Anna Friel Land of the Lost Interview

We caught up with the lovely Anna Friel to talk about her new movie, Land of the Lost, directed by Brad Silberling based on the classic television series created by Sid & Marty Krofft. Will Ferrell stars as has-been scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, a man with no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts who must survive an alternate universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures from beyond our world after he’s sucked through a space-time vortex to a place of spectacular sights and super-scaled comedy known as the Land of the Lost.

Joining him for the adventure are crack-smart research assistant Holly (Friel) and a redneck huckster (Danny McBride) named Will. Chased by T. rex and stalked by painfully slow reptiles known as Sleestak, Marshall, Will and Holly must rely on their only ally--a primate called Chaka (Jorma Taccone)--to navigate out of the hybrid dimension. Escape from this routine expedition gone awry and they're heroes. Get stuck and they'll be permanent refugees in the Land of the Lost.

Silberling and Ferrell were determined that a British actor would play Holly Cantrell in the film. In fact, when actor Anna Friel was cast, Silberling insisted
that she speak in her distinct Manchester accent. “On Pushing Daisies I had an American accent, and most other projects I have had to speak with a posh English accent,” explains Friel. “This is the first time I have used my own voice since I was 20.”

The performer enjoyed portraying the only person on Earth who still believed enough in Dr. Marshall to focus her graduate work on his theories of quantum
paleontology. Friel continues: “She has a huge crush on Marshall and his mind, and he doesn’t realize she is totally in love with him.”

When she was cast, Friel wasn’t familiar with the Land of the Lost television series. Silberling liked the fact she had a fresh take on the character from the first table read. “Anna just commits,” he compliments. “You believe her belief in Marshall, and she goes for it. She has a great spirit.”

It helped matters that Friel was trained in classical dramatic improv. Per Silberling’s direction, she had no problem jumping into improv mode with her three costars. One of her biggest challenges on the set was controlling her laughter. She says, “I had to practice not laughing during a take. The boys would go off on a tangent, and I would do everything in my power not to laugh—including practicing my yoga breathing.”

Anna Friel is hilarious in Land of the Lost and we really appreciated her time. Here’s what she had to tell us about her new movie:
 
Anna: I’ve just been told what moose knuckle is. I found it very funny. [Laughs] You’re laughing. You know what it is?
 
Q: It’s a camel toe but for the butt, right?

Anna: Yeah, yeah. We were talking about the pull down. I’ve got white leather trousers, so I’m constantly pulling them down, and an extra was just telling me that they came up with all these different words for it. I didn’t know that there were such things.
 
Q: How did you get away with using your own accent in this? That’s pretty cool.

Anna: I know, they wrote the character as a Brit, from the very beginning. Brad had always seen it like that. I don’t know why. Well, a lot of things changed didn’t it, because she was 14, the character that Danny McBride plays was 15 or 16, and they were brother and sister, and I think just to move it on they thought they needed different relationships, but mine was not to wonder or question why. I read the script as was and wasn’t familiar with the original series when I went to meet Brad, first of all, and he said “We’ll just hold off until you read the script and then we’ll educate you with that bit of Sid and Marty Krofft." I knew H.R. Pufnstuf, we had that in England, and I was a huge fan and he brought me the big DVD box set and we watched. My daughter now is an avid fan, so she just loves it. It's like “Do you want Willy Wonka, Mary Poppins or Land of the Lost?” She’s like “I want Land of the Lost.” She’s had the opportunity to come to the set and pound on the Sleestaks. She kept calling Jorma, who’s Chaka, dirty. She’s like “I think you need a good bath,” she’d say all the time. (laughs) And, I did want to audition normally, but the Brits coming here to work, either you have an American accent or you speak with an RP which is a lot more “Bath, grass, love” instead of “Bath, grass, luv,” and I think maybe because the translation doesn’t go over. At my audition, both Will and Brad said “No, no we want you to speak in the way you do because we like the sound of it. It gives a gruff butch-ness to it." Maybe, I don’t know. So that was nice. It was quite scary to be honest, speaking in my own accent because I usually hide, not hide behind it but it totally separates you from the character you’re playing because you don’t hear yourself. So, at first it was quite vulnerable making, and then I settled  into it and found it actually quite liberating and free.
 
