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BRITTANY CURRAN SHINES THE SPOTLIGHT ON MEAN GIRLS IN LEGALLY BLONDES!
(By: Bessie Sorge)

It would be fitting to say that a fellow “Britney” was responsible for setting Brittany Curran’s acting career in motion.   At age nine, Brittany attended a concert of the young pop starlet Britney Spears with her father when she noticed an advertisement for acting class.  After taking class for approximately two years she traveled to Los Angeles to see what the world of entertainment had to offer.  "I went to a convention in Los Angeles and I got discovered by an agent and a manager," Brittany recalls.  "They wanted us to move out here."  
 

Convincing her parents to move to Hollywood didn’t take much effort on Brittany’s part, both being heavily supportive of her nascent career.  “They were really supportive and never once said anything negative about it," Brittany tells us. “We moved out like five months later, during the summertime."

Having been a fan of the Legally Blonde movies ever since she was a little girl, Brittany squealed with excitement upon learning that she landed one of the leading roles in the new sequel film Legally Blondes.  "It’s kind of like a huge dream come true," Brittany confessed to us about landing the role. "When I first found out I was auditioning for it, I was excited," she recalls.  "Then when I found out Reese Witherspoon signed off on my audition tape I was freaking out."

This fall you will be able to catch Brittany starring in a brand new television series on TNT called “Men of a Certain Age” opposite Ray Ramano. 

We recently sat down with Brittany at Pinkberry in Burbank to discuss the film.  Not being able to decide which flavor to get, Brittany settled on a swirl of pomegranate and original flavored frozen yogurt with mango and mochi toppings.

Have you seen the original Legally Blonde film with Reese Witherspoon?

This is perfect because we're at Pinkberry.  I saw the original Legally Blonde about 20 meters to my left, because the old theater used to be on the other side of Pinkberry, and it used to be over there about seven years ago.  I remember Legally Blonde had such a huge affect on me that I remember walking out the theater and trying to walk like Elle Woods.  Literally, my entire sixth grade year, whenever I went shopping, I’d look at an outfit and my first question would be, "Would Elle Woods wear this?" and if the answer was "yes" I’d buy it.   

Did you have any reservations about doing a sequel because like people in Hollywood tend to criticize sequels?

I’ve thought about that and the past about sequels and about certain sequels I’ve auditioned for, but it didn’t actually go though my mind with Legally Blondes.  Since I love the first one so much, I really didn’t care if it was the sixth Legally Blonde I probably would have done it anyway, just because it had such an affect on me when I was little.  It’s not the same target audience as Legally Blonde, it’s younger.  Becky and Milly are good role models and influences in movie, and for little kids to see that - not just little kids, but teenagers - is good.  Sometimes people judge things just by hearing the name, which is really annoying because they don’t realize how much work goes into it and like Savage Steve Holland, the director, is just brilliant.  It’s more than just the sequel, it’s kind of like a new age to Legally Blonde.  

 
Brittany Curran with Legally Blondes director Savage Steve Holland
Photo Credit: Marty Curran

You were originally auditioning for a different role. So what did you feel like when you went in and they said come back in and do this role?

When I first got to the audition sides it was two pages long, and I remember looking at it and seeing the name Ashley and then seeing the name Tiffany and they said, "You are auditioning for Ashley," and I was like, "okay, that’s cool."  I looked at Tiffany and I was like hmm and I kind of pouted to myself and was like, "Tiffany’s a bigger role."  I thought it was probably cast already because it was like the lead role, but I thought, "No, Ashley is really cool role."  So, I went in and read the sidekick role of Ashley and it went well, and they had me play it really ditsy and daffy, kind of like my character on Suite Life because they had seem me on Suite Life so they were like, '"Oh, do it like Suite Life."  So, I did and then they were like, "You know what, take these sides, go outside and come back in a few minutes," and it was the Tiffany side so I was like, "Yes, this is the side I wanted."  It thirteen pages of just straight dialogue.  I remember specifically thirteen pages, which is normal, but when you’re given on the spot and how much dialogue there was, it was a long side.  I came back in and I read it and they brought me back in the next day to read for the executives and then two days later I found out that I booked it.  I was over at my friend’s house actually, eating lunch and I called up my old manager asking him another question and he said, "Oh, by the way, you know you booked Legally Blondes, right?" And I was like, "No!  What?"

