Red Carpet Report: ‘The House Bunny’
Premiere chats up the stars of ‘The House Bunny’ at the NYC screening about being awkward teens, rapping with Rumer Willis, and what to say when someone pinches your tail.

Leave it to actress Anna Faris to find herself sitting at home wondering what exactly happens to a Playboy Playmate after she peaks and has to move out of Hugh Hefner’s mansion. Faris, 31, turned her passing thought into her latest film, The House Bunny, and both stars and co-produces in the life-after-Playmate comedy.

“The Bunnies are so beautiful, and I am so awkward,” said Faris, who claimed that growing up she was really short, wore braces, read a lot, and didn’t have many friends in high school. Even her costume gave her some less than fabulous flashbacks. “I had a very complicated bra they had to outfit me in!” Faris revealed.

Faris describes her character Shelley Darlington as “really optimistic… She’s a kind-hearted girl with a heart of gold,” and admits in many ways Shelley is a lot like her. “I don’t know if I am as optimistic as she is, but there were times where I had to ask: ‘Am I as dumb as she is? I might be!’”

The reality is Faris is anything but dumb. Here’s what she had to say:

To get into character was there any method acting involved in this role?
There was A LOT of working out and three hours of hair and makeup every day, which I guess the Bunnies have to do too. I was wearing all those sexy outfits, and after a while I started to feel sexier. I think it was the gift that this movie gave me, amongst other things. I started to feel like a sexier person, which was really cool. I never felt that way before, so that was really nice.

Are you anticipating any feminist groups raising a ruckus?
Oh god, I just hope they don’t ask me anything. No, I should maybe worry about that and have something intellectual prepared to say. I wanted it to be clear that my character, while she is pressuring the girls to look sexy and impress guys, that we recognize that her priorities are skewed and not necessarily the correct priorities. I think this is an empowering story of women realizing that they really don’t need the approval of guys.

Did the Bunnies have any lessons they taught you?
They are really poised. I felt like I learned that. We would walk into parties where they were very poised, very graceful, very friendly, warm, and charming. Even when guys are groping them, pinching their tail, and acting inappropriate, they were always poised. I thought that was pretty impressive.

So someone could pinch your tail and you could maintain your composure?
You’re supposed to say [smiling while feigning a sweet voice and giving a little curtsy], “Please don’t touch my tail.”

Had you been to the Playboy Mansion before filming?
No, I hadn’t, so it was completely just a trip for me to be shooting up there and with Hef. The rainbow pajama collection was just amazing.

Now will you have a lifelong invitation to the mansion?
That’s what they say, but I bet they are going to forget about me.

What’s going on with your Linda Lovelace biopic?
It hasn’t, umm, well…I am not sure where it is in development right now. It’s something I am really interested in. It’s a really great script. The status is sort of all over the place.

You just finished shooting Observe and Report with Seth Rogan. How was working with him?
He is awesome. We had a great time. It’s cool how he does so much improv, which is really fun and keeps you on your toes. Their style of filmmaking is very loose and laidback. It’s all about the characters and really developing them. That was great for me and a lot of fun.

Did you discover any inherent improv skills?
No. I think it’s more like, if you have a really strong sense of who the character is, then you can get away with doing some improv. If you don’t, then it’s sometimes its like, “Oh! That was sad!” It’s interesting. I was taught when doing movies not to do improv at all. Like with Scary Movie, we didn’t improv at all. We stuck to the script. For me, improv was something that was really scary. You are really putting yourself out there, but I love it. It’s really fun.

Wait, so the Wayans school of thought is to not do improv? Who knew?
Well, the thing about the Wayans is they did improvise, there was some improvisation, but the Zuckers, David Zucker just doesn’t. He likes to stick to the script. He says, “Pretend it is a dramatic movie!”

How was it to try your hand at producing?
I didn’t really have much power as producer, but it felt really good to be a part of the process from the inception.

Do you think you’ll stick to comedies or branch out to more dramatic film roles?
I’d love to, but I really like comedy right now. It’s funny I never did comedy before. I was always doing dramatic work as a kid. I never did comedy.

From Premiere.com