Q: Since you didn’t know what the show was and your character is not the same on the show as it is in the movie, what did you get out of the series that you were able to carry over?

Anna: Well, just understanding what Sleestaks were and understanding Chaka and the whole premise of the show, and first of all having to accept why they’d made certain changes. I watched Star Trek last week, which I really loved. If you’re going to do remakes, then you either don’t do it or you change it, you move it on, and Land of the Lost, the film version, is a 2009 film version and they found the comedy in it. But I think, I really do after watching the series, they’ve remained very true to the main premise of it. They kept the Sleestaks the same, Chaka does not look like that guy from Planet of the Apes. He still looks like a boy in a costume, and the dinosaurs, I love Grumpy, I love the idea of giving a dinosaur expression. But with my character, I didn’t write the script, I read and saw how Holly fitted in, and it was how to be a girl that had this inexplicable crush on this man, and I had to make this reason to go, "Well, why does she love him when she’s a really good scientist from Cambridge? Why?" And then, my reasoning was always that she thinks that this genius is just hidden with all these mad eccentricities. So I think he’s doing that because that’s real genius behind that, or something, just to play it very literal and to try and be endearing and empathetic, but also have surprising balls. Brad had always said that she’s a secret football hooligan. I met the girl the character was based on at the La Brea Tar Pits and sat and talked to her a lot about it. And it’s really hard not to fall in love with Will. I think he’s such a charmer and warm guy, as is Danny.
 
Q: How was it dealing with Chaka and the touchy-feely moments? Did you have to slap him off?

Anna: Well, it kind of introduced a lot more than it was in the original script. When I watched the film, I didn’t realize how much that would be in it. It made me laugh, it did, and I thought well that’s okay. If I’m laughing at it and it’s my breast that’s being fondled, then it’s alright. I give it the OK. (laughs) I found that quite funny ‘cause my daughter’s going through a state of kind of grabbing your top when you’re out at the supermarket, and you’re like “No, we don’t do that, do we?” So I kind of used those elements and just talked to Chaka like he was a little child. It was quite a childish thing to do, isn’t it?
 
Q: The film is actually a little dirtier than, I think, a lot of people expected. Was that a little dirtier than you expected? Or was it all fun?

Anna: Well they always told me that they wanted to make it PG-13. We have a very different certificate way of working in England. We have the PG and then the 15, so it’s quite a big jump. There’s not that in between, so I was trying to understand the certificate, and knowing Will Ferrell comedies, and seeing the work that Danny McBride does, it’s not that straight down the line family all around comedy. It was trying to marry those things of making the jokes so that they could go over people’s heads enough to test screen. You know, there was a few that they took out because of children. Maybe that would be too much for them because they want it to be a family movie as well, but it has got that naughtiness, which I think makes it fun and interesting. I think it’s a really funny part when Will tells Chaka to go fuck himself or “Fuck you!” (laughs) You’re a bit like “Ohhh!” It’s quite bold, you know. So it’s, yeah. And I just like the idea of you mixing Marty Krofft with Ferrell and you get that mix and see what take it is. Did you think that worked? The naughty?
  
Q: I laughed a lot.

Anna: Yeah, good. I love it when they’re dumping the urine over his head. (laughs) When we were filming it, it just went on and on. I’m just like, "Right, it’s got to stop stinging now," and he’s like (makes sound) and doing it again, and I just thought “Please, stop 'cause I’m going to piss my pants with laughter ‘cause it was so good. I’ll be able to help you out with the old urine in a minute, Will!” (laughs)
 
Q: Did you ever ruin any takes by breaking?

