FILM INTERVIEW: AMANDA BYNES

Amanda Bynes Talks Musicals, College, and Child Stars

By: Emmanuel Itier

June 20, 2007

Emmanuel Itier: What did you think when you saw John Travolta in his fat lady suit?

Amanda Bynes: I was so shocked to see how real it was and how he looked like a woman! It didn´t look like make up, it looked so real. I was very impressed.

EI: Did he stay in character all day?

AB: He spoke like himself.

EI: What was it like on the set?

AB: It was so much fun because we went two months before we shot anything to learn all the dance numbers and to sing. We recorded it before we shot the movie. We lip-synched to ourselves, which was kind of odd for us non-professional singers. I´m no Britney Spears!

EI: You´ve been so long in the business. Why has it taken you so long to do a musical?

AB: Because they haven´t actually been that popular. With “Chicago”, they thought we could do this well. I like old-fashioned musicals and haven´t made them for a while. When they called me to audition for Penny, I suggested my sister. I thought she´d be better for it, but they still wanted me to audition so I came in and did it and I started getting really into it. I liked the message of the movie. I fought for it and I worked really hard.

EI: Playing Penny?

AB: I really liked her because she really evolves in the movie. She starts as a very tightly wound person, and in the end she´s a woman. She really transforms. She falls in love with Seaweed and, because of that relationship, she becomes a confident woman.

EI: What makes you feel like an individual?

AB: I´m not that complicated. I like to perform, I like to have fun, and at the end I like to have a good meal and then go to bed. Very simple.

EI: There´s a lot of focus on Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. You´re a rising star. How do you ensure that you don´t go down that path?

AB: I wonder if someone knew how not to, if they would still do it. I feel that for me, obviously, it´s not my goal, but it wasn´t their goal, so who knows what will happen along the way. But I think it’s drugs and alcohol. You can´t take too many substances which effect your brain. In the end, it will make you crazy or a different person, so who they were then might not be the same person as who they are now, because it effects your brainwaves. For me, I´m clean and I don´t do any drugs or alcohol. I don´t really need it. For me, I´m very energetic. If I have a few Diet Cokes, I have enough in me for the club! I don´t want any alcohol because, for one, it tastes bad and I´d rather have a dessert for the calories.

EI: Did you ever have a problem dealing with fame?

AB: When I was on Nickelodeon, I wasn´t famous. Kids knew me. Parents didn´t know me. I wasn´t really famous. The more I did, people began to know me for my work and so it became from my work. So now, when I go out, it feels kind of awkward for me because I´m not famous for going to clubs–I´m famous for working on different things. I´ve worked since I was ten! I go to a club a once in a while. I work all day, and quite frankly, I´m too tired to go out all time.

EI: It seems that´s what they do – work all day and go out all night.

AB: Well, that´s where the drugs come in. I couldn´t do that myself. Last night, I went to bed at 10:00! I was so tired. I have to stay focused and keep my eye on the prize in the end, because that´s what I want to be–an actress.

EI: What were you like in school?

AB: I wasn´t a nerd in that I was so dedicated, but I was very focused. I did my work and I had fun on the side. They glamorize drugs in this society, when it´s a bad thing.

EI: What do you do for fun?

AB: For me, it´s a lot of work. I just want to know what my next role is. When I´m off, I will hang out with friends or go on vacation. I don´t really have a plan.

EI: Any plans to go to college?

AB: This is what I want to be doing, so college would take me out of it. I would study art in college. I haven´t ruled it out. I don´t see myself doing it right now.