TEARS OF THE DRAGON
Copyright © 2005 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

Tomb Raider III is a Go!, but Lara's third silver screen incursion might not be quite what you're expecting. Gone is the 100 million dollar budget, a leading Academy Award winning actress and enough pyrotechnics to ignite the Eastern Block, and in their place stands Valerie Perez, star of Tears of the Dragon - a low-budget fan-film shot with panache and enough bottled passion to elevate an army.

Ms Perez stopped by www.tombraiderchronicles armed with an exclusive new trailer for her upcoming motion pic, and fended off some tough questions from rogue reporter Ruby Rod.

"Who is Valerie Perez?"

I am the only child of a single working mom so I was a pretty lonely kid.

I enjoyed Archery and reading. After graduating high school I had a ton of fun working with a neuroscientist's research group that was applying virtual reality to physical therapy. I was then headed for Med School until realized I liked hanging out in the computer labs better than the chemistry labs. That's when I went through a period where you would have found me day or night locked in on a sublevel of Harvey Mudd College surrounded by PC monitors. From there I worked as an Information Technology geek for a few corporations and now I am one for a Southern California City. To help counter the fact that my job keeps me on butt all week, I like to get plenty of exercise hiking, climbing and mostly from Krav Maga (Hebrew for "contact combat") self defense classes in which I'm a green belt. I also love to play my harp and the art of pyrotechnics.

"How did the 'Tears of the Dragon' project come about?"

The idea was shortly hatched after I started to enjoy Tomb Raider Photoshop manipulation and I asked my buddy Nick to help me to take pictures. He had just graduated from film school. Nick called me up one day to ask "What about doing a Lara Croft Music Video?" I must have been feeling ambitious because I said without thinking "What about a Tomb Raider short film?" But he said didn’t want to do it unless a few key things happened and, thankfully, they did. Many people have since offered to help and a lot fell into place. A fantastic synergy got going and we've let nothing stop us.

"What inspired you to take on the daunting role of Lara Croft?"

I don't think I needed much inspiration. It feels quite natural stepping into Lara's shoes because I identify with her a great deal. It is daunting when I realize I am trying to measure up to an extraordinary person such as Lara but overall it's just being me... but with guns.

"Where did the title of the movie come from?"

I penned the title. 'Tears' relates to the struggle and blood shed over the 'Dragon' artifact.

"What is the synopsis of 'Tears of the Dragon'?"

While on the quest for an ancient Dragon artifact, Lara crosses paths with a Triad mob boss's son with whom she has unfinished business.