Anna: I’ll tell you what we did, you know when Will’s walking across the Caldera when he’s doing “the dance”? Well, we, Danny and I, had been off in our trailers ‘cause they had done all that section with the matching dancing beforehand, so we hadn’t seen this whole thing and we came up to the top of the mountain and just watched him and we were just like (breaking into laughter) ‘cause it was so silly and that’s the thing, I think to have silliness. [Silliness] in your life is such a good thing. It makes us not take ourselves so seriously, you know? I try and keep as much silliness. I felt he was just “daft.” Do you say “daft” here, do you know “daft”? In England, “daft” is a good saying we use when you’re being absolutely just silly and stupid. That was a funny one. What else could we not stop laughing? God, most of the time, everyday with them really. We’d find ourselves laughing when we were taking ourselves very seriously and looking and shouting at tennis balls on the end of poles that weren’t really there. You kind of look around the desert going, “Am I shouting to a tennis ball?” So you just got to be childlike and just be able to suspend disbelief.
 
Q: Were there a lot of injuries because of the stunts?

Anna: I did hurt my ankle, one of the days, you know, when we’re in the vines and we’re all taking off. That was about a week of being in harnesses, and there was one when we were yanked so hard and we’d all eaten lunch. That’s really not a good idea to eat lunch before those harnesses, I’ll never do it again. And not only do we feel sick, but both Will and I thought we were going to commit (inaudible??) I said, “I can’t quite see properly, can you?” and he was like, “No.” I said, “Are you having problems breathing” and he’s like “Yes.” We all thought we were going to have some aneurysm. We all needed to take about a half an hour break ‘cause we couldn’t breathe from that, and he had to be in it a lot more. The sand dunes were quite good. It's not made into the movie but we have one bit when we’ve just met Chaka, we’re running, we go down these dunes, and we did our own stunts. We made these things called butt-pans, so we called them bottom-pans, and they were like a little sleigh and all attached by a wire. We’d be falling down sand dunes and you just got sand in every orifice. We did a good joke on Jorma, pretended it hurt and was going to pull off all his fur. I think that will be on the extras on the DVD.

Q: You have a really strong theater background. Was it daunting to be in a big CGI action comedy film with Will Ferrell? 

Anna: That’s a really good question. I’d be an absolute liar if I said I wasn’t scared, particularly because I didn’t know how much improvisation was going to be involved. I grew up, that was my history before the theater. We went to a place called Oldham Theatre Workshop where it was just about improvising three times a week for three hours a night, but it was a lot more serious. I was worried I would be out of my depth because it isn’t my genre, and the part from Pushing Daisies starting to doing comedy. I think because of the immediacy, if you watched Will and Danny, they’d come up with 10, 12 different responses of what to do and you have to have that very quick wit. They seemed also passionate about it, and once I’d auditioned they said, we did the read through, which I hate doing read throughs, particularly when I’ve been told by an actor just before I went in to do one that you can actually be fired if they don’t like you. In England we kind of just sit there going “Da-da-da-da-da…” I think it’s changing now, people want more of a performance but you get it just for the timing. I did the read through before I got the part and doing the read through actually gave me the part. They called me the next day and said, “We want you to do it.” But I think it helps, any background in theater. I’m ‘bout to go and do stage again for the first time in seven years. I’m doing the first ever adaptation of Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in the West End at the Haymarket [Theatre]. I’m doing it there.

Q: Was there any time when Danny and Will were improvising and you just didn’t get it because the humor was too American?

