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An Interview Anna Faris
& Regina Hall
Round
three! The Scary Movie franchise is back once again, and so are
its stars Anna Faris, as Cindy Campbell, and Regina Hall, as Brenda
Meeks. Like the last two be prepared for some outrages gags and
over the top spoofing of “The Ring,” “Signs,”
“Matrix Reloaded, “8 Mile” and “The Others.”
Over the weekend Anna and Regina talked about what you can expect,
what got cut out, and making the transition to a new director.
 Anna,
since you were in the first two, how different was it working
with David Zucker oppose to the Wayans brothers?
Anna: Originally
when we found out the Wayans' weren't involved; it was hard because
we're both close with the family. They pretty much taught me everything
I know, and they're also a whole lot of fun to work with. But
David created the genre. We're both big fans of ‘Airplane’
and ‘Naked Gun’ and that whole series, so we were
in really good hands. And working with David, he's such a gentleman.
He's so kind and calm. So it was a different environment sort
of energy-wise on the set. I mean, you guys have probably interviewed
with the Wayans' before. But it was a great time. It felt really
great to come back to it, to feel like a veteran in something,
because I feel so new just sort of in general that it felt really
good to play this character again, and there just aren't that
many female comedic roles.
Regina, what was the
difference for you between this one and the first one?
Regina: I think
the same thing. We had all new people in the movie. And we stuck
to the script as opposed to having a lot more improvisation as
with the Wayans. Except for Anthony.
Anna: You just
can't control that one.
Regina: Yeah,
he's uncontrollable. So what he did was completely different.
But I know for me and Anna. But it was a lot of fun. I love working
with Anna and that's probably the best part of the movie for me
is working with her.
Anna: I am great.
[Laughs]
Regina: Indeed
she is. And what is so great about it, though, is that that's
who my scenes were with, so I got to work with someone I love
to work with, and then a completely new director who we both really
respect.
Anna: The experience
would have been disappointing definitely for me if Regina wasn't
involved in it. We have a really great time together. Making our
scenes was the most fun.
Since both of you
are veterans of this franchise, what have you learned about combining
humor and horror?
Anna: I think
there's just this element of religiousness, I guess in every horror
or scary movie. We both really liked ‘Signs’ and ‘The
Ring,’ enjoyed them as films. They were also so visually
striking in a way that they make easy films to spoof. But I think
that Scary Movie came at a time when it was just so right. Even
with a movie like ‘Scream’ that was sort of mocking
itself it was still appropriate I think for young audiences.
Regina: They
can relate to all the things that we spoof. How many times do
you look at a horror movie and everybody is like, 'Why did she
run left?' Or you know she's going to trip. Or you know that if
you see two teenagers making out, you know they're going to die.
Or if they walk into the shower alone. You know what I mean? It's
like okay, someone's about to die. And I think those are the things
that are so easy to spoof because even though it scares you in
a horror movie, because you know it's coming, if you put it in
a comedic text and a different scenario it's funny.
Are there any horror
movies out there that need spoofing?
Anna: I love
the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series. I'm a sucker for all
that fantasy stuff. And I think that would be fun to do some kind
of fantasy element. Honestly, it just seems like we'll spoof anything
that makes money. If it makes money, we'll be there.
Regina: ‘Lord
of the Rings’ would be probably hard because the production
value of that movie was so expensive.
Can you describe what
it was like on the first two movies versus this one?
Anna: The Wayans
are a very tight, big family. And when they shoot there tends
to be just a lot of people around.
Regina: The interesting
thing too that I was going to say is that even though it's crazy
on the set, Keenan ran a tight ship. Even though those were his
brothers, there was still a lot of work to be done. They were
never like going crazy on the set because they were also the writers.
They just have a different energy. They're also younger. David
doesn't have the same amount of energy. But Keenen was very--I
wouldn't call him strict--but he'd be like, 'Alright, come on.
It's time.'
Anna: Often times
we were ahead of schedule.
What was your favorite
movie that you parodied, or what was the most effective parody?
Anna: You know
I like all the ‘Signs’ stuff. I really like all the
‘Signs’ stuff. I think that was a strong film that
obviously did very well at the box office. But I think it also
works well.
 What
about you Regina?
Regina: I like
‘The Ring’ stuff. I like ‘The Ring’ stuff
too, just the opening with Pam and Jenny McCarthy just being in
high school with the uniforms watching TV and the remote is backwards
and they're like, 'We don't know what to do.' And you know in
‘The Ring’ where she does see her friend and her face
is twisted and she screams and Pam Anderson keeps saying, 'Are
you okay?' Her head falls off and she's like, 'Are you all right?'
I like that whole scene. It's really funny to me.
Why aren't the Wayans
involved in this one?
Regina: I think
they weren't available.
Anna: She's the
more diplomatic of the two of us.
Regina: They're
doing another movie, they were supposed to do ‘Homie the
Clown’ and they ended up doing another movie.
