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Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
Goofball "Scary Movie" siren Anna Faris chats about her rapid rise, her rabid Internet fans and her plans to do indie drama. Oh, and she's not spoofing Cameron Diaz in "Lost in Translation"!
Oct 23, 2003 | Even if you haven't seen Anna Faris in any of the frighteningly successful "Scary Movie" movies, in which she channels teen scream queens Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt to hilariously earnest effect, her winkingly bubbly presence onscreen has probably made you laugh by now. The Seattle-bred actress, who turns 27 next month, sillied up the screen with great gusto in Sofia Coppola's shimmering "Lost in Translation," in which she played Kelly, the daffy actress who more than a few people have concluded must have been based on Cameron Diaz.
The morning after the Hollywood premiere of "Scary Movie 3," which hits theaters Friday, Faris, still recovering from the red-carpet hoopla, phoned Salon from Los Angeles to discuss her new status as an It girl (so dubbed by W magazine), the thrill of making people laugh, and how the actresses she's spoofed over the years have reacted to her gentle -- and not so gentle -- jibes.
So how was the premiere?
It was really fun. I've never done so much press. So it was really insane and overwhelming. It felt really good being the veteran of this series and being able to close the book on this film that I felt I just spent half my life on. Because we filmed for so long -- almost five months -- and we filmed so much. The movie itself is very short, but for these movies, they have to film a lot.
Was last night the first time you'd seen the finished product?
No, I had been to a test screening with a young audience about a week ago. It's really hard for me to watch myself. I get very sweaty and nervous. But I think everybody really enjoyed it. It's PG-13, and I think a lot of people really appreciated that there isn't as much sexual humor.
Did the director of this installment, David Zucker, best known for "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" films, deliberately tone it down more than the Wayans brothers had?
Yeah, definitely, because the Wayanses are kind of known for their envelope pushing when it comes to sexual humor and David's style is much more slapsticky. But they really wanted to be able to market it to a wider audience, and it's really successful. It still pushes the envelope, I think, but in different ways.
Was the experience making it really different than the last two for you?
Yeah, it was. For a number of reasons. Of course, without the Wayanses, the set was a much calmer environment. I loved working with David, but I do miss the Wayanses. But it was also great to work with the man who created the genre with "Airplane!" and to learn from him. And it also felt really good, because I am so new in this industry, to feel confident and experienced coming into this one.
What was the most challenging thing you had to do for the movie?
All the physical comedy. There are a bunch of scenes where I get hit or I have to walk into a boom mike or there's a vase that lands in my head. All that stuff is very difficult because it has to be carefully choreographed and there's a lot of luck involved in it. The scene in which I walk into a boom mike we had to do it like 17 times or something, because I kept walking right past it or not hitting it quite right. All that stuff is much more difficult than people realize.
Did working with a new team help you stay fresh in a role you originated so long ago?
You know, it is a challenge to keep the role fresh and do something new with it. The easiest thing for any actor is to play a really well-developed character. Here, you can't always stick with the character because you have to do what's gonna lend itself to the joke. So I just made sure I played it sincerely. Cindy's very innocent, naive, not always the brightest girl. She doesn't have much of a sense of humor.
Are you planning to come back to star in "Scary Movie 4," which I understand is now a go, or have you had enough?
You know, it depends on how I'm feeling at the time, what's going on in my life. I get really anxious to work and I hate not working, so if it's at a time in my life when I'm not really excited about anything else, then ... I mean, it's definitely something that I've done and I love doing, but I'm really excited to do other stuff.
It's sort of a double-edged sword. It launched your career but it also demands continued attention. It must get frustrating.
It does, because this is such a specific genre and so broad that people don't think of me when they're thinking of casting their new young-person drama. It's been wonderful to establish myself as a comedic actress because, first of all, I never thought that I was! I always did drama before. But also because there are so few of them out there. It's wonderful to be able to make people laugh.
How do you account for the ongoing -- endless -- appeal of the "Scary Movie" series?
[Laughs.] You know, I think people really want something that doesn't take itself seriously. And also there really wasn't any kind of movie like this for the younger generation before "Scary Movie," and I think everybody realized how silly yet enjoyable a lot of the teen horror movies were. We can love them but also make fun of them.
