[[INTERVIEW]] Selma Blair of "A Guy Thing"

FROM THE NEWS ARCHIVES OF CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL

BY ETHAN AAMES

By Sean Chavel in Los Angeles

Selma Blair is real daffy but in a funny self-aware kind of way. She can also have a totally wicked in her sense of humor. She does a running gag at her roundtable interview comprised of six other journalists that I can’t even begin to print here. Okay, I’ll try. (It’s not that naughty.) Every time she mentions how much she loves a guy she’s worked with, she declares self-mockingly, “And I’m pregnant!” A studio publicist walks into the room later on. “Oh, I love that guy,” she says, then states deadpan, “I’m pregnant.”

For someone as funny as Blair, you think she’d get more ha-ha funny roles. Her funny roles have always been discreetly straight kind of funny, like in "Cruel Intentions," "Legally Blonde" and T"he Sweetest Thing." She has had one dark and edgy role in Storytelling, a movie she says she is particularly proud of. In her new film "A Guy Thing," she plays Becky, a character she describes as ‘daft.’ The following are excerpts from the interview:

Selma, what is it with you always playing the best friend or the one who gets dumped in comedies?

Selma: It’s gotta be someone that gets dumped on. I’d rather be that someone than someone else be that someone. But it’s probably time for me to move on. I think I’ve kind of warmed out my welcome in the country club mutated girl [laughs]… that doesn’t get the guy but gets the really big ring.

Is it true that you wanted to play the character that ultimately went to Julia Stiles?

Yes. When I got the script I wanted to play Becky. I thought that was the reason I was sent the script. I called [the studio] and said that I would like to play Becky. And they told me that I was to play Karen. I didn’t want to play her. I’ve done this kind of role before. But I went in to meet [director] Chris Koch and I fell in love with him… And I’m pregnant! [Laughs] And I really did. He told me that she doesn’t have to be the b----y fiancée. She doesn’t have to be Vivien Kensington all grown up.

What’s the good stuff about A Guy Thing that separates it from other current romantic comedies?

There was no animosity in this movie. It’s a romantic comedy that doesn’t have to have some kind of catfight. It’s like a real Hollywood throwback. It has good clean fun and merry mix-ups. I didn’t know what I was in for exactly. I had to walk that narrow line for Karen while supporting our star actors...

What the [character] Paul does in this movie is kinda off. You don’t want to like him. You think he cheated on his girl, or wants to cheat on his girl. But you have to like him because he’s our guy… You don’t want to like Becky because she’s a homewrecker… The only one that’s honest is Karen who just wants to marry the guy. The most common way to salvage that plot [complication] is to make Karen a b----. But I refused to do that. I didn’t want to go for that stereotype. I didn’t want to go for the dingbat either. I had to walk a fine line.

There’s a lot of slapstick in this movie. Is it different from other stuff you’ve done?

I don’t know if I’ve ever gone for a laugh. I’ve very mindful about what I have to do in a supporting role. I think about the story. I never think, ‘This is a comedy. I’m going to go for a goofy moment.’ I don’t go there unless it’s truly called for. But in this movie her character is so tightly wound that it’s funny to watch her become ultimately undone.

Have you ever broken into laughter while you’re doing a scene?

Yeah, I do when watching people. I love-e-e to laugh – Well, who doesn’t… Stupid comment… [makes dork impression] ‘I love to laugh.’ [On her own comments] I hate myself. But, um… I do. Jason Lee makes me laugh all the time ’cause he’s so big, and I love how goofy bodies can be. I love him. [Pregnancy crack] He has it in him to be such a stable, strong kind of Jimmy Stewart kind of guy. And then they’d yell cut and he’d turn into monkey boy. This big body [mimics convulsive behavior].

A year ago you were in a movie called Storytelling which was very contrast to what you were doing here. What were the privileges of working on Todd Solondz’s personal film?

