TV's stars like Married...With Children's Christina Applegate rarely get a second chance in Hollywood. But thanks to her persistence (and an assist from Cameron Diaz), she's back in the spotlight as Will Ferrell's nemesis in Anchorman -- and she's got a date on Broadway.
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CHRISTINA APPLEGATE is a little on edge today. In a few short hours, one of the fresh-faced warblers on season three of American Idol is going to be sent packing, and the actress is petrified it might be one of her beloved favorites. "I think I voted seven times last night," says Applegate, plopping onto a sofa at L.A.'s Chateau Marmont hotel, just down the hill from the home she shares with her husband, actor Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do!). Hold on a second--a big star like Applegate actually bothers to vote...repeatedly? "Oh yeah, are you kidding me?" says the L.A. native. "For the finale last season, my friends and I called like 30 times each on our cell phones for Ruben [Studdard]. And he won!"
The Idol, as she likes to call it, is but one of Applegate's pop culture obsessions. She'll also happily talk your ear off about FOX's latest car wreck of a reality show, The Swan, her addiction to the videogame Dance Dance Revolution and her mad crush on Conan O'Brien. "I have to wear earphones when I watch him so my husband can sleep," says Applegate. "I just laugh and laugh and poor Johnathon is like, 'Can you just laugh internally?'"
Applegate's straight-out-of-Tiger Beat fanaticism comes as a surprise considering she's been around famous people all her life. (Her parents, now divorced, are record executive Robert Applegate and actress Nancy Priddy). And she's been famous herself for over half of her 32 years, thanks to her 11-season stint as the sexually precocious airhead Kelly Bundy on the sitcom Married...with Children. Given that background, you half expect Applegate to be one of those been-there, done-that, and-now-l-don't-even-eat-regular-food-anymore kind of celebrities, but she's not. She's the kind of celebrity who programs My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé and The Real World into her TiVo. "I'm a fan," she says with a shrug. "When you stop being a fan, then what?"
Applegate's own fans have had plenty to crow about of late. Her recent scene-stealing sidekick turns opposite Cameron Diaz in The Sweetest Thing and Gwyneth Paltrow in View from the Top proved that a decade in the Bundy household taught her a thing or two about funny. Now, with lead roles in Anchorman opposite Will Ferrell and Surviving Christmas with Ben Affleck, Applegate is enjoying the kind of career renaissance that just about never happens to actors who rise to fame on long-running TV shows. So how'd she do it? "I'm a big one for perseverance and trusting yourself," she says. "When the doors were closed, I kicked them open as much as I could."
And she's got the battle scars to prove it.
DENNIS HENSLEY: How hard has it been to get Hollywood to take a fresh look at you?
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE: How hard was it? This is like my fourth time [laughs].
Q: What did persevering mean to you--auditioning your ass off?
A: Absolutely. You've got to not only be willing to audition but you've got to be the best one that comes in. You've got to kick ass. I tried to keep focus and not let what people were saying or thinking get me down. As a little girl, you have the dream of what you think your life is supposed to look like. Well, I just never stopped until my life looked the way I wanted it to.
Q: And you feel like you've achieved that now?
A: I had to let go of some images because I think that oftentimes we have a tendency to not be happy where we are. After Married...with Children, I spent a lot of time not wanting to be where I was and not being very grateful, but when you're a kid, you don't understand that everything can be taken away from you. You feel invincible.
Q: Did you have a rude awakening in the form of a particular event?
A: I was humbled by silence. I was humbled by inactivity. So I went and did projects that really inspired me, whether anyone saw them or not.
Q: What turned things around for you?
A: Doing [the sitcom] Jesse, for the short time that it was on, changed things. But Cameron Diaz is really the one who made a difference. She really fought for me to be in The Sweetest Thing and I'll always be grateful to her.
Q: Tell me a nightmare audition story.
A: I had just gotten married and I met with this director and the first thing out of his mouth was, "So you think it's gonna last?" I almost threw a chair at him.
Q: I take it your Anchorman audition went much better. You play a newscaster in the 70s named Veronica Corningstone. Something tells me she made up that name herself.
A: I'm sure she did. Her mission in life is to break down the barriers in this male world of TV news. She's all about busting balls. For research, I watched some footage of Jessica Savitch with Mort Crim that showed how they interacted between newscasts. The second the camera was off you could just see the chauvinism. She was trying so hard to fit in and he just kept shutting her down.
Q: Do you and Will Ferrell make out?
A: Oh, yes. Originally it was very animalistic and kinky, like, "Beat me, beat me," but it was cut out to get a [PG-13] rating.
Q: You also have two indies coming out--_Employee of the Month_ and Grand Theft Parsons--both of which played this year at Sundance. Be honest. How much free merchandise did you get just for showing up at the festival?
