TeenHollywood interview here - quite a long one.... and Anna talks a lot about Daisies
www.teenhollywood.com/d/205700/1038/we-get-lost-with-anna-friel.htmlWe Get "Lost" with Anna Friel
Jun 2, 2009 - Lynn Barker
Land of the Lost is based upon a very low-budget 1970's American TV series in which Brit actress Anna Friel's character Holly was a 14-year-old girl lost with her dad and brother in a land of very bad special effects. All three lead characters and their relationships were altered for this big-screen update. Anna plays an adult, very smart research assistant from Cambridge who is both impressed by and attracted to Will Ferrell's wacky, discredited scientist character Dr. Rick Marshall.
Story goes: Marshall is sure there is a parallel universe existing alongside our own. We just haven't crossed over yet. When a journey through a time/space portal takes Holly and Rick to a primordial world full of dinosaurs and evil, slow-moving critters called Sleestaks, they are joined by a crude opportunist/survivalist named Will (Danny McBride of Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder) and the comic struggle to survive and get home is launched.
Anna had roles on several BBC TV series and in films before moving to American television and her part as Charlotte "Chuck" in the popular ABC TV series "Pushing Daisies". She also won an award for her role in "Closer" on Broadway. So, why is Anna ditching her sweet "girlie" dresses from "Daisies" to portray Holly Cantrell, an action girl/scientist in a tank top and shorts in this sci-fi comedy/adventure? For a totally new experience and a lot of laughs.
We chatted with the actress about playing a tongue-in-cheek woman with a sense of wide-eyed, gee-wow wonder and her struggle to keep a straight face midst Ferrell's silly dances. Anna managed to effectively shout at a tennis ball standing in for a huge T-Rex and was delighted to finally get to use her own Manchester English accent after going "posh" for Shakespeare plays and playing an American in "Daisies".
TeenHollywood: Did this TV show ever air in England?
Anna: No, I'd never heard of it. I never saw it if it did. At the read-through I met Marty and Sid (Krofft, creators of the original TV series), and they were like, 'You're the one, you're our Holly,' I was a little bit concerned, first, A. I'm not American, B. I'm not 14 and C. I've not got blonde hair so all the avid Sci-Fi fans are going to be like, 'What?'
TeenHollywood: You must have had to watch DVDs of the old show, right?
Anna: Brad (Silberling the director) brought me the big DVD box set and we watched, and my daughter now is an avid fan. It's like 'do you want Willy Wonka, Mary Poppins or "Land of the Lost"? And, she's like 'I want Land of the Lost!'. So she loves it, she's had the opportunity to come to the set and pound on the Sleestaks . We watched quite a lot of the (episodes). It's loosely based on the series. They still kept the Sleestaks, there is a Marshall, Will and a Holly, but obviously the world's changed very much. They've just taken that idea and brought it up-to-date, so it suits a new generation.
TeenHollywood: You worked mostly with actual sets and guys in suits rather than all CGI. Was that helpful for you?
Anna: The sets are continually changing, the director, Brad Silberling, has been so brilliant because he wanted us to have real things to work with, so he stuck with the original idea of keeping the Sleestaks as human beings in costumes, as opposed to having the whole thing CGI'd. There's very little green screen, we've always got the real elements to work with which makes it all feel a little bit more real and believable.
TeenHollywood: You are in action/peril a lot. Isn't that new for you?
Anna: Yeah. Holly turns into a big action girl, and that's something I've never ever done before. I'm having the best time I've ever had on a film ever.
TeenHollywood: You have a really strong theater background; Shakespeare included. Were you excited right away when your agent called you to audition for this or were you kind of like, 'am I ready for this? Do I want to do this?'
Anna: That's a really good question. I'd be an absolute liar if I said I wasn't scared. Particularly because I didn't know how much improvisation was going to be involved. I went to a place called Oldham Theatre Workshop where it was just about improvising three times a week for three hours a night but it was a lot more serious. I was worried I would be out of my depth. You watched Will and Danny and they'd come up with 10, 12 different responses and you have to have that very quick wit.
TeenHollywood: Was there any time when Danny and Will were improvising and you just didn't get it because the humor was too American?
Will Farrell and Anna Friel in "Land of the Lost"
Credit: Universal Pictures
Anna: No. It's not the humor. There are certain words. You call things different things, like 'tin'. I kept asking for 'tin-foil'. You know so my sandwiches don't go off (spoil). 'Aluminum foil.' 'Is that what you call it? Aluminum?' There's lots of different words like that but Danny just kept making British jokes all the way through, like I was literally the butt of every joke and he'd pretend that he'd never met an English person 'Do you really exist? I thought I only met them in history books' and I'm like, 'Alright you, that's enough!' (she laughs) Thanks a lot guys.
TeenHollywood: How did you get away with using your own accent in this film? That's pretty cool.
Anna: I know, they wrote the character as a Brit, from the very beginning. Brad had always seen it like that. I don't know why. At my audition both Will and Brad said "No, no we want you to speak in the way you do because we like the sound of it, it gives a gruff, butch-ness to it." Maybe, I don't know. So that was nice. It was quite scary to be honest, speaking in my own accent because, usually, it totally separates you from the character you're playing because you don't hear yourself, so at first it was quite vulnerable-making, and then I settled into it and found it actually quite liberating and free.
TeenHollywood: Since your character is not the same on the show as it is in the movie, what did you get out of watching the original TV series that you were able to carry over?
Anna: Well, just understanding what Sleestaks were and understanding Chaka (a young ape/man character) and the whole premise of the show. (We made) a 2009 film version and they found the comedy in it. But I think they've remained very true to the main premise of it. I love Grumpy (the T-Rex who was in the original series). I love the idea of giving a dinosaur expression.