So tell us a little about your character, Tiffany.

Tiffany is my favorite role that I’ve ever played, actually.  She is the reigning queen bee at Pacific Prepatory and she’s very manipulative and conniving.  She’s very rich and covers up her own personal insecurities with her wealth and being pretty and being stylish and having boys like her, even if they don’t really like her for her, they just like her because she’s the popular one and can destroy them.  The whole school is named after her because her last name is Donahue and there’s the Donahue auditorium, the Donahue science wing.  The thing that the producers liked about my audition was that I went in as the character acting really nice, but I was saying really mean things before I left the room, and they were like, "Did she just insult us?"  It was fun because I got to bring more levels to the character, which made it more fun to be saying the most terrible things and just smiling.

Do you like playing the mean girl?

I do, I like playing nice too, but I love playing the antagonist.  It’s so fun you know because I never get to do it in real life; to be manipulative is really fun in movies.

How do you feel this film differs from the original?

It differs a lot.  There’s definitely a clear antagonist in Legally Blondes, like in my character, I’m clearly the person who’s trying to bring them down from the beginning to the end court scene.  In Legally Blonde, it’s a little bit more like real life, where you know the antagonism kind of flows in and out of different people and people change and become good, whereas my character just gets it in the end.

What was your favorite scene to film?

 I had a lot of favorite scenes. The scene that stands out the most is the trampoline scene.  I love that scene. One thing about that scene too was that scene was like completely 100 percent rewritten about six times. Because originally we were supposed to be riding horses, and then at one point it was a soccer match, and then it was a treadmill match - we were trying to see who could run faster on a treadmill  - and then I think Savage said it was a dart game at one point, and then it was a tennis court scene, and then it was the trampoline.  We got these huge trampolines. Becky and me are not actually jumping, it’s our stunt doubles, even though I was begging the producers to let me jump, but they wouldn’t.  It was so fun because like Becky and me were jumping all day and at the end of the scene my character falls off the trampoline.  I had this great idea, at the time, to fall into a split position where I hadn’t stretched for three month prior to the movie, and I just went straight down into a split and I was like "Ahhh."  They filmed the first take and at that point I’m stuck in that position and I couldn’t change it, so the whole rest of the like two hours we were filming that part of the scene, I was in excruciating pain.  

Were there any embarrassing moments on set?

I always have embarrassing moments on set. There was this one time where we were filming in the quad area next to the classroom, and we were on a break and Christoph Sanders, who plays Brad, was sitting on a metal chair and I went up behind him to try to scare him.  I tried to say "Christoph" and like put my hands on his shoulders really fast, but I misjudged and I planted the middle of my palms into the metal spikes that were sticking up.  It didn’t draw blood.  Everyone was starring at me and my face went bright red because it hurt so much.  I tried to sit down and not let anybody know.

Did anyone pull any pranks besides yours?

I don’t think anybody pulled any pranks, which kind of stinks because you’d think we would have pulled a prank on each other, but Becky and Milly are so sweet that they would never pull a prank.  I’m sure some of the other kids pulled pranks, some of the other roles, just not on us.

I just remembered something in Legally Blondes. Not a prank, it was bad though. This scene where we’re driving and the bus like the last scene where I’m being  pulled away, the bus driver I swear had never driven a bus in his life.  He’d be driving away and they’d keep on telling him to okay come back.  He’d keep on driving to make the loop up around the school, and he’d go onto the Biggest Loser set.  The Biggest Loser set people had like their mini golf carts they had to use on set and he whammed into a golf cart and took off their mirror.  Other than all the extras . . . I was the like to only actual actor in the movie who would say something about it.  I had a mic in the back and I was like, "By the way, the bus driver just hit the Biggest Loser golf cart."  It was so bad.  It was freaking me out, and he like got stuck, and all this other stuff was happening and it was terrible.  I actually had to talk to the extras.  I was like, "Okay everybody, let’s all get off the bus and walk back to back camp."  So I led all the extras back to where the crew was, but Chad gave me a piggy back ride all the way, which was nice.

