their kindness and faith the first time around. It was exhilarating for the filmmakers to fully realize their D.E.B.S. dream. Of the finished feature, Kosovic says, “It’s just bigger and funnier. You really get more into each character. The script is richer; everything’s just amped up. It’s like the difference between a short story and a novel.”
All in all the filmmakers were overjoyed with their short-to-full-length experience. Kosovic says, “I think the coolest and most exciting thing about the movie is that Angela has created a whole fantastic world. She wrote the script, she directed it, and she edited it so the vision’s entirely her’s. She’s got complete clarity.”
Sperling says, “Angela was very, very well-prepared and knew exactly what she wanted. She’s really smart. She wrote the script so she knew how to achieve her own vision. She also edited the movie – it’s her, through and through.”
For her part, the writer/director couldn’t be more proud of their efforts. “I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity on my very first feature film to realize it in the way I wanted,” she says. “To be able to say, ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought it could look like,’ with special effects, action, gunfights and choreography. This film totally comes from my heart. It’s something I’d been wanting to do for a long time, and I’m so honored and flattered to have had the chance.”
The D.E.B.S. in D.E.B.S.
In casting D.E.B.S., the filmmakers had a difficult task in front of them. To put together a team of young actresses to fill the required roles, they had to find girls who could juggle comedy, action and drama, perform high-kicks, look comfortable carrying a gun and run after bad guys in high heels – not a typical casting notice. Ultimately, though, Robinson and the producers found a group of girls who exceeded their expectations and were willing to go out on a limb, hang from the rafters and shoot extremely long days in extremely short miniskirts.
Actress Sara Foster plays Amy Bradshaw, the only D.E.B. to ever get a perfect score on the hidden test within the S.A.T. Amy doesn’t know what qualities made her such a top pick for the Academy but she excels at what she’s being trained to do.
Describing what drew her to the movie, Foster says, “I saw the short, which was so funny andwitty, and it really grabbed my attention. The script had all the elements I look for – the characters are extremely developed and the writing’s smart and funny.” After meeting director Angela Robinson, she knew she wanted to commit. “Angela’s amazing,” she continues. “I love that she loves this project and knows exactly what she wanted.”
Although she has plenty going for her, Foster’s character Amy is unsure of where her life is leading her. She has just dumped her boyfriend, Bobby and is trying to find meaning in her life beyond surveillance work and lip gloss. Foster agrees Amy is somewhat perplexed by what’s going on around her. “Everything’s happened so quickly for Amy,” she says. “All of a sudden she’s part of this top secret group, and she’s trying to figure out how she got there and what exactly it means.” It’s when she meets villainess Lucy Diamond (Brewster) that her life gets a meaning she never imagined in her wildest dreams.
Foster sees the film as a sort of coming-of-age story. “It’s a story about a girl who finds herself in this crazy position,” she says. “A girl who carries a gun and has to go through all this craziness to realize who she is, what makes her happy and what she wants.”
Foster was familiar with shooting guns from when she was younger so that part of filming didn’t present any problems. She also was game for the physical demands of the role but was surprised to find it difficult to hang from the ceiling for the surveillance scenes. “We were on swings high in the air for three days straight,” Foster remarks. “After awhile your legs feel like they’re going to fall off. But it looks cool, so it’s worth it.” Foster eased the difficulty of shooting with a bit of humor. “I’m the queen of the bloopers,” she laughs. “I said to Angela the first day that we had to have a gag reel at the end of the film; I knew I’d be the only person on there.”
When asked whether she shares any similarities with her big screen creation, Foster says, “Jordana and I joke about it because I’m more like her character, Lucy – very outgoing and very sure of herself – and Jordana says she’s more like Amy. Amy is very reserved, the kind of person who’ll say something and always want to take it back. I always say what’s on my mind.”
Jordana Brewster plays the film’s arch-villain, the beautifully mysterious and secretly down-toearth Lucy Diamond. Brewster was attracted to the project because she enjoyed the script and her first meeting with Robinson, but it was her character that really cinched the deal. “Lucy is pretty much the bad-ass, which was a lot of fun,” she laughs.
Dressed in clothes straight out of Vogue, Lucy is regarded as one of the most evil people in the world – at least that’s what the D.E.B.S. think at first. In creating such a larger-than-life character, Brewster says, “I relied a lot on Angela because I didn’t want to make Lucy a caricature; I wanted to make her real.” Brewster doesn’t deny her character’s criminal past but is quick to point out that she’s not all bad. “Lucy is manipulative but playful at the same time,” she says.
When asked whether she has a little bit of Lucy in her, Brewster echoes Foster’s earlier comments: “I’m actually very shy so it’s like we’re polar opposites. I’m getting to be really cocky and confident through Lucy though,” she laughs.
