I WANT CANDY
Q&A with Carmen Electra, Tom Riley
and director Stephen Surjik		 Search all of phase9.tv






Carmen what was the first contact made to you about this project and what was your reaction to it initially?

CARMEN ELECTRA: Initially I was sent the script the way that everything goes - through your manager, and your agent and everything - and I read it and I just thought it was really funny.  I mean I guess for me, I’ve always done a lot of comedies but more physical, sort of slapstick, in your face kind of comedies and it was nice because I didn’t have to get hit over the head with anything, or run into trees or fall off of anything.  Just reading the script I thought it was really clever and written really well, and that it would be really fun to shoot in London and work with a British cast.

Tom, one of the nice things that is evident in the film is a great chemistry with you and the other Tom (Burke). You really seem like these very close friends who sometimes bicker but always get together and enjoy themselves.

TOM RILEY: Yeah, it kind of mirrors our relationship in real life I think.

Did you know each other before?

TOM RILEY: No we didn’t, we were paired.  When the casting process took place they saw however many people - and I think there were a lot - and they used to just pair them up and see who worked the best together.  Tom came in quite towards the end of the casting process and it was just a completely different vibe in the room in that we kind of threw the script out the window and started making stuff up and they seemed to like that.  So because of that we just became very close friends on set and off which was nice, and still are.

Stephen, the notion of struggling filmmakers feeling that pornography might be their way in: Tell us your …tangental brush with the industry.

STEPHEN SURJIK: You know when I was in film school in Montreal we would struggle to make our very important films - slightly pretentious but important - and when day came to night we would take our raw stock to the laboratory and we would try to make a deal with the guys that ran the lab to run it for cheap. There was always a guy hanging around that laboratory and he was the guy in the overcoat and he always wanted to get you involved in his film. And his film was of course some kind of porno film and you would try to avoid this guy. But I eventually got sucked in; my friends were saying we’re really interested in your work, so I wanted to counter the deal so I came in with a project called The Crash – the Ballard book - which is basically a story about these guys that run round in ambulances and there’s a weird sexuality that takes place in the ambulance, and it was dark material, but I thought it was an angle. They read the book and they didn’t want to meet me anymore - they thought I was a real pervert and didn’t want anything to do with me!

Carmen, this is a starring role whereas normally you do elongated cameos were you building up to the point where you felt able to take a leading role, or did it just happen to come along at the right time?

CARMEN ELECTRA: It just happened to come along at the right time, I honestly really never put that much thought into it as far as ‘I’m gonna do these cameos and then try something else’. I’ve always tried and auditioned and this is just the path. I think more than anything it was just really about getting the script, reading the script and thinking ‘this could be really fun’, not only to get a chance to play a porn star but to get a chance to play a character that actually is a good person and has a good heart. And I like the layers of the character. I feel like so many people, especially in that industry or that have sexy images, really only get looked at for one thing and I think that’s what really pulled me in to like Candy and want to play her.

From BAYWATCH you have a fairly well-defined public image but amongst your friends are you a funny person? Do you clown around with your pals and things?

CARMEN ELECTRA: Yeah I guess so, I mean I like to make people laugh and be silly, but I guess I’ve always just had a good sense of humour about myself and my image, and so I’ve always liked to be in fun movies whether it is SCARY MOVIES or I WANT CANDY. I mean I like to laugh and make people laugh so it’s fun for me.

Tom, given Carmen’s pin-up image what was it like counting down to the days when she would join you on set? Was it almost like the characters’ waiting for her?

TOM RILEY: Every day was like ‘it’s 5 days to Carmen day’! [Laughs] No, it wasn’t like that so much it was just great to hear that Carmen had decided to get involved because when you’re doing a movie that seems so British - and is by its nature an England comedy and it’s continuing this great tradition of England films - and you try and mix it with an American teen comedy style, then the perfect person to play the part would be Carmen so we were very lucky when she came along I think.

CARMEN ELECTRA: I was honoured to be asked to be part of the movie.

Stephen, taking up that point, I wonder if it was like life imitating art in a way; did you have a script and say ‘who can we get to play a lead girl and how about Carmen Electra?’

STEPHEN SURJIK: We were actually thinking about Carmen Electra very early in this process and we always thought that we wanted to make a British comedy with some American sensibilities in it. And while Carmen owned the role and she was Candy, I always wondered what it would be with like a real serious actress like Sylvester Stallone. [Laughter, banter] We dreamt about Carmen for a long time beforehand.

Carmen you talked about coming onto the set with an English crew and cast. What was the experience actually like? Was it vastly different or is filmmaking the same all over the place?

CARMEN ELECTRA: Well we had to shoot all my scenes within two weeks so it was a pretty gruelling schedule.

