Blonde Ambition

Meeting Hollywood starlets can be a surprising, if not downright disappointing business. Take Scarlett Johansson. As much as the camera adores her, in the flesh she looks like an undernourished kid. Megan Fox, the unthinking man’s pin-up, is similarly unrecognisable when you get up close and personal. Indeed, minus the chicanery of the airbrush, Ms. Fox is so covered in ink that in times past, she might have worked as the tattooed lady in a freak show.

We are, therefore, delighted to report that in Real Life, Anna Faris is a properly hot chick. Sitting in a ridiculously cute dark blue strapless dress, she appears to be that rarest of Hollywood commodities – someone who actually looks like she does in the movies.
“No, no, no,” she insists. “This is me dressed up. An hour ago I was sitting in my room with no make up in a big flannel shirt. It was heavenly. Why do we do this to ourselves anyway? Why do we have to get dressed up?”
It’s a pertinent enquiry given Ms. Faris’ latest comedic offering. In The House Bunny, she plays Shelley, a Playboy Bunny who, at the ripe old age of 27 (“That’s like 59 in Bunny years”) is cast out of Hugh Hefner’s mansion and forced to find gainful employment as the house mother to an unpopular sorority on a local campus.
Her charges soon receive a crash course in glamour while she, in turn, learns there’s more to life than fluffy pink accessories and giggling at men’s jokes.
“The Playboy thing is weird,” she tells me. “It was a concern that the Playboy stuff was so prominent. At the same time we wanted to create a character whose priorities were totally messed up so a Playboy bunny was a good way to go. I like to think the message is still there. Hopefully when you see the movie as opposed to the trailer, you’ll walk away thinking, ‘Okay, they didn’t completely sell-out’.”
The film did, of course, bring Anna into contact with Mr. Hefner, who co-stars alongside his three current girlfriends, Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt.
“He is an absolute gentleman,” Anna assures me. “But he does look at your chest a lot.”
The House Bunny, which the 31-year-old actress also co-created and produced, should seal her reputation as this century’s Marilyn Monroe. Ms. Faris, a smart cookie with an awesome talent for playing dumb, had just graduated in English Literature from the University of Washington when the makers of Scary Movie came a-calling with her big break. Her impeccable comic timing has, to date, enlivened four films from that franchise, though she has been equally impressive in dramatic roles, most notably in Lost In Translation and Brokeback Mountain.
“When I first started out in film, it was always in comedy,” she says. “At a certain point I remember thinking, God, I better do some serious dramatic work so I can prove to Hollywood I’m a real actor. Got to do drama. Got to prove I’m worthy. Got to do something my parents can show their friends. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve just decided drama is not for me. I don’t want to live in that world. I don’t want to plumb emotional depths. I love comedy. That’s what I want to be remembered for.”
While it’s true that watching Anna Faris slip on a banana skin is something like watching LeCorbusier design a house, comedy remains a lesser form as far as Hollywood is concerned. It’s a career handicap that Anna is all too aware of.
“I don’t know why comedy is ranked down there with porn,” she sighs. “Apart from anything else, comedies make so much money and that is, after all, how Hollywood measures success. But I think, I hope, that things are changing. There’s a shift to R rated movies in particular. People are moving away from all-ages comedies. They want films that speak to them that happen to be funny.”
It is, of course, a good time to be a funny girl. Judd Apatow’s ‘bromances’ and Ben Stiller’s Frat Pack may still receive the lion’s share of publicity, but bubbling under, we find a contingent of kick-ass comediennes including Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Diablo Cody and Sarah Silverman.
“It’s great,” says Anna. “Women have always played straight opposite the boys but not anymore. My brother is a sociologist – a fourth generation sociologist, no less – and we do talk about the shifts in population. There is a whole generation of women out there who are hungry to see themselves on screen. I’m 31 so I’m being edged towards the young mom roles now. But I’m hopeful that if you’re inventive enough, you can survive. If I can keep up with the transition into better, cooler movies I’ll be okay. What I’d really like to do now is make an anti-sex And The City movie just for the girls out there. You know, with stoner chicks and losers.”
Well, I’m impressed. I’m impressed that for the purposes of this interview we’re drinking pints of Stella together. I’m impressed that as a Seattle native, Ms. Faris is true to her grungy roots. I’m even more impressed that she was named as High Times’ Stonette of the Year, 2007. That has to be better than an Oscar, right?
“Oh, I think so,” she laughs. “The award is fantastic. It’s a golden bong that sits on my mantle. But it’s a piece of functional art as well. It works so unbelievably well. It has to be the best bong I’ve ever had.”
We’re just glad it’s found such a cool home.

The House Bunny is released October 10