Brewster and her co-stars went to a shooting range to learn how to convincingly shoot a gun for the film. Her secret? “The trick is not to flinch and not to blink while you’re doing it,” she says. They also had to kickbox in the film, but she was no stranger to that sport. “Luckily, I had worked with a trainer for a year prior to the film, so I knew how to kick pretty well,” she says.
Brewster enjoyed her co-stars and felt a great chemistry between them and a true camaraderie on the set. She also really enjoyed the “girl-power” aspect of the film. “There were all these really studly guys around on the set,” she says, “but the women are the main protagonists. The men were the beefcake, essentially – that was very fulfilling. I wish that happened more in movies these days,” she laughs.
Brewster appreciates “the comedic, larger-than-life aspect” of the film, but she says, “At the same time it’s very realistic in terms of dialogue and the relationships. It just all works, and I find that entertaining.”
Meagan Good plays fierce squad leader Max, and the way Good sees it, Max is confident she’s running the show. “Max has attitude,” Good says. “She likes to beat up people, she likes to shoot guns, she likes to bark orders – she’s a kick-butt girl.”
No stranger to film and television sets, Good has been acting for years and says it runs in her blood. “I was a very creative child,” she says. “I used to run around my house and fall down the staircase pretending Michael Myers [Halloween] was trying to kill me. I’d scream, and my mom ask ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Acting,’ I’d answer.”
In describing what made her want to become a D.E.B., Good says, “I liked the fact that I am so small, but my character was the leader of the pack. I wanted to bring a sort of Napoleon complex into it. No matter what the situation, Max has no fear.”
Good, however, had a few fears of her own during production – in addition to the fight sequences, the role required she perform several stunts…something she had never done before. “I had to do a back flip for one of the scenes, and I was so scared because I’d never done one before. The first time I did it, I was scared, but I said ‘Okay, let’s do it one more time.’ The next time I jumped so high that I hit the ceiling and cut my toe open on the roof of the building,” she laughs. “After that, I wasn’t scared – but I didn’t want to do any more back flips.”
Good had never shot a gun before either, but she was surprised that the shooting range instructor told her she basically had a perfect shot. “Then I found out my dad was actually a sniper in Vietnam,” she says. “It must run in the family.”
Working with Robinson was a blessing for Good. In her career, she’s found that many directors “don’t take into consideration the emotional points someone is trying to get to or their creative process and what they’re going to do with their character. Angela takes everything into consideration. I love working with her; she’s not just my director, she’s my friend.”
Actress and model Devon Aoki plays French-born student Dominique, one of the D.E.B.S. characters with the most… well, character. Aoki found Dominique a ball to play. “I wear very short skirts, carry around a great big gun and have a very thick French accent,” she laughs. “And the whole time, I’m smoking. The whole time.
“Dominique is very sassy,” Aoki continues. “She tries to be tough almost to the point where she’s not affected by what’s going on around her. She also always has a cigarette in her hand, even when she’s shooting her gun. This is very far from the real-life Devon,” she laughs – but she admits it was fun.
To create her character, Aoki drew upon the French girls she knew while working as a model in France, copying their hand gestures as well as their accent and phrasing. “Basically my inspiration for the character was from my observations of people in Paris,” Aoki says. When asked whether she prefers acting or modeling, she replies, “I still have a desire to do both, and I’ll do both as long as time permits.”
In regards to her firearms training, Aoki says she had gone to camp as a girl and learned to shoot a .22 gage rifle at targets like coins and plates, but it was a shock to pick up a gun again as an adult. “It was a totally new thing,” she says. “It was nerve-wracking because I know how powerful those weapons can be.”
Though she plays one of the funnier characters, Aoki was pleased that Dominique changes during the course of the film. “As the story progresses,” she says, “she becomes more able to express herself. You see she’s a sensitive girl at heart, and being a D.E.B. really means a lot to her.”
Each of the four girls in the D.E.B.S. Academy “A” squad is unique in her own way, but the final “A” squader, Janet is the only one who hasn’t earned her “stripes” and is constantly trying to prove herself to the others. Jill Ritchie had also played Janet in the short film version of D.E.B.S. “Coming into this was much easier for me because I felt like I had really established this character and was able to just step back into it,” she says. The main difference between shooting the two versions of the film? “We didn’t get paid the first time,” she laughs. “That was a huge difference.”
Says Ritchie of her character, “Janet is very pristine, very proper. She is very conscientious, always questioning if something was right or wrong or if she’s hurt anybody’s feelings. She’s very sensitive, very sweet.”
Ritchie has played roles like Janet before, which leads her to wonder aloud whether she projects such a prim image. “But I would never dress like this,” she says. “I’d never wear a sweater wrapped around my shoulders or pearls.” She admits that like her character, she was a straight A student and does actually care what other people think about her. “I’m very concerned with not hurting other people’s feelings.”
