'House Bunny' Stars Katharine McPhee, Emma Stone, Rumer Willis Claim They're Awkward On The Inside
'Idol' alum talks about plans for next album, while Willis reveals her own musical aspirations.
Aug 21 2008 8:00 AM EDT
By Josh Horowitz
An "American Idol" runner-up, a "Superbad" breakout star and the product of one of the most famous celebrity couples of the last 20 years would seem an unlikely trio to play a band of misfits, but that's why they call it acting. Anna Faris may be the titular star of "The House Bunny," but this new twist on the "Legally Blonde" concept wouldn't get anywhere without Katharine McPhee, Emma Stone and Rumer Willis.
Faris plays Shelley, a Playboy Playmate unceremoniously booted from the mansion, only to take up with seven unpopular sorority sisters who are themselves on the verge of being kicked to the curb. MTV gathered McPhee, Stone and Willis to chat about their new film, who really is the most awkward of the three and which one just might be giving McPhee a run for a singing career.
MTV: I usually wouldn't bring an issue of Playboy to an interview, but Anna Faris is on the cover promoting the film.
Emma Stone: [Looking at the magazine] Aw, she looks adorable!
Katharine McPhee: She looks good!
MTV: Here's the big question: Where are your covers, and how angry are you that you didn't get one?
Stone: Not that angry. It makes sense. In the movie Shelley is a Playboy bunny, and it's nice to have that full circle. She's in character.
McPhee: Yeah, that's exactly her character.
Rumer Willis: It's fitting for Anna because that's who her character is. The movie is less about Playboy and Hef than about two different groups of women. Everybody thinks the popular girls don't get kicked out, but she's the ideal woman, and she gets kicked out of her house. We help each other to find our way.
Stone: She really gives us the confidence to go out and talk to people. And I think we give her confidence that there's more to her than meets the eye.
MTV: You guys really are dressed down for the first part of the film. Was that a relief?
All: Yes!
Stone: It was great! It was like three minutes in hair and makeup.
Willis: It was especially great for the two of us [gesturing to McPhee] since we were using props. [Note: Willis wears a brace through much of the film, and McPhee dons a fake pregnancy belly] It was very helpful for me to just have something else to make me feel more awkward and uncomfortable.
Stone: We already are awkward! It's nice to really explore the awkwardness, because I feel so much awkwardness inside of me. It was nice to go to the extreme with it.
MTV: Who is the most awkward person in this room?
Stone: Of the three of us?
Willis: [To Stone] You just looked at me! Wow, OK. I thought we were friends.
McPhee: I'm kind of awkward sometimes.
Stone: You are not awkward!
Willis: You are the least awkward person I've ever met.
McPhee: I feel awkward sometimes.
Stone: Everybody feels awkward, but that's one of the messages of the movie: Everyone feels like an outcast sometimes. I think the message in the end is "Embrace your inner awkward."
MTV: You all get to sing in the movie in a memorable karaoke scene. Katharine, I believe you have a musical background ...
McPhee: [Joking] A little bit.
Willis: Really?
McPhee: I do it as a hobby on the side.
Willis: Oh, cool.
MTV: Does anyone else here have musical aspirations?
Willis: No.
Stone: Yes. [Points to Rumer.]
Willis: Maybe.
McPhee: We all sang a lot on the set. I think Rumer eventually in her lifetime would like to do something with her singing.
MTV: Rumer, would you like to do an album?
Willis: Yeah. I would actually really like that. We had an opportunity to write part of a rap that's at the end of the movie, and Katharine sang. We had a great time.
McPhee: You guys did background vocals as well.
Willis: We did. It was very fun.
MTV: Katharine, what are you hoping to accomplish with your next album?
McPhee: I'm really just hoping to bring me to the record. I would like to have an authentic record that comes from the heart and is really my story and my thoughts. Not that the first one wasn't, but ...
Stone: You're over it.
McPhee: [Laughs] I'm over it. [Singing] I'm so moving on.
Check out everything we've got on "The House Bunny."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Katharine McPhee Debuts Video for 'I Know What Boys Like'
Originally posted Tuesday August 19, 2008 03:30 PM EDT
Katharine McPhee channels her inner sorority girl in her latest video, "I Know What Boys Like," the first single from The House Bunny soundtrack.
McPhee, 24, puts a twist on the '80s hit, sashaying in the video alongside sorority sister costars in the film, Emma Stone, Rumer Willis and Kat Dennings. The singer has long had acting ambitions before her Idol fame.
The comedy, which also stars Anna Faris as a Playboy bunny who mentors an awkward sorority, hits theaters Aug. 22.
