Anna Faris made her mark playing sexy blondes who aren’t always the brightest bulb in the bin. And she’s pushed the envelope of raunchy comedy in films like The House Bunnyand the outrageous Observe and Report.

Now, she is strictly G-rated in the animated version of the popular children’s book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Parade.com’s Jeanne Wolf found out why Faris has a special connection to the story.

The good and the bad of reliving childhood memories.
“It was a book that I loved as a kid, so I couldn’t wait to be a part of it. I thought it was going to be easy, but it’s so much harder than I thought. You’re on your feet for hours in front of a microphone and you’re giving a full performance. The producers sort of sell you on it going, ‘This is going to be fun. No hair. No makeup. You just pop in. You record your voice. You act out a funny animated character.’ Believe me, it’s still a challenge.”

Getting to reveal her ditzy side.
“I provide the voice of Sam Sparks, who’s smart and feisty. Normally, a girl in a movie goes from being shy and geeky to super cool and hot, but Sam takes the reverse journey and I loved that. I think there are some great messages in the movie about being true to yourself and following your passions and your interests–even though they may not be the coolest thing in the world.”

Real food among the animation.
“Bill Hader’s character and I voice this big scene where cheeseburgers are raining down and we’re chomping them. So they brought in real cheeseburgers to the studio and we’d eat them while we recorded the lines. OK, the truth is they had a spit bucket so we’d eat part of one and then just dump the rest in the bucket. But, we still went through a lot of cheeseburgers.”

Burger nostalgia.
“I did a training video for a burger chain, which I won’t mention, in which I played the perfect hostess. And one of my lines was, ‘Here, we always give good phone.’ The whole crew was like, ‘I don’t understand what giving good phone means. Is it like a double entendre?’  The hardest part was saying it without breaking up.”

What she whips up in the kitchen.
“One of my hobbies is cooking. I love it, and so I love food of all kinds, but I’m going to go with Indian food for right now–naan and some daal are really great.”

Adjusting to G-rated jokes.
“I love offensive humor, and I’m really proud to be a part of that stuff, especially as a woman. In comedy you’re always trying to walk the line between being funny and also pleasing your audience. I’m very comfortable being raunchy and outrageous, but Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is great as well even if it’s kinder and gentler. It’s nice that my parents can finally see one of my movies without blushing.”

The one where they did.
“I told my parents that I was going to make Smiley Face, about a girl who’s stoned the entire movie. I didn’t tell them that I spent some of my youth doing quite a bit of research. But, you know, it was college–what are you gonna do? Anyway, my mom was like, ‘Oh no.’ I was like, ‘Mom, I’m doing it. I don’t want to have to choose roles because I’m worried about what you’re going to think.’ Now, it’s their favorite movie that I’ve done. They love it. They watch it all the time, so I guess I’m breaking them in.”

Always ready for another Scary movie.
“I really do enjoy making them, and in a sense it’s a little like putting on an old pair of jeans. It is kind of the only film that I can approach with such a degree of comfort because I know everybody and I’ve done it before. Every other film that I go to and do I’m still learning, still figuring out. I’m still climbing the ladder.”

If you saw her Playboy pictorial, you may not believe this.
“Growing up I was a late bloomer. I had no boobs and didn’t really look my age. The opposite sex sort of ignored me. I had two gorgeous girlfriends, and I felt guys were always trying to be my friends so they could pursue them.”

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