In preparing for the spy-girl aspects of her character, Ritchie acknowledges that it was unsettling to point and shoot a gun. “Even though you’re not aiming at anybody, you know guns can kill,” she says. “But you get used to it after you fire it and fire it and fire it. My gun was the lightest one so I think I had it the easiest.”
Ritchie learned a lot from her double D.E.B.S. experience – most of all to trust yourself, believe in what you’re doing, and never think you know where something may lead. She did the short without ever imagining it would turn into a feature film “so don’t ever underestimate what may happen.”
Though the D.E.B.S. are fierce, they need someone to keep them on their toes and teach them the finer rules of espionage. In this case, it’s Mrs. Peatree, and Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor was the perfect performer to step into Peatree’s sensible flats.
“The Academy is full of girls in little tartan skirts who seem like normal debutantes but in fact are in the espionage game,” says Taylor. “I’m their intrepid headmistress.” Taylor joined the project after attending a benefit where they played a bunch of shorts, including the D.E.B.S. short film.
“They were all good,” she says, “but this one was stunningly clever. The director clearly knew how to achieve effects. There were these boffo laughs and very solid moments where the audience reacted exactly the same, and I thought, ‘Well that’s skill.’ It wasn’t just talent; she really knew how to put it all together.” Robinson was at the benefit, and Taylor told her exactly how much she enjoyed the piece. When Robinson wrote the feature script and created Mrs. Peatree, she immediately thought of Taylor for the role.
In the film, Peatree is hard on her girls and demands they uphold the Academy’s standards at all times. Should they choose not to toe the line, she makes it clear she will squish them like a bunch of pretty bugs – Peatree doesn’t accept mediocrity. Off-camera, Taylor was very supportive of the girls playing her Academy students. “My maternal instincts came up as the girls had been working sixteen hour days for weeks. I would appear to do the occasional day, and I’m fresh and rested while they’re completely wasted,” she says. “So I patted their heads and said good luck.”
Taylor is proud of what Robinson accomplished and lauds her directing efforts. “It’s a high stress situation,” she says, “but Angela held her vision and kept her ear right in what she wrote and what she wanted. It’s pretty great.”
D.E.B.S. Academy President Phipps is played by a member of another academy – Michael Clarke Duncan. Duncan was pleased to come on board for the D.E.B.S. feature because he wanted to do “something comedic, something light-hearted and funny for a change.” Once involved, he quickly came to respect writer and director Robinson. “She’s very good,” he says. “She’s very educated and really got to things on point.”
Describing his character, Duncan says, “Mr. Phipps is like a father-figure to these four young, intelligent spies. I give them their assignments on a daily basis, check in on them and make sure they’re doing their schoolwork.
“These young ladies are being molded into something they don’t know about,” he continues, “so this is all new to them. Phipps helps them make the transition from high school graduates to Academy trainees.”
Echoing a comment made by Taylor, Duncan also couldn’t believe how hard the young actresses worked day in and day out. When asked whether he has any advice for his young co-stars, he says, “To stay awake. They worked their behinds off in this movie,” he laughs. On a more serious note, he adds, “They did a tremendous job, these girls, and I commend all of them.”
All told, the actresses and filmmakers had a great time shooting D.E.B.S. The shoot was grueling and demanding but the end result was worth all the hard work. When watching the finished product, producer Kosovic comments on how the girls enjoyed the filming. “It’s so much fun to film the stunt stuff and see these petite, elegant girls with enormous guns,” she says. “Another thing I love so much is how casual the girls are about it. When they’re doing a stakeout and hanging from the ceiling, they’re practically pulling their nail files out. They’re just like regular girls, but they’re doing these amazing things.”
After comic illustrations, web animation, a ten-minute short film and now a full-length feature, writer and director Robinson feels that she finally did her story justice. What began as a few sketches on a piece of paper became a labor of love and a dream come true – and she feels lucky to have had such dedicated companions in her quest, from the producers and crew to the actors onscreen. “With the actors,” she says, “what I’m most proud of is that each character is so distinctive. They each have a totally different thing they bring to the movie, but collectively it all works. They’ve been professional, fun and so talented. There are very few roles where young actresses get to do comedy and action and have flair and complexity – it’s been a total joy. “And I have a new respect for hair and make-up,” she laughs. “I now know more about hair and guns than I ever thought possible.”
D.E.B.S. (2005)
Directed by: Angela Robinson
Starring: Sara Foster, Jordana Brewster, Devon Aoki, Jill Ritchie, Meagan Good, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jessica Cauffiel, Christina Kirk, Holland Taylor, Scoot McNairy
Screenplay by: Angela Robinson
Production Design by: Chris Anthony Miller
Cinematography by: M. David Mullen
Film Editing by: Angela Robinson
Costume Design by: Frank Helmer
Set Decoration by: Laura Evans
Music by: Steven M. Stern
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content and language.
Distributed by: Sony ScreenGems
Release Date: March 25, 2005
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