Anna: They're
doing a movie now called ‘White Chicks.’
Regina: Yeah,
‘White Chicks.’ So I think it was a timing thing.
What projects are
you to working on now?
Anna: I'm doing
a three episodes on Friends.
Can you tell us about
your character?
Anna: I can't.
I'm sorry. Yeah, which is great because I've never done that kind
of--I grew up doing theater but I've never done that kind of live
audience format. And this audience is like, they just eat it all
up with a spoon. And it's nice also because my character's more
serious. It's not a comedic character.
Regina: I didn't
know that.
Anna: Yeah. Yes,
drama on Friends.
Have you started shooting
it?
Anna: Yeah. We
did one episode last week. They're not all in a row. I do another
one in a couple weeks and then another one again.
What was it like working
with those guys, especially since it's their last season?
Anna: I didn't
know what to expect going into it.
Regina: I just
want to know if Brad Pitt comes to the set.
Anna: They were
all so friendly and welcoming to me. And they were also amazingly
hard-working. And I was really impressed with their level of emotional
investment in the show. David Schwimmer was directing the episode
that I was doing. And I think they really understand how sort
of monumental the show is to a lot of people I guess. They don't
seem to be taking it for granted at all. It was really, really
wonderful to see.
Do you know when those
episodes are going to air?
Anna: I think
sometime in January is the first one. That's what I heard.
You said there are
not a lot of comedic roles for women. Why do you think that is
and why are you attracted to them?
Anna: I think
it's the money [Laughs]. But I think it's male writers. There
just aren't quite enough female writers. Most comedies, the woman
is just a device for the man to be funny around. I think also
it's our culture too. I think that a lot of women are raised from
a young age to not have as much of a sense of humor maybe. Do
you think that's true? You have a lot funny friends.
Regina: I don't
know. I think if they thought a woman could continue to open a
movie and make money like Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon,
I think they'd invest. But I just think that it's easier to be
formulaic.
Regina, you didn't
say what you are doing?
Regina: I have
a movie in development with Miramax right now that I'll star in
and produce. It's called ‘Swapped.’ That's the working
title.
Anna: Is it a
comedy?
Regina: It's
a comedy but it's not a broad comedy. It's not a romantic comedy
either. It's just a working title. I don't think they liked it
all that much. It was called ‘Flipped’ But now it
says ‘The Untitled Regina Hall Project,’ so we'll
see what it ends up being. They have a writer and he's writing
it right now.
And you're producing
it?
Regina: Yes.
Anna: I'm going
to be an extra in it?
Regina: She's
going to be a featured extra. One of the things I want to do is
definitely get into producing. Not write it, because we're not
writers, but where we'd have a hand in creating the characters
and looking at what is funny. Because we don't want it to be too
zany. The funny thing that you were saying is when you keep doing
comedies, in this business whatever makes you known; people want
to continue to put you in it. So sometimes it's not even necessarily
by choice that you continue to do comedies. And sometimes it's
hard to break out of what people have in their minds that you
can do. So for me, I know, I always have to pass on so many things
just so I'm not the loud black girl in a movie. So there are a
lot of roles like that that I get offered and I'm sure roles that
Anna gets offered, that we have to turn down. Unless of course
it a Scary Movie.
If there was a Scary
Movie 4, what movies do you think you could spoof?
Regina: I don't
even know what really came out this year.
Anna: What is
coming out?
When was the main
shoot on this?
Anna: We shot
from March to almost July and then we did re-shoots in August.
So Matrix Reloaded
had already come out. That seems to be the most recent.
Anna: We started
shooting a bunch of ‘Matrix’ stuff right after the
movie came out, and then in some of the test audiences it didn't
work. So a lot of that was cut.
Regina: It's
interesting. You don't know. You write something on the page and
it's funny but you never know what an audience is going to like.
There's a scene in
the trailer that wasn’t in the movie.
Anna: There are
a lot of those scenes. ‘Scary Movie 4’ might just
be outtakes.
Is there anything
you particularly miss that was cut out?
Anna: Yeah, I
mean I worked really hard on that Matrix fight. Any day off they
stuck me in training, which was awful. Because I've done enough
of these to know that when they put me in training for some elaborate
fight sequence they're going to really cut it down to about 30
seconds of fighting.
Regina: Or it's
not going to make it.
Anna: Or it's
not going to make it. But I understand why it didn't work. Frankly,
I didn't know how funny it was going to be when we were shooting
it.
Can you describe the
scene that you trained for that we never got to see?
Anna: Yeah, do
you remember the scene in the Matrix where Keanu Reeves flies
around a light pole? It was a whole bunch of that stuff. I fly
around a light pole. I puke all over the place. I fight all these
little girls. It just wasn't all that funny, I guess, but a lot
of work.
If you have any questions, or
comments, you can write me at jax@latinoreview.com.
SCARY MOVIE 3 OPENS OCT
24
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