EVA AMURRI Showtime’s Showstopper

Eva Amurri is definitely not your typical 24-year-old. The tall blonde sashays in after finishing the last set-up of her photo shoot, dressed in a pewter hued satin shirt, pants that closely match in color, and bright orange shoes, like the orange-colored jumpsuits you see the guys wearing who pick up trash alongside the freeway. She’s a bit ballsy in her demeanor, but every blessed inch of full-on femininity. “I’m a New Yorker, what can I say,” Amurri announces. She also just happens to be the daughter of actress Susan Sarandon and Italian director Franco Amurri, so it comes as no surprise that this young lady is destined to speak her mind during the course of this interview.

Amurri’s been acting off and on for about ten years now, in between growing up in New York, living in Italy, and going to Brown University, where she got her degree in Ital­ian studies. She’s already done the requisite ‘star with your mother thing’ in the film The Banger Sisters, played a born-again Christ­ian virgin in Saved, and does a turn in the upcoming anthology to her hometown in New York, I Love You (debuting this month in theaters).

Yet it is her current gig that’s garnered the most attention. Amurri guest stars in Season 3 of Showtime’s “Californication” — Tom Kapinos’s satirical homage to the life and loves of the ultimate single guy living in Venice, Hank Moody (David Duchovny). This season, novelist Hank gets all professorial and begins teaching at university, where he finds himself amidst a whole new batch of lovelies, ranging from the tightly wound teacher’s assistant, Jill (Diane Farr), the Dean’s wife (Embeth Davidtz), and a boda­cious student named Jackie (Ms. Amurri). Turns out Jackie’s not exactly the girl next door — she’s moonlighting as a stripper and showcasing her wares around the stripper pole for all the world to see. Needless to say, sex and hilarity ensues. Amurri had no trepi­dation about playing the role, except when it came to being ready. She studied with a choreographer and took pole-dancing lessons because as she puts it, “…within three weeks, I not only had to become a stripper and a pole dancer, I had to become a really good one…” Without giving anything away, this student will undoubtedly get top marks from Professor Moody, not to mention an “A” for effort. 

Despite her youth and vivacity, Amurri is anything but Hollywood. In fact, the New Yorker just moved here a week ago and made a conscious decision to become a Westsider instead of going Hollywood. She likes to keep that part of her world separate. “My fear about living in Hollywood was it’s everywhere. The great thing about living in NYC was I was able to sustain some other life besides work. But I work here so much I took the plunge. And I like that Venice is like the West Village of L.A. It’s more bohemian and a little older too. I definitely don’t do the whole Hollywood scene.” With her bohemian edge and altruistic attitude, Amurri will cer­tainly fit in.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Venice: Those shoes!

Eva Amurri: I know, right? They’re kinda bright, but they’re by Kenneth Cole and I always liked him because I like his politics. I like to support people I believe in.

So how was it for you to join this tight-knit, already established group on “Cali-fornication”?

It was like being the new kid in class. It’s been two seasons these people have been working together. And also, I’m coming in and playing the home wrecker essentially, so I was a little apprehensive. But very quickly you realize that everyone is warm and kind — and especially David. David was great.

That’s what I wanted to ask you. Even though the relationship between you and Hank (Duchovny’s character) is sexual, I would imagine that the relationship off camera would be sort of mentor-ish. He just seems like he would be that kind of guy.

Well, he definitely keeps to himself, but not in an anti-social way. He’s very focused, and kind of has to preserve his energy because he, more than anyone else, is work­ing all the time. It’s a rigorous job for him, but he’s so dedicated. We were able to bond — we both went college – he to Princeton and Yale and I to Brown…and whether I go to grad school — I still might; after listening to him I was definitely inspired to think about it. It’s just nice to have things to talk about with him, other than the work.

Plus, when we’re in scenes, he likes to do a lot of improvisation, which is always fun to play with. And the writing is so fantastic. I was a fan of the show before I was even on it; so it was a huge honor for me to be a part of it. I love the character of Hank Moody; he’s the character every woman hates to love, but you do love him anyway. He’s the intellectual bad boy; the bad boy your moth­er didn’t warn you about. 

There are a lot of subtleties and subtext in that show too…things that come back to you after the fact that make you really wonder and say to yourself ‘wait a minute…’

It’s just layers and layers of smart writing. And the writers are always right there, so if we have a question they can totally help on the spot.

