Anna Faris

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0:43Bundling. Just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Are there things that you have kind of drawn the line at that you've said, like, this is just a little too far? Not really. No. Yeah. No. Yeah, okay. I know. I guess that's why you hire me. There's got to be something. I'm sure. But I can't think of one. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now.

1:25Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy Sick. confused today on the show Anna Faris first time guest on the podcast returning to the franchise that made her what she was and is scary movie a singular talent a singular conversation thanks as always guys for checking out my podcast remember if you haven't already hit that subscribe button on YouTube on Spotify whatever platform you're using to enjoy your podcasts we are so thrilled I am so thrilled to have the roster of talent we've had on the podcast recently and who's coming up is going to blow your mind. It's blowing my mind.

2:01We'll get to Anna Faris in a second, but to tease you a little bit, we've got some really amazing first timers that are about to come on the pod. So now has never been a better time to hit that subscribe button. And also never been a better time to join the Patreon, patreon.com slash happy say confused, early access, discount codes, merch, autograph, merch, bonus materials, patreon.com slash happy set confused. And I know I say this every week, but truly it means a lot. Every single subscriber over there is helping us make this show. This is an independent show, believe it or not. This is not some giant conglomerate.

2:36This is me. This is me. So support us over there. It helps us make stuff over here. It is much appreciated. And we do have some live events coming up June 16th, Matt Smith, New York City, another one June 24th that I can't say yet. Huge star. It will sell out. You'll get the first dibs on Patreon. Trust me, you'll want to be there. Okay, let's talk Anna Faris for a second. Before we dive into the conversation, not much context needed. We all know who Anna Faris is. She's been a part of our lives for 25 plus years. And this was a fun conversation. She is, she's very unique. I say that with all the love.

3:10I adore her. She's so endearing, so singular. And Scary Movie was the movie. It was essentially not her first movie, but it was kind of her first movie, certainly her first major movie. And she was in the first four of those films, and it made her into a comedy star, and she branched out and did all sorts of comedies, whether it was Smiley Face, Observing Report, House Bunny, etc. Diverged a little bit into drama here and there, bit parts in Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain, then her TV run in Mom, a huge hit for seven seasons, and now kind of dipping her toe back into film. I mean, more than dipping her toe, oh, this is going to be a big film.

3:48This is the Wayans back in the fold making a scary movie with Regina and Anna. The whole gang is back together. So if you like the scary movie films, you're going to enjoy this. It's out this Friday everywhere. And it's a great time, by the way, for a scary movie to come back with horror bigger than ever. I mean, look at what's happening at the box office with obsession and long legs and weapons. I mean, it's back rooms. Yeah, it's good timing. So anyway, this was a really fun conversation. She's a former podcaster herself. She likes to talk. We like people who like to talk. And like I said, there's nobody quite like her.

4:27So we cover a lot in this conversation. So I know you're going to enjoy this. Without any further ado, enjoy me and the one and only Anna Faris, everybody. Anna, should we do this? Let's do this. The cameras are here. We're mic'd up. I know. We're warmed up. I feel like I've put on an old pair of jeans back in my podcast. We were just reminiscing. I feel like this is the podcaster, really, of my inspiration. Let me talk. I just want to talk. Congratulations on the movie. You were just saying you used the word surreal. This whole thing must be out of body from shooting it, from getting the call, from shooting it, doing the press.

5:07Well, from 1999, when I was graduating from the University of Washington as an average fifth-year student, I had a degree in English because I couldn't, you know, graduate with anything else, really. And I was going to go to London, and I had a job lined up at an ad agency, like in the mailroom. I had pulled some strings and sort of scrapped it. You got that coveted mailroom job. You got it. Yeah, for a few months. I was going to live with my best friend. And then I made an abrupt 180 decision to give LA a year. I would wait tables. I didn't have any debt. I figured, you know, I've got the Honda Accord.

5:58What more do you need? Right, yeah. When you're that young, you can kind of take a risk. Yeah, it did feel like I never had stars in my eyes. I really didn't. I didn't think I was attractive enough to make it. I had been around enough cynical, brilliant Seattle theater actors growing up that I was aware of shitty material. Getting rejected for bad material would be a part of my life. Right. desperate for like the sixth lead on a CW show, WB show. Right, like how do you protect yourself from internalizing all of that? You know, I had, I wasn't naive fully in that way, but in every other way. And so when I made this decision, I managed to, you know, I didn't know anybody, but these young managers, I didn't know what a manager did, but agreed to represent me, friends of friends of friends.