STEPHEN SURJIK: We packed Carmen into two weeks and we came back to sets again to shoot her out, and so we worked Carmen pretty hard and she was extraordinary; you had all your …text always, you were a good getter-upper and you were always on.

CARMEN ELECTRA: But I remember shooting in the summer and it was during a rare heat wave here and I walked away thinking of how professional all the actors and the crew and everyone was, because not one person complained about the heat. [Laughter] But you know what I mean the company get really spoiled and I thought it was really sweet because everyone worked really hard and continued shooting even though they were pouring sweat and we had no fans remember - he was trying to get us some little hand fans.

Were there any of our English traditions that took you by surprise whether it’s tea breaks, bacon sarnies or even some of the odd terms we come out with from time to time?

CARMEN ELECTRA: Not much of a lunch break I remember that, ‘Can we shoot through lunch’? which I thought was really interesting.

STEPHEN SURJIK: Actually the one that really surprised me was that we actually rescheduled some stuff so that everyone could watch the football game.

Carmen you talked a few minutes ago about your image. What do you perceive to be the image that you put out, and what do you think people think your image is? Out of the two, where’s the real you?

CARMEN ELECTRA: Well it’s interesting because I started off my life being a dancer and that was my passion and my love (it still is), and I thought I would dance on Broadway – that was my dream. So imagine my parents and what they were thinking when I ended up posing nude in Playboy. I guess I’ve always been a little bit rebellious. But I’m glad I did and I love the magazine, and it’s been a major learning process for me to actually figure out who I am, and what it is I want to do, and what image do I want to put out there. And I still love being sexy and I still put out that image because it’s a part of who I am. But I think over time you learn from each experience and each job, and it helps direct your life; and it’s helped me put myself in a direction that I want to go in. But I still want to do sexy stuff as long as I can. Why not?

What did your parents say when their little girl ended up on the pages of Hollywood? What was the air like that day?

CARMEN ELECTRA: You know it’s funny because I actually didn’t really know what to expect, I didn’t know what my parents would think and they were so supportive. My grandmother even went to the beauty salon and brought in my Playboy, so all the grannies were getting their hair done and looking at it and I thought that was really interesting. So I know that they’re really proud of me.

Carmen, I presume you were charmed by the Englishness of the script and the Englishness of the humour, which is obviously very different from American humour. How do you think your fans in America are going to react to the film?

CARMEN ELECTRA: Yeah I think Americans love British comedies and that’s showing more and more. I hear it all the time and my friends love British comedy so I think Americans are definitely open to it and I think it should get a good reaction, hopefully.

Tom, where did you get the inspiration for the role of a slightly dodgy, fast-talking, out-of-his depth movie producer? Was there anyone on set?

TOM RILEY: No the out-of-the-depth thing came entirely from me. But it’s funny because it was all on the page so it’s so much easier when someone is on the page really charming and cock-sure and happy-go-lucky because then you don’t have to go, ‘well I don’t necessarily feel like this in real life so it’s not going to come off’. But if you pretend or you just read the dialogue it comes off ok. The only thing I can claim similarity to was being out of my depth.

Tom, did you need an enormous amount of persuasion to grease up for your love scene that nearly was?

TOM RILEY: Well, yes! It was there from day one so it was always one of those things: countdown to Carmen day and countdown to buttery chest day. It was one of those things that I just thought, right! You know when you’re on a top diving board and you think ‘I’ve just got to jump off this and just do this and pretend it’s not there’, it was that kind of thing.

Carmen can you tell us what Michelle Ryan was like as she’s got quite a big profile here?

CARMEN ELECTRA: She was very sweet, very nice and it’s so funny because I did an interview - and I guess she just got a really big role on a TV show coming out, Bionic Woman – and so for some reason the writer asked me if she needed a place to stay; if she could stay at my house. And I of course said ‘Yeah, sure’ and then all of a sudden I was reading everywhere that she’s gonna be staying at my house and she’s not. But she could if she needed to stay there, but I doubt that she needs to. I’m sure she’s fine. I’m sure she’ll get to stay in a really swanky LA hotel and have room service.

Carmen Electra: sounds like the sort of name you might invent for a movie, but is it in fact your real name?

CARMEN ELECTRA: No it’s not. My real name is Tara Patrick, but Carmen Electra does sound like a porn name, or a superhero! Actually I had a record deal with Prince in the 90s and at that time there was an artist out by the name of Tara, and so he suggested that I change my name and we did.

And is it one of those things where you’re Carmen Electra to your fans and your public, but friends who know you call you by your real name?

CARMEN ELECTRA: I don’t know. It’s just started to catch on, so my family sometimes call me Tara but for the most part they call me Carmen which is really sweet. It’s very supportive.

Continued on page 2


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