A case of mistaken identity led Natasha Lyonne to discover her surprising celebrity look-alike.
On the Tuesday, December 3, episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Lyonne, 45, revealed that Jennifer Coolidge once mistook her for another actress. “Jennifer Coolidge saw me at the Chateau Marmont. And I had straight hair, and she thought I was Hilary Duff, and I was so confused,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Maybe I’ve become too well ‘cause whatever I’m projecting is something I’ve got to scratch real quick. I have lost my edge.’
Regardless of the mix-up, Lyonne stated that Duff, 37, “seems like a lovely person.” She takes their physical resemblance as a compliment. “Sometimes I’ll look at pictures and be like, ‘I think maybe this is a good thing. I think they mean this kindly,’” she quipped.
Lyonne did not specify when her interaction with Coolidge, 63, took place — before or after they starred together in the 1999 film American Pie. Making the mistake even funnier is the fact that Coolidge went on to play Duff’s stepmother in 2004’s A Cinderella Story.
According to Lyonne, Coolidge realized her mistake “not very far” into their conversation. “She was sort of like, ‘Oh, I thought you were Hilary Duff,’ and I was like, ‘I’m not,’ and it was over,” she explained before joking, “But yeah, I would rather be mistaken for Keith Richards or something.”
Podcast host Josh Horowitz stated that Lyonne could be “the cross between Hilary Duff and Keith Richards.”
Lyonne and Coolidge played Jessica and Stifler’s mom, respectively, in American Pie. The comedy follows a group of high school boys who make a pact to lose their virginity by prom night. The actresses reprised their roles in 2001’s American Pie 2 and 2012’s American Reunion, though Lyonne did not appear in the series’ third installment, 2003’s American Wedding.
Lyonne reflected on her American Pie experience during Tuesday’s podcast, revealing she turned down her role “five times out of sheer confusion.” She stated: “I was at [NYU Tisch School of the Arts] at 15, so I had no tangible experience of going to a white person high school and then doing dates for prom. I had no idea what the movie was about, and I think that I was, sort of, morally against it.”
She added: “I also have never really enjoyed the idea of, ‘These are the hot chicks and you are other.’ I’m like, ‘That’s not fun, guys.’”
Despite her conflicting feelings, Lyonne said that the film’s codirectors, Paul and Chris Weitz, are “lovely” and she’s still fond of her costars. “Now, with 400 years between me and the film, I can see that it’s very interesting that it touched a nerve for people and that they felt seen,” she stated. “I love Jason Biggs. I love Eddie Kaye Thomas very much. But yeah, I was very confused by the film.”