7:03And they asked me to send in three audition tapes, two for pilots. I think there were two pilots and then one for a movie called Scream, if you know what I did last Halloween. I had never done comedy before. I sent in my auditions off to my new managers. I was packing up my stuff to drive the Honda Accord down to L.A. from Seattle. and they asked if I would fly down to audition for Scary Movie for The Scream, if you know what I did last Halloween. And then, like, within a... It was... It's intense, dizzying. Imagine, like, if... Imagine going to a foreign country and everyone telling you that you're incredibly tall.

7:54Or, like, my... my fit with comedy was confounding. My fit with fame, my fit with getting the role, it felt, I was out of place. And terrified. Was there a point, and this is kind of a big picture question, but a point in the journey of the last 25 plus years where you kind of went from internalizing I'm a poser to, oh, actually, I'm really good at comedy. Like, I deserve to be here. This is... Yeah. Yeah, I do. Was there a film or a moment where that kind of clicked in, you think? No, it's been the slow roll of time, you know, and the acceptance that the gratification, really noticing my fan base, I guess, you know, like really taking in, And as I struggled with my idea of like, I'm not funny.

8:56I don't fundamentally feel funny. I'm not sure why they laughed at that last take. Right. And I've come around to feeling like, you know what? Maybe it's okay that I don't know what makes me funny. And if I keep on just doing this thing and tricking people, I can keep paying my mortgage. And done some, hopefully. No, but the getting to act on set again with Marlon Wayans and Sean Wayans and Kenan and relive and reframe that experience has meant the world. I went to my high school reunion, my 20th high school reunion, my 20th year, and it was like a B of a night, C plus. You know, whatever. This has been emotional.

10:00Emotional, really. Well, because also it's been, I would imagine, again, over this last quarter of a century of kind of like riding that wave, the first 10, 15 years of your career, you always had kind of a scary movie to come back to. Kind of, but I never felt that. I never felt a guarantee in any moment when people would say, oh, you've made it. I was like, what does that mean? I don't see a finish line. And I do think that I wasn't invited to do Scary Movie 5. The franchise got taken away from the Wayans Brothers after Scary Movie 2. And I was under contract to do Scary Movie 3. And I went on and did 4.

10:46And then wasn't asked to do 5. But the conversation was still percolating. Like every few years, my agent would call. There would be a studio executive shift or something. And it was out there. The conversation a little bit. I always thought if I do a scary movie, it's going to feel like shit because I'll be a cameo and I'll make money, but it won't feel like it's enough. You know, I think Regina Hall and myself were always undervalued financially in the franchise. You're not even on the poster for the first film. I know. That's the irony, looking back. I know. So you're arguably, I don't know if you were technically number one on the call sheet, you should have been.

11:37I was. So that's crazy. So you're number one on the call sheet, but you're not being paid the most it sounds like. Oh no, no, no. I mean, and I wasn't, I had nothing to back me up. Right. What leverage do you have as a 22 year old, like with no experience virtually? It was a heady and, and I can say this now, knowing more, a humbling start, you know, and a boot camp. They were sending me off to like stunt training all the time. What an awesome, you know, an awesome but tough boot camp because the Wayans brothers also don't give up laughter easily. Right. So not only am I cast in a comedy, I'm number one on the call sheet, and I'm not funny.

12:25In your own head, at least. Yeah. Yeah. But even on set, making the movie, I don't remember.

12:38I remember feeling like, okay, I'm the straight character, which I do serve that purpose. and constantly looking for Keenan's approval, being too afraid to ask if I was doing anything right. I finally had the courage to ask the hairdresser, Linda. I was like, hey, do you think that that last take was good? And she said, oh my God, it was great. You didn't touch your hair once. God. The criteria. Okay, okay. Regroup. Yeah. We'll be right back with more Happy Sad Confused. Well, it's August, guys, so it kind of feels like the perfect time for a reset right before the fall comes. And a fun place for me to reset is with my closet, and Quince makes it easy and affordable.

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16:46I mean, your relationship to like, yeah, because like a young actor, any young person, they're looking for validation. They're looking for anywhere. Like, tell me I'm good. Tell me I did the right thing. And that's a complex thing, especially someone in the arts. especially a young woman, I would imagine. I mean, you've talked, you're talking about, you know, Keenan back then, you know, you've had good and bad experiences. Like, we don't need to dredge up kind of like the my super ex-girlfriend thing, but you talked about Ivan back in the day. Like, that's not great, to say the least. Like, what's your relationship with kind of like, I don't know, serving a scene for yourself versus serving a scene for your director?

