For Mila Kunis, "The Book of Eli" was an opportunity to open up a new chapter on her career. After eight seasons on the Fox sitcom "That '70s Show" and appearances in comedies like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Tony and Tina's Wedding," the actress was ready to be taken seriously.

A gritty, post-apocalyptic thriller, "Eli" gives Kunis a role unlike any she's had before. She appears glammed-down in dusty jeans and flannel shirts, with little or no makeup. But if it was up to her, she'd have looked much worse.

"I wanted gnarly teeth," moans the actress, 26. "But they were, like, 'uh, no.' Why? Because apparently an American audience would not want to look at me for two hours with gnarly teeth. I disagree."

In the movie, which opened today, the world's population is reduced to small bands of grimy survivors, including good guy Eli (Denzel Washington) and his nemesis, the power-mad Carnegie (Gary Oldman) -- the subject of billboards all around Wilmington that say "Religion is Power." Almost everybody looks like they've been to hell and back, with the exception of Kunis.

On second thought, says Kunis, it's probably better off that her character -- Carnegie's pampered stepdaughter Solara -- isn't as grubby as the rest of the filthy, dirty bunch. "Actually, Solara isn't supposed to be gnarly. She's being taken care of by Carnegie. She was able to shower. ... She didn't have sunburn on her face; she didn't have to."

For Kunis, one of the film's highlights was getting the opportunity to act with Denzel Washington. "He's very strong, very powerful," says Kunis. "He has a presence about him that's indescribable. It's something you can't teach a person to have."While the film has something to say about "commitment, sacrifice, survival and human nature," according to co-director Allen Hughes, it's also chock full of brutal hand-to-hand confrontations, knife fights and machete battles.

Like Washington, Kunis did many of her stunts, including dashing away from a grenade explosion. The scene was tricky, says the actress, because 30 minutes prior to shooting, she twisted her ankle stepping out of her trailer.