The Verge: Shoshana Bush

Ever seen a striking new actor and wondered, "Who's that?" Now you'll know before you even have to ask. Welcome to The Verge, Movieline's weekly interview with up-and-comers on the verge of a serious career boost.

Is Shoshana Bush the next Anna Faris? The Wayans family sure hopes so -- after launching Faris to stardom with their Scary Movie series, the clan has plucked Bush to topline their newest spoof, Dance Flick (opening this Friday). I asked the California native to weigh in on her role, her debt to Faris, and the constantly growing Wayans family tree.

So, I felt like I was keeping pretty abreast of my Wayanses, but I'm not sure I know of Damien Wayans, the director of Dance Flick. How is he related to Keenen, Damon, Marlon and the rest?

Damien is a cousin.

Wait, so they've exhausted all the brothers and sisters and they're moving on to cousins now?

Oh man, Kyle. Let me tell you. There are cousins, there are nephews, there are nephews' sisters... The Wayans family is huge, but they're all wonderful and they're all talented.

When you were deciding how to play this character, did you take any cues from how Anna Faris served as the grounded center of the Scary Movie series?

Yes. I'm so glad you said that, because that's exactly my character. I'm like the one who's normal who sets up the joke. I think Anna's brilliant, she's an amazing comedic actress who kind of, I feel, started a new comedic genre for women.

Who are you emulating for this performance...Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance?

I am. I studied her and some of her mannerisms, but I also looked at women who are kind of naive or, like, sweet but shticky. So I kind of took a little bit of Drew Barrymore in everyday life, with the "side-talk." [Laughs.] Now, I love Drew Barrymore, Drew Barrymore's one of my favorite actresses and I think she's fantastic, but I think she's funny and I don't think she means to be! So I took some of her mannerisms, some Lucille Ball, a little bit of Anna, a sprinkle of Julia Stiles, and I made it my own.

Speaking of comic actresses, Amy Sedaris plays a ballet instructor in Dance Flick...

Amy is hilarious. In the ballet scene you see a little bit of in the trailer, all of us girls were lined up, and we could not keep a straight face for the freakin' life of us. She was walking around with a huge cameltoe...and she was owning it! There's no vanity in comedy -- Keenan told me that.

But do you feel like that makes it hard for actresses to succeed in comedy, because Hollywood rarely lets women be unpretty?

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. It's really hard, but that's what makes those comedic actresses who don't mind looking like a fool all the more special. There's not many of them out there.

Now, had you seen all the Wayanses in In Living Color before? Maybe you watched it growing up?

I did not. But as soon as I--

Shoshana! How did that happen?

I wasn't really allowed to watch TV growing up! I wasn't allowed to watch Friends, even. My family was always like, why would you watch TV when you could be outside? Which is strange, because of my job...

Do you think that by making that sort of thing taboo, your parents actually made a Hollywood career seem more alluring for you?

Yeah, maybe. I actually just got a TV, like, a year ago, and now I'm catching up on seven years of reality TV. It's awesome! Love The Hills, love The City. [laughs] It's so weird for me to be watching it.

When you're acting in a spoof movie but you grew up with all these gaps in your pop culture knowledge, were there ever times you had to deliver a joke and thought, "I actually don't know what this is supposed to be referring to"?

Yes, and maybe that's the true naivete of Shoshana Bush. [Laughs.] A lot of our jokes relate to pop culture, so I had to do my research; I had to look on Perez Hilton and actually watch the news once in a while.

When you make a movie like this with so many pop culture references, don't you run the risk of it seeming dated before it even comes out on DVD?

Yeah, but the things we're referring to tend to be the things that are going to last in pop culture for a really long time. Some of it might be dated, but from what I saw, a lot of what would have been was cut out.

Finally, are you excited to become Hollywood's most famous Shoshana?

Yeah! Oh, I love that. That's so nice. I used to get "You mean Seinfeld's girlfriend?" So hopefully now, they'll be like, "Oh, Shoshana Bush!" ♦