17:21Like, who are you trying to please now on a set? I love how you have incorporated that question with the idea of have I realized my place in comedy because I do feel confident enough and I wish that I had earlier to bring ingenuity to a scene, to an idea, and to have more confidence to try it. It is hard to try something and to fail there in the moment. And you learn pretty quickly that it's like, do you take the gamble of trying this line that you thought about and you want to try this improv line? Do you have, is it worth it? How am I going to gauge this? Because if it fails, it can really undermine your confidence for the next few minutes.

18:17Right. Well, in comedy, you kind of know immediately. It's like as opposed to a drama where it's like, you know, it's kind of an eye of the beholder. It's like comedy, it either played or it didn't. You feel that in the moment, probably. I love that my approach, because I don't know how to do it any other way, is character and sincerity of character. And so if I feel like I've got a handle on that, I love to expand on that idea. I am proud. I haven't talked too much about this. If you don't mind a little humble brag. more than a little humble brag. Let's do it. When Marlon called me in February of 2025, I hadn't talked to the Wayans brothers in over 20 years.

19:04Wow. I know, and it had always been on my mind. Yeah. When he called and he said we got our franchise back, and I was so thrilled. I still am. And I said, okay, what if Cindy is kind of MAGA? Like, what if she quarantined really hard? And the reunion, when she first sees Brenda, it has to be like, you know. So I pitched, oh, Brenda, I wish I could hug you. But I'm a Republican now, so I'm supposed to be racist. And Marlon loved it. And I'm proud of that because it made the trailer. Yep, yep. And I loved it that he was receptive to me, you know, wanting to make Cindy a horrible person. That's kind of a through line in your career.

20:06You've never been afraid to play kind of ugly characters. Not physically, but just like kind of ugly people. Oh, thanks. Well, that's sort of my, I don't think I'm a leading lady kind of, I don't know. if that's like a shoe that I fit. Well, to compliment you, what you're able to do is, not many people are able to do that because you also have this other side that you engender so much goodwill, you are so likable, and so you can do these kind of horrible, despicable things. I am the eager to please. You contain dualities, multitudes. But my sense is you've always been down, like game for anything.

20:46I mean, you just look at the scary movies, franchise, like the scenes you, the things you do, a lot of actors, actresses specifically, probably would not say yes to the things you've done. I know. And when you're first, when you get like broken in with scary movie. Right, what do you do now? I mean, you might as well just do anything. Who cares? Josh, when I auditioned, I initially auditioned for Buffy, played by Shannon Elizabeth. And when I got the role of Cindy, they hadn't given me the script yet. So I'm on the plane. reading the script and there was definitely a feeling of like you know when you're reading on page 49 like whatever Cindy Bobby pulls down Cindy's jeans bam!

21:35An explosion of bats Cindy gets sprayed to the ceiling it's scary yeah have you I'm proud that I have gumption. Yeah, you should be. And I wanted Kenan to be proud that he chose me, that he picked me. Yeah. Are there things that you have kind of drawn the line at that you've said, like, this is just a little too far? Not really. No. Yeah. No. Yeah, okay. I know. I know. I guess that's why you hire me. There's got to be something. I'm sure. But I can't think of one. Because I don't know if I've asked, really properly asked, or expected to be fully nude. Right. So I don't know if I've had opportunities to refuse.

22:36Right. Still, one day you'll say no. Take what I can get. That's right. One day I'm going to say no. Too far. Scary Movie 12. Would you rather have, like, Neve Campbell's, like, straight-on horror career, or are you happy that you have kind of the flip side, the parody career of a horror star? I think I have finally landed in a place where I feel so fortunate to have the exact career that I have. Yeah. I know that for a while, being associated with a spoof movie felt tough you know I knew that something incredible had happened being cast immediately in a in a movie I knew that was a huge stroke of luck and and and opportunity but then it was like but then what do I do I would go on these you know meetings and auditions with studio executives and frequently a studio executive would say to me, oh, I didn't see that movie, but my kids said it was really funny.