Now when you got this role and found out you were going to be stripping, were you intimidated?

Well, I knew I was going to be stripping way before we shot. I think people would be pissed off if you were playing a stripper and they didn’t see you take it off, that’s so lame.

Like when you see these love scenes in movies and the girl is wearing a bra. My character is a multi-layered character — sure, she’s a stripper, but there are other great things about her… there are really only two episodes where I’m nude, and I’m in nine. When I met with Tom Kapinos and Bart Freundlich who directed my first episode where I was going to be stripping and they were talking rather hesitantly about it…they didn’t really know how to ask me how I felt being naked. But I was fine. I feel comfort­able and it was the most authentic thing to do.

I guess I was kind of shocked to see you… so naked. I mean, we know your lin­eage...

And my mom’s had her clothes off more than once on camera. [laughs]

But still, it was a little shocking.

I grew up half of my life in Italy. And it’s not really nude – it’s just topless. It’s just boobs — who really cares? Although surprisingly enough, I’m finding out a lot of people do. To me, it’s not a big deal. The only thing I was worried about, is I have large boobs that are real…and so I thought, if I’m gonna show them, I better show them now because grav­ity’s not going to be my friend in the long run. [laughs]

Pole dancing is so strenuous. It should be an Olympic sport.

It should be. Basically, within three weeks, I not only had to become a stripper and a pole dancer — I had to become a really good one because of my character. I took strip classes, but I have a dance background, which helped a lot. It whipped me into the best shape of my life; it was the best for me that I’ve ever felt, which was really auspi­cious considering I had to take it all off. What you see was a routine that was cut down sig­nificantly. It was like, six minutes long.

And we see something like 20 seconds.

It was so difficult; I have a whole new respect for what these women do. It’s like being an athlete. Once I started learning it, I loved going and seeing it, which you know, all my male friends really loved. [laughs]

Did you feel timid at all about doing it?

Definitely not.

But were you uncomfortable showcas­ing your sexuality? Or did it bring out a new part of you?

I’m a pretty sexual person. I feel very comfortable with my sexuality. It was just nice to do that because as of late, I have played characters like, really good girls. I have a womanly shape and I like that I don’t have to hide that with my work. It was very liberating, and fun. There was never a moment where I felt uncomfortable. 

I think one of the most interesting things about the evolution of this show is when I saw the first season, I thought of Hank Moody as this, sexually-charged jerk asshole. But he’s evolved a lot in the past two seasons and now he’s kind of endearing.

I kind of always found him endearing actu­ally. He always was just who he was, and unapologetic about it. That I can respect. If you’re a nightmare and really immature, if you own it, I can respect that. I think more people should be like that. It doesn’t behoove any­body to be, like, a secret asshole.

That sounds like a bad superhero – Secret Asshole Man!

Totally. [laughs] Hank doesn’t try to be any­body that he’s not and that’s why so many of these women are attracted to him. 

How did your parents feel about your going into acting?

Well, I’m not doing this because I have to, I’m doing it because I want to. I started when I was 14 and I had to give up a lot of things. I missed a lot of social things and friendships. They wanted to make sure I was just a well rounded person, which I am. And I went to college and finished and once they saw how committed I was to all areas of my life, they were much more on board. I’ve never taken an acting class, and neither did my mother. College is so fleeting and I decided I wasn’t going to spend my time there doing acting. This is something I want to do for my whole life and I’ll figure it out, and if I want to take an acting class later, I will. 

I wanted to ask you about your tattoo. (On the front of her wrist is the word CON­SCIENTIA.)

My mom and I went and got tattoos together. I like tattoos on bones…I like that aesthetic; it connects to you more. It says “conscience” in Latin and it’s the typewriter font of the typewriter I had growing up, and the tattoo artist was able to do it freehand. The first movie I ever saw was Pinocchio and the famous line in that was “always let your conscience be your guide.” That line just res­onated with me. There are so many different types of knowledge. The kind you can go to school and get, the street smart type, and then there are the things that you know to be true because that’s what they are to you. You know the difference between right and wrong, and your own moral bottom line. I got [the tattoo] to remind myself that there are a lot of things that influence you to do one thing or another, but in the end, I think it’s best to go back within yourself and real­ize what is right for you…and in that moment, getting this tattoo was right, at least for me. ▼

“Californication” airs Sundays at 10PM on Showtime.