|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In "Uptown Girls," Eminem's former onscreen flame Brittany Murphy plays Molly, the wild daughter of a dead rock star. Her character is forced to grow up, however, when she loses all of her money and takes a job looking after a very adultlike, yet similarly uneven, little girl named Ray, played by 9-year-old Dakota Fanning. MTV News' Ryan J. Downey sat down with Murphy to talk about going "Uptown" and to look back at what it was like to be "Clueless."
Ryan Downey: I was surprised by how serious this movie was.
Brittany Murphy: It's far more than meets the eye or the poster.
Downey: What roles are easier for you to play? The more serious roles or the more clumsy roles?
Murphy: I love all of it. I loved working with Dakota. That was really the coolest.
Downey: She is smarter than me.
Murphy: (laughing) Oh yes, likewise. I mean, the most fun moments of the entire experience were with Dakota, because she has the wildest sense of humor and she is fabulous and just ... To meet her is to be enchanted by her.
Downey: I asked her questions in the same form I would an adult.
Murphy: Oh, of course, yeah.
Downey: So, "Uptown Girls" reunites you with Donald Faison, who's on "Scrubs" now but was in "Clueless" with you back in '95. What was that like back then? That was your first movie and probably one of his first as well.
Murphy: Yeah. Well, it was for me. ... For both of us, at least from my end, working with Donald, it's like a high school reunion. Not a beat had passed. It was really strange. You go through all these experiences in life and yeah, you are older. It was 10 years ago practically, and you go through all these experiences and then, you know, boom, you're still ... either it's there or it's not. That's how you can tell if it's a true friend, and that one's a true friend. He is a love. He is just a good man. I am so proud of the young man that he has become.
Downey: He said the same and that you have changed.
Murphy: So has he, yes.
Downey: What are the biggest differences now?
Murphy: (laughing) In the past 10 years? You know, basically I'm the same me. Sometimes I am more confident, sometimes I am less confident. My hair color is really the thing that has changed the most since 'Clueless.' Um, I don't know, you know? I think sometimes, a lot of the time, your surroundings change and you just ... I don't know if this happens with everyone, but God tends to give me lessons very quickly, one on top of the other — boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And it's like the rug gets jerked out from under you — very much like the theme of the film — and you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again. And it's like you are bruised at first and then you are running. And that's sort of what happens, but all the mistakes and all the crummy times or the crummy people who I've encountered in my life have been the greatest influences because I have learned from every one of those situations and it makes you stronger, it makes you believe in yourself more and all that stuff. I feel really grateful for everything. But it also, obviously, makes you appreciate the good times.
|
|
|
|
Photo: K.C. Bailey
|
|
|
|
|
