I have interview — in which the 30 Rock
star discusses a more immediate movie release, Piranha 3DD
(due in theaters and on VOD on June 1st). After the jump,
find out what Bowden had to say about shooting the film’s most hilarious
scene, in which a Piranha, er, “exits” her character’s body,
to her boyfriend’s horror, during a rather intimate moment between the
two.
AfterTucker and Dale vs. Evil,
Piranha 3DD is the second horror comedy in which you’ve
appeared. Do you prefer horror comedy to straight-up horror?
Yeah, I guess. Because I love comedy. I like it
when it’s done well. It’s hard to do it well, but when it’s done well,
it’s really entertaining. And straight-up horror… I’ve always been kind
of afraid of horror movies. Actually really afraid of horror
movies. I’ll see one and then I’ll think about it for years and years
and be so afraid of it. I’ve never been very good at watching them. But
the comedy-horror genre is a little bit easier for me to handle.
What’s the most frightening horror film
you’ve seen?
The list of them that I’ve seen is not very
impressive. [Laughs.] Every time I tell anybody about the ones that
really freaked me out it always gets kind of a weird reaction. But the
last one that I saw was Amityville Horror. I had my eyes closed
for half the movie. That one freaked me out. Then I saw this movie
called Darkness Falls. It was about a tooth fairy that kills
people. That one freaked me out for a long time. [Laughs.] But I haven’t
really seen many. I could say The Silence of the Lambs, but
that’s more freaky than straight-up horror.
In Piranha 3DD, you have what
will probably be the film’s most talked about scene; and certainly its
most outrageous gag. Can you talk about that?
That scene was kind of crazy. It was one of
those scenes that I read in a script and thought, “How are we going to
shoot this scene? This is insane. What have I gotten myself into?” But
it’s probably one of the most memorable parts of the movie. There were a
lot of prosthetics involved, a little bit of CGI.
There must have been a lot of laughter
while you were shooting that.
For me personally, I was extremely
uncomfortable the entire time. [Laughs.] I get very uncomfortable doing
any kind of love or romantic scenes. But especially this one. Everything
we had to do in it… I had to have a seizure and have all this gross
stuff come out of my mouth. There was blood squirting up at me… It was
not my particular idea of fun. [Laughs.] But I think it turned out
really, really well, and it’s definitely pretty shocking and kind of
crazy. But I was trying to keep a straight face. Because the actor who
plays my boyfriend in the movie, he has to wear this weird prosthetic
and he felt uncomfortable too. So I think it was just this giant
uncomfortable moment until that scene was finished.
What really came out of your mouth?
That was Alka-Seltzer and some food coloring.
It was basically Alka-Seltzer that was activated with a couple of drops
of water that I had to keep in my mouth. I don’t know what they did to
it, or maybe this is just how Alka-Seltzer works, but it foams up so
much, so quickly that you can’t really control it. [Laughs.] It was
pretty gross. I just lay there with it drying all over my face. Then the
scene where I had to throw up at the camera? That was pretty gross too.
I guess I had a lot of gross things-coming-out-of-my-mouth moments.
[Laughs.]
Before you throw up, you utter the
funniest line in the movie. Because you quite clearly, rationally,
truthfully summarize the insane events that have just occurred.
When I saw a screening of the movie, that was
the general reaction of people in the audience. [Laughs.] They were just
shocked, yet found it absolutely hysterical. When we were about to
shoot it, I was wondering how I should deliver [the line]. Should I be
frantic or upset? I didn’t know if it would be funny or if it would
sound too serious. But I think the tone of the movie is such that
everything is played realistically; it just ends up coming off really
funny and silly. That makes it better I think. So yeah, that was a line
where I was like, “Is this going to be really dramatic or ridiculous?” I
think it came out exactly as I was hoping it would.
Piranha 3DD was kind of exhausting. We
shot that scene in the lake for the entire night. I think I was in the
water for almost ten hours straight. I got out once in a while, but it
was kind of hard to get out, because it got so cold if you got out that
it was just easier to stay in the water. By the end of that night, we
wrapped at like six in the morning, and I didn’t really know what was
going on – what day it was. It was a pretty tough night. But that’s kind
of the fun part of the job too.
Besides Nurse 3D, what’s next
for you?
Right now I’m kind of taking a
little bit of a break. We just finished a season of 30 Rock,
and I’ve been promoting the movies I did last summer. And I got a new
dog, so I’m taking care of him. I don’t know what else is up for me in
the summer yet, but I think I have a little bit of time to figure that
out.
It was just announced that next season
will be the last season of 30 Rock. Is there anything you
haven’t had a chance to do yet with your character that you’d like to do
before the show ends its run?
There’s nothing really specific that I think
needs to be done. I guess what I really want for next season is that I
hope they give every character a proper ending. You know what I mean?
Make sure to tie everybody into the final ending. I think that’s gonna
be important. Because it’s such an ensemble cast and it’s hard to
[include everyone] sometimes, but we’ve all been together for six years
now. So they really need to find a good way to wrap it up and make the
fans happy, even though it’s ending. So that’s what I really hope for
next season.
One last question – what’s your
greatest fear?
My God, I have so many. It’s hard to choose.
It’s such a hard question… My greatest fear, if I had to put myself in a
scary horror-movie situation, is to be alone on a street and find out
that someone’s following me. Something like that… Or if I woke up and
found someone’s in my room and about to kill me. Or in the closet. I’m
always afraid of someone hiding in the closet… That’s three of them. I’m
sorry – I gave you too many.
Not at all. It’s nice to a have an
assortment. And they’re all entirely understandable. [Laughs.]
Yeah. [Laughs.]
Thank you so much for your time,
Katrina.
Thank you very much!
