Anna Faris: 20Q

The best Bunny in the house talks about raunchy humor, those gawky teen years and what it’s really like hanging with Hef and the girls

Q1

PLAYBOY: You’re best known to movie audiences for your role as the hilariously clueless, adorable Cindy Campbell in the four raunchy Scary Movie flicks, as well as for playing an airhead movie star in Lost in Translation. If we’d known you in high school, would we be surprised you get cast so often that way?
FARIS: I was maybe a little eccentric in high school. I felt unattractive, short and self-conscious about my body, and I would purposely emphasize that by doing odd things. I wore glasses, braces, odd hairdos and dumpy clothes. I was clumsy and awkward. When I was a freshman I wore a Christmas-tree skirt as a cape. I couldn’t get any dates until senior year, and I remember the first time I heard a couple of guys commenting that I had a nice body, it was such a huge shock. It felt really good.

Q2

PLAYBOY: When was your family most shocked by your behavior?
FARIS: As a high school junior I wanted to hang out with the cooler kids, who were going to parties. My brother is three years older, and both of us went through our partying, drinking phases in high school. I would sneak out and stay out late. I got caught with a fake ID when I was 20. I had to go to court. I was terrified of what my parents were going to do, but they thought it was hysterically funny. It was like, Wait, what happened to the parents I used to know, who would’ve been furious?

Q3

PLAYBOY: We all know, thanks to your recurring role last season on Entourage, that your first name is pronounced “Ahnuh.” Have you spent a lot of time schooling people in that pronunciation?
FARIS: All my life. I worry that people think I’m being pretentious, but it’s an old family name. I feel inappropriate correcting people, so I’m always grateful when somebody around me says my name correctly, and then usually people catch on. That was one thing on Entourage I was a bit of a stickler about. My boyfriend on the show kept mispronouncing it, and I was like, “Look, I’m really sorry, and normally I wouldn’t do this, but you have to call me Ah-nuh if you’re going to play my boyfriend.” I mean, Anna Kournikova is Ah-nuh, right? I think it has kind of caught on.

Q4

PLAYBOY: Which of your Entourage co-stars would you most want to crash a party or go clubbing with?
FARIS: Oh, Kevin Connolly, for sure. We got along great, and he’s a lovely guy. He treated me with a lot of respect. He was a true professional. I enjoy parties, but I have to say I don’t really go to clubs at all. I’ll go to a dive bar, and I love hanging out at home, drinking wine, watching a movie. I’m pretty low-key. I love to host people at my house, but I tend to start early and crash early. I’ll just sneak away to the bedroom, shut the door and let my friends enjoy themselves for the rest of the night.

Q5

PLAYBOY: You’ve said you always wanted to be an actress. Why did you bother to get a degree in English literature from the University of Washington?
FARIS: When I was in college I decided to quit acting. I had a job prospect at an ad agency in London, and I was going to go live there. My parents were disappointed that I was throwing in the towel, but I just didn’t want a life of struggle. If I was able to get a day of work doing voice-over stuff for a commercial or if I was hired to do a training video or something, I just saw it as great college money.

Q6

PLAYBOY: What jobs did you end up getting?
FARIS: When I was young I was a babysitter, I cleaned houses, and I was a camp counselor. I was pretty bad at all my jobs. My heart wasn’t in it. Someone told me recently that they work for the burger chain Red Robin, and it still uses a training video I filmed in which I play the perfect hostess. At one point the phone rings, and I answer, “Thank you for calling Red Robin. We’re here for any special event you might want,” or whatever; then I put down the phone and say, “Here at Red Robin we always give good phone.” Oh God, can you imagine? It’s mortifying.

Q7

PLAYBOY: How did you go from giving good phone to giving good screen?
FARIS: I was about to graduate, and I auditioned for this really bad horror movie, Lovers Lane. I mean, most horror movies are pretty bad, but I got inspired, thinking, Maybe I’ve been a bit of a coward; maybe I can do this. So I moved to Los Angeles and auditioned for Scary Movie. That movie was perfect for me. I’m not offended by anything. I love crude humor. I have a lot of guy friends—I love hanging out with guys. Maybe because I was a little sister I can be really forgiving of guys. I just want them to be exactly who they are around me. So Scary Movie couldn’t have been a better job.

Q8

PLAYBOY: The Scary Movie franchise is famous for its raunchiness. Did anything about it ever offend you?
FARIS: I was willing to do anything. There was no scene I felt nervous about. I felt, They hired me, so I’ve got to deliver. When I went with my parents and brother to see Scary Movie at a Seattle strip mall the opening weekend, I was like, “Mom, there’s going to be a couple of points when I’m going to need you to go to the bathroom or get me popcorn. Just obey me.” Now I’ve totally broken them in.

Q9

PLAYBOY: So you’ve never refused to do anything they’ve asked you to do in a Scary Movie?
FARIS: In the first Scary Movie, at the last minute they were going to add a scene after this incredibly romantic love scene. Cindy’s boyfriend, Bobby, calls his friends and brags about having sex while his bodily fluids are all over the bed. I wanted to do it and not let Keenen Ivory Wayans, the director, down, but then I started to think about my parents seeing it, and it made me feel sad. So I said, “You know what? I’m not going to do this.” It was a crude and cruel scene, and that’s why it didn’t make it into the movie. But that was the last time I said no.

Q10

PLAYBOY: Action-film stars get to brag about the injuries they sustain doing risky stunts. Have you taken any hits in the name of comedy?
FARIS: In the second Scary Movie they cut a whole scene in which I’m paralyzed in a bathtub, the water is rising higher and higher, and I’m trying to pull the drain chain with my toe. In part of the scene I’m completely underwater. We did that in a pool, but I kept just naturally floating to the top, so I actually let them tie me down to the bottom of the pool. Now I would never do that. Those movies were such a great training ground, but they certainly didn’t pamper me or anything.