Each of the characters is pretty fashion savvy. Was there a favorite outfit that your character wore in the film?

As weird as it may sound, I really liked my school uniform.  You can’t actually see the full thing because I am always wearing a jacket, but without the jacket it’s really cute.  It comes up to my waist and I have a small waistline as it is, so it kind of looks like the old 50’s dresses where it’s high at the waist and then kind of goes out. It was really cute, and I really like the little tie and, of course, the blazer on top.  It did look cute.  I liked the whole high sock thing. I’ve always wanted to dress like a school girl in a movie, so when I found out we were wearing uniforms when I first read the script I was so ecstatic.

What was it like working with Becky and Milly?

It was so fun. We really became friends pretty much at the beginning and they are just the cutest.  They’re from England and they have the cutest accent. They have cutest most proper dialect, which is real.  People say it is not real, it’s totally real; I’ve hung out with them enough to know. The way they talk is completely authentic. They’re just so genuinely sweet and polite, and we’ve hung out a lot too off the set. They are so supportive, not of just other actors but of each other.  In between takes Becky will be like, "Oh, Milly you have to fix the collar of your shirt," and they fix each other’s shirt;  and they say, "Oh, that was a really good line." and they complement each other or say, "Oh, you should do this way, or do you want to do this other way."  They were just so cute with each other.  We became really good friends.  It was funny being really mean to them in the movie because in real life they are so incredibly sweet, and then to like lash out at them it was pretty fun.

In one of the behind the scenes features on the DVD you mistakenly called Milly Becky.

The sad thing is when I was on tape calling Milly Becky, that was the last day of shooting.  I should have known by then.  I can tell them apart now, but I felt so bad watching that back.  Like Dylan and Cole for instance are really easy to tell apart, even from behind you can tell by their hair cuts, you can just tell.  Becky and Milly look really similar. But I found out their faces are slightly different looking.

Was it harder to tell the difference when they are apart?

When they’re apart it’s even harder.  I’m starting to learn though and I can also pick up on their subtleties and the differences in their personalities and the way that they talk.  Even over the phone sometimes I can tell who is who, but it’s difficult.

 
Brittany Curran with Legally Blondes co-star Bobby Campo
Photo Credit: Marty Curran 

You previously mentioned your excitement working on the Queen Mary. What was that experience like for you?

Oh it was so cool. My first day shooting was on the Queen Mary.  That’s where I met Becky and Milly.  My dad and I, we got down there a day early so that we could just relax and not have to get up early. We stayed in one of the ship rooms on the Queen Mary. It was so creepy. I was there in the middle of the night and all of a sudden it sounded like water was just going through the walls, and I’m sure it was just because somebody was like turning on a shower, but it was really loud because the walls must be really thin. It was creepy.  It was cool because I got to get in the Queen Mary mood.  On the main deck, there are all these pictures of like Laurel and Hardy and I think maybe Marilyn Monroe, and a lot of famous classical actors and comedians who have travelled on the ship, and it was really cool to be there.  It was like, "Oh, my God, these people filmed here, now I’m filming here." It really put it all in perspective.

Where was the best hangout spot on set?

It was Crafty.  I got food a lot.  We would hang out at our trailers a lot because our trailers were next to each other.  It was so cute, my dad is a photographer too, and I came up one day and all the kids who played the nerds in the movie, they were all in one really long trailer and they each had a room in it and they were each sitting on their step and my dad took a picture.  They were so cute because they’d be joking around and hanging out with each other. I’d usually hang out with Becky and Milly off set.  I spent a lot on time on set with the crew members. I would hang out with the crew and whenever I got a chance, I would find out what each person did and like the cinematographer would teach me about the camera movement and lighting and stuff. It was really fun.

More information about Brittany Curran can be found on her official website: www.brittanycurran.com.   Visit amazon.com to purchase a copy of Legally Blondes on DVD.  Be sure to stop by our contest corner to enter your name in our Legally Blondes contest.  We will be giving five lucky readers an opportunity to win a copy of the Legally Blondes DVD, signed by Brittany!