Interview: Cinema Blend

CinemaBlend interviewed Rashida and Jaime Pressly


QUOTABLE
"I have a lot of awe for people who can make you laugh. It's an achievement, almost, in a way that it's not to make somebody cry."

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Jones and Pressly were among the first of our many interviews during the I Love You, Man press day, and we talk to both of them below about being girls in a dude movie, getting the hang of improv, and in Rashida's case, just how many takes Paul Rudd managed to ruin by giggling.

We were talking about the sexuality in the film, and how frank and a little scary the women's talk was for the men.
So uncomfortable! Amazing, I love that. To me that was a pretty honest portrayal of how girls talk. We are detailed. I think guys don't actually know that, which is why I think it's a good thing that it's being represented in a movie. You don't get to see that that often.

Was that something that appealed to you about the character, that they would go there?
Yeah, I really loved the dynamic between the girlfriends. They all felt really different. It felt like they all had different points of view, but they found a way to converge and love each other through that. You don't get to see that that often in movies either. And also the fact that they were truly raw, the way that I know I can be with my girlfriends.

When do you remember first being inspired by comedy?
I don't know. I know my mom said as early as she can remember letting me watch TV, my one treat a week when I was like 6 was to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live. I'm completely obsessed with comedy. When I was living in New York, I would go and see stand-up as much as I could. I have a lot of awe for people who can make you laugh. It's an achievement, almost, in a way that it's not to make somebody cry. To me it's one of the best things you can do in the world, to make somebody laugh.

Did you go into entertainment because you had both parents in it?
No, I was like the rebel. I'm not going to do what my parents do! I was going to do everything to not be in entertainment. I kind of caught the bug. It's such a fortunate life, if you can work as an actor. I get to laugh all day, for hours and hours and hours a day. It's really nice.

is it weird to be coming full circle with Jason like this, since you were on an episode of Freaks and Geeks?
Freaks and Geeks for me was like a huge turning point. It was the first time that I read something and I thought, this is really good. this is the kind of stuff that I want to do. I had such a good time on the show, and I made friends with Jason, we've been friends the whole time. It's really nice to be able to come back together, and have kind of been working on our own. Obviously Judd Apatow has a big effect on people like that. Everybody starts with him.

It looked like you guys were having a good time on the set. We've been hearing a lot about improv.
There was a lot of improv going on. There were a lot of ruined takes. There's minutes and minutes of film of Paul just giggling, and nobody acting. Him just trying to get it together. It was a genuinely the most fun I've ever had working. We were given so much freedom to do stuff. I'm sure at some point John Hamburg was just like, OK, get it together. It was kind of part of the process. That's a good problem to have.

Did you do any improvisation?
I did. I've always kind of been scared of it. I took a Groundlings class in my 20s, and I was terrible. They didn't even pass me to the next level. I feel like I'm taking class all over again. I'm a little bit better this time. Between The Office and the new show and this, I'm learning what my take on it is. I do end up playing the straight man a lot. It's more about reaction than it is about playing some wacky character.

Interview: Katey Rich
via CinemaBlend

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