Big screen beckons Tracy Trinita

By Hera Diani

JAKARTA (JP): The charm of the big screen is hard to resist, even for successful Indonesian model Tracy Trinita.

Following the path taken by famous models like Cindy Crawford and Elle McPherson, Tracy, who has made her way as an international model after winning the Elite Model Look contest six years ago, has now paved her way to star in a Malaysian flick titled Mendam Berahi (Holding Lust).

"I was just curious. I'm interested in movies and I wanted to know what it would be like being an actress," the 21-year-old Tracy told a media conference here on Monday.

"I read the script and I liked it."

Mendam is an Asian style Charlie's Angels, a blend of action and comedy starring three heroines: Tracy and Malaysian actresses Rita Rudaini and Shaleen Cheah.

But don't let the title mislead you. The film's title is actually the name of a ship owned by Sultan Malaka back in the 16th century.

The ship went missing after Portugal attacked Malaka and Admiral Khoja Hassan used the ship to transport his family and their belongings out of the region.

Fast forward five centuries later, Malaysian government appoints an agent, Madam X, to find the ship.

Madam then assigns Tania (Tracy), Edsa (Shaleen) and Sara (Rita) to do the job.

Too bad that Madam's long time enemy, Datuk Azmi, tries to cut off their effort.

In the meantime, Tania is also in pursuit of her missing daughter, Nini, played by Indonesian child singer Mega Utami, who also sings on the film's soundtrack.

The movie was shot in a month, from July 2 to Aug. 2, at several locations in Malaysia and the Philippines.

And the shooting was not something that Tracy -- whose face grazes top fashion magazines, stage and ads all over the world -- experienced in the glittering fashion world.

She described the shooting as a truly Linda Hamilton-esque experience.

"I had to crawl through the forest, with snakes, centipedes and caterpillars all around me... And I also had to carry weapons weighing two kilograms. But it was fun," Tracy said.

"The bomb and the explosion were also real. I kept hearing a buzzing sound in my ears for 10 seconds after the explosion," she said, laughing.

According to David Teo, chief executive officer from Metrowealth International Group who produced the movie, he was interested in Tracy after seeing her several times.

"My colleagues here in Indonesia advised me to cast her. Then I met and interviewed her when she was doing this fashion show in Hong Kong. I offered her the script and she said yes," he said.

He added that during the shooting and promotion in Malaysia, Tracy had made the cover story for dozens of magazines there. "Many put her on the front page," he said.

The film, which cost some RM 1.8 million (Rp 5 billion or US$588,235), will soon be screened in theaters across Southeast Asia. Indonesians, however, will have to wait until around January next year.

As for Tracy, the new experience won't keep her interest away from the big screen. The model said she will continue to make attempts to become an actress.

"I'm really interested in acting. This is actually my third movie," said Tracy, whose father is a Brazilian.

The first one is an Australian independent movie called Frank's Dream, and the second one is Zoolinder. Both films were shot in 1999.

The latter, due to be out this December, also starred Ben Stiller and Milla Jovovich.

"But in those movies, I only got a small part. In Zoolinder, I played a Hawaiian girl who teaches Ben to dance," Tracy said.

"I'm really amazed, though, by the way they work. They have five cameras, so we don't have to move them from one room to another and the crew were very professional, the actors were paid per hour."

Tracy said she planned to enroll in an acting school in New York next year.

"I did once, but I could only stand it for three months," she said.

"It was really crazy! The first day, we were asked to cry for hours and the next day we had to get angry for hours too!" she said, laughing.

Tracy denied that she wanted to make films because her career in modeling is going nowhere.

"I'm still young, only 21 years old. It's just that I'm a little bit bored of it because I've been doing it since I was 15," she said.

"I still want to do modeling, be better. But I also want to do acting, I want to get to Hollywood. Maybe it's too optimistic, but I want to try."

While waiting for her film, you can check her out at her website at www.tracytrinita.com.