Storytelling was the greatest gift. I’m in love with Todd Solondz. [Pregnancy crack] But, um, to have him pick me for that movie was the greatest gift. It was so refreshing that I didn’t have to worry about being America’s Sweetheart. I can act and break the mold. I can plant my feet and tell the truth. It kind of shames me that more people didn’t respond to Todd’s movie, but then again he makes them because they’re not for everyone. You can expect them to be universally accepted. It was the easiest movie I’ve ever done because it was truthful. Far more truthful than all these romantic comedies we’re all so fond of seeing. I’m included in that, because I go see them. That’s Hollywood and I love it. But Todd’s movies are truthful and heartbreakingly funny. I would be in another one in a second.

What else could audiences see you do that you haven’t shown us already?

I’m an actress. One day maybe I’ll play a Russian ballerina, and I’m not a Russian ballerina. That’s what acting is… I can go back and forth. Because the bar hasn’t been raised all that much for me.

What are you meticulous about in your personal life?

My cuticles. [Flexes her fingers]

Weekly or daily?

Daily… [Truly responding to the ‘meticulous’ question] I think being decent with other people. I don’t think I always was. That’s something I always was. I don’t think I was a monster. But my nickname when I was little was ‘Satanly’ or ‘Bedeviler.’ My mom would always say, ‘Oh, Selma. Please don’t have a boyfriend. You’re only going to bedevil him.’ So I stayed away from boys for awhile. I just really knew how to inflict pain. And not in a gothic candlewax way – It wasn’t that much fun.

For instance?

I did dastardly things when I was little. Valentine’s Day in the fourth grade… Boyfriend’s sick. Fourth grade… No, wait. Seventh grade. In the fourth grade I didn’t have a boyfriend. Oh, wait. Yeah, I did. Danny Gerwi-i-i… He used a little too much tongue. [Room erupts into laughter] We broke up going into fifth [grade]. But yeah, boyfriend is sick in the seventh grade. Sent me roses. I adored him. But I told his best friend to call him and say, ‘I never wanted to see him again.’ Just to see if he would cry. That’s real bedeviling going on there. I’d be ‘mean girl’ but I liked playing with boys’ emotions.

Is Hollywood a kind and decent place with any annoying aspects?

[Determined civility] Very much so. Not a single annoying aspect. Very kind and decent. But truly nothing horrible has happened to me anyhow. My press life has pretty much been under the radar. The men and women I’ve worked with have been very decent. Cameron Diaz who I’ve worked with is the kind of girl who should be a movie star. She’s a good girl. Maybe if she’s a bit distant with the press has been because she’s had to be. But people like her have taught me and shown me that it’s much better to be decent.

"A Guy Thing" opens this Friday.

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[[INTERVIEWS]] Selma Blair: Women: Details

Selma Blair

After her deliciously sapphic role in Cruel Intentions, the smart and sexy Selma Blair became a teen-movie queen. But, as fans will soon find out, nothing matures an actress quicker than a pervy Todd Solondz script.

Read More http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/women/200202/selma-blair#ixzz0zunBfagj

Unless you live in Europe, where the censors are decidedly more open-minded, you'll probably never see the shot in Todd Solondz's Storytelling in which Selma Blair is bent over and violated against a wall. A few months ago, when the pervy director (Happiness) screened this delicate sequence for the Motion Picture Association of America, the ratings board insisted that he give the scene a little more of a Disney feeling. Solondz, in classic passive-aggressive fashion, put a big red square over the shot. Red square or not, Storytelling remains a Todd Solondz film, and Blair still appears full-frontal. Not to mention the line she's asked to scream repeatedly—a line, frankly, that we probably shouldn't print ("Fuck me, nigger"). "I don't think that scene is such a big deal," Blair says, from the Hollywood dog park where she's decided to spend a recent afternoon. She pauses to pet her one-eyed mutt, Wink. "I wonder if it will be."