The film's cast is set to appear on TRL Wednesday.
– Ken Lee
Katharine McPhee: 'Idol' Saved My Life
06/22/2006 4:00 PM, E! Online
Sarah Hall
In a new interview with People magazine, the fifth season runner-up reveals that she struggled with severe bulimia for five years, bingeing, and purging in a destructive cycle that could have permanently ruined her singing voice and caused devastating consequences to her health.
At her worst, McPhee says she was making herself vomit up to seven times each day, which she equates to "putting a sledgehammer to your vocal cords."
But all that changed once the 22-year-old aspiring singer got the go-ahead from the Idol judges, and realized that in order to succeed on the talent search, she would need to rein in her eating disorder.
"When I made it onto American Idol, I knew that food--my eating disorder--was the one thing really holding me back," McPhee tells People. "I was bingeing my whole life away for days at a time...So when I got on the show, I said, 'You know what? I can do well in this competition. Let me give myself a chance and just get ahold of this thing.'"
Backed up by her parents, frequent Idol audience members Peisha and Daniel McPhee, the Idol hopeful enrolled in an intensive treatment program at Los Angeles's Eating Disorder Center Of California, where she underwent three months of group and individual therapy, spending 10 hours a day, six days a week at the center.
"I really had to surrender and give up having a free life to do the program, because I'd be there from 9 in the morning until 7 at night," McPhee says. But she knew the sacrifice was necessary if she wanted to get well.
"I knew I had put off going to a treatment center long enough--I'd been struggling with bulimia since I was 17," she says.
McPhee attributes some of her problems with food to growing up in a city where tremendous emphasis is placed on celebrity-slim bodies.
"Growing up in Los Angeles and spending all those years in dance class, I'd been conscious of body image at a young age, and I went through phases of exercising compulsively and starving myself," she says.
By using the intuitive eating approach she learned at the Eating Disorder Center, McPhee was eventually able to redefine her relationship to food.
"I learned that there's no such thing as a bad food," she says. "If you look at a doughnut, people think it's a fattening food--why? Because if you eat it you'll get fat? No, you'll get fat if you eat 10 doughnuts."
As a result, she dropped 30 pounds and broke her cycle of bingeing and purging.
"That's why I say American Idol saved my life, because if I hadn't auditioned I don't think I would have gotten a handle on food," she tells the magazine.
By openly talking about her eating disorder, McPhee stands to help fans who may be struggling with similar issues, according to Dr. Thomas Weigel, a psychiatrist at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.
"Katharine's portrayal of her eating disorder and its effects on her life would tend toward helping people suffering with eating disorders to seek out treatment," Weigel said.
"She had a problem, which was affecting her career, and she went through a difficult treatment program to make progress toward recovery. It was hard work, but she fought against the eating disorder to get her life back."
And what a life it is. After the Idol finale, McPhee went on to sign a record deal with RCA Records in conjunction with 19 Recordings Limited.
Her first single, "My Destiny," coupled with "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," is scheduled for release on Tuesday. As of Thursday, the tracks were ranked number 52 in music by Amazon.com.
Though the Idol competition is officially over, McPhee's still got her work cut out for her if she hopes to catch up to Taylor Hicks, who released his first single last week and instantly rocketed to the top of the charts.
Katharine McPhee Marries Producer Boyfriend
By Monica Rizzo
Originally posted Saturday February 02, 2008 07:20 PM EST
Singer-actress Katharine McPhee married producer Nick Cokas on Saturday in Beverly Hills, her rep Justin Gray Stone confirms exclusively to PEOPLE.
The 23-year-old American Idol season five runner-up and Cokas, 42, exchanged vows in a late afternoon ceremony at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church.
"(Nick) is the love of my life," McPhee gushed to PEOPLE. "This is a once in a lifetime occasion and everything is just perfect."
McPhee wore a strapless ivory Manuel Mota gown and Neil Lane jewels (diamond and platinum chandelier earrings and diamond and platinum bracelets), while Cokas wore an Armani tuxedo. Fellow season five Idol contestants Kellie Pickler and Mandisa were among the 305 guests on hand for the nuptials.
McPhee and Cokas met in 2005 when they performed in a Los Angeles theater production of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Their union began as a friendship and blossomed when McPhee auditioned for American Idol later that year.
The two quietly got engaged last year when Cokas presented her with a custom-designed round brilliant cut platinum and diamond engagement ring.
McPhee recently wrapped filming the Anna Faris comedy I Know What Boys Like.
resource : People
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