Never having worked a day in her life, Molly finds taking care of the mature Ray is more than she’s equipped to handle. But as the two get to know each other, they find common ground and learn important life lessons about growing up.
On casting Brittany Murphy to play Molly, director Boaz Yakin said, “Molly’s infectious spirit and larger-than-life presence required an actress with a truly diverse arsenal of talents. Brittany really had all of the right qualities. Molly has to be this force that pulls you through the film. There are very few actresses that have the energy and vitality and ability to pull it off, but Brittany really does.”
Your “Uptown Girls” and “Clueless” costar, Donald Faison, has commented on how beautiful you've become.
I'm so proud of Donald and the man that he has become. Not only is he an absolute stunner [but] this is like a high school reunion, and I never was able to have a high school reunion. You really realize that someone's truly your friend if you wait five years until you see them again. Then when you see them again, everything's exactly the same except they're just more mature. He is an extraordinary man. To see this young boy who was always funny [and now] he's the same Donald, [it’s] just his responsibility has changed. He's just as brilliant an actor. He's obviously even more brilliant and more gorgeous. He is just an incredible man and I'm so proud of him.
What about your physical transformation. You've lost weight?
I actually haven't. There's a very common misconception there. When someone is 15 [in “Clueless”] and they do their first movie and their face is a little bit different… I was actually very excited, and I'm proud of it and happy to have that immortalized. [It was] the most awkward stage definitely, aesthetically in my youth and internally afterwards, it became even more awkward that next year. I was 15 and your face changes when you're 15. It was nearly 10 years ago and I think just for some reason, people don't really get it.
Isn't there some industry pressure to be thin?
So I've read. I have never felt that because I consider myself a character actor. I've never had to gain weight for a role. Everybody says that's a difficult thing to do, to gain and then lose. But I've never had to go through that for a role. I've been padded anytime I had to be bigger than I actually was. I'm an actor. It's my job.
So as a character actor, how do you feel about having so many lead roles?
I look at it as the same thing. Just a different sized trailer, I guess.
What interested you in “Uptown Girls?”
First of all, it was just sprinkled with pixie dust and it was very magical and really felt very personal to me. 80% of it in the beginning was there's a little girl that [I had] become very dear friends. I was a Christmas Angel. I thought she'd absolutely love this. I wanted to write her a love letter because we met in a different state, and we never got to say goodbye. I always wanted to write something. Then it became a love letter to children of all ages really, which basically means us people.
Are you a big kid?
Aren't we all?
Physical Comedy, Traumatic Breakups, and "Little Black Book"
