Isla Fisher On ‘Great Gatsby’ And ‘Now You See Me’: Actress Feels ‘No Pressure’ With Summer Releases

Now you see her – twice.

Yes, that’s Isla Fisher appearing in two of the first major films of the summer-movie season: the latest adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” as well as the crime caper “Now You See Me.”

“It’s really exciting,” Fisher says. “I guess I don’t feel any pressure because I’m not the lead in either movie.”

In “Gatsby,” she’s the ill-fated Myrtle Wilson – logging precious, but little, screen time. In “Now You See Me,” Fisher plays one of a quartet of magicians who use their talents to take back money from immoral millionaires and return it to the people they bilked. The film boasts an all-star cast, including Morgan Freeman and Woody Harrelson. “And Mark Ruffalo is chasing after us, and Melanie Laurent and Michael Caine,” she added in a recent interview. “(It’s) basically a lot of people nominated for Oscars – and then me, a SAG member, committing these heists.”

During filming of “Now You See Me,” Fisher (whose first name is pronounced “EYE”-luh) had a close call.

“I was chained under water,” the 37-year-old Australian-raised actress recalled. “I had a quick release on my wrists and a quick release on my feet, but the chain that was tying my wrists to my ankles … It got looped around the bottom of the tank. I’d already been under for two-and-a-half minutes, and I couldn’t get up for air. And I did have a moment of, just, `Oh my gosh. Not in a swimming costume. No one wants to go in a swimming costume.”

Fisher, who has two children with actor-husband Sacha Baron Cohen, seemed poised for name-above-the-title stardom after a breakout performance in the 2005 comedy “Wedding Crashers” and headlining the 2010 comedy “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” which grossed more than $100 million worldwide.

But that success did not catapult her to leading-lady stardom. Instead, she’s stayed steadily employed as a working character actress. “I naturally gravitate towards people who don’t mind getting ugly,” FIsher responded. “That’s why I think I’ve not really enjoyed the `ingenue’ road, or at least it has not been offered to me, because I’m willing to pull a bad face, and to sweat a bit. Or glow.”

“The Great Gatsby” opened Friday. “Now You See Me” opens May 31.