To Die For!
Maxim, February 2006
French-Canadian knockout Emmanuelle Vaugier met a gruesome end in last year’s smash Saw II, but is reborn as Charlie Sheen’s love interest in Two and a Half Men. (Damn, he scores again!)
All eyes are on Emmanuelle Vaugier at her Maxim photo shoot, but this fetching former model is too busy admiring the scenery to notice. “In this house you feel like you are in Europe, with high ceilings and the frescos,” she sighs. “The kitchen is the size of most people’s apartments. I’m thinking, is the owner cute?”
This saucy Canadian export may be single, but she doesn’t have any interest playing the trophy wife (as she did on the UPN series Veronica Mars). Emmanuelle – fluent in French and English – is just way too busy at the moment. After portraying Lex Luthor’s missus on Smallville and appearing on Charmed, she was poisoned, mutilated, and ultimately killed off in last fall’s Saw II. You can catch her slinging even more gore in the upcoming horror flicks House of Dead 2: Dead Aim and Unearthed. And now it seems going toe to toe with zombies and psychos was easy compared to her latest role – making Charlie Sheen grovel for sex. But on the CBS hit series Two and a Half Men, Emmanuelle does the impossible: She steals Sheen’s heart and escapes with her pants intact.
On Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen wants you but you fight him off and tell him to take it slow. Is that a case of art imitating life?
He’s been a gentleman. The funny thing is, two years ago I had done a Heidi Fleiss movie (Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss). And it didn’t really occur to me until I walked on the set. At the end of the first day, I was like, “Oh, right, I did that movie. I hope he doesn’t know about that!”
Your secret is safe with us. Was it fun to watch yourself experience a drawn-out, horrible death in Saw II?
I’ve watched myself die over and over and over again. So now it’s just how I die that’s more interesting to me. The more creative they can get, the better. My mother doesn’t think so, but I do. It’s probably not fun watching your child die on-screen in some horrific and gruesome way.
Since you’ve already died 1,000 deaths, name one particular way you wouldn’t want to go out.
Burning alive would be bad. I’d hate to suffocate to death, but at the same time you’re unconscious by the time you actually die – it’s over pretty quickly, and it’s not as painful. Burning, that’s painful!
In Saw II those traps your hands were in looked mighty painful…
The blades were made of plastic, but they were still sharp enough that at the end of the night I had scrapes and scratches all the way up my arms. It looked like I tried to commit suicide or do something really horrible to myself. But it’s all in day’s work!
You have two more horror flicks, House of Dead 2 and Unearthed, coming out this year. Have you always dreamed of being a scream queen?
You know, horror movies have never been my thing. I love psychological thrillers like The Exorcist, The Shining, even though they scare the living daylights out of me. My brother was a big fan of horror movies like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, so of course I didn’t want to be a big fan of anything he liked, since I was younger than him and we were constantly fighting. But I enjoy them now.
Was there a movie that absolutely scared the crap out of you as a kid?
Pet Semetary. Now I watch it and laugh. But I remember we had a slumber party at my best friend’s house when I was a kid, and we watched it. I was fine for that night, but when I got back to my own house and went back to sleep the next night I was terrified. I had the covers pulled up almost over my head, and I was sweating. Then I’d have to go to the bathroom, so I had to sprint to the bathroom and leap back onto my bed just in case something wanted to grab me from underneath! My grandmother had to sleep in my room for two weeks until I got over it.
Have you gotten over it?
I’m still convinced something is under the bed now. Things haven’t changed!
Speaking of monsters…Josh Hartnett faked an orgasm with you in 40 Days and 40 Nights. What would you do if a guy really did that?
I’d probably laugh. Isn’t that horrible? I’d be laughing at the situation, because you would probably both know what had happened.
How often do you fake it?
Never, ever, ever. If it is not going to happen, it’s not going to happen. I don’t feel the need to make something of it. Sometimes it’s just more difficult for woman than men. And I get paid to fake it in real life…Let me rephrase that. I get paid to play pretend.
Sticking with real life, what are tipoffs you’re not meant to go with a guy?
When my dogs, Lily and Isabelle, don’t like the guy, that’s a problem. It’s a big indicator – they’ve always been right.
Ever get a split vote?
One of them is a bit of a whore in her old age. She figures, I’ve got to make the most of it; petting feels good. Isabelle is more discerning about who she chooses to hang out with. She’ll go and bite someone if she doesn’t like them.
Have you ever managed to coerce some poor sap into walking them?
It’s not so much their being OK with walking the dogs – it’s their being OK with walking five pound toy poodles. Only one guy has actually done that, and that was a long-term relationship. But, yes, I’ve asked every once in a while, and it’s always, “No way.” I use to live in West Hollywood, so that was a big no way. But when a guy takes the dogs out by himself, I’ll know it’s true love.
You found love with Lex Luthor on Smallville. Have you ever dated an evil bastard in your personal life?
I haven’t had any really horrible experiences. There’s always a high school jerk, isn’t there? But I didn’t date much in high school, because I went to an all-girls private school for ten years.
Whoa! You were a Catholic school girl? Describe your uniform.
Well, I was and Anglican schoolgirl – my family was Catholic, but the school was Anglican. I wore a navy blue sweater and a plaid, pleated skirt.
We’d hike up our skirts really short and wear boxer shorts underneath so we wouldn’t get in trouble. It was a big thing getting cute boxer shorts. At Christmas you’d get little Christmas boxer shorts; everything had a theme. So there was an upside to going to an all-girls school. Not a big upside, but at least there was one.
You’ve been all around the world. Has anyone ever improperly propositioned you or tried to buy you for 30 camels?
When I was modeling in Japan, I could blend in a little because of my hair, buy my roommates with blonde hair got harassed. People would touch their hair and grope them in the subway. Actually, a lot of groping happens in the subway in Japan, but that’s probably true of subways everywhere. Nobody’s ever tried to buy me for 30 camels, though, and I’m a little sad about that…but there’s still time! Maybe I could get the price up to 35 camels and start a bidding war. Then I’d feel really good about myself.
What’s it like being three feet taller than an entire country?
It’s good, because everybody’s three feet taller than me here – I’m only 5’7”. Actually, there are a lot of tall Japanese people now. They’re eating all that hormone–filled meat, so they’re getting taller. But the shopping was phenomenal, because I have small feet, and they always had my size shoes. I’m six and a half, and that’s actually a large size there.
Besides the excellent shoe shopping – which is deeply important to us – were there any other culture shocks?
One night I hung my laundry on the balcony. The next morning my underwear was missing. There’s a fetish with girl’s underwear, and men will steal it. They sell them in vending machines.
Clean or dirty underwear?
A little of both. They’re worth more money if they’re not clean. On street corners in certain cities in Japan, they also have a sex toy vending machines. There aren’t a lot of them, and they shut down at midnight.
And that’s why we won’t live in Japan… too conservative. Persuade us to move to your hometown of Vancouver without using the words “President Bush.”
Clean. Beautiful. Mountains. Water.
Nice try. We’re still not listening.
Hot women. The best strip clubs in the world.
We’re listening…
Apparently, Vancouver’s got the most beautiful strippers in the world. I’ve been to Brandi’s, the strip club that everyone always talks about, and the women are very beautiful. Actually, I’ve been their twice with a bunch of girlfriends and a couple of guys. It’s a classy joint, and it caters to a rather sophisticated clientele. They have more of a burlesque show than a strip show. They still get naked, but it takes a while.
by Liane Bonin
photography by Russel James