DIANA HAYDEN

Now to star opposite Bruce Willis?

Diana Hayden is all groggy-eyed when you wake her up one early morning in her London apartment. She lets her cell-phone ring a couple of times, and answers it only when she realises you’re not going to stop calling until you’ve spoken with her...

The dusky beauty has just finished an “intense” acting course from the Drama Studio, London (DSL), which she claims she has immensely benefited from. “Although the course was essentially Shakespeare and theatre-based, we did have lectures in film and radio too,” Diana reveals. Proudly she makes it a point to mention that she was nominated for the Best Actress award for her role in a Chekhov play she performed at school. “All year I was this sponge, just soaking up everything I learnt,” she says.

Shortly after completing the course, Diana visited Mumbai where she says she met several filmmakers who seemed keen to work with her. “People have been sending me scripts for the last three years, and I’ve been telling them not to,” she reveals. “I’ve been asking them to send me only interesting character roles, not any of the usual stuff — the ones with eight songs and dances — because I can’t do that.”

But she is evidently more enthusiastic to speak about her visit to US from which she’s returned only a few days ago. Politely refusing to take names of the Hollywood filmmakers she’s been interacting with, Diana does reveal that she had a particularly fruitful meeting with the head honchos of Miramax, the most important independent film studio in Hollywood. She is evasive when you bring up the rumour about her doing a film with Bruce Willis. Neither confirming nor denying the same, she says she’s “still negotiating on several scripts” and should be ready to make an official announcement soon.

However, she’s confident that she’ll be able to juggle acting assignments in India with any work that may come from Hollywood. “I’m not going to sign every film that comes my way. I will be very selective,” she promises, revealing that she’s already turned down a bunch of offers from both sides of the globe. In India, Diana confesses she’s more attracted to films like Bandit Queen and Terrorist, which she says are more likely to stimulate her.

By January next, when she will visit Mumbai again (for the Miss India pageant), Diana says she should have some concrete film assignments to speak of. Until then, she says, “I’m meeting all the right people and getting ready for a whirlwind career.”

Rajeev Masand

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