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Hey, Boys and Girls, what a fun visit we had from the four gorgeous stars of The House Bunny, the fabulous & funny Anna Faris and her partners in crime, the hilarious Emma Stone, Demi’s baby Rumer Willis and American Idol songbird Katherine McPhee. Dig up as the ladies dish on life at the Playboy Mansion, Aretha Franklin and water bras (- though not necessarily served at all once)

Think Pink, y’all.

The House Bunny

Anna Faris

Mighty Ganesha: Well, there you are in these wicked Christian Laboutin 4-inch stilettos, which leads into my question about walking around in those heels all day.

Anna Faris: The heels in the movies. I gotta tell say, those dancers have a really good design going. They were strangely comfortable cos the angle isn’t that high it’s just the platform that’s huge. Anyway, I love them. I kept them all! {Laughs}I wear them around the house sometimes!

There was a scene where the cameraman wanted me to not wear the heels because of some kind of over the shoulder - some kind of height difference between the girls and myself and I couldn’t do it. I got really frustrated. It was kind of the only time I got flustered on set. I felt like, I can’t. I can’t act like Shelly without these shoes. It’s not right!

Q: How did you get Hugh Hefner and the Playboy folks involved? How were you allowed to shoot at the Playboy Mansion?

AF: We gave the script to them right away after Happy Madison and Sony were on board. We gave the script to Hef and the Girls Next Door and they agreed immediately, they were incredibly supportive. We spent the roughly first week and a half shooting there and it was awesome.

Q: You originated the story of The House Bunny. How did Shelly come into being?

AF: This was an idea that I thought of a couple years ago and it was just a character I’d been thinking about. Sort of what happens when you’re living this surreal Hollywood life and what do you do next when it’s time for you to move on? What job do you have? Do you become a lawyer? Do you work at Starbucks? Do you marry somebody wealthy? How do you transition into the next phase of your life when you’re a little bit older and you’re used to living this grandiose lifestyle? So, I was thinking about that and just sort of screwing around with those ideas and pitched it to the writers of Legally Blonde and they ran with it, wrote the script and we pitched it together around town. It was crazy, it was wild. I’d never done anything like that before. It was really exciting for me to be at the genesis of a project.

Q: How much research did you do speaking with the actual Bunnies?

AF: There was a book out about a Bunny – I can’t remember what it was called – and I read that. It’s not like Shelly requires a ton of research, she’s a pretty simple gal. But I was able to hang out with the girls and some of the Bunnies and the Playmates. I found them all incredibly gracious and kind. I was expecting to feel a sense of a bit of female competitiveness, but I didn’t at all. They were all so friendly and sweet and warm and welcoming, I was little weirded out by it, ‘This is a perfect life that you guys are living,’ cos they’re all friends and they sit in the pool all day, great.

MG: Was there a lot of improvisation on the set? I was wondering where the Exorcist voice came from?

AF: Yes. Yeah, that was an idea the director came up with the day of shooting that scene. I guess the goal is doing an introduction scene, how do you make something interesting come of that? And so he said, “Why don’t you use a weird voice?” I said “I don’t know. I can’t do a weird voice, what are you talking about?” And then this inner demon came out in me. The girls were totally freaked out by it. But there was a lot of improv. We were given that freedom which was great, especially considering that some of our actors haven’t had a ton of experience, so for them to feel like they can be really comfortable with their lines and with their characters was really nice. It was a very liberating set.

Q: Much of The House Bunny’s cast is female. Did your director, Fred Wolf ever feel outnumbered?

AF: He was amazing. I think at times he was completely overwhelmed, but we had a really close friendship and I felt like we had a really nice collaboration between us, and we were always on the same page. I think there were days when you know, you have eight or nine girls on set with a lot of energy, and yeah, I think there were times where I could see him; he was a little dazed, as was I. But he was really great and we talked earlier about how before we started shooting about how we wanted to create a really supportive environment for the girls, to be, {To MG}y’know like I was saying earlier, to have them feel really comfortable and to create like a sisterhood-like environment. And when you interview them, you’ll kinda probably pick up on what I’m saying {Laughs}. And I’m kinda proud of the fact that they are friends, I wanted the message of the movie to have some sense of truth to it.

