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Actress Stiles balances big screen, schooling BY JOE NEUMAIER KRT CAMPUS r Julia Stiles has a red-hot movie career. She starred in “Mona Lisa Smile” with Julia Roberts. She’s making this summer’s “The Bourne Supremacy.” Friday,, she opens in “The Prince & Me” as a University of Wisconsin pre-med student dating a young Danish royal (Luke Mably) who wants to make her his queen. But at Columbia University, where her major is English liter ature, her professors couldn’t care less how big a star she is. “Being an actor is looked at like a prolonged gqme of dress-up,” said the 23-year-old about her oth er life as a Columbia College un dergrad. ruiiei lea yuia muvie siaia un pedestals. In college, it’s the flip side — I sometimes have to justi fy my job to my professors, be cause they’re focused on intellect and ideas. “I tried to get credit for acting in ‘Twelfth Night’ in 2002. My teachers said, ‘There’s a difference between an English scholar and performing (at) Shakespeare in the Park.’” Actually, she has done a lot of Shakespeare in the movies, too. In 1999, she was in “10 Things I Hate About You,” based on “The Taming of the Shrew.” She played Ophelia to Ethan Hawke’s Prince of Denmark in a modern-day “Hamlet” in 2000 and starred in “0,” a high-school-set version of “Othello,” in 2001. Still, she got no credit. On the other hand, she said, her ability to critique a classic won’t get her a part in the movie version. “A college student doesn’t real ly have any cachet in Hollywood,” Stiles said. “I think if I were danc ing on tables at a club, that might be more interesting to a producer than being in college!” With two semesters left at Columbia, Stiles splits her time worrying about exams as much as scripts. .QVic* nfton talroc a coinoctor nff to work, as she’s doing this spring to act in a play in London’s West End. “I do feel like it’s a lot at times, but there’s something comforting about attending college,” Stiles said. “Between jobs, actors go kind of crazy not knowing what they’re doing next. “So it’s good to have something to focus on... And if young actors don’t have something to give them perspective, I think it’s easy for them to get lost.” One thing Stiles has found while at Columbia has been a steady boyfriend. For two years, she’s been seeing a fellow student — a music and English major — but she’s careful to keep it under wraps. “It’s awkward to talk about, be cause it’s uncomfortable for him to read about himself, even in an oblique way,” she said. “And people around him know it’s him when I speak about it. “Like dating in Hollywood, col lege is very insular; even more so when I was living on campus. “It’s sort of funny for him and my friends to see me having this dress-up life. It’s not how they know me. If we’re on the street and get stopped by somebody who’s seen my movies, it’s sort of jarring — it’s not the way I usually inter act with them.” Currently living on the Upper West Side, Stiles was born and raised in SoHo, where her parents are ceramic artists — her mom makes it, her dad sells it. At 11, she wrote a letter to the director of the Ridge Theater — which had done a production she enjoyed at LaMaMa in the East Village — asking for an audition PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Julia Stiles and Luke Mably star in “The Prince & Me,” from Paramount Pictures. and a part in a play. She got both, and at 16 was accepted into the Professional Children’s School. These days, her favorite films are those with old-fashioned ap peal. In her new movie, her char icter doesn’t know she’s dating a prince, who is attending Wisconsin on a year off from royal luties. “Classic stories are always in my head because of school,” Stiles said. “Even ‘The Prince & Me’ is like a love story from the 1950s, like ‘Roman Holiday’ or ‘The Prince & the Showgirl.’ But I like to add a modem-girl twist to r• Aerosmith CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 • pump faster during “Shame, Shame, Shame,” but the song is aimed at their childhood hearts, not the listeners’ desire for new material. The guys in Aerosmith have al ways been masters of twisting the blues into new, emotional plateaus and sounds, but “Bobo” is a throwaway treat, OK for road trips and background noise but ex isting in a heavily eroded patch of music. This friendly-but-safe de tour feels like a pacifier for die hard members of the Aeroforce One Fan Club, not for fans of the band’s devastating rock. