Jessica Alba talks about taking chances, subverting her image and making people laugh
As possibly the best looking actress working in movies today Jessica Alba shows both her comic and serious side in Good Luck Chuck.
It all started when Charlie Logan was ten years old. Breaking the cardinal rules of spin-the-bottle, Charlie refused to lip-lock with a demented Goth girl - and she put a hex on him. Now, twenty-five years later, Charlie (Dane Cook) is a successful dentist...and still cursed. While his plastic surgeon best friend, Stu (Dan Fogler), pursues as many of his patients as possible, Charlie can't seem to find the right girl. Even worse, he discovers at an ex-girlfriend's wedding that every woman he's ever slept with has found true love - with the next guy after him. Before he knows it, Charlie's reputation as a "good luck charm" has women - from sexy strangers to his overweight receptionist - lining up for a quickie. But a life filled with all sex and no love has Charlie lonelier than ever - that is, until he meets Cam (Jessica Alba). An accident-prone penguin specialist, Cam is as hard-to-get as she is beautiful. But when a genuine romance develops, Charlie realizes he's got to find a way to break his good-luck curse...before the girl of his dreams winds up with the next guy she meets.
We haven't seen you in a lot of comedies is this a campaign to let Hollywood know that you can be funny too?
Jessica Alba: (Laughs) I hosted the MTV Movie Awards two summers ago... and I kind of used it as my audition, because like you said I haven't really done a lot of comedies. I couldn't get into those rooms because people didn't think that was my thing, they thought I was action girl. So I hosted the movie awards knowing I was going to be able to do funny skits and Dane was at the show and that's when he made the call that he thought I could do comedy.
Is there a particular scene in the movie that's a favorite of yours?
Jessica Alba: Yeah, there was the scene where Dane and I kind of have our first night together, hanging out and a bunch of random events happen where he needs to take me to my house so I can get a key. It was sort of the the first time I did a lot of the physical comedy that wasn't written at all in the movie, and I could just be free and have fun. Dane and I have a really great chemistry and we were just playing off each other and having a great time. We turned the scene into something better and that was really cool. I think it makes the movie better as well because you can see the connection that these two people have. You want them to be together. (Laughs)
Your timing was really good. Did you have to work on that a lot?
Jessica Alba: You know, it was kind of natural. Dane and I we really get along well. It's quite easy for us to bounce off each other. It's good.
Is it true that when you shot the kissing scene that you ended up chipping your teeth?
Jessica Alba: Not during the kiss but yes, I did chip my front tooth doing a kissing scene. (Laughs) I chipped my top front tooth and he chipped his bottom tooth. We were doing a comedic Mr. and Mrs. Smith love scene and we were slamming into walls and breaking things and tumbling over couches. He slammed my head into a picture and while my head was smacking into a wall breaking the picture, his teeth slammed into my teeth.
Did you guys need emergency dental work?
Jessica Alba: I did. I have a bond on my tooth and when I take it off I look like Dumb and Dumber. I look really silly.
What do you look for these days when selecting projects?
Jessica Alba: Good stories. Good scripts. Fun characters. Stuff I'm afraid of, I like to tackle things that scare me. Like doing comedy. I never did physical comedy before and I knew that that was going to be very interesting every day. I like to keep it a good variety.
Did you go into this film with ideas in your head about what it would be like working on physical comedy or working with Dane Cook?
Jessica Alba: I didn't, I really didn't to be honest with you. I knew it was going to be fun because Dane and I, the second we met each other just got along. It was like I'd known the guy forever and we just have a good time. We have a great rapport.
What shocked you the most?
Jessica Alba: Just that comedy is very contrived. When you find the funny moments you kind of have to stay within those boundaries. Even though it's free and open and you have to put yourself out there it's very controlled and premeditated. It's hard to try and make that an organic moment when everything is so contrived.
You seem a lot different than how you're presented in magazines. Do you find that you wish you didn't have to worry about how you look? Did you have a good time subverting that in the movie?
Jessica Alba: I'm not incredibly self-conscious. I don't really feel like I walk around making fashion or my appearance the most important thing in the world. It's certainly not the way that I live my life. I'm not really sure how the magazines perceive me because I don't read them. Subverting it? I'm not sure. I think in this movie particularly, yeah, I get to play with it a little bit but I'm the good girl. I am the good girl and I always kind of play the good girl. It's nice to do that.
Can you talk about your possible involvement in Sin City 2? Or, Fantastic Four 3?
Jessica Alba: I have no idea. You probably know more than I do about both of those movies. To be honest the actor is always the last to know. They're like, "We're bringing this screen we still have to wrap our heads around the character but we'll give you three weeks to do that." (Laughs) So yeah, I'm truly the last to know.
In your new movie The Love Guru with Mike Myers what has that been like working with him? Does he allow you to be funny?
Jessica Alba: I'm definitely more of the straight man but I do some stuff. My coach, I'm the owner of hockey team and my coach is Verne Troyer and we're yelling at each other constantly. It's pretty funny.
What would you like to be doing 20-30 years from now in your career?
Jessica Alba: Hopefully something. Hopefully I'm doing this 20 or 30 years from now.
Dane Cook Goes for Laughs in Good Luck Chuck Thursday, September 13th, 2007 - The performer talks about working with Jessica Alba, Dan Fogler and director Mark Helfrich to make both a funny and real film.
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