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  • 11 hours ago
Anna Faris revisits some of the most iconic lines from her career and tries very hard to remember where they're from. From her earthquake moment getting cast in Scary Movie as a self-described "dramatic theater rat from Seattle" who was told she wasn't funny, to pitching The House Bunny 24 times before it sold, to seven seasons of Mom alongside Allison Janney — Anna reflects on the roles, the memories, and the characters she'd love to play again.

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Transcript
00:00Oh God, I'm so sorry.
00:03Okay, let's see. I'm not gonna...
00:05I'm not gonna take anyone out.
00:07No matter what variety wants me to do.
00:19Haibachi, Benihana, Teriyaki.
00:22Scary Movie 3...
00:24I think?
00:264.
00:27Scary Movie 4.
00:30Haibachi, Benihana, Teriyaki.
00:33Haibachi, Benihana, Teriyaki.
00:35I had never done comedy.
00:37I was never known for comedy.
00:39I was like a little dramatic theater rat in Seattle.
00:44I had just decided to maybe give LA a year.
00:48I was gonna wait tables.
00:50I just graduated from college,
00:51but acting was something I didn't think I was good enough.
00:54I didn't think I was hot enough, whatever.
00:56So getting cast in Scary Movie was an earthquake in my life.
01:00An absolute earthquake.
01:01I had called my college roommate and I said,
01:04I was just cast as the lead in a spoof movie.
01:08And she said,
01:09Oh, Anna, you're not funny.
01:11I was like, I know.
01:12I know.
01:13I wasn't funny.
01:14She was right.
01:15It turns out I don't know all the activities that my face does, you know?
01:26Instead of the mahi-mahi, may I just get the one mahi because I'm not that hungry?
01:40The house bunny, I'm really proud of that project because it's so beloved and because it was a character that
01:47I had conceived of.
01:49I was pitching to the writers of Legally Blonde this character.
01:53I said, she's this lower echelon playboy bunny that's getting a little older.
01:59You know, she didn't go to college.
02:02She didn't get to marry the rich dude.
02:05What happens to her?
02:06And I said, maybe she becomes addicted to meth and she has to return to like her small conservative town
02:14and sort of have this reconciliation with her identity.
02:18And they were like, mm-hmm, or she could become a house mom at a sorority.
02:25Okay.
02:27So we pitched that movie 24 times around town on the 24th time it sold.
02:33Adam Sandler, Happy Madison, really wanted to go shoot at the Playboy Mansion.
02:40And we shot there our first week and it was surreal.
02:44I was at a point in my career where it felt like if I'm not proactive, I'm not going to
02:50work.
02:51And then it's like, how does one be proactive?
02:53And so, yes, I got to shoot at the Playboy Mansion.
02:56At some point, you got to realize that things are a little seedy.
03:01They felt seedy then and they feel really, really seedy now.
03:08So I guess I got invited to a couple of them, but maybe.
03:20Whoa.
03:21I don't know if I know this.
03:23Okay.
03:24Why don't you ask the Reverend to pray on it?
03:27Am I, this feels like, am I telling somebody off?
03:32Why don't you ask the Reverend to pray on it?
03:34Who?
03:35Why don't you ask the Reverend to pray on it?
03:37Who am I?
03:38Is it a multicam?
03:43Are you friends?
03:45This is friends.
03:46Why don't you ask the Reverend to pray on it?
03:48I tell Chandler off?
03:50On friends?
03:51Because my character was kind of innocent too, right?
03:53So how was that delivery?
03:54Let me try it again.
03:57Why don't you ask the Reverend to pray on it?
03:59I do remember like these sentimental group hugs because I think I was on the second to
04:05last episode giving birth.
04:08Like we would be having finished rehearsal and standing on the floor and I would be the
04:14only person that would be about two feet away from their group hug.
04:17They would be like, come on, come on, which also felt inappropriate.
04:21Like, I, I, I, I, like, I'm just here for, I, you guys, this feels wrong, but so special.
04:31And getting to shoot in front of the live audience for those audiences, you know, those
04:36people in that audience really knew what it meant to, would get to witness the end of this incredible show.
04:48Oh boy.
04:50It's not every day that your best friend grows a penis.
04:54Okay.
04:54This is gotta be the hot chick.
04:57What?
04:57It's not every day that your best friend grows a penis.
05:00What was my character's name?
05:03April.
05:04Sweet April.
05:05She's in love with her best friend, or at least crushes pretty hard.
05:10But I don't remember where we are when I say this.
05:12Am I on the bleachers?
05:13Or no, that was boys are cheats and liars.
05:16Boys are cheats and liars.
05:18They're such a big disgrace.
05:20Okay.
05:21Uh, boys are cheats and liars.
05:23They're such a big disgrace.
05:26Uh, they will tell you anything to get to second.
05:30Baseball, baseball.
05:31He thinks he's gonna score.
05:34Horticulture study.
05:36Flowers.
05:37Geologist studies.
05:38Rocks.
05:39All boys.
05:41Cockroaches.
05:42Beetles.
05:44Butterflies.
05:45And bugs.
05:49He's up in the North Pole dealing with the whole ice cap situation.
05:54Yeah, he's probably gonna fix it.
05:56Yeah, he's probably gonna fix it.
