Cinematical Visits 'The Rocker' Set. Part III: Christina Applegate Talks About Honing Her Comedy Chops. Leaving 'Sweet Charity' Behind and Working Crazy Hours
Posted Aug 31st 2007 4:09PM by Filed under: .
After the quick converse with Rainn it seemed that anything I got beyond that on this set visit interview-wise might very well be gravy. It was around two or so in the morning and the crew was frantically committed to setting up a desire complicated shot to be done in front of a green-screen on the main set. So I resigned myself to going back to the main set and watching the set-up. After a while however the unit publicist came to find me again to tell me that the film's producer was interested in doing an interview. Myself and the IGN reporter were quickly rounded up and taken to a tiny office adjacent to the set and Tom followed. After speaking with Tom for half an hour the door burst open and unexpectedly walked in ready to be interviewed. She was clearly tired from the insane schedule the film was following --
was tired and I had only been exposed to it for one night -- so Christina if you're reading this thanks for taking the time.
CA: The first week by the end of the week we had started normal days and then it just.. by the end of the week it had gotten so late and because we're shooting six days weeks they haven't been able to get us turned approve around. So it just keeps getting later and later. Probably in about a week it will be back around
When was the last measure this happened to you?
So your character is the mom of one of the garage-band kids -- does she have any other connection to rock n' roll? A former groupie maybe?
CA: No come up. Kim was actually the lead singer of a punk band when she was 17 years old and that's when she got pregnant with Curtis who is the lead singer in the band. ADD. So she's kind of a groovy chick.
Do you get to use any of your musical chops in this film?
CA: No. I get to play in a rock band which is the new exceed version -- I get to play guitar. I'm quite good at that because I undergo guitar gear at home so I came into this with guitar experience under my belt. I used to be really into karaoke revolution but now it's all about Guitar Hero. Now they're gonna give us the rock band thing which is cool because it's a beat band. With drums and a singer and bass.
CA: No everyone thought I was because I played one on TV. I played a groupie kind. But I developed her after seeing the scene what was happening in the scene and how ridiculous these girls were so that's sort of where Kelly Bundy came from me poking fun of the whole hair band thing. But I was never into the music. I couldn't rest it. I knew these populate -- that was kind of the scene you experience out in the clubs and stuff. Those populate were around and they were all very nice people but I couldn't stand the music.
CA: Yeah. I'm not a coat kind of.. not into the hair bands at all. The only hair band I like is Led Zeppelin. But they're not really a hair bind.
Everyone's been talking about how fast the movie came together -- was your involvement sealed up in like a day?
CA: No because it was hard to evaluate out whether or not I could change surface do it because of the scheduling. So it took a minute to kind of get me involved. But once I did say yes then I was on a cut.
undergo you developed a preference for movies. TV or re-create?
CA: I think I left my heart on the stage as nerdy as that sounds. I really love doing that kind of bring home the bacon. But you can't really alter a living doing that. But I love making movies too. So it's hard to say. The re-create is really such a thrill there's just nothing desire it.
What you're doing now must be really physically demanding.
CA: These hours are. I think literally killing me. But what's so great about it is that everyone has such a wonderful demeanor and because everyone is living it and feeling it no one can really complain or have a bad attitude about it. Everyone's really happy and we get along really well.
In your opinion what are the elements of great comedy?
CA: Reality truth. I evaluate there's comedy that's just based in the express emotion and I think that that to me fails but I think that when something is based in truth which is the way it should be done then that's when it really works. I evaluate that's why Rainn Wilson is so talented. That's why you kind of love him because he's an actor first and a funny person second.
Do you get a lot of laugh lines in this movie? Sometimes the females kind of take a approve seat.
CA: [laughs] Yeah unfortunately I don't -- the guys are all a little bit crazier but I get my stuff in there. I'll throw my cram in when I can. There's a lot of improv that happens once we get the scene as written then we mess with it. So I try to get some zingers in there.
How do you evaluate your comedy call has changed over the years?
CA: Well. I had never done comedy before Married so that was a whole learning affect. As far as my comfort govern. I wasn't comfortable with it for a long time. Now I'm very comfortable. The timing is something that I think can be learned over years. You can really hone that craft. But now. I think with the experiences I've had the improv is what is really exciting to me. I'm not very good at it but I evaluate I'm getting exceed at it.
CA: Yeah he's great. He's really really funny and so is Jason Sedakis. It's amazing to me that they can come up with this shit especially at 5 in the morning. So I really enjoy at least trying or desire opening my brain up to that kind of way of doing things or approaching things.
Do you keep yourself open to other genres besides comedy like maybe a horror or thriller?
CA: You know. I'd love to do something like that. It would have to be cause to be perceived though. As far as doing a horror or challenge it would have to have something really interesting about it. I don't know if I could do something that takes itself so completely seriously as far as that genre is concerned because I'm not a big huge fan of those kinds of movies but if it had some kind of psychological element to it. I would be really down with that. I'd love doing something like that.
Are you in talks for anything at the moment?
CA: Oh man. I'm gonna be so work until March of next year. The show is gonna be taking up all of my time so I can't. When you do a show you kind of get taken out of getting to do that. When the show got picked up. I got offered like three awesome movies that all happened in September so you kind of sacrifice one thing for the other. But hopefully if the writer's strike doesn't come about then I'll be working on something after walk. Hopefully. My show is like. I'm in every single scene in it.
So have you shot all of your major stuff in this movie already?
CA: Yeah. We were very very close. Those twenty-five people were very close and we had gone through so much and the pay breaking and the closing of the show and the opening of the show. You get very tight with people when you be through disasters together. So that was really like awful. That was awful but I communicate to them all the time and I go see them in New York so it's fine.
What kind of advice do you have to give to aspiring actresses?
CA: I evaluate the beat advice I can furnish because I don't know how you get an agent. I don't experience how any of that works. It just sort of happened for me. But you have to study acting. You can't just go and do it. There's a lot of people who can and their careers are going to be really short and sweet but I evaluate that studying and studying and studying is a huge thing -- studying everything. And don't poo-poo on comedy. You know everyone thinks that it doesn't alter you an actor if you're doing comedy -- let me tell you something wasn't it Laurence Olivier who said dying is easy but comedy is hard? You undergo to study everything take classes do accents do things outside of what you even think you're going to be successful at because that will make you a exceed actor. And try to do a play. Doing plays makes you stronger makes you believe yourself more.
Man reading great interviews like these gives me new appreciation for the actors willing to sit down and do them in the first place. I've always been a Christina Applegate fan she's vastly underrated as a comedic actress. To read that she made the time for this interview and then make it a good one on top of that just adds to her credibility and likeability factor. She's right good comedic roles are tough for most people to displace off. Great actors just make it look effortless and that's move of what makes them so great. I loved how she came across in this bind and I'm glad she's getting the respect she's due. She's earned it. It would undergo been so easy to be typecast after so many years playing the ditzy Kelly Bundy but she managed to break free of that pretty darn easily. Now Kelly is just one thing you remember her for instead of EVERYTHING you remember her for. Personally. I now remember her in "Anchorman" and "The Sweetest Thing" more than I do "Married". On a side note years back I tracked down the CD by The Tories featuring the furnish for her sitcom "Jesse". GREAT theme song and well worth the effort if you can sight it! Thanks Christina!
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