Good ‘Influence’

The critics are going insane for Lisa Zane’s performance in the thriller “Bad Influence” as a mysterious party girl who becomes involved with Rob Lowe and James Spader.

“I’m surprised at all the mileage I have gotten out of this,” admits the 24-year-old actress, who previously had small parts in “Gross Anatomy” and “Heart of Dixie.”

“It’s this really kind of nothing, wisp of a role, but people are responding very well to it.”

Zane even initially turned down the part. “I didn’t care for the role,” she explains. “On paper it didn’t look very promising. She’s basically a plot device--she’s used and killed. I certainly didn’t want to represent women that way.”

But the producer persuaded her to take the part and the filming went off without a hitch. “Everybody was pleasant,” she says, even bad-boy co-star Lowe.

For the past month, Zane has been playing the title role in the long-running Los Angeles theater hit “Tamara.”

“It’s really fun to do,” she says. “The cast are real troupers. I get to wear fabulous clothes and speak in French. The play’s sold out all the time. It’s kind of amazing because it’s kind of a hokey show.”

It’s also proven to be a hazardous one for Zane. She recently fell during a performance and received a rug burn on her foot. “I guess I didn’t clean it well enough because it turned into this awful thing. I had to go to the emergency room and get a tetanus shot. I’m getting workmen’s comp because of a rug burn!”

Zane began her acting career in her native Chicago, but left a few years ago because she “couldn’t build up steam” in the Windy City. She moved to Los Angeles to seek her fame and fortune.

She would eventually love to work with her older brother, Billy, who played the murderous psychotic in last year’s “Dead Calm.” “He’s not like that character at all,” she says. “He’s very sort of protective and responsible.”

Zane plans to stay with “Tamara” until she gets another film role which, considering her reviews for “Bad Influence,” won’t be very long. “It’s a great in-between gig,” she says. “The theater is where I started my career and when my face falls, that’s where I am going to finish it!”