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In "Surviving Christmas," which hits theaters Friday, oddball parents (James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hara) accept a quarter of a million dollars from a rich, free-spirited marketing exec (Ben Affleck) who wants to spend Christmas in his childhood home, in which they now dwell. Christina Applegate plays their conservative daughter, although when the cast gathered to promote the movie over the weekend, she was anything but.
Forty-some interviews into her afternoon, the charming actress sat down with MTV News to ponder her passion for crass scripts, Ron Burgundy's return to the big screen and the parallels linking her "Surviving Christmas" character to Kelly Bundy. "Aren't you happy you get scheduled at the end of the day?" Applegate said. "But you know what you get to have? Loopy Christina!" And loopy she was.
MTV: Maybe it was the grumpy dad or the sex-deprived younger brother, but I just couldn't help but ...
Christina Applegate: Were you transported for a moment?
MTV: I was, I was. Did any similarities to "Married ... With Children" occur to you at all while making the movie?
Applegate: I can't remember if they did or not, but now thinking about it, I'm like, "Oh my God, that's like a parallel universe, isn't it?" Except for I'm the smart one in the family, which is nice!
MTV: What attracted you to this movie?
Applegate: The script, originally, was much more crass. It was more of a romantic sort of story, but it was very crass. I like that sort of thing, and I'm sort of drawn it — it's part of my nature. I read it, and I laughed at every page. And I liked the idea of working with Ben on a comedy because he hadn't really done that much of it. I knew that he's funny 'cause I've seen him host "SNL" and other things. I was very excited to see him get to do something different, and I knew he would be good.
MTV: When you were doing scenes with Ben, was he bringing some of his own ideas, his own dialogue?
Applegate: He wrote a lot. He wrote some scenes. I think the whole dinner-table scene he wrote. If I remember correctly, he had his little laptop there, so he's really good with that. He's really smart, and he's a really good writer, and he's very funny, so put all those together and make some magic, baby!
MTV: I like the idea that with a lot of money you can do some pretty crazy things. Is that something you see a lot in the world you live in?
Applegate: Yeah, money has gotten so out of control. People are drinking Cristal out of the bottle. Are you nuts? Do you not have any respect for Cristal? That's what I just can't handle. It's just being thrown around like it's nothing. You can't do that. You can't drink Cristal out of the bottle! Shame on you!
MTV: I'll let the rappers know.
Applegate: I actually did it once. Just to make someone laugh.
MTV: Were you inspired by any of the classic Christmas comedies?
Applegate: It's sort of the anti-Christmas comedy, though, isn't it? I mean, it has all the hecticness that seems to follow — is that a word? Hecticness? Who knows? I can make it up. If George Bush can make up words, so can I. Anyway, it's supposed to be [singing], "It's the most wonderful time," but it's really become the most stressful time of the year because it's become about consumerism and gifts, and everyone's in a rush, and we're running out of time, and it's so depressing. So I hope that we can bring some joy to the Christmas holiday with our very dysfunctional take on Christmas.
MTV: I have been hearing some rumors of an "Anchorman" sequel.
Applegate: I think what's happening is we're releasing another movie called "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy," which is another movie of everything that we shot that didn't end up in the movie. It's not bloopers or anything — it's actually an entirely different story line.
MTV: Wow, weird. Have you seen it?
Applegate: I haven't seen it yet. They've been screening it, but I've been out of town. So I look forward to seeing that, and I look forward to being with those people again. I think about them all the time. I miss them so much. I could work with [director] Adam McKay and Will Ferrell and that group every day for the rest of my life and be happy. In fact, I wouldn't even need to get paid, as long as they gave me lots of Cristal, with a straw, [to drink] out of the bottle. Just kidding.
MTV: And did I read you are doing Broadway next?
Applegate: I'm coming to New York in December to start rehearsals on "Sweet Charity." That's going to be my life for a year.
MTV: Kelly Bundy on Broadway.
Applegate: It's a lifelong dream. It's something I thought I was supposed to do in my life when I was a kid, and I pictured myself living in New York. And then "Married ... With Children" happened, and it was sort of a diversion from that dream, and I let it go. And I thought, "Well, I missed out on that. I should have done it when I was younger, when my knees worked, but it's gone now." And then this came along, and it just couldn't have been more perfect. It's one of my favorite plays. Bob Fosse, I worship. So it was perfect. It was kismet!
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Photo: Dreamworks
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