It's, like, sometimes things can go horribly wrong and it's just not your doing."Would she be talking about the Potato Men film here? "I would have to say 'No comment' on that," she's says "That's the first time I've ever said that I quite like it."That's the thing about Lucy Davis She's bubbly and daft and funny. "My manager rang and said, 'Are you sitting down?' It was for the lead with Diaz, so it wasn't just a couple of scenes And Curtis Hanson [LA Confidential, 8 Mile] is directing I was really smug about it 'Cameron Diaz's sister... yeah, I could do that.' Then when I got the script it was 'and then we meet Whatever-her-name-was, Cameron Diaz's Fat Ugly Sister.' Hurr! Hurr!" It's a mixed blessing, perhaps, that the part has gone to Toni Collette.So if Hollywood doesn't work out, and the BBC offers her a big bag of cash for a prime- time Dawn & Tim spin-off, would she...? "I can't imagine that would ever happen But I'd never not look at a script. "Every day was bashing zombies with driftwood or doing car stunts Doing amazing things I've never done before Much better than having to act out answering the telephone I hope it does well It deserves to." She sighs. "But you just never know..."A week after our meeting, Davis is back in Los Angeles, talking with casting agents.
She's had a call to try out for Cameron Diaz's sister in a comedy. Davis's mum got to play a zombie in it, as did hundreds of diehard Spaced fans who answered an Internet ad "It was the best job I've ever done," says Davis. I thought, 'That can't go wrong.' But between casting, filming and editing... something changed."Happily, Davis's next film, Shaun of the Dead, is something of an improvement. Billed as "a romantic comedy with zombies", it's from the same team as the hugely successful television programme Spaced. And it is also an affectionate nod to George A Romero's zombie films.Released this Easter, it should be a success and early screenings have produced laughter, the odd spontaneous round of applause and even comparisons to An American Werewolf in London. She has her terrier stolen by The League Of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss.
"Well, I laughed out loud at the script," she wails, though it's hard to see how "I feel so sorry for everyone involved. A book she's read more than once is Robert Lacey's The Life and Times Of Henry VIII Her drink of choice is whisky and Coke. Her first TV role was in 1995 as Maria Lucas in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice. It was during a medical for this that she was diagnosed with kidney failure Mum donated an organ.