In Storytelling, the 29-year-old actress plays a college student who, after having an affair with a cerebral-palsy afflictee, is eager to get it on with her African-American creative-writing professor, played by Robert Wisdom (Face/Off). "When we shot that scene," Blair says, "it was a really strange atmosphere. The apartment was really hot, Robert was sweating all over my back—it felt very real. But in a way, it was easy. I was naked, doing things that were horrifying, but I felt bold, like I had the permission to break taboos. It was refreshing."

Blair's speaking loud enough to be heard—regardless of topic—over the incessant yelping and woofing; she seems to enjoy it whenever a pack of canines crashes into her, scattering purses, leashes, and the usual bark-park flotsam and jetsam across the lawn. Fetching in short hair (cropped after Storytelling's pink dye nuked her chestnut locks), a jean jacket, and shell toes, she has an easy humor and blunt nature that suggest an actress who knows exactly where she stands; a kind of punk-rock princess, too girlie to be Natasha Lyonne, too savvy to be Sarah Michelle Gellar. Take, for instance, the 1999 teen romp Cruel Intentions, which found her swapping saliva with Buffy. Blair now regularly finds herself discussing the teenage-lesbian-fantasy smooch with legions of drooling fans. "There's a funny scene in Not Another Teen Movie that spoofs the kiss with this 70-year-old woman in my part," Blair says. "They even had the spit string like Sarah and I had. I thought it was pretty cool. I've become an in-joke." Blair's comic ease isn't lost on her colleagues. "Some actors can be a bit standoffish at first," says Jason Lee, who co-stars with Blair opposite Julia Stiles in this fall's A Guy Thing. "Not Selma. She'll say and do whatever she wants, regardless of who's in the room. It's admirable."

This month, Blair turns up again in The Sweetest Thing, which concerns a raunchy club hopper (Cameron Diaz) who turns to her girlfriends (Blair and Christina Applegate) for help trying to land Mr. Right. Apparently, the set was yet another lesbian-fantasy session. "They're pretty hot girls—I wouldn't mind romping around with those two," Blair says. "No, no, just kidding. We did what girls always do: We talked about guys, discussed penis size—if they're lucky, we say it's big."

Blair's childhood sounds like urban Jane Austen: She and her three older sisters—Mimi, Katie, and Lizzie—were raised in Southfield, Michigan, by their mother, whom Blair describes as a "damn sexy" federal judge. After graduating with a fine-arts degree from the University of Michigan, she took off for New York, thinking she'd be a photographer or an actress, whichever worked out. In the short term, what worked out was broke, waiting tables, and sleeping at the Salvation Army. "I was so poor I had to choose between beer and a sandwich for lunch," Blair says. "And I'd think, hmmm...beer is cheaper, and I'll get a buzz, so beer it is." Fortunately, an agent caught her in an acting class and Blair was able to upgrade her diet. Solondz had a similar reaction: "Selma really popped out at me when I met her," the director says. "She makes the text richer than you thought it would be."

Though Blair posed nude for student painters in art school, when asked about the art of onscreen exposure, she tends to draw attention to her stick-thin frame and distinct lack of boobage. Like any smart woman, she can turn what could have been a physical liability (in some eyes, at least) into a charming mea culpa. "I'm a tomboy!" she screams at her chest. "No, I'm kidding. But I think my body type is probably a little odd to see on screen. I don't have that curvy figure, and no implants. I don't get asked much to do your typical sexy nude stuff because the American public wouldn't know what to make of me."

At least Hollywood hasn't sucked all the humor out of her, like it does to certain young actresses (insert mental picture of Leelee Sobieski reading her 9-11 prose poetry on Leno). When offered an opportunity to share any final thoughts, Blair ends the afternoon with her own pomo haiku: "If your readers ever want to see me, I'm stripping Monday nights at Crazy Girls in Hollywood and I go by the name of Lucky," she says with mock earnestness. "You'd hardly recognize me! And if they have the teen crowd in, I wear my Manchester Prep costume from Cruel Intentions, and I take it all off."