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Polley, it turns out, was a big fan of the original Dawn of the Dead. The next night, she met with producer Eric Newman and director Zack Snyder at a restaurant in her bohemian Toronto neighborhood. ''Eric leaned over the table and took my hand in his and said, 'This will be career suicide. I'm asking you to do it for me.' And then Zack said, 'I've been directing commercials for I don't know how many years. This is my first feature. I cannot...afford...to fail,''' she says, laughing. Says Snyder: ''I think she just basically thought we were crazy. She was like, 'They either clearly have no idea what they're doing and that'll be funny to watch them burn, or this will be good.' So in her mind, it was win-win.''

But the picture went smoothly. Polley segued into working on David Miller's successful mayoral campaign in Toronto and eventually ended up on his transition team with famed urbanist Jane Jacobs. And after a last-minute reshoot to add the terrific, as-the-final-credits-roll sequence that follows the armored bus escape, the movie hit theaters and blew The Passion of the Christ out of the water it had been walking on. (Unsurprisingly, Polley is no great fan of the Passion phenomenon, devilishly remarking, ''It makes sense that we beat 'em out. I mean, we've got more people rising from the dead. They've got one. We've got thousands.'') And despite the occasional peep of dismay from family and fans about her decision to star in a $30 million zombie movie, most of the people around her have been supportive.

''I got this e-mail from Atom [Egoyan] yesterday. It was the funniest thing I've ever read,'' she says, giggling at the memory. ''He said, 'Thanks for scaring the s -- - out of me on Friday night. Nice to see you finally take charge of a school bus.'''

(Additional reporting by Michelle Kung)

When a DAWN OF THE DEAD producer met Polley, he took her hand and

[BOX]

When a DAWN OF THE DEAD producer met Polley, he took her hand and said, ''This will be career suicide. I'm asking you to do it for me.''

30-SECOND BIO

-- Born Jan. 8, 1979

-- ESSENTIAL FILMOGRAPHY The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Atom Egoyan's grim melodrama won the Grand Prix and International Critics Prize at Cannes. Go (1999) Polley owns Doug Liman's time-twisting black comedy. My Life Without Me (2003) Oversentimental drama about a dying woman, but a lovely showcase for Polley's softer side.

-- NEXT UP Directing her first feature from her own script, a drama about a child TV actor. Shooting begins this summer.

-- ODD PHOBIA Tardiness. ''I'm pathological. I'm 20 minutes early for everything.''


Posted Apr 02, 2004 | Published in issue #758 Apr 02, 2004 | Order Article Reprints
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