August 2007 | blackfilm.com | features | HOT ROD: An Interview with Isla Fischern

HOT ROD: An Interview with Isla Fischer, continued

August 3, 2007

Your career has certainly taken off as well as Sascha’s after Borat, have you felt any of that pressure or attention?

Fischer: No, not for me. I think it’s important in every relationship to keep work separate.

In talking about where you live, would you ever go back to Australia? There seems to be a lot of filming going on down there.

Fischer: Yeah. It’s really exciting what’s happening in Australia right now, I would love to go back to Australia but I have no immediate plans to go back there right now. My family emigrated to Greece and so it’s easier for me being in Europe.

Looking at your background, you’re from Oman, so are they Greeks?

Fischer: Both my parents, we’re Scottish. My father worked for the World Bank and the U.N. He’s now retired. You don’t want to ask these questions, believe me… it’s not going to be very interesting.

Well if you look at the international flavor… living in London, commuting to LA, growing up in Australia…

Fischer: And I went to clown school in Paris for a year. Yeah, I’m definitely someone who loves the nomadic lifestyle.

So you’re comfortable with that. Do you feel like you don’t really have a home or is Australia home/

Fischer: I feel like Australia, even though I don’t have any belongings there right now, I still have my little flat and my friends, even though my family aren’t there – although I guess wherever my family is feels like home too – that’s a tough one.

Being the only woman on the film, with the Boys Club, as you said, was there anything particular you brought to the film that the boys appreciated or warmed to?

Fischer: I didn’t bake any cookies, if that’s what you mean, I do not bake. I think you’d have to ask them.

Was there anything you did with your sense of humor, that set them off?

Fischer: No, I definitely think I was a good audience for them, though. I’m an easy laugh.

We have seen you as the comic, so you are playing against type. Do you think people will expect the comedy from you…

Fischer: And then be bitterly disappointed? I don’t know. I definitely know the next comedic role I take will be comedic. I want to go and get to be the funny one again, just because it’s more fun.

Might that be Groupies?

Fischer: Yeah, that would be great, but we’ll see.

So you don’t really have a plan then?

Fischer: No, I don’t have a plan. You mean work prospects? Obviously I have opportunities that I’ve been offered and created, but I don’t really feel at this juncture in my life, given that I’m pregnant, I want to stop making plans.

The comedy in the movie seems really loose, even though the guys said that everything was scripted, were there opportunities for everyone to work on a scene?

Fischer: No, not for me. Certainly not for me, they were very strict with me. They really wanted me to be the straight girl and I think they were really worried to let me improvise, probably rightly so. I was mucking around a lot between takes and then during takes I was serious. But I think Danny [Boyle] and Bill [Hader] did a lot of improvising. All their stuff I think is improvised, it is so funny, they would crack me up.

Is it difficult being the straight person in a comedy?

Fischer: It is because it’s frustrating. You want to make jokes too and you can’t, but at the same time it’s rewarding because it’s difficult to keep a straight face if you find it funny.

How do you think the movie will play to audiences?

Fischer: I think the movie is similar to Napoleon Dynamite and Wet Hot American Summer and I think it’s got a lot of great 80s parodies, a real Monty Python-esque, silly feel, so I can’t see why it wouldn’t work, but you never know.

There’s this genre of the Arrested Development male, where they can’t get over themselves, or can’t grow up, what is thrown at you in terms of female roles in comedy?

Fischer: There are no roles thrown at you to be the female funny one, it’s always the girl, like in this movie. But the roles that I’m developing are for the emotionally stunted women.

So you’re going to corner that niche?

Fischer: Yeah.

How was Akiva as a director, given this was his first feature?

Fischer: Akiva seemed extraordinarily experience from day one. He really had thought through all his choices, the way he wanted it to be shot, the form of the movie, he had a very clear vision for the film.

How involved was Lorne Michaels as an executive producer?

Fischer: He was on set. He brought his sons to visit a couple of times. I’m not sure how involved he was during the creative process, the boys will tell you that, I’m sure he was pretty involved, but at the same time he’s got a lot on his plate, but it was great to see him.

Do you think you’d ever like to host SNL? Did you drop any hints?

Fischer: It would be great fun. I kind of would love it but at the same time it does seem nerve racking, the impromptu nature of it, you just get out there and it’s all live.

Have you done much stage work?

Fischer: I have, yes. I’ve done a lot of stage work in London.

So you’re used to a live audience…

Fischer: Yeah but with stage you’ve rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed and you know exactly where you’ve got to stand and deliver your line and you know exactly the emotional arc. When you’re doing something like SNL I think you just show up on Monday and then, I don’t really know how it goes.

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