Anna Faris Talks ‘Spa Weekend,' Life After Palisades Fire and New Scrubbing Bubbles Ad
Anna Faris — currently Down Under, where she's close to wrapping production on the Jon Lucas and Scott Moore-directed Spa Weekend — took a break from filming to talk to The Hollywood Reporter about a side hustle for Scrubbing Bubbles. The actress appears in a new ad for the multipurpose cleaner that finds Faris undercover in a red wig and glasses while interviewing unsuspecting candidates for 'the easiest job in the world.'
Below, Faris talks about the challenges of such a gig (her voice is always a dead giveaway), why Spa Weekend is one of her favorite jobs ever (she loves her co-stars) and what it was like to lose everything in the Palisades Fire (she calls it a day-by-day process).
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There are so many funny lines in this Scrubbing Bubbles ad. Improv or scripted?
Some of it was improv. Probably the most nerve-wracking line — I wish I could take credit for it but I couldn't — was the line, 'Have you ever used a bathroom?' Every time I said that line, I was filled with so much terror. I would feel my body start to kind of shake, like, 'Just stay on target, Faris, don't move.' It is so ridiculous. I'm one of those actors who has a hard time tricking people in real life. Even playing poker, I'm not great at that because I feel like I'm so transparent. But with this campaign, it's all done with so much love. I can handle it if I'm making fun of myself — I don't mind that at all. I've built my career off being a fool, so it was a blast in that regard. Around the 20-30-second mark, I could see the recognition set in on people's faces as they realized, something is weird about this woman.
Speaking of the disguise, tell me about the red wig. Was it your choice?
We had agreed that I would wear a wig, and I liked the idea that it had, I guess, a little more corporate look to it. In fact, they let me keep the wig. But truly, I know how recognizable my voice is, and I've tried [in the past] to do vocal exercises to help me blend in a little more. My voice has always been the dead giveaway. I feel like as soon as I start talking, people are like, wait a minute. Then it can be so embarrassing when they say, 'What have you been in?' I have to list my credits.
It's so funny they sent you home with that wig. I hope that they also sent you home with a lot of Scrubbing Bubbles Easy Clean. That leads me to my next question: Does Anna Faris clean her own bathroom? If so, what's your favorite and least favorite place to clean?
I do clean my own bathroom. I do it about once every four months. I am a mess. Growing up, cleaning bathrooms was one of my household chores. My brother took out the garbage and I cleaned the toilets. During the campaign, the participants would always say, 'Wow, OK, this does work. I like this product.' I would say, 'I know, it's great.' I'm a huge fan of Scrubbing Bubbles Easy Clean. I'm finishing shooting this movie in Australia called Spa Weekend, and I have a bunch of Scrubbing Bubbles products with me that I've been giving out by telling people, 'You've got to use this.'
Maybe they can send you some extra for wrap gifts. Speaking of , I saw the cute photo you posted on Instagram. Tell me how it's going and who do you play in the story?
This has been one of my most favorite jobs. I love my cast. I am acting with Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Michelle Buteau, and it's just been a dream. It's going to be really annoying doing press for this because journalists are going to hear us say things like, 'We're all best friends.' It really feels like it. We're all moms in real life and we play moms who are looking to get away for a relaxing birthday weekend only to have that one friend we didn't want to invite show up anyway and crash the weekend. It causes massive chaos and turns out to not be the relaxing weekend that we had all been hoping for. In fact, it's potentially life-ruining.
But shooting has been such a joy. I know it wouldn't feel quite the same as if we were all in our early 20s because we're at places in life when we really cherish each other and have had similar life experiences. Not necessarily to the extent that our characters do over the course of the movie, but we've been through stuff. We're very considerate and caring for one another. We crack each other up all the time. I will be pretty emotional later today when some of our cast is wrapping up and we're going our separate ways for a minute. It's been one of my most favorite projects by far.
I love that. It's nice that you've had a soft place to land for work after such a challenging time personally with losing your home in the Palisades Fire. I recently who lost her home in the 1993 Malibu fire. We talked about how she had been changed personally and professionally by what happened, and I'm curious what the impact has been on you and where you see yourself going from here?
It really does force a day-by-day mentality. I'm really grateful for so much support. Sometimes I get pangs of emotion when I remember that I lost a specific thing that I really loved but I try to remember that it's just a thing. My heart really goes out to a lot of my older neighbors. I'm lucky for a whole lot of reasons. I'm really lucky that my step-kids and my son have handled it like champs. They really have been incredibly strong, and they just want their gaming systems replaced.
I'm learning that it's a learning curve. I'm still digesting it all. There's things that I lost, like my grandfather's paintings or House Bunny memorabilia, that had sentimental value. But at the same time, it's stuff that I didn't look at all that much. That may sound trite but it's not. I would love some advice from Ali because I do think in a year from now I will feel differently, especially when people have moved on and started to forget while we're still dealing with rebuilding or toxic soil or whatever the issues may be. That might get pretty tricky, too. People will have moved on while we're stuck in the minutiae of the [practicalities and logistics]. I'm going to reflect more on this but what I can say is that it remains a day-by-day digestion for me.
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