To hear Anna Faris speak is to realize that playing dumb is more complicated than it looks. The actress, cool and slender as the bottle of water she’s drinking, is in a Hollywood bar, talking about why she’s scornful of monologues and how all acting is about human interaction. “The script isn’t as important as what actors do together,” she says. “It’s the dynamic between people.”
There’s a pause. Faris feels obliged to explain the origins of her theory. “Everyone in my family is a sociologist,” she says. “My brother, my dad, one of my grandfathers—everybody.” She knows that as she’s saying this you’re probably thinking about her goofier onscreen exploits, like the scene in Scary Movie 4 in which a green hand emerges from behind her to shave her armpits.
