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When “The Book of Eli” premieres Monday night in Los Angeles, a local face will be on the red carpet right alongside Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington.
Lora Cunningham, an Albuquerque native and New Mexico State University alumna, ended up with a major role in the new film “The Book of Eli,” a role large enough that she earned a walk down the red carpet.
“I’ve been on the red carpet before,” Cunningham said. “But this is my biggest one.”
It doesn’t get much bigger than Denzel and Mila Kunis. The film, directed by Allen Hughes (“Dead Presidents” and “Menace II Society”) is expected to be a blockbuster when it opens Friday.
It’s the story of a post apocalyptic nightmarish future in which everyone is a cannibal and Washington has the only copy of the book that can save humankind. The film was made last winter at Albuquerque Studios.
The first woman Washington meets on his journey is Cunningham, credited simply as Young Woman Hijacker. “I know that might sound nondescript,” Cunningham said. “It’s post-apocalyptic and we don’t have names. None of us have names. We’re all cannibals.”
I suppose it’s easier not to name your food, anyway.
But, Cunningham said, acting with Washington was certainly a treat.
“He is one of the most confident people. There is such a magnetism to that man. It caught me by surprise,” she said. “He was everything I thought he’d be and more. He’s the real deal.”
Then, later in the film, Cunningham is featured in a scene opposite the film’s other star, Kunis (“That ’70′s Show”).
“She’s a rascal is what she is,” Cunningham said.
Though she’s acted for several years in L.A., it’s been back home where she’s quickly landed several major roles.
Last week she shared camera time with Megan Fox and Mickey Rourke in “Passion Pit,” which began shooting in Albuquerque last week.
Cunningham also will appear on the upcoming season of “Breaking Bad” as an emergency-room doctor.
Cunningham stumbled into acting, she said, in the early 1990s when she was the choreographer for NMSU’s Sundancers dance squad.
“I got a call from a P.A., and I didn’t know what a P.A. was,” she said.
The production assistant introduced himself and said that he was working on a film in Las Cruces and wanted some of the dancers for a bar scene.
“I was young and I said, ‘Can I do it too?’ ” Cunningham said. “He said ‘Sure.’ “
She auditioned for a role, got it and was hooked.
But, at the time there wasn’t a movie business in New Mexico and she moved to L.A., where she was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts school. Though she’s acting locally, she’s also teaching acting classes at Albuquerque Studios.
“I’ve been finding my way back home,” she said.
