Superbad, in which you play the object of desire, was your first major
role.
I don’t think people thought comedy was my M.O., and it was. They always
cast me as “the girlfriend” or “the young girl with attitude.” I would
lose my mind if I felt like I had to be something like “the pretty
girl.” When I was auditioning five or six times a week, they’d send me
the descriptions of characters. And if it said “beautiful” or “gorgeous”
or even “pretty,” my manager would delete it before sending
it to me.
Otherwise I’d immediately call him and say: “I will not be cast. It’s
not going to happen.” Not to put myself down, but I just always thought
I’d be a comedian. It was way more important to be funny or honest than
to look a certain way.
You must have developed a devoted following of adolescent boys after
Superbad.
Yes, I guess, but the movie that really has devoted followers is
Zombieland. The zombie fans are avid. There is such a thing as a zombie
purist, and they believe zombies need to be slow-moving and dead. Our
zombies were fast-moving and alive. We were excommunicated from the
zombie community.
Spider-Man fans must be just as intense as the zombie fans—and you are about to play Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s very blond girlfriend. And I have red hair! I think the Spider-Man fans are very upset. But I’m about to go blond.
Spider-Man is a prequel, which means your character is in high school.
In Easy A, you play a high school girl who is falsely accused of being
sexually promiscuous. Having never attended high school yourself, did
you interview any actual high school students?
Luckily, Easy A could have taken place anywhere. The theme of reputation
and miscommunication and technology could have been in any environment.
Rumors fly everywhere.
Especially about sex. You got to simulate sex in Easy A: Your character
and a gay male friend try to start a rumor by loudly pretending to have
sex.
That was my favorite scene in the script. But when we actually shot it,
I learned how difficult it is to simulate sex for that long, from that
many angles. Simulation of sex is a real workout. We must have done a
hundred takes. There was an oxygen tank at one point. It took two days.
Simulated sex is really fun, but it’s not easy.
