Star treatment
Cony, Columbia grad does well in Hollywood
 

By BETTY ADAMS, Staff Writer

Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

"I'm just playing myself," said Nichols, an Augusta native who graduated from Cony High School in 1998 and Columbia University last month. Nichols compared the movie role to her own high school days when she was features editor at the Cony newspaper.

"Most of the parts I test and read for are high school students," she said.

In "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd," Nichols plays Jessica Matthews, a pretty, smart investigative reporter for the high school newspaper who befriends the mentally challenged Harry and Lloyd, played by Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson.

"It's a movie about the boys," she said. "They're weird, and they inadvertently help me crack the case. They think at different times that I'm in love with both of them."

The movie is the prequel to the 1994 "Dumb and Dumber," which starred Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. The latest New Line Cinema movie is set in 1986 in Rhode Island, but it was filmed this past winter in Atlanta.

"I had the time of my life. Everyone was so nice. New Line Cinemas were so generous with us," she said.

On Wednesday morning, Nichols was waiting for the clothes she was to wear to the premiere last night in Universal City, outside Los Angeles.

"I am wearing a Christian Dior," she said. She found a casual pants suit with a sexy top and a jacket to go over it. "It was tailored to fit me. Then I saw a dress I really liked and they said, 'We'll tailor that for you, too.' " As of Wednesday afternoon she had yet to decide which outfit to wear — both are black and white.

"I'll be wearing $5,000 diamond earrings, shoes, purse," said Nichols. The earrings and outfits are on loan.

She said she was flattered by the attention from the Christian Dior salespeople. "They thought I was seeing all the other designers," she said.

Then they said, "You're No. 28 (among the 100 models featured in the June 2003 issue of Maxim magazine), so we should give you another outfit."

The 5-foot-10, 115-pound Nichols wears a size zero. She appeared in the Maxim swimsuit issue two years ago. "When you do Maxim, everything is going to be very sexy," she said.

Nichols asked her brother Hunter, 20, of Augusta to escort her to the premiere and gave him airline tickets for his birthday last month. He arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday, not enough time to have an outfit fitted.

"He's going to go L.A. sexy casual: dress pants and a button-down shirt," she said. And if he didn't bring anything to fit, "My ex-boyfriend can give him some clothes," she said.

Before her brother leaves Sunday, "I'm going to show him the Hollywood life: Stars, photos, people screaming my name," she said with a laugh.

Nichols, who has been modeling and who has appeared on several television shows, auditioned for her role in "Dumb and Dumberer" but kept mum about it.

"I didn't tell that many people," she said. "I was worried I would end up on the cutting-room floor or be extremely embarrassed."

She had to confess to Courtney Beer, a friend from high school who wanted to visit Nichols at Columbia University in New York while Nichols was in Atlanta.

Lots of people in Augusta and at the University of Maine knew, however. "My brother does my PR at UMaine," she said. He will be a junior at the school this fall.

Nichols left Columbia halfway through her last semester to film the movie. "I wrote two papers and took one exam while filming," she said. "I took the last final of my college career on April 25 and then shipped all my stuff to California."

She managed to graduate in eight semesters. "My parents loved that," she said.

Nichols' degree is in economics and psychology. "I got where I am because of education. Education opened doors for me," she said.

Nichols graduated in the top 10 of her class at Cony, and holds the Cony girls track high jump record. At one point in her college career, she took a semester off and lived in Paris and practiced her French.

Now she lives amid luscious scenery on a hill that Californians call a canyon.

"It's quiet," she said. "My brother was concerned I would be living in a loud area. There's a lot of greenery. My dad would be proud."

"I have managers, agents, lawyers, but not a publicist," she said. "I've said no to a bunch of projects I've been offered. I'm going to start taking classes again and going to meetings and auditions. It's been very interesting. I'm still modeling to make money."

As for the movie, she said, "I think it looks great. I know what's supposed to be funny." She'll be looking for Hunter's reaction. "He's my younger brother but also one of my best friends," she said.

The movie opens nationally Friday. Her parents, Jim and Alison Nichols, plan to see it that night along with a group of their friends.

With her foray into films, Nichols joins another Cony graduate, Richard Dysart, who was in the Class of 1947. The actor appeared in the TV show "L.A. Law" and spent more than 30 years in film and on Broadway.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com