Queen of Pranks

March 27, 2008

Thandie Newton is nobody’s straight man.

When asked if she felt a burden playing a comedic springboard to the histrionics of Simon Pegg and Hank Azaria in Run Fatboy Run, she shrugs it off. “I was able to make up for it in the downtime. I’m a prankster—I just loved playing pranks on Simon,” she smiles a dangerous, feline smile and leans in conspiratorially. “I got a Mars bar, king-sized, squashed it up into a turd—a man-sized turd. Left that in the toilet with some old pants of my dad’s, with some marmite smeared into the butt crack. Then I left the pants on the floor and left the door open, you know, for the crew that would typically go in and out of his trailer.”

Stories of Newton’s pranks on set are well documented, including her exchanging Pegg’s mineral water for vodka before his appearance at a London junket for the film. “That’s when he told me to please leave him alone,” she laughs. “I’ve got it on camera, too. Simon did a massive spit take. He took a swig, immediately spat it out and yelled ‘Thandie!’”

Playing Libby, the female lead in the romantic-flavoured comedy directed by Friends alum David Schwimmer, didn’t come without its comedic challenges for Newton, who’s best known for her dramatic work in films such as The Pursuit of Happyness and the Oscar-winning Crash.

“I was aware sometimes I was overdoing things. Very often you’ve got to throw stuff away, underplay, and I haven’t quite figured that out yet,” she says. “It’s learning how to react to things. It’s an art.

“There’s Dylan Moran, who underplays everything, so at the time you’re like, ‘Is he actually doing anything at all?’ Then when you see the movie together, it’s perfect. It’s terrifying at the time, though,” Newton smiles at this. “I wasn’t in the movie to be funny but there were times, bless my little heart, that I’d try to push a gag and actually wink at the camera and say ‘See what I just did there?’ and David would simply say ‘Cut. Thandie, don’t do that again.’”

Making Libby more interesting, rather than more funny, was the greater challenge for Newton and Schwimmer. “We had to work to make her more dynamic. Giving her her own business was one way to do that, so that she wasn’t wanting for anything and that her relationship with Hank Azaria’s wealthy character was one founded on an equal footing.”

Despite the need for some minor tinkering, Newton felt it was easy to keep Libby away from rom-com clichés. “One of the things I loved about Run Fatboy Run was that it didn’t feel clichéd. And David was very keen on this,” she says. “He didn’t want the comedy to be there just for comedy’s sake, he wanted it to come from realistic situations, where the audience was feeling for the characters and identifying with the characters and having an emotional reaction that isn’t just funny. When the laughs come it’s so much more of a surprise.”

Besides empathy and surprise, Newton feels another realism is integral to the perfect romantic comedy. “Truth. There are so many [romantic comedies] out there where you just sit back and think, ‘That wouldn’t happen.’ Where the formula is just slathered on with a huge knife. And it’s not to say that it won’t be successful, it’ll still warm people up—but it won’t endure, it won’t be memorable,” she says. “I think this movie is more of a comedy than a romantic comedy. I think that’s one of its merits; it’s not so easy to just sort of put it into a box.”

So will Newton’s drama-heavy resume see a turn towards the comic? (We’ll exclude her appearance in the atrocious Norbit, of course.) “We’ll see. I’m not sure I’m that funny,” she laughs in all modesty.

It’s when she comments on Pegg’s appearance in extremely tight jogging shorts in the film that it’s apparent she’ll do fine in the comedy department.

“He’s got no hair on his legs! Absolutely none. It’s from his teen years when he was a punk and he wore those skinny, skinny skin-tight trousers. It rubbed out all his hair. He’s chafed off all the hair on his legs,” she says incredulously, then continues unprompted. “I had a weird thing this morning, one of the journalists, when I shook his hand I noticed he had shaved his hands and his arms—it was stubbled from growing back. And David, who’s so sweet, was like, [here she does a spot on Schwimmer impression] ‘Maybe he was a cyclist or swimmer.’ And I was like, ‘David, you’re so generous and sweet but no, he just wants to be smooth.’”

Again, she continues, “That reminds me of this new thing in LA now, where you can get the wrinkles on your testicles tightened so you’ve got smooth balls. Isn’t that unbelievable?” she says before laying down a perfect comedic pause, then adding, “Hollywood, eh?”