23:48Like I, it was quickly, I was quickly aware that this was not a movie that was associated with any kind of respect. Right, it had currency in terms of box office and success, but maybe not the value you want it to have in an audition room. Sure, yeah. And I think the misconception that it's easy work or that it's niche, that was hard. And I felt guilty about bemoaning anything that happened to me. But it was there. I felt myself competitive with my peers, wondering why other actresses my age and my category were, you know, were succeeding. Yeah. And. Lost in translation must have been kind of like a big moment for a thousand reasons, because that only comes a couple of years after Scary Movie.

24:53It was. I, yes, and my journey, journey, I can't believe I'm saying it so much. I'm annoyed with myself. On podcasts, you're contractually obligated to talk about your journey as an actor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was a part of two movies that were critically acclaimed, Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain, during those early years. I had small comedic roles kind of in both of them, loud and splashy. And it was incredible to work with those directors, intimidating. When I was on set, I auditioned for Lost in Translation about six months before I got the role. And so I didn't, I got the role, I think, last minute.

25:42They were in Japan shooting. So they were already shooting. They were already shooting. I think the story goes, I think this is accurate, that Sophia offered the role to Naomi Watts. Oh, wow. And she passed on it. Okay. So I got the role. And I remember being there and performing in my first moment the way that I had the audition that I did in front of Sophia, which was loud, which was a lot of volume. And the other actors were muted and I were down here. And I was like, I am ruining this. I'm too loud. Like, I felt very out of place. But I also didn't know how to mute her. Right, well, that's the nature of the character that you were playing the right.

26:37I had to have a degree of confidence in that. Yes. Even though tonally, it was very hard for me to gauge, because I had so little experience on a film set, very hard for me to gauge tone and appropriateness of performance. and I guess I still, I don't know if I could ever, you know, hold it in, bring it back, tone it down, make smaller faces. Did you, I know you've talked about this in the past and it's kind of been, you know, Sophia's talked about it, you've talked about it, but for decades it's like, it was Cameron Diaz that everyone assumed that you were playing Cameron Diaz. Did you ever have to like, I'm sure you've crossed paths with Cameron Diaz.

27:21Like, have you had that conversation? Can I tell you, I was always a little annoyed with that accusation. Yeah. Because I, it felt like it took a little something away from my flavor. Yeah. You know? And because I had auditioned for it and earned it as that performance, I always felt like, no, I'm not part of some grand weird sabotage. Right. It's not a vendetta. This is a performance. No, no. And she was never, to be clear, never in your mind, never discussed. No, and I certainly, I like, truly, L.A. was so new. I hadn't met any celebrities. I had an idea. When I first moved to L.A. from Seattle, I encountered a kind of person that I had never met before, which is what I call a self-describer.

28:21A person who's like, I am this and I am spiritual and I'm really creative and my aura is this. And like the let me define myself for you right here in front of you, you know, just so we sort this out. That was always really amusing. So I felt like I was tapping into that. The kind of person who thinks everything they say is fascinating, which is now the kind of person I've become. anyway um no but that it was um cameron came on my podcast once and i because i had read in an article that she was her feelings were hurt right i didn't know like i wanted to send her flat i didn't know how to really approach that um and then i never had the courage to ask sophia to clarify it for me yeah but you cleared the air when you had her on the podcast only kind of Kind of.

29:21Okay. Maybe, should we clear the air on this podcast? Once and for all. No shade to Cameron Diaz. We love you. Yeah. Well, I, because I didn't know if I should launch. I only had 25 minutes with her. I didn't know if I should launch immediately until like, I'm really sorry that I wasn't doing that. Anyway, I don't know if I handled it well. I did tell her that she does something that I call the Cameron Diaz effect, which is that a scene in Charlie's Angels when she is dancing to Baby Got Back. That sounds right. Yeah, I think so. Oh, man. She's having so much fun. The audience has fun. You're loving it.

30:02Yep. And I was able to give her that compliment. Nice. Whereas, is Smiley Face top tier for you? It has to be. You know how to make... You know how to make... You know how to warn me up. Smiley Face is... Was like a pin... I was just talking about it this morning because it was such a pinnacle of acting joy for me. On the ground. Yeah. Scrappy. Gregorocky. Gregorocky. And playing this character that I did not think... I kept asking the writer, Dylan how did you know to write this for a girl like what this is because everything about Jane was asexual and up until that point all my characters there was always some kind of love interest there was always some kind of pressure to be a very lovable you know likable girl which uh that I don't know it's that's a lot of pressure and so it was liberating yeah And I think of that time so fondly, and I love it.