SHANNEN DOHERTY is ready for change, as she tells us the real reasons she is leaving "Charmed" and embracing the daring feature 'Another Day' for FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA!
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: How did you get involved with this movie?
SHANNEN DOHERTY: I was sent the script and I was told that Francis Ford Coppola was producing, so I really didn't need to read it. I'm supposed to go meet him and hang out with him when I go back to L.A. Then I actually read the script, because I thought I should sort of know what I'm doing, and it was amazing. It sort of fell right along the lines of the decision of what I wanted to do with my career. I wanted to do work that was really fulfilling and really challenging. If I read something that I find a little scary because I'm not quite sure I can pull it off, that means I have to do it. That was the case with this script. It was so heavy emotionally that I thought, "Can I do this?" So, I took it and it's been amazing.
ET: Tell us about the story of this film and why you found it so compelling.
SHANNEN: I find the whole story compelling because it's about life and death, fate and destiny. It's a woman's journey, going through a tragedy and trying to make the best of that tragedy, and coming to terms with it and coming to terms with loss and death and then finding new love. It's a great movie.
ET: We want to set the record straight about you leaving "Charmed."
SHANNEN: I think there's always going to be rumors. As far as I'm concerned, it adds to the whole mystery of my career. It certainly didn't hurt me after "90210" that there were rumors floating around. It won't really affect me now, either. I went in to Paramount in December and asked them to let me off the show. That was my request. I was unhappy, and I just felt that the work wasn't fulfilling, and that there was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work. I just didn't want to be a part of it. I'm 30-years-old and I don't have time for drama in my life anymore. I'm really focused and I just want to do good work and to prove my ability as an actress. I wasn't able to do that on that show. I want to work with actors who really care and who want to be there every single day. I don't want to be with people who bitch about their job, and complain about it and say that they hate it or anything else. I want to work with people who care as much as I do, because that's when you do your best work. I'll miss HOLLY (MARIE COMBS a lot. That's really the only thing I want to clear up and I know that she wants to clear up. We've spoken like every single day since I've been in Winnipeg, and she's one of my best friends and I love her dearly. There were never, ever, any problems between the two of us.
ET: I think it's neat how you talked about the film you're doing now, with the tragedies and the ups and downs.
SHANNEN: It's so weird. Life imitates art, art imitates life. I've never felt more satisfied and calm and at peace and excited in my entire life. It's exciting, taking a huge risk of leaving a hit TV show, which is really only a hit for The WB. If we were on NBC, we would have been cancelled after like six episodes. But it's still a hit in its own right, and I think to leave that, to go into the unknown, is unbelievably exciting, because I can do anything. I woke up and I went, "Okay, I can take as many guitar lessons as I want. I can travel as much as I want. I can ride my horses as much as I want, and I can go do theater as much as I want. I can do serious work." And that's amazing.