Fiona Dourif: I Didn't Steal 'The Master'

It's not me! It's Amy Ferguson (I think).

Last year I was lucky enough to be cast in Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie, The Master, and spent two weeks shooting in Vallejo, California. I was ecstatic, to say the least, and the experience was great. Most of my scenes involved my character being "processed" (an interrogation-like ritual that the Master, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, uses to explore his followers' "past lives") or trying to get Joaquin Phoenix's character to fuck me (clearly a recurring theme in the movie), but there was also one where I played the double bass at a party. Midway through the party, Phoenix's character imagines all the women naked, so we shot it that way too. It was fun.

Now, every actor hopes to stand out in the final cut, of course, but I knew my role was pretty small. I was just happy to be there, and getting to work with the incredibly talented team assembled for the movie was cool enough by itself. So you can imagine how surprised I was last week when my friends started sending me articles that mentioned me by name.

"And, in that brief role, Fiona Dourif almost steals the film. She glides through the store in a single shot that's as graceful as it is sexy..." -Richard Brody in the New Yorker

"Fiona Dourif is the most arresting woman in the film, playing a model in a department store where Freddie gets a job as a photographer before falling in with Dodd." -David Thomson in the New Republic

Oh, you know, that's just David Thomson, maybe the most venerated critic and film historian alive, calling me out by name. No big deal.

Just kidding, it's totally cool! Or it would be... if it were me.

Because, yeah, that's the thing: I didn't play a model in a department store. I played one of the Master's followers. And I haven't seen the finished film yet because I'm in Winnipeg for two months shooting a different movie... but I've heard that I made the cutting room floor along with most of the smaller roles, and that I appear only in the party scene where I play the double bass, with and without clothes.

So not only did I get cut, I got critical praise for a role I didn't play... and worst of all, the poor actress who actually played the role that delighted some of the nation's top film critics isn't getting the recognition she deserves! Again, I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm pretty sure the actress David Thomson and Richard Brody are talking about is Amy Ferguson, identified on IMDB as "Martha the salesgirl." If so, Amy Ferguson deserves the critical kind words, not me!

I did, however, learn how to play the double bass. I can even do it naked.