Anna Faris: Not Your Typical ‘House Bunny’
Premiere talks to rising comic star Anna Faris about developing her character Shelley in ‘The House Bunny,’ why it’s liberating to play a character without a love interest, and her vow to never Google herself.

Nobody can debate Anna Faris’ status as a movie star, but few may realize the subtleties of a career that began with Scary Movie and its three riotous sequels. However, the thirty-one-year old Seattle native has carefully navigated a variety of projects over the years that buck the archetypical, brainless female roles dominating contemporary Hollywood cinema. In The House Bunny, she confronts and deconstructs those stereotypes as Shelley Darlington, a doll-faced Playboy Mansion reject whose narrow outlook on life expands when she becomes the unlikely house mother for a sorority of social rejects (including one played by Superbad’s Emma Stone).

Although Shelley seems utterly vapid (an accusation she frequently mistakes for a compliment), the character turns out to be quite perceptive under the surface. The performance ought to be viewed alongside Faris’ remarkable transition into the dazed and confused pot smoker Jane F. in Gregg Araki’s woefully underseen Smiley Face. Faris’ out-of-place goofiness works in a variety of offbeat scenarios, from The House Bunny to the Scary Movie quartet. She spoke to Premiere about the motives behind those performances, the genesis of The House Bunny, and her “deliciously awful” future role opposite Seth Rogen.

Was it hard to get Playboy interested in this project?
No. We gave the script to them right after [Adam Sandler's production company] Happy Madison and Sony were onboard. They agreed immediately and were incredibly supportive. We spent a week and a half shooting there, and it was very satisfying.

Did the magazine finance any of the film?
No, they didn’t — not that I know of. I’ve been asked a few times if I know anything about producing, and I don’t, really. I got the executive producer credit because I created the idea and sold it to the studios. I was involved in some of the decision making, but most of the time they were just like, “Oh, that actress doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” I’m still working my way up on the producing side of things.

Where did the idea come from?
I came up with it a couple of years ago. It was a specific character I had been thinking about. What happens when you’re living a very surreal Hollywood life and it’s time to move on? Do you become a lawyer? Work at Starbucks? Marry somebody wealthy? I brought the idea to the writers of Legally Blond, they wrote the script, and we pitched it together. I’d never done anything like that before.

How much contact did you have with Adam Sandler?
Adam had produced The Hot Chick, so he was really involved. We pitched [The House Bunny] to him and he was like, “Let’s do it.” When you’re Adam Sandler and you say that kind of thing, it really happens. He was on set and wrote a lot of jokes. He’s a really hardworking guy.

Were you a sorority girl?
No, I lived in a dorm off-campus. Looking back, I wish I had joined a sorority. I probably would have been much happier. I couldn’t figure out what my social group was. I was the different girl.

Speaking of different, do you think Smiley Face eventually found its audience?
I don’t know. It’s so gratifying to me when people love that movie, because it was definitely a passion project for me, and so much fun to make. I’m not sure where it is on people’s radar. I don’t even know if it’s really out there. I guess it’s at Blockbuster. I did win a Stony Award. I have my High Times bong on top of my mantle, and I love it. It’s the only award I’ve ever won.

Well, it does display your range, especially when you compare it to The House Bunny. In that film, one of the sorority girls refers to your Playboy bunny character as “an archaically superficial model of the male fantasy.” That’s the exact opposite of the bumbling stoner you play in Smiley Face, Jane F.
It’s hard to play undefined characters, when it’s just the straight girl who’s supposed to be charming all the time, and she’s just the bounce board for the guy who’s supposed to be crazy — the man child. It’s much easier to play somebody specific.

Was there a point when your career started taking off that you realized the movie business pressures women to take certain kinds of roles?
It’s not so much that it pushes you into taking on certain roles; it’s just that it’ll give out and hire somebody that’s easy. For me, it was, “Oh, I’m not getting a chance to play the roles I want to play,” which are funny characters, whether it’s Jane F., Shelley, or my loud, obnoxious character in Just Friends. [The House Bunny] was an opportunity for me to take a little bit more control, and get a little bit more proactive in my career. This is a big, broad, commercial kind of movie that has wide appeal — unlike Smiley Face. It’s necessary to do all these different kinds of projects.

There is one similarity between Jane F. and Shelley: Both lack the ability to be romantic.
It was unbelievable to play a character with no love interests besides weed and her mattress [in Smiley Face]. That was so liberating for me. It’s very rare for a young actress to go there. With Shelley, I didn’t want to make a romantic comedy out of [The House Bunny]. I wanted to make it about the journey of this young woman. I always imagined that when she was at the Playboy Mansion, she was very used to a certain kind of guy who was there for a certain agenda — just to freak with the girls, flirt, get attention. I think Shelley’s a little smarter than everyone else does, but that’s just me. I guess we didn’t show that very well, because everyone thinks she’s the dumbest character in the whole film. It’s not that she’s just plain dumb; it’s just that she has never thought of herself as anything but that. When she gets the chance to date somebody who’s not a part of that world, she’s completely clueless. I didn’t want Shelley to be savvy. I wanted her savvyness to be so silly.

Since you’re so particular about your choices, what’s distinctive about the characters in your upcoming projects?
In Kids in America, I play a girl named Wendy, and she’s Topher Grace’s character’s twin. She’s really smart and very sassy, brassy — really fun to play. You’re always expected to play somebody that the audience needs to fall in love with. That’s exhausting and a little boring. She’s not that kind of girl. That was great, because I have a romance in the movie that’s ultimately really sad. My character gets wrapped up with the guy who was the high school jock. My character in Observe and Report is so deliciously awful. She’s really tacky. She works at a make-up counter, she’s really self-important and has long nails. I don’t mean to make pessimistic judgments on my own characters, but she’s just awful: catty, bitchy, unimaginative. She thinks that everything she says is hysterical, and that every guy is in love with her.

Your costar in Observe and Report is Seth Rogen, whose character in Knocked Up contrasted with Katherine Heigl’s character in such a way that people accused the movie of being sexist. Are you prepared to field those allegations?
Oh god, no. [laughs] I don’t know what to comment about that. I’ve played both mean characters and the better alternatives. In the future, I’m trying to develop my own projects and have a little bit of my own region of comedy to think about that.

What’s your role in Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel?
I’m a time traveler. I don’t know what the deal with that movie is. I hope I don’t get totally cut out of it. It’s a smaller role. I guess I couldn’t get cut out, because I’m a pretty big part of the plot, but my character isn’t as specific as some of the other roles I’ve played. Playing somebody specific makes everything so much easier.

Do you think there’s going to be another Scary Movie?
You know, I always feel like I’m the last person to know. The last time I was on IMDb, it said that I was doing Scary Movie 5. Nobody told me. Somebody also wrote on the message board that one of my boobs was bigger than the other. I never thought of that. So I’ve made a vow to not ever look myself up. No good can come of it. I loved doing those movies. I feel like each one was such an education. Going from being a lazy college student to working twelve hours a day was a good experience for me. I’m proud of the fact that I got to be a part of a franchise. I had just graduated college, and I told my roommate I had just been cast in this comedy with the Wayans brothers. She said, “That’s so weird, because you’re not funny.” I said, “I know I’m not funny. I’m probably going to get fired.” My whole family was a little shocked.

From Premiere.com