05:56I don't know what this is from.
05:59At all.
06:00A movie.
06:00A rom-com.
06:03Oh, uh, what's your number?
06:05Oh, good.
06:06I love, I loved playing that character.
06:09He's up in the North Pole dealing with the whole ice cap situation.
06:14My best friend from childhood.
06:16That's her favorite of my movies.
06:18Because she feels like Ally, my character in Witcher number is closest to who I am.
06:24I think I'm a little more, I wear more sweatpants than Ally does in the movie.
06:29But, oh yeah, he's up in the North Pole dealing with the whole ice cap situation.
06:34Yeah, I think he's probably gonna solve it.
06:38Oh boy.
06:39Okay.
06:40This is a mouthful, isn't it?
06:42This must have been a stressful day on set.
06:45This is my store.
06:46This is a Free Earth Collective.
06:48We are a vegan, feminist, non-profit cooperative operating within an anti-racist, anti-oppressive
06:55framework for people of all or no genders.
06:59This is from The Dictator.
07:01We are a vegan, feminist, non-profit cooperative operating within an anti-racist, anti-oppressive
07:07framework for people of all or no genders.
07:09My character is feminist and she believes in justice.
07:14You know, to her core.
07:17I'm in New York.
07:19It's the summer.
07:20I've grown out my armpit hair.
07:22My own armpit hair.
07:24And when your armpit hair, you haven't ever really seen it.
07:28You know, and when you, you've been bleaching your hair since you were 15 years old.
07:33So, you don't imagine your armpit hair coming in so dark and curly, but not even curly, just
07:43sort of straight kink.
07:45And you're like, hey, you want a cab?
07:50I feel like I wanted to do a little more with who Zoe was.
07:58There were a lot of writers working all the time.
08:02I think also having grown up in, with film, where you're restricted.
08:08Improv is a gamble and a lot of directors don't like it.
08:12So, having had those, that strict kind of boundary, I don't improv as much as one would
08:19think.
08:20But I do like to think I improv at crucial moments.
08:26God, I wanna lick your skin off.
08:30Just friends?
08:32God, I wanna lick your skin off.
08:34I prefer you David.
08:35Man, I loved playing Samantha James.
08:38I got to, like, express something.
08:41The brat in me.
08:43Oh, it was really, really fun to play a character that was so entitled, so confident, so talentless,
08:54so obnoxious, unaware.
08:56Just wonderful.
08:58I want to play versions of her again.
09:01I'd love to play her again.
09:03It was a delight.
09:06Okay.
09:07While other mothers were cooking dinner, you were cooking meth.
09:10While other mothers were cooking dinner, you were cooking meth.
09:15That must be from Mom.
09:16I must be talking to Alice and Janie.
09:18While other mothers were cooking dinner, you were cooking meth.
09:21Season one.
09:22Episode one?
09:24All right.
09:25I had never met her before the show, and yes, right from day one, we had a special bond,
09:32a special friendship, and I needed that.
09:35You know, it was seven seasons, seven years.
09:39And couldn't have done it without her.
09:42You know, she is just an incredible person.
09:46I love her so much.
09:47I think that show continues to resonate with fans because of its subject matter.
09:53We were intimate and vulnerable.
09:57I'm proud to be a part of something that, you know, at the grocery store, at, I don't go anywhere
10:03else.
10:04At the grocery store, in the freezer section, in the meat section, vegetables, baking, for sure baking.
10:13I get a lot of people telling me how much a show has, like, has meant to them.
10:20I love Jell-O.
10:24I feel like this could be in any of my movies.
10:28Oh, of course, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
10:32But don't you think any of my characters could say, I love Jell-O.
10:36I love Jell-O.
10:38I love Jell-O, too.
10:39I loved working with those guys.
10:43Like, in Seattle, there wasn't a ton of work for, I don't know, for actors at that time.
10:50And I would do a lot of voice work, though.
10:52I would do a lot of regional commercials and, like, whatever to get 200 bucks here and there.
10:57I've always enjoyed doing voice work, creating a character, playing with levels of vocal levels,
11:03and getting to do a movie where, you know, if you find yourself talking at the grocery store about Mom,
11:12the show Mom with Allison Janney, and there's a little kid that's in the cart,
11:18and they're like, cartoons don't talk, do they?
11:23And you're like, yep, they do.
11:27Um, you're behind the couch.
11:32I can see your feet.
11:34Cindy Campbell, the original scary movie.
11:38Um, you're behind the couch.
11:42How do you know that?
11:44I can, um, see your feet.
11:46For me, like, getting to revisit this franchise in this way, with the Wayans brothers getting their franchise back,
11:56I didn't think it would ever happen this way.
11:58In fact, I thought that if I was a part of a scary movie again, that it would feel, like,
12:06a little bit sad for me.
12:08Like, okay, you know, I'm doing this for the mortgage, and, you know, Cindy's gonna, I gotta get back on
12:20that horse again.
12:21And so to have it with Marlon calling me, I hadn't talked to them for 23 years.
12:27I never had an opportunity to thank Keenan for casting me.
12:32So I got to personally, you know, just show up every day, tell them how thrilled I was to act
12:41with them again,
12:42and thank them for throwing me into the world of comedy that I didn't know I needed.
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