TeenHollywood: Holly is very bright yet she's hot for rather looney Doc Marshall played by Will. Did you have to reconcile that in your own mind?
Anna: I didn't write the script. I read and saw how Holly fitted in as a girl that had this inexplicable crush on this man and I had to (ask) 'well, why does she love him when she's a really good scientist from Cambridge?' My reasoning was always that she thinks that this genius is just hidden under all these mad eccentricities. It's really hard not to fall in love with Will. I think he's such a charmer and warm guy as is Danny.
TeenHollywood: The film is kind of racy for PG-13. Were you expecting that?
Anna: Well they always told me that they wanted to make it PG-13. We have a very different certificate way of working in England. But, knowing Will Ferrell comedies, and seeing the work that Danny McBride does, it's not a straight down the line family all around comedy. There were a few jokes that they took out because of children but it has got that naughtiness, which I think makes it fun and interesting. I laughed a lot.
TeenHollywood: On set? Did you crack up or ever ruin any takes by breaking?
Anna: You know when Will's walking across the Caldera when he's doing 'the dance'? Well, Danny and I had been off in our trailers so we hadn't seen this whole thing and we came up to the top of the mountain and just watched him and we were just like (she breaks into laughter) 'cause it was so silly. I think to have silliness in your life is such a good thing. It makes us not take ourselves so seriously, you know? I felt he was just daft. We'd find ourselves laughing when we were taking ourselves very seriously and shouting at tennis balls on the end of poles. You kind of look around the desert (location) going, 'Am I shouting to a tennis ball?' So you just got to be childlike to be able to suspend disbelief.
TeenHollywood: Were there a lot of injuries due to the action sequences?
Anna: I did hurt my ankle when we're in the vines and we're taking off. That was about a week of being in harnesses. We were yanked so hard one day and we'd all eaten lunch. That's really not a good idea to eat lunch before wearing those harnesses. I'll never do it again. And not only do you feel sick, but (I asked Will) 'I can't quite see properly, can you?' and he was like, 'No'. I said, 'Are you having problems breathing?' and he's like 'Yes'. We all thought we were going to have some aneurysm. We all needed to take about a half an hour break 'cause we couldn't breathe.
TeenHollywood: Didn't you have to run around a lot in the sand?
Anna: The sand dunes were quite good. It's not in the movie but we have one bit when we've just met Chaka, we're running, we go down these dunes, and we did our own stunts and we made these things called butt-pans (moulds of their fannies), so we called them bottom-pans, and they were like a little sleigh and all attached by a wire. We'd be falling down sand dunes and you just got sand in every orifice. I think that will be on the extras on the DVD.
TeenHollywood: I think they are finally airing the last three episodes of "Pushing Daisies". Are you doing anything special to celebrate?
Anna: I haven't seen them. I'm so excited to see them. Lee (Pace) is in town. Lee's going to come to the premiere tomorrow. As is Bryan Fuller. I've got all my 'Daisies' clan. I got (the episodes) on DVD but I wanted to wait to watch them go out live. And although it was a short run of a series, I think it will be something. A journalist from USA Today said we had a show that lasts forever. Didn't run long but we'll last forever. And it was such a daring and creative project to do in the first place and hopefully it's opened up many doors for TV to become more adventurous.
TeenHollywood: Do you want to try to get people to go back and watch the last three episodes that are airing now?
Anna: I don't think that's my job and they haven't asked us to go out to do promotion for it. I think the fans that we left off with will be the fans that will come back and watch the final three.
TeenHollywood: Any chance for a film version of the series?
Anna: I know it's always Bryan (Fuller, the creator's) dream to do some kind of film version, but whether that actually comes to fruition, we'll have to see. The real ending, he'd had it planned out for over a few years. It was just so beautiful and touching when he first discussed it. And this is lovely, Chuck goes to see her aunts and knocks on the door and you find out what happened to Olive. Anyway, this is the end, you better be watching it.
TeenHollywood: But do you know what would have happened to Chuck down the line had the show lasted longer?
Anna: I do. It was lovely. That's the thing with TV. Sometimes it's so exciting 'cause you think 'well I know that's going to come' and sometimes they don't want to fill you in with that 'cause they don't want you to play it before the actual character would know. But, every few months we'd go to Bryan and you'd see the writers' storyboards and you'd see how Chuck was tracked and it was so exciting. Even after the 17-hour days you'd just think 'God, I've got that coming up and then I'm going to get to have scenes with them.' And my favorite characters were always Lily and Vivian, the aunts. I'd be so jealous of everyone who came to the house to have the scene with the aunts.
TeenHollywood: It was so well reviewed, why do you think the show struggled and ultimately ended?
Anna: I think the Writers Strike had a lot to do with a lot of shows. But, it's not your average show and it was just starting to pick up momentum and then to take something off the air for a year, and to have to re-find those viewers (was hard). I think it was quite a complex storyline. It wasn't something that you could just go 'Oh, we'll just turn it on' 'cause the whole procedural element made sure you had to really, really listen. I think it was a big bold thing for ABC to take on, you know. It was incredibly expensive, it was incredibly bright and it was something that was daring. Maybe there just weren't enough fans. The fans that were there were loyal and strong and true and avid fans, but maybe it just didn't catch people's imagination the way it should have done. But if I really knew the answer to that, I would be running a network. (laughter)
. Wow Universal, way to treat the very few fans of the film that had been waiting in line for fifteen hours. (The only pictures I managed to get of Anna amongst all of the cars and buses are pictures of the back of her head!)
if my parents find out, they're going to MURDER me.
a whole month of rent. I'm sure I'll be able use it again with future events for the site.
