Devon Aoki, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Stance Magazine
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Cover caption: I'll bet you ten million dollars that supermodel Devon Aoki never imagined she'd share a cover with Beetlejuice Devon Aoki, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Stance Magazine
May 2003 She's about to make her major film debut in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the sequel to The Fast and the Furious. She's the heir of the Benihaha restaurant chain. She grew up between Malibu, New York, and London. She's dated Lenny Kravitz, and considers Kate Moss and Ludacris her good friends. She's the face of Baby Phat and Chanel, and has a multi-year contract with LancÙme. She just bought a house in L.A. Does it seem like she's lived a lot, done it all? Believe it or not, Devon Aoki is only twenty. Are you jaded yet? Um, I don't think I'm jaded. What does jaded mean? Just very aloof. Like you've seen it all and done it all. No, there are a lot of things I haven't seen or done. I have a lot left to experience. And I don't think I'm aloof. Tell us about your character in The Fast and the Furious 2. I play Suki. She's one of the racers, and she's also good friends with Ludacris. Was acting hard? Well, it was totally different than what I'm used to doing. I was sort of like a sponge - I was just learning all this new information. And then all the other actors were so incredibly giving with me - Eva Mendes and Paul Walker - and everyone else that was on set. Everyone sort of took the time to reach out to me. Was it your first acting gig? Yeah. Well,so. This is my first major acting [gig]. I've done music videos - and I did Death of a Dynasty, with Roc-A-Fella. I play the lead in that. They're my boys. I just wanted to learn, and they said I could have the role. It was an experience, but this is really my first time being on a set like that, with the cameras and all the people. It was a trip. And then working with John Singleton, who is one of my favourite directors - I mean, I've seen Boyz in the Hood like 50 times. So it really was a mind-blowing experience. Do you think acting's hard, or are actors just overly dramatic blowhards? You know what? There's a lot of pressure on an actor. It's not hard like working in a factory for 50 hours or curing cancer, but there're a lot of things that are difficult that people don't tend to see. They just see the end result. But actors work hard. I'm speaking from what I saw on the set, other actors who've been in the game a long time. People don't see auditions and rejections. It's not always simple and carefree. It can be, but good actors, the actors that you see a lot, are really hard workers. I think with anything you're going to do well, there's a certain amount of effort you have to put in towards it, no matter what it is. If you're a model, people think your whole job is walking down a runway for five seconds. They really don't have a clue. People think skaters don't do anything - they just skate around, doing what they like. Sure, you have fun because you love skating, but you have to do interviews, you have to make sure to get coverage, you have to do stuff for sponsors. There are certain stresses that go along with any job. So to say something is easy, I don't know about that. Do you think you did a good job? I think so. I guess you'll find out. I did what I thought suited the role, and hopefully people will think my role was a good part of the film - or at least didn't take away from it. Can you even drive? Um ... I learned on set. I don't have a license yet, because I haven't really had time to go to the DMV and to take the classes and stuff. But I took a driving class for my role. The first day, they're like, "You've never driven before? Never actually driven down a street?" "No." And they're like, "Alright, pick whatever car you want." At first they started me off with an automatic, and after five minutes they're like, "This is too easy." So they get me this red supercharged Mustang - stick. And they're like, "Just drive wherever you want" - we had this whole course. I'm taking these turns from fourth to fifth- How was it working with Ludacris? People that I know were like, "How is Ludacris? Is he really loud?" And the truth is he's such a good person. A lot of people think he's probably full of himself or whatever, but he's not. You know, you can't judge a person by their rap persona. But everyone was so interested to know what he was like, because he's a really boisterous character - but I never saw that. He's so down-to-earth, so cool. He's become a really good friend of mine. When we booked the photo shoot with you, you stipulated that it had to be with a car, right? No! I said I wanted to shoot with the car from the movie. I was a little surprised to see that Beemer. Well, my idea was to bring in an old Yugo or a beat up Geo Metro. That would've been hilarious! You wouldn't have been pissed? I would not have cared at all. They were telling me that I was going to shoot with a Porshe, and I was like, "Oh Lord, just get the Honda 2000 from the movie." But since you guys couldn't get - Yeah, we couldn't come up on a Honda, only an M3 convertible. Yeah, just an M3? God ... No, I love all cars. I'm just trying to figure out which car is my favorite, because I'm going to have to buy a car as soon as I get my license. Are you thinking along the lines of a Taurus or a Metro> I don't really know yet. It's cool because in the movie, we got to drive around all the different cars. So if someone offers me a car, I might just have to accept it. Rough life. Anything else you'd like to be asked? Would you like fries with that? Would you like fries with that? Yeah, I'll take fries with that.
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