I thought Anna Faris was going to be a huge star as soon as the first "Scary Movie" opened. She did the Leslie Nielsen role in that spoof and it was huge, but somehow they didn't pick any breakout actors from that franchise. Three sequels later, she was still doing scene-stealing funny parts, but no starmaking vehicles.
Eight years later, "The House Bunny" may finally be that opportunity. Faris plays Shelly Darlington, a playboy Bunny who gets kicked out of the mansion for reaching her late '20s. On her own, she finds a sorority of geeks and becomes their house mother, to teach them how to glam up and learn how to tone it down a bit.
The role lets Faris play goofy, ditzy comedy as fans have come to love from the "Scary" movies and "Just Friends." This time, she gets to have a character arc too. Shelly learns there's more to life than baring all, and she finds real girlfriends.
Some comedians continue the show throughout all their interviews. Faris isn't like that. She's just a quiet, soft spoken girl. This way, you may have to wait to see the show, but you get some insight into her process.
Q: How did you prepare for this role, and can you identify with Shelly?
Anna Faris: Um, I would like to say that I slept with Hef, but I’ll dispel that rumor right now. No, I was thinking, about three years ago, about what happens when it’s time for the next phase of life for some of these girls who have lived in the Playboy mansion. How do you sort of reenter the real world? I pitched the character to the writers and. They wrote a script and together we produced it. The next thing you know we’re shooting at the Playboy mansion. I have to admit, I did very little to emotionally prepare to play Shelly Darlington. I guess she’s always been in there somewhere. But, I did work out. I got some hair extensions, a lot of padded bras. I guess that’s the extent of my prep.
Q: The silliest moment may be where she repeats everyone's name in a gravely voice. What was the inspiration for that?
AF: I have to credit our director with that. He was like, "Can you do a crazy voice?" And I said, "What do you mean?" And he said, "I don't know, just say something like, "Natalie" in a funny way." And I was like, "Okay." I thought there was no way this was going to work. It’s out of left field, Shelly is suddenly demonic. Anyway, it ended up, I think people will like it and now I’ve been doing that gravely voice all day.
Q: This movie is about teaching girls to be comfortable with themselves. When did you come out of your shell?
AF: I definitely still feel incredibly awkward and I never quite get used to this stuff, but I’m really proud I made a movie, because I feel in my movie experience, I’ve definitely given up a sense of vanity. So it was kind of nice actually to play like the pretty girl, but I do want to commend the girls. All of them gave up their sense of vanity for the sake of the movie and they were all so game and eager to be vulnerable on camera. Whether it was Katherine being pregnant, Rumer clearly with the neckbrace, Emma wearing weird glasses, all of them approached it with enthusiasm. There wasn’t a moment where I had to say, "Come on, just do it for the movie. You get to be hot later on." Everybody was so game and more excited to play those characters, sort of the true Zeta girls more than maybe when they were to be super hot.
Q: Have you shown the movie to Hugh Heffner?
AF: Yes, yes, we have. He loves it. He really likes it. He’s been an incredible support system. I saw him yesterday and he really likes the movie. His girls are in it. It definitely was thrilling to see him act in a movie we conceived of. It’s awesome.
Q: So if Shelly decides not to do a centerfold, what does that say about empowerment and a publication like Playboy?
AF: I don’t think it’s a stand against not being a model. I think Shelly will always be a little vain and love her wardrobe and her curves or whatever. But, I think it’s more about finding her real family and that she realized that she doesn’t belong in that world anymore, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a judgment against that world.
Q: What was it like shooting in the mansion?
AF: It was really intimidating. When we went and pitched it, I would be in character and, so I was starting to really have a clear vision of who Shelly was. Having said that, it was really intimidating. I kept feeling, "I don’t belong in this crowd." All these girls are really hot and confident and I felt really self-conscious for sure. I thought maybe the studio world wouldn’t see me as that, so that was intimidating, but when I floated the idea past my mom, who is pretty conservative, she was like, "You’re doing what?" And now, of course, she’s like "I’m so proud of you" which is nice.
Q: What did it take to get all dolled up?
AF: Shelly, you know, she’s got a lot of hair. She likes a lot of makeup. We had to do a lot of body make up and make up to make my cleavage look bigger. But, the shoes, getting into the wardrobe usually took a good 20 minutes or so, strapping in. It was a challenge. The shoes I loved. As I think everyone knows, I kept them all. I still will put them on at night and trot around. I don’t go anywhere, but I loved wearing those.
Q: How was the girl power vibe on the set?
AF: It was awesome. I think we all became really close. I think we naturally fell into the roles that we played. I definitely felt at times that I was a house mom. It was great to feel like we were making a movie with so many great female roles and it felt rare and special.
Q: How would you contrast the experience actually generating an idea and writing it through all the way to the end versus just playing a role?
AF: It was amazing, very inspiring and empowering and also eye opening because I had no idea how difficult it was to make a movie an to put all the pieces together. We thankfully had the support. Without my writers I would still be twiddling my thumbs thinking, “Where would that Playboy bunny go?” And then of course then the support of Happy Madison was incredible. They were able to push our movie through so quickly and Sony was amazing. I had a really positive experience. I keep thinking I am really naïve to think that anything ever goes that smoothly, but I’ve got to say I wasn’t getting a chance to play the roles that I really wanted to and so this felt like, “Oh, so maybe I can do this and maybe I can continue to do this.” Which would be amazing.
Q: Was it hard to keep a straight face during some of the crazy scenes?
AF: Yeah, luckily Shelley smiles a lot. It was. There were times for sure that it was really hard and it was when we were doing the weird voices thing because these girls were really funny about it. I think that is just one of the many joys I get out of what I do being in comedy. I feel really fortunate that I get to work in an environment where we are laughing all the time.
Q: Do you have any female comedians that you particularly like or model yourself after?
AF: Oh, lots that I admire and would strive to be compared to. I love Lucille Ball, Judy Holiday, Carol Lombard, Goldie Hawn, Betty White. I love her. I think that is my top list.
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