Anna: No. It’s not the humor. There are certain words. You call things different things. Like I had to find out what “chorizo taco” was. At the very first bit, I was like, “What’s the story?” “You don’t know what chorizo taco is?” Then I went and experienced it and now I know what one is. It’s funny when your in America for such a long time ‘cause you do find there’s lots of little different worlds like “tin.” I kept asking for “tin-foil” and they’re like “What do you mean you want tin-foil?” And I’m like, “Tin foil, you know, so my sandwiches don’t go off. I’ve just eaten my lunch. I want to keep it warm.” “Aluminum foil.” “Is that what you call it? Aluminum?” “Yes.” There’s lots of different words like that, but not really, they’re pretty easy to understand. Danny just kept making British jokes all the way through, like it was literally the butt of every joke and he’d pretend that he’d never met an English person like, “Do you really exist? I thought I only met them in history books” and I’m like, “Alright you, that’s enough!” (laughs)

Q: Pushing Daisies is finally airing the last three episodes.

Anna: I know. I haven’t seen them. I’m so excited to see them.
 
Q: Are you doing anything special for them?

Anna: Well hopefully. Lee’s in town. Lee’s going to come to the premiere tomorrow. As is Bryan Fuller, I’ve got all my Daisies clan. They all want to come and watch. I’m very excited. I got them on DVD but I wanted to wait to watch them go out live. Although it was a short run of a series, I think it will be something. I read in somewhere… a journalist from USA Today put it really nicely. He said we had a show that lasts forever. It didn’t run long but we’ll last forever. And it was such a daring and creative project to do in the first place and hopefully it’s opened up many doors for TV to become more adventurous.
 
Q: Bryan talked about the season two finale that’s airing in three weeks where there’s not a resolution. Is there any plan for a comic adaptation or has he told you anything that might continue?

Anna: They are doing a comic thing and I know it’s always his dream to do some kind of film version, but whether that actually comes to fruition, we’ll have to see. The real ending, he’d had it, imagine how his brain works. He’d had it planned out for over a few years, and the real ending was just so beautiful and touching when he first discussed it. And this is lovely, Chuck gets to go, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but she actually gets to see the aunts. She goes to see her aunts (American accent) and knocks on the door and you find out what happened to Olive and she opens her own…well I don’t want to ruin it. Anyway, you’ll see. Anyway, this is the end, you better be watching it.
 
Q: But do you know what would have happened to Chuck down the line?

Anna: I do. It was lovely. That’s the thing with TV. Sometimes it’s so exciting ‘cause you think well I know that’s going to come and that’s going to come, and sometimes they don’t want to fill you in with that ‘cause they don’t want you to play it before the actual character would know. But, sometimes you need help with that and every few months we’d go to Bryan and he’s like, you’d see the writers’ storyboards and you’d see how Chuck was tracked and how Ned was and it was so exciting that even after the 17 hour days you’d just think “God, I’ve got that coming up and then I’m going to get to have scenes with them.” My favorite characters were always Lily and Vivian, the aunts. I was desperate. I’d be so jealous of everyone who came to the house to have the scene with the aunts and I feel as soon as they know Chuck’s alive, I can stop doing that.
 
Q: It was so well reviewed, why do you think the show struggled and ultimately ended?

Anna: I think the strike had a lot to do with a lot of shows because it’s not your average show and it was just starting to pick up momentum and then to take something off the air for a year and to have to re-find those viewers. And I think it was quite a complex storyline. It wasn’t something that you could just go “Oh, we’ll just turn it on” ‘cause the whole procedural element made sure you had to really, really listen. I think it was a big bold thing for ABC to take on, you know. It was incredibly expensive, it was incredibly bright and it was something that was daring. Again, I think well done for them for being brave enough to actually take it on and create something new and fresh and I don’t know, I can’t answer that. I think the fact that, maybe there just weren’t enough fans. The fans that were there were loyal and strong and true and avid fans, but maybe it just didn’t catch people’s imagination the way it should have done. But if I really knew the answer to that, I would be running a network. (laughs)
 
Q: Do you have a catch to get people to go back and watch the last three episodes that are airing now?

Anna: Well no, I don’t think that’s my job and they haven’t asked us to go out to do promotion for it. I think it will be the fans that we left off with will be the fans that will come back and watch the final three.

“Land of the Lost” opens in theaters on June 5th.