A: It's so sick. We had to get an extra bag because the swag was unbelievable. The best thing we got was a 40-inch flat-screen TV. At first I hesitated, then I was like, "Let's get the damn TV." It's just wrong on every level. [The interview is interrupted when the song "Milkshake" starts playing on Applegate's cell phone.]
Q: How hard is it not to start dancing when your phone rings?
A: I always do. I have a lot of different rings. My husband's is "Lips Like Sugar" by Echo & the Bunnymen.
Q: That makes sense. Did you know when you first met that you and Johnathon were meant to be together?
A: When we shook hands, my heart skipped a beat. [Director] Gregg Araki, who introduced us, said he thought Johnathon was interested in me, but I had just gotten out of a relationship and I was pissed off and hated men. So I was like, "If the guy wants me, he'll find me." Three weeks later, Gregg calls and says, "Guess who found you?" Seven years later, here we are.
Q: Say Johnathon is out of town for a while. Which of his movies would you pop in to get a fix?
A: Probably The Doom Generation. Right after we went on our first date, my sister and I had a little Johnathon film festival and watched every movie that he was in over a weekend. In Doom Generation there's a shot of just his face and his lips and my sister hit "pause" and said, "If you don't go out with him again, I'm going to kick your ass."
Q: What was it like working with Ben Affleck on Surviving Christmas?
A: He's very silly on set. I just wanted him to be quiet so I could work. There's something specific he did that made me laugh but it would ruin his reputation.
Q: If I give you a flat-screen TV, will you tell me?
A: [laughs] OK, they were doing an insert shot of a briefcase or something, and Ben just decided to put his stuff on the briefcase. He would always be doing things like that: mooning, sticking his tongue in the director's ear. He's very goofy. I just adore him.
Q: What's something you would like to do in a movie that you haven't done yet?
A: I want to break shit. I want to really go off on a room, just flip out and have it all be documented on film.
Q: You're making your Broadway debut next year, starring in a revival of Sweet Charity. Is that a dream come true?
A: Yes. When I was a young dancer, I wrote a paper when I was in school about how I wanted to be a triple threat on Broadway. Then I kind of let go of the fantasy and here it is. It just sort of came into my life. Now my friends call me Tracy Flick [the overachiever played by Reese Witherspoon in Election] because I am in dance classes and voice lessons practically every day.
Q: Are you excited about living in New York for a while?
A: Yes. When I was a kid, I just loved the smell of the subway. I can walk down the stairs and get that whiff--I don't care if it's urine or whatever--and it excites me in an all-over-the-body kind of way. There's something so erotic to me about it. Maybe erotic is the wrong word [laughs].
Q: How long are you committed to doing the play for?
A: Seven months. I gotta have a baby. The clock is ticking.
Q: What kind of mother do you think you'll be?
A: I'm going to be a 1950's mom, I have a feeling. I'm going to be Tipper Gore. I met her not long ago and I actually thanked her for what she did, putting the warnings on CDs so parents have an option. She looked at me like, "Are you serious?" There's so much more to shelter kids from today. There's Girls Gone Wild telling women: "Don't have respect for yourself, your body or your family. Just flash your tits."
Q: Hollywood is obsessed with youth, weight and beauty. How hard is it not to buy into all that?
A: There is pressure, and anyone who tells you that they don't buy into it is full of it because we do. During Married...with Children it was torture to have to look good because I'm not a naturally thin person. I love food and I had to kind of give that up in order to fit in the clothes and that really messed me up for a long time.
Q: In the current climate of media paranoia, post Nipplegate, it's interesting to look back at Married...with Children, which was very controversial at the time. What was it like being part of something like that?
A: I was always the rebel so I enjoyed every bit of it. I mean, I was the girl who shaved her head at 13. You've got to shake things up, man.
Q: Where do you think Kelly Bundy is now?
A: Hmmm. She did a stint in Vegas thinking she was going to be a showgirl but she ended up just being a cocktail waitress. Now she's back living at home.
Q: What advice would you give to a young actress who's just breaking out?
A: Don't believe what people say, the good and bad, and have a private life. If you're doing it because you love being an artist, you're going in the right direction, but I think most people are doing it for the money and fame and that can be so easily taken away from you. People see these horrifying shows on television that just glorify money.
Q: Like The Fabulous Life of So and So...
A: Right. See how they get you with that? This person has a fabulous life. Your life sucks balls. They've got a jet; you don't even have a car. I mean, I watch them and start to feel bad about my life.
Q: What showbiz turns of phrase are you fed up with? I think I've had it with "Let's think outside the box."
A: Anything to do with heat, like "You're going to ride the heat," or, "That guy's got a lot of heat on him right now." The heat thing really makes me want to seriously throw shit.
Q: The funny thing is, you have a lot of heat on you right now. You could be riding the heat as we speak.
A: Maybe I am.
Q: So how does it feel?
A: It feels hot [laughs]. Hmmm...sizzle!
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