Behind the glamorous facade, Jessica Alba isn’t that much different than the klutz she plays in “Good Luck Chuck,” opening Friday.
Alba plays Cam Wexler, a sweet but dangerously clumsy girl who works in a penguin habitat. In the comedy, she falls into a penguin pond, stabs co-star Dane Cook with a dental tool and accidentally tears off her skirt by closing it in a car door.
Alba says her real life isn’t all that different from that of the two-left-footed Cam. How so? Consider that the 26-year-old actress chipped a tooth while making the movie — just a week before she was supposed to film a scene where her character does the same thing.
“I play a superhero or the ‘Dark Angel’ who comes in and saves the day — little do they know that in real life, I’m really the girl that’s running into glass windows,” Alba said.
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Cook plays her star-crossed love interest, Chuck, a dentist who has the strange power to help women find true love … the moment they leave him.
Alba recently talked about what it’s like to be hot, clumsy and a perpetual tomboy.
How does it feel winning “Hottie of the Year” at the Teen Choice Awards?
It’s silly.
With all that attention, do you ever feel insecure about your looks?
Of course I do. … I am just like everyone else.
You dedicated the award to Ross, a boy you kissed when you were 7. What would you do if he tried to contact you now?
I think that would be kind of creepy. I feel like if you’re meant to run into people in life, I think it should happen organically. The fact people can find you just because you’re a public figure is kind of weird.
So what happened (with Ross)?
I was the only girl in a huge group of boys. I was always playing sports with the boys, and they were always picking me last. I remember when he wanted to kiss me, he said if I kissed him, he would pick me first for his team. But he still picked me last.
Were you a tomboy?
All I did was play sports … and look at fashion magazines.
Your character falls a lot in “Good Luck Chuck.” Why do you think there are so many hot, clumsy girls in romantic comedies?
Well, I think it’s disarming to see someone who doesn’t really have control of their body, whether it’s because their mind is elsewhere or because that person is just a total klutz. It’s a perfect role for me because I used to be that girl. … When I was a kid I wanted to look graceful and cute and poised, but I was always making an ass of myself. I would think, “Why can’t I just not bump into walls?”
So are you still clumsy?
Yes. Actually during filming, Dane and I smacked faces, and I chipped my tooth. I was so embarrassed. … But it was hilarious, we actually totally laughed about it. You know Jim Carrey in “Dumb and Dumber”? That’s what I looked like.
Did you do all your own falling in this movie?
I had a stunt woman doing the big falls, but my body is so gangly and uncoordinated that we couldn’t get a stunt woman who would really look like me.
How was it, working with all those penguins?
They’re great. They poo a lot, but that’s about it. They just sort of waddle and run into each other, but when they’re swimming, they’re so graceful.
Your character is obsessed with penguins. Do you have any real life obsessions?
Shoes, shoes and shoes.
The “home video” at the end, where Dane is making out with a stuffed penguin is wild.
That was totally crazy. We just did that as more of an experiment. We sort of just did it on the spot. … It’s such a “boy” and R-rated movie, I really wanted to have a girl who was someone that I would like and that other women would relate to.
Has Chuck’s “curse” ever happened to you?
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One guy. … But I’ve kinda been off the market for seven years.
Are you dating now?
I don’t like to talk about that.
You’ve done mostly action movies. What was it like working on a comedy?
It was great. Every day I was crying at the end of the day because Dane and I totally got along, and we just had a good time. For a while I was terrified because I was like, “What if I’m not funny?” I had all that anxiety. But I had so much fun.
We hear about how women in Hollywood are really lonely — that they have trouble finding dates. Is that true?
I think it’s probably the same as it is for everyone else. [For celebrities] everything is just sort of heightened and amplified because people in this business are put on a pedestal and expected to be inhuman — superhuman. And when you’re just like everybody else it’s kind of a disappointment, so maybe some people feel the need to have guys lining up for them or something.
So people like you have as many problems with guys as the rest of us?
Sure. All my girlfriends who aren’t actresses and aren’t in Hollywood have the same problems finding a dude as anyone in Hollywood. Guys are a headache. But girls are headaches too. We’re all nuts.