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockfeatures&igwm. sc. edu — Music Crawl CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 HEADLINERS 700 Gervais Street Bolt 8:15 p.m. Mean Weiner 9:15 p.m. Beat Junction Project 10:15 p.m. The Movement 11:15 p.m. DejaVoodoo 12:15 a.m. JULIAN’S 800 Gervais Street Star Climber 8 p.m. The Lackies . 9 p.m. Tinker’s Punishment 10 p.m. MiKenPike 11 p.m. The F-Mob Midnight Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu -------1 The instant, painless way to stay smooth and sexy everyday! includes a FREE 10 piece manicure kit order online and SAVE! www.bikinitouGh.com/usc I w* mb'' 1 - - -& mmmm brder now! call tollfree: 1.800.562.7788 Designers move past military with fashionable trench coats BY LISA TOWNSEL BY KHT CAMPUS The trench coat may have had military beginnings, but this sea son’s selection is coolly relaxed, perky and totally at ease. The quintessential waist cinch er and figure flatterer, the trench coat — with its bold construction and distinctive detailing — re mains a classic wardrobe staple. It offers credibility to profes sionals and lends a degree of in trigue to characters on the big ■ screen. Plus, where would we be without tljis cover-up that moves us between breezy, winter nights and spring’s shower-filled days? But don’t expect to toss this piece aside. This season, the trench coat refuses to sit back and be prim and proper. It’ll play a key role in many springtime ensembles and, in some cases, it may upstage them. “The trench has taken on a new spirit and attitude. Now, it can be worn for more than special occa sions, not just in inclement weath er. They really have become es sentials in every woman’s wardrobe,” said Doreen Salerno, brand director of Adrienne Vittadini. “Women want to be more pulled-together and dressed well all season. And it’s a great midseason coat.” AHHonno Vi+farlirvi’c tronrVi nf. fered in a blood-red orange and also a darker bark hue, incorpo rates snaps and zipper features into its design. A little less tailored than many other seasonal coats, Salerno said the company’s un belted, water-repellent driving coat, with its sassy metropolitan length, is “great for getting out of cars and walking everywhere very comfortably.” Designers helped to propagate such a revival, including the likes of Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs and a whole slew of European design ers who reinterpreted the classic in fabrics ranging from sturdy cot PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Trench coats make bold statements with colors this season. ton to sultry silk. The British de sign house of Burberry probably deserves props for its original, strong classic design. “About a year ago, the trench began to appear in all the runways both in New York and Europe. It achieved real momentum when color was added — and exploded this season with bright color,” said LaVelle Olexa, senior vice president of fashion merchandis ing for Lord & Taylor. Olexa speaks of a color spec-, trum that ranges from the typical beige and black to a season filled with eye-popping shades of yellow, blue, pink, green and orange, just to name a few. Such colors are stamped on full length and jacket styles of trench coats and even some blouses this season. And as colorful as the outsides are, many manufacturers paid just as much attention to linings that often show off beautiful striped Or floral prints. And while most of the sea son’s trenches have button-down fronts, some retailers have incor porated prominent zippers and snaps into the detail work. Belted or not, zipped or but toned, Olexa said, the trench coat can he worn by practically every woman. “Fashionable women will wear them with everything for ev ery occasion — day and night. Professional women can wear it in place of a jacket, and trench sil houettes and details also appear in shorter jacket versions and shirts,” she said, adding, “Young ^ women will wear them with jeans or to go out in the evening. It can even be worn in the rain.” For the most part, modern trench coats are most likely to in corporate a bit of water-resistant technology, meaning that they can withstand a small shower or driz zle without getting too wet. A few brands may be water-repellent (they can withstand a bit more wa ter, say a light rain, before totally becoming soaked) and a few more may even be waterproof (you can walk, run and sing in the rain without a problem). Prices for trench coats this sea son are all over the board. You can snag a Louis Vuitton ostrich skin ^ trench for $12,600 or find a prett; reasonable one at The Gap for a fraction of that. 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