In the ensemble comedy happythankyoumoreplease, actress Malin Akerman plays Annie, a woman in her 20’s who has had an unhealthy pattern of dating the wrong men. Because of an auto-immune disorder called alopecia universalis, which has resulted in her being entirely hairless, Annie has an amazing spirit and has learned to face life with full force.
During the press day for the film, Malin Akerman did this exclusive interview with Collider where she talked about her connection to this character and how she misses playing her, shaving her own eyebrows for the role, and working with How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor on his directorial debut. She also talked about her role in the upcoming comedy Wanderlust, opposite Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, and her next project, Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story, which she expects to start shooting in April.
Question: How did you originally get involved with this film?
MALIN AKERMAN: I was sent the script from Josh [Radnor] and was actually offered a different role in the film. I read the script and fell in love with Annie, and then found out that Annie had already been cast. I just felt like the other role that I was offered was something that I had already done in other films, and I loved Annie way too much to be involved with a film where I’d be sitting and pining after this other role. I gracefully declined and said, “Thank you so much.”
I love the way he writes. I think he writes really, really beautiful characters. And luckily for me, the girl who was originally supposed to do Annie couldn’t do it anymore, so the role was up for grabs. So, I flew up to New York and spent four hours with Josh in his apartment and we went through the script. We went through pretty much every single scene. And then, he called me a few days later and said, “All right, you can do it. It’s yours.”
Did you do any research to understand what it’s like for someone to live with alopecia?
AKERMAN: Yeah, I did. My only experience with alopecia before this was a guy friend of mine who had a different type of alopecia, where you just lose little splotches of hair, but it grows back. And so, Josh was telling me about this friend of his who he based this character on, who has alopecia universalis, which is a small percentage of the women who get it. I went online and researched it and watched YouTube videos of girls with it.
Funnily enough, after we had shot the movie, I met quite a few women who have alopecia or who knew someone, but Josh was very informative as well. He had a lot to say about his friend, who he spends a lot of time with. He told me about who she was, character wise, and we went talked about what it would be like to grow up without hair and go through school without hair. As a woman, that’s something that we focus on a lot – long hair, short hair, hairstyles, dark hair, blonde hair, make-up and all those kinds of things. To not have that, and also be so different from everyone else, what would that be like? How would that shape you, as a character? What would that do to your personality?
That can go so many ways, but in Annie’s case, she is a master at deflecting and creating something really beautiful. She has such an amazing spirit and she just faces it front on. She just goes full force into it and says, “Yeah, I’m bald! Look at me, I’m pretty hot because of it.” I love that about her. I think she’s so awesome. But, it’s a bit of an emotional roller coaster for her.
Did you shave your eyebrows and your hair at all?
AKERMAN: I did. I actually suggested to Josh that we shave off my eyebrows because I didn’t want it to be distracting in the scene. We didn’t have a big budget, so there was no way we could do it in post and erase the eyebrows. I said, “Let’s just shave them off,” so we did. We shaved off the eyebrows and did the bald cap for the days that we saw her bald, but most of the time, we just wrapped my head up in these scarves and beautiful head wraps.
What was it like the first time you saw yourself like that?
AKERMAN: It was really cool to see myself. It’s a great beauty tip, if you ever want to look five years younger, to shave off your eyebrows. It’s amazing what it does. It really shaves off the years. My husband kept looking at me and going, “Wow, baby, you look like an angel.” There’s something really innocent and beautiful about her, in such a different way than Hollywood glam. It’s an inner beauty that outshines everything. You don’t have to get through the layers of make-up, hair and clothes. She wears her personality. It’s just out there, for grabs. The first thing you meet is her personality. It was really cool. I miss her a lot.
How was Josh Radnor, as a first-time director? Did he seem to take to it very easily?
AKERMAN: Yes. He is a brilliant director. I think we’re going to see a lot coming from that man. I think he’s brilliant. It was weird, at first, because you could be in a scene talking to him or doing the scene and you wouldn’t know when he would shift from actor to director. We’d be in a scene and he’d be acting with me and then, all of a sudden, he’d go, “Okay, keep going, but this time just do it a little bit like this.” It was a little shift to get used to having a director/actor that you’re acting with, but all in all, him being an actor is a big advantage because he understands the process and that everyone is different, and he learned to work with everyone in whatever way that they needed. He’s a very good director.
I have just added 93 HQ and MQ photos of Malin Akerman from the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party from Sunday and the “Meet The Filmmakers” event that was held earlier today.
GALLERY LINKS:
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > 19th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > 19th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party – Inside
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > The Apple Store Soho Presents Meet The Filmmakers: “happythankyoumoreplease”
The biopic “Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story” has been in and out of pre-production for awhile, mainly having to do with the casting choice of a wayward young actress. Those troubles quickly disappeared the minute they chose Malin Akerman to play the adult film star turned anti-porn advocate in the Matthew Wilder feature.
In the middle of an interview for her upcoming film “Happythankyoumoreplease,” the actress was kind enough to give us a better look on the overall story line for the project.
“I’m very excited to start filming ["Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story"]. As of right now we’re supposed to be shooting in April.
“The movie is sort of behind-the-scenes on her life with her husband and what the relationship was like. It was pretty torturous, he physically beat her quite a bit and had a gun to her head many times and forced her into prostitution.
“It’s a very emotional journey with the film being very much a biography of her life, or an interpretation of it. We go maybe four years of her life until she becomes an anti-porn advocate. So it’s a really intense and dark movie, for me anyways. It’s a very exciting and nerve-wracking challenge.”
You can watch Malin Akerman shine on the big screen in Josh Radnor’s “Happythankyoumoreplease,” out in limited theaters this Friday.
Malin Akerman is in negotiations to play the female lead opposite Nicolas Cage in Medallion, a Nu Image/Millennium Films action thriller directed by Simon West.
The story, with shades of Taken, follows a father — a former master thief — who has only a few hours to find his daughter when she is kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a New York medallion taxi cab.
Akerman will play Cage’s former girlfriend and former bank robber who agrees to help him save his daughter.
David Guggenheim wrote the script. Matthew Joynes and Jesse Kennedy of Aurelius are producing as is McG via Wonderland Sound and Vision. James Holt (Men Who Stare at Goats) is also producing.
Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short and Cassian Elwes are exec producing. Wonderland’s Mary Viola is also exec producing.
The movie will shoot in New Orleans starting in mid-March.
Akerman’s recent credits include Watchmen and Couples Retreat, and she is one of the stars of Josh Radnor’s feature directorial debut, HappyThankYouMorePlease, which opens in March. She is repped by WME and Sanders Armstrong Caserta Management.
Malin Akerman is currently at the 19th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles! I have just added the first photos of her from the event – 3 in total – into our photo gallery. More will be added as they’re released!
GALLERY LINKS:
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > 19th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party
Yesterday, Malin Akerman was photographed at the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. Later on in the night, she was photographed at the Montblanc Cocktail Party. I have just added 19 photos from both events into our photo gallery!
GALLERY LINKS:
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > The LG Cinema 3D HDTV Lounge Backstage At The 2011 Spirit Awards
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > Montblanc Cocktail Party Co-Hosted By Harvey And Bob Weinstein
Yesterday, Malin Akerman was photographed at the GBK’s Oscars Globes Gift Lounge in Los Angeles. I have just added 11 photos of Malin from the event into our photo gallery!
GALLERY LINKS:
Malin Akerman Source > Public Appearances > From 2011 > GBK’s Oscars Globes Gift Lounge 2011 – Day 1