The Safe House - Expositions

News of her upcoming ABC-TV show, "Alias," hit the wire last week, just days before the Friday release of the mega-movie "Pearl Harbor," in which she has a small role as a nurse.

For Garner, that meant flying to New York one week earlier from London, where her husband, Scott Foley (who plays Noel on the WB's "Felicity") has been shooting a movie. On Tuesday, she had "up fronts," the event in which "Alias" was introduced to the media.

Then she went to Boston to see her sister, Melissa, before flying across the country to her home base of Los Angeles for a day of "Alias" media events before climbing back on a London-bound plane, back to her husband.

"Life has been a little crazy," Garner said in a cell phone interview.

The activity represents a bit of a life change from a year and a half ago, when Garner played one of several characters in an ensemble cast of the short-lived Fox television show, "Time of Your Life," a vehicle for Jennifer Love Hewitt.

This fall, Garner will star in an ABC series by "Felicity" creator J.J. Abrams, about a college student-turned-spy who tries to keep her secret life from her friends as she practices martial arts moves on villains.

"It's the most exciting thing I ever worked on," she said.

That's a bold statement coming from someone who appears in "Pearl Harbor," the Michael Bay-directed, Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Disney film starring Ben Affleck. It is a movie of "Titanic" proportions, with a $135 million budget and sinking boats to boot.

The film opens Memorial Day weekend, officially christening the summer movie season, although the coffee-table companion book, a Time magazine cover and interview tie-ins with the likes of Tom Brokaw have been around for weeks now.

Garner plays a nurse named Sandra, "the third female lead," according to her publicist, after English actress Kate Beckinsale and model James King.

"She's one of the five nurses featured," Garner said. "She is definitely the most serious about her job and she's a bookworm. She takes being a nurse very seriously, and when the attack happens, she's the one who's the least mentally prepared for it."

As cameras rolled, bombs exploded and ships blew up during the "grueling" shoot, the enormity of the film dawned on the cast.

"We were aware that it was the hugest movie made in history -- the helicopter shots when you're on a huge barge with thousands of extras and every car is a true period car and every extra has on vintage clothes. You know this is not a TV show. It's a big blockbuster."

Garner auditioned for the film on the same day as about 40 other women and then went about her life.

"Out of the blue, I was called and they offered me the job and said, ‘You're going to Hawaii.' "

And yes, she does realize that the U.S.S. West Virginia was one of the ships bombed during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the event that brought the United States into World War II.

"Are you kidding?" said the George Washington High School graduate. "West Virginia gets mentioned and is not made fun of. Dorie Miller, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character, is one of the workers in the kitchen on the West Virginia. And the captain plays a role in the film. We get our 15 seconds."

And Garner gets her "five minutes," as she has described it.

"It was great for me," she said. "My role is so small that I just had a great ringside seat. I didn't feel a ton of pressure. I don't carry any of the movie, but I could be there and be part of the filming. Anytime I was added to a scene, it was a bonus."

Her upcoming TV series, in which she stars, excites her more.

Garner will be carrying the show in her role as Sydney Bristow. A press release from "Alias," which will air Sundays between "The Wonderful World of Disney" and "The Practice," mentions "terror-filled eyes" and "lungs choked with water." Those would belong to Garner. Then there's the line, in reference to her tormenter, that "coercing information from Sydney is like pulling teeth. So he's about to try that, too."

Intense? Oh, yeah.

"The whole pilot was incredibly scary. Not only was I doing stunts -- I hung from a building 10 stories up from wire and I had to learn how to do these huge tae kwon do fights and duke it out -- But there were also emotional scenes that were on another level. They were really gut-wrenching. The fear that this character feels in the pilot -- it's very exhausting to play that kind of fear."

A recent USA Today preview of new shows called the show "the week's most exciting clip (even for those us of with little interest in conspiracy dramas)."

Fellow cast members include another actor with a small role in a blockbuster, Victor Garber, from "Titanic," as well as Michael Vartan, who played the English teacher who wooed Drew Barrymore's character in "Never Been Kissed."

"He's so cute," Garner said. "We have another cutie, Bradley Cooper. These two guys are going to be on lockers in the 7th grade."

Does Garner foresee any posters of herself plastered in schools across America? She doubts it.

"I'm not a ‘Buffy.' That's a great show, but this show is more sophisticated and for an older audience."

Even with all the chaos and activity -- and potential -- that currently surrounds her, Garner remains level-headed on the eve of her appearance in a major motion picture and the debut of her own television series.

"The seven years I've been working at this has tempered my excitement."

Those years included bit parts in TV movies, including one, "Harvest of Fire," in which she played, coincidentally, opposite fellow Charlestonian Sam Trammel. Feature film roles included "Washington Square," a blip of an appearance in Woody Allen's "Deconstructing Harry," and the recent "Dude, Where's My Car?"

She also landed a guest role on "Felicity" that she almost did not take, and that ended up changing her life in more than one way.

For starters, she played the soon-to-be ex-girlfriend opposite the man who would become her husband. Garner tied the knot with Foley last October in Los Angeles in a small backyard ceremony.

Now she has her own show by the creator of "Felicity," as well as the opportunity to live and work in the same town as her husband.

"You see how scary Hollywood marriages can be. It's important to be partners."

That's why he flew in from London to be with her for the "Alias" introduction. And she skipped Monday's $5 million, star-studded "Pearl Harbor" premiere in Hawaii to be back in London with him.

After England, Garner will return to Los Angeles to prepare for "Alias." Her publicist said a possible actors' strike has not been much of a concern. "I think everyone in town is proceeding like normal," she said. "The writers' strike got settled and I think people are assuming this will be, too."

When the series debuts, Garner will be ready for whatever happens. "You can never be too positive with a show. The important thing is to keep working. You never know when it's another ‘Felicity,' something that seems like nothing that changes your life."

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