Watchmen - Malin Akerman As Silk Spectre II

Source: Warner Bros

The one human being with a genuine connection to Billy Crudup's character, Dr. Manhattan, is Laurie Jupiter, aka Silk Spectre II, who fell in love with Manhattan as a teenager. Laurie is played by Malin Akerman, who offers, "Laurie was head over heels in love with him, but as he grows more and more distant, there's nothing left for her in the relationship. His work comes before her in her eyes. She feels him falling out of love with her and the more he drifts away, the more she loses her identity."

After the murder of The Comedian (Jefferey Dean Morgan), Laurie reconnects with Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II)(played by Patrick Wilson), who shares her inchoate sense of loss. "Reconnecting with Dan gives Laurie back her sense of being a woman," Akerman affirms. "Someone is looking at her, for the first time in God knows how many years, as one human being to another. That reconnection reignites the fire that used to be there as Silk Spectre, the need for the adrenaline rush."

"Their common bond is that they have the same memories of fighting crime," adds Wilson. "They've since become regular human beings just trying to muddle through life without any special powers, moral certainty or superhuman brilliance. Laurie opens Dan up to putting the suit on again. It's the thing that he's most terrified of and the thing he wants more than anything. He just needed somebody to look him in the eye and say, 'Let's do it.'"

Laurie had been pushed into the role of superhero as an adolescent by her mother, Sally Jupiter (played by Carla Gugino), who had been the first Silk Spectre. "As Silk Spectre II, Laurie learned to fight like a man," says Akerman. "She was this strong, powerful woman and, in spite of her reluctance to be a Mask, somewhere inside she loved it."

The vampy Sally Jupiter now lives in a retirement community in California and spends her time reminiscing about the limelight she once enjoyed as a rare female crime fighter.

The juxtaposition of daytime personality against the masked vigilante is also quite dynamic in the character of Silk Spectre. Sally Jupiter had created a sexy costume for her teenage daughter, a yellow and black mini-dress only marginally more modest than Sally's costume had been. Wilkinson updated Laurie's costume to be a form-fitting latex suit. "We wanted to keep the spirit of the graphic novel intact; Silk Spectre is in the same colors and has the same graphic silhouette as her costume in the book," Wilkinson explains. "But we rendered it in latex because we liked the idea of that extreme, hyper-sexualized version of her character. It juxtaposes so beautifully with Laurie's day-to-day look, which is very stitched together, tailored and precise, wanting to be taken seriously. We enjoyed exploring the two different sides of her personality."

Malin Akerman is fast becoming one of the industry's busiest young actresses. Last year, she starred in the hit romantic comedy "27 Dresses," with Katherine Heigl, James Marsden and Edward Burns, under the direction of Anne Fletcher. Akerman recently reunited with Fletcher to star with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming romantic comedy "The Proposal," due out this summer. Also in 2009, she will star in the Peter Billingsley-directed comedy "Couples Retreat," with Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman and Jon Favreau.

In 2007, Akerman starred with Ben Stiller in the romantic comedy "The Heartbreak Kid," directed by the Farrelly brothers. Her other film credits include the independent releases "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" and "The Brothers Solomon."

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Akerman moved to Toronto with her family at the age of two and spent her youth in both Canada and Sweden. At age five, she began modeling and acting in television commercials. When she was 17, she won the "Ford Supermodel of Canada" search and began spending her summers modeling in Europe. While enjoying success as a model, Akerman ultimately decided to attend college and to focus on her acting.

Soon after, she moved to Los Angeles and began landing roles in independent films, as well as guest roles on television series. Her breakthrough came in 2005 on the HBO series "The Comeback," starring Lisa Kudrow. Akerman gained attention of both critics and audiences for her work in the series regular role of Juno Millken on the show. In addition, she recently had a memorable recurring role on the third season of the hit HBO series "Entourage."

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