MG: One of the ways the film could’ve gone was focusing more on how the misfit Zetas' lives get better after dressing like bunnies in heels and corsets. Was there a fear of going too far into that and not being convincing once the girls reclaiming their own personalities?

AF: Yes, and that was really important to me. I wanted to make sure that with in Shelly’s good intentions that it wasn’t necessarily the correct thing to do. I love the image of all of us walking slow-motion through campus, which is to me is – and I hope this comes across well – is really funny. Cos we all look just so out of place on a college campus and

We think we’re really sexy and cool and y’know some of the guys do, as well, but I love some of the cutaway reactions of these people like, “Who’s the circus that just arrived?” So I loved playing with that idea, but we always wanted to make sure that the audience understood that Shelly’s priorities were a little skewed.

Q: How did you end up so much involved in comedies? Were you a comic or did you study comedy?

AF: No, I actually didn’t even take courses. I still don’t think I’m that... . It’s funny, when I was cast in Scary Movie, my college roommate said – I had just graduated and I kept in touch with her – I said, “It’s the craziest thing, I’ve been cast in this movie and it’s a comedy with the Wayans Brothers…” And she said, “Oh my gosh, that is so weird because you are not funny.” I said, “I know, I know I’m not funny. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m probably gonna get fired.” I was never that girl. My whole family is a little shocked, too, that I’m in comedy

MG: What’s coming up next for you?

AF: I did an animated movie with Bill Hader called Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and hopefully we’ll develop more stuff.

Katherine McPhee, Rumer Willis and Emma Stone

Mighty Ganesha: Anna was just saying how she tried to work to create a feeling of sisterhood on the set. What was it like to work with so many other women on set?

Emma Stone: I kinda come from a series of “boy” movies, so it was a little nerve-wracking at first to go into a situation where there were so many women. We had to be in such close proximity for a long time. It worked out pretty swimmingly. It was great, yeah. Everyone was really supportive of each and really cool and the scratching was kept at a minimum.

Rumer Willis: I think we were pretty shocked, too, cos I think all of us were a bit nervous. You know, it’s always a little scary. In the same way, I definitely tend to have more of the guy group as friends, so I was little bit nervous. But we all hung out, we met at the Chuck and Larry {Get Married} premiere and then we went to Greenblatt’s Deli with each other – Katherine wasn’t there, which was very sad. It was fun, we bonded and I feel like I got the chance to work with some very talented people, but also make friends. We all had a great time getting to see each other this year.

Katherine McPhee: At the Chuck and Larry premiere, I sat next to Rumer in the movie and we just met moments before. When she handed me a Red Vine, I knew we were gonna be best friends.

Q: Did you get the roles you auditioned for?

RW: I auditioned for her role {pointing to Katherine}

KP: I auditioned for like, five roles. They just had me like, read, read.

ES: I auditioned for Ashley, who is the Phi Iota Mu…

RW: The mean girl.

ES: Yeah, and I drove away and they called me called me and asked me to make a U-turn and I came back to read for Natalie.

RW: I read for Colin’s (Hanks) role.

{All laugh}

KP: I don’t remember what the original part was, but my part was originally, like one was just pregnant and one was a hippie and so they just combined the two together.

ES: They deleted a character.

Q: So, which is harder, running around with the big belly or running around in the brace?

KP: {To Rumer} Well, she, of course, has her big moment, so I would say that is much more better.

RW: I would have to say on days when Katherine had the prosthetic belly might’ve been a little bit harder to get into that. But I would say probably the worst day where we were most uncomfortable was when we did the karaoke scene and we were in Burbank and it was a hundred and two degrees. And we had to turn the air conditioning off during the scene and we have all these people…

KP: We are in our first look, our more down-looking look. So we have a lot more clothes on, so it was just really, really hot.

