- [on Alicia Lagano] She had so much compassion for everything in the world, She was open and affected by everything, which is a great element for an actor to have, that kind of feeling and ability to relate to things and be so open at such a young age. She was willing to try everything, to throw herself on her face. Some people worry about their image and what they look like and what people will think of them. She was just so open and real.
- [on The Last House on the Left (1972)] The part when I walk into the water and he shot me had to be done over and over again.
- [on her experience working with Victor Hurwitz] The cameraman [Hurwitz] was one of the better people on the set. That guy was great. He told me, "Have something else in your life besides acting because it's a terrible business." He was a fatherly kind of guy to me. He died a few years after Last House on his bicycle. It was really horrible and tragic.
- [on being cast as Minnie in the stage production "Annie Get Your Gun"] Even the director thought I was a kid. He never found out the truth until I refused to sign a contract which called for an "accompanying guardian."
- [on working in the film industry] It requires flexibility, being able to switch from one performing facet to another every two or three months, off-Broadway to film, to summer stock.
- [on The Last House on the Left (1972)] I'm actually quite good at stunts.
- Looking young does have it's disadvantages. When I first left school (Carnegie-Mellon, in Pittsburgh), and started hitting the casting calls in New York, I couldn't get any acting jobs for characters my age. So then I got smart, and signed with a children's agent.
- Modeling and the soaps are a world unto itself. You can make a ton of money, but you can never have the chance to grow as a professional. All your time is spent just pursuing jobs. And models are an incredibly bitchy lot.
- But I've been bouncing from town to town, from job to job almost all my life. I've got a very strong will, too. And sooner or later, I'll get where I'm going.
- [on Wes Craven] Wes was so young, he was like a hippie. I lived down in the Village back then, and to me, Wes was just another hip, cool dude. He was very natural and real... I don't think he ever had an ego. When we were actually shooting I remember him being very controlled, and I think he had set in his mind what he wanted to do - it wasn't like he was fumbling. Although he was easygoing, he made clear-cut decisions.
- [on The Last House on the Left (1972)] I have not seen this film in a very long time, so to recollect it is hard. Wes and Sean did a great job considering the limited amount of money that they had... to pull something together like they did took a lot of work. It was really a work in progress... it changed a lot as we were making it. Last House was pretty advanced for it's time as far as violence... but now I guess it's kind of a funny film. I was really upset and horrified when I first saw it.
- [on how she was cast in The Last House on the Left (1972)] I had gone out to see what the wild West was like, and I was heading back towards New York. I had a few days to go, when I got a message from my answering service regarding that film. I called Sean Cunningham's office and set up a day to meet them... they originally wanted me to read for the part of Phyllis. Then, when they met me, they changed their minds and decided to cast me as Mari.
- [on The Horse Killer (1970)] I started getting roles in low-budget drive-in movies that were being shot in Florida. The first one was called The Horse Killer. It was actually based on the true story of a man who castrated horses! It was a really bizarre story, but it wasn't like Last House, with sex or murder. It was more of a mystery, where these incidents were happening and they were trying to find this weird guy who was doing it. I was playing the girlfriend and we had a lot of scenes riding horses and that sort of thing.
- [on Wes Craven] But although Wes was laid-back, the atmosphere on the set was not really relaxed, what with all the characters running around, and the fact that we didn't have a lot of time.
- [on David Hess] One serious scene was where that guy put me over his shoulder, ran down a couple flight of stairs and threw me into the car. Those guys were kind of mean to me when they did that... especially that method actor [Hess] who was trying to be mean all of the time.
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