FILM INTERVIEW: MALIN AKERMAN

 

Now sporting the model-turned-actress moniker, Ms. Akerman, coincidentally the daughter of a model, is now taking quite seriously the meatier portion of her entertainment career, tackling a smorgasbord of characters and roles in the name of setting herself apart from the norm and proving she is multidimensional. In taking on Annie, a woman struck with Alopecia universalis and bogged by image issues, Ms. Akerman was rather pleased to land one of the lead characters in happythankyoumoreplease, which opens on March 4th.

 

“Even though this is sort of a romantic comedy, it is way more ground and character-based as opposed to plot-driven. This was an opportunity and a chance for me to prove to myself (I could do this),” Ms. Akerman told Buzzine. “I really wanted to jump in feet-first. I want to do more roles like this. I want to do roles that are really grounded and character-driven and really beautiful and have a lot of layers.”

 

Pitting the many layers of her future characters against the realities illustrated by the fictional Annie, Ms. Akerman noted that there was something very liberating in taking on a role she very much sought.

 

“I think all of us probably look in the mirror and see something different from what everyone else does,” Ms. Akerman said. “To me, seeing myself like (Annie) was the most true to how I see myself in real life on a daily basis. It was like you’re stripped naked and it’s just you, and it was really cool. There was something so innocent and pure about that look.”

 

And to think it was almost not a role she'd have an opportunity to portray. While Josh Radnor--who wrote, directed, and starred in happythankyoumoreplease--had reached out to Ms. Akerman to play a role in the film, he had reached out to her for a completely different role. But in reading the script, Ms. Akerman immediately took to Annie’s character and frankly told Mr. Radnor it was Annie or nothing.

 

“Josh actually offered me a different role in the film, and I declined. I (told him) I loved the script, but in my heart, I fell in love with Annie and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I thought it would be wrong of me to take this other role when my heart is in it for Annie,” Ms. Akerman confessed to Buzzine.

 

Thinking she lost out on the role, Ms. Akerman was in France when she found out the other person Mr. Radnor considered for Annie had dropped out. Immediately, Ms. Akerman jumped on a plane and returned to the U.S. to meet with Josh in his apartment to go over the script and read scenes.

 

Two days later, Josh made his decision. Ms. Akerman was on board as Annie.

 

“I was on pins and needles because there was something about her that I just thought, 'I need to do this role,'” Ms. Akerman revealed.

 

Do this role she did, as Ms. Akerman added happythankyoumoreplease to quite the diverse list of films which she stars in. In the past year alone, Ms. Akerman has starred in or completed shooting Elektra Luxx, The Bang Bang Club, The Romantics, Wanderlust, and Catch .44. 

 

Adding credence to her ambition to diversify her filmography and avoid being typecast, Ms. Akerman gave a little insight on portraying Linda Lovelace in the biopic Inferno, in which she beat out Lindsay Lohan to portray the Deep Throat star.

 

“It’s obviously not the remake of Deep Throat. I’m not going into that genre!” Ms. Akerman said with quite a genuine laugh before seriously explaining the role. “This is very much about her relationship with her husband, so it’s all behind-the-scenes and how she became Linda Lovelace. It’s a tremendous story. She really had a torturous life.”

 

At least Ms. Akerman is not living the torturous life in reality. If her latest role as Annie serves as an indication of what Ms. Akerman’s state of mind is, she is probably saying 'happythankyoumoreplease.'

 

Written and directed by Mr. Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), happythankyoumoreplease also stars Kate Mara (Shooter, 127 Days), Michael Algieri (America), Pablo Schreiber (The Wire, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Tony Hale (Arrested Development), and Zoe Kazan (I Hate Valentine’s Day).

 

Anchor Bay Films' 'happythankyoumoreplease' is released on March 4, 2011.