Q: What were you girls like in school?

ES: I went to an all-girls Catholic high school for the first semester of my freshman year and then I left and that was it. I was plaid-wearing, rule-breaking, class-clowning.

KP: I was really involved in high school. I was on the varsity swim team. I was in all the plays and musicals and vice-president…

RW: Really?

Q: Katherine, which high school did you attend?

KP: Notre Dame High School, another Catholic school. I actually made the choice because I had an agent to do commercials and television, and my drama teacher was like, hardcore drama. She’s like, “You’re either in this, or you’re not,” cos I would be leaving rehearsals to go to this audition or whatever. I was just really into high school, I loved it. I had a ton of friends and I was friends with a lot of different people.

RW: For the first two and a half years of high school, I went to a boarding school in Michigan. For the first year I did opera and then I was a theatre major. It was in Michigan and it was freezing and we never had snow days and so I left as soon as possible. Then I finished high school out here, but I was definitely kind of a nerd for most of my school life. And it didn’t help that the uniform was the blue pants and you had to wear the light blue collared shirts. But I was kind of a computer nerd and I still am, so I gotta work on it.

MG: I was curious about the makeover scenes with all the hair and heels and water bras. Was that fun for your guys and when did you feel more comfortable, before or after?

RW: Before was definitely quicker in and out of the makeup chair. Cos we’d spend about three hours when we did the kind of “after.” But just speaking for myself, I had a great time and I have a lot more respect for the women that get up really early and they do the whole hair and the full makeup and the whole thing. It’s really amazing to me. I get up and I’m like, ‘PJs or clothes?’

ES: I had to be like relatively uncomfortable in the clothes in the beginning which I felt very comfortable in. I didn’t realise I’m relatively modest. And I felt most, as myself, in a personal sense, uncomfortable in that makeover look in the white corset and the booty shorts.

RW: Yeah!

ES: Ohhhh, man!

RW: Those shorts were that big {Holds a four inch space between her hands). And I actually made a joke to our costume designer when I saw them on the rack, the ones that I’m wearing when I’m running, I said, “Oh, you should put those on somebody.” She goes, “Try them on.” I got, “Oh, no, no, they won’t fit me. I’m sorry. You don’t realise.” I somehow managed to fit in them and there I go, I have to wear short-shorts.

We didn’t have to wear heels big as Anna’s. I think you might have at one point {To Emma}

ES: I didn’t really have to, no. She {Anna} wore Lucite … exquisite shoes.

RW: I liked her shoes, I kinda do. Those actually looked more comfortable cos they’re just platforms.

MG: They even gave Katherine some sexy maternity wear.

KP: Yeah, probably something you wouldn’t want to see a pregnant woman wearing…

ES: I know! I don’t wanna see a pregnant woman in four-inch heels.

KP: I wouldn’t actually recommend it. And I actually think Harmony learns that along the way. I think she finds a balance; I think the first time it’s a little extreme.

MG: Katherine, coming from American Idol, was it inevitable that you’d sing the theme song, I Know What Boys Like?

KP: That was actually unplanned, I think, but…

RW: It was last minute.

ES: It was inevitable that I was going to rap! {All laugh} That was in the actual stipulations.

KP: Yeah, but it was fun. We all went into the studio for one day, it was really, really fun. We enjoyed that a lot.

MG: Rumer, you studied opera.

RW: I did.

ES: She has a wonderful voice. Truly.

MG: Are we gonna hear it?

RW: Someday, someday…

ES: She can sing Aretha!

Q: She can sing Aretha?

ES: Yup!

RW: No... {Laughs}

ES: Yes, she can. Yes, she can.

RW: I would love to be able to do that.

ES: She has a really cool voice!

MG. Can you tell us what you ladies are working on next?

ES: I have a movie coming out next year called The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

RW: I just did a short film that my mom (Demi Moore) directed for Glamour Real Moments called Streak and I did a movie up in Canada called Wild Cherry.

~ Mighty Ganesha

Aug 19^th, 2008