by Aaron Hendren
Daily Lobo
Tara Reid said the media makes her appear worse than she is.
Reid has been referred to by the media as a party girl. Photographs of her circulating the club scene appear often in the tabloids, and she received bad press when her dress slipped off her shoulder, exposing her breast to photographers at a P. Diddy party.
"My whole party-girl image is definitely taken way out of control," she said. "I don't think I do anything different than any of us do. I've gone out and had a good time, but I also work really hard too. I think sometimes it takes away from me getting those really great roles, because people focus on it a lot."
With her new movie "Alone in the Dark" opening on Friday, Reid said she is hopeful about the future and the types of roles she will be offered.
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"Now that I am getting older, I'm getting different opportunities to play an anthropologist, a doctor, a mother," Reid said. "The older I get, the more different kind of roles you'll see me doing."
Reid, who is known for playing vixens in movies such as "The Big Lebowski," "Urban Legend" and "American Pie," said taking a role against type attracted her to "Alone in the Dark."
The film is an action movie based on the video game of the same name. This is the second movie adapted from a video game for director Uwe Boll, who gave moviegoers "House of the Dead" in 2003. The film stars Reid as an anthropologist genius who discovers a gateway to hell.
One of the roles in Reid's past was playing a college reporter in "Van Wilder." Reid said she still relates to college kids and finds journalism interesting.
"You really have an opportunity to see another side of a person and create a great story," Reid said.
Reid said although she is interested in journalism, she doesn't believe journalists always tell the truth.
"I call them 'sheeple,'" Reid said. "They do what they think is cool. They keep following the herd."
"Alone in the Dark" is Reid's 20th movie. She also does television, including "Scrubs" and "Saved by the Bell: The New Class."
She has a television project in the works where she will play an actress who gets in trouble with the tabloids.
"It's kind of like me having the last laugh," Reid said.
She said by finding humor and making fun of herself, she will take things that have been written about her and spin them on the show. Reid said she expects her TV comedy to offer a little redemption for her public life.
"I think people will think a little bit more before writing bad things about me," she said.
Coming attraction: "Alone in the dark"
Staring Tara Reid and Christian Slater
Opens Friday
