Anna Faris is clearing the air about viral speculation she poked fun at Cameron Diaz in 2003’s Lost in Translation.
“I was always a little annoyed with that accusation,” Faris, 49, said on the Thursday, June 4, episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “I felt like it took a little something away from my flavor, and because I had auditioned for it and earned it as that performance, I always felt like, ‘No, I’m not part of some grand weird sabotage.’”
Faris played a bubbly actress in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, where an aging movie star (Bill Murray) struck up a connection with a new bride (Scarlett Johansson) on their respective trips to Japan. It had long been speculated that Faris took inspiration from Diaz, 53, for her role.
While speaking with “Happy Sad Confused” podcaster Josh Horowitz, Faris reaffirmed that the Charlie’s Angels actress was never in her mind during the audition or production process.
“L.A. was so new, I hadn’t met any celebrities,” Faris explained. “I had an idea when I first moved to L.A. from Seattle, I encountered a kind of person that I had never met before, which is what I call a self-describer. A person who’s like, ‘I am this and I am spiritual and I’m really creative and my aura is this.’”
According to Faris, she felt as if she was “tapping into that” persona when she read for Lost in Translation.
“Cameron came on my podcast once ‘cause I had read in an article once that her feelings were hurt. I wanted to send her flowers, [but] I didn’t really know how to approach that,” the Scary Movie star acknowledged. “I never had the courage to ask Sofia to clarify.”
Faris was only able to “kind of” clear the air when she spoke with Diaz on her “Anna Faris Is Unqualified” podcast in 2021.
“Maybe should we clear the air on this podcast?” she quipped on Thursday. “I only had 25 minutes with her. I didn’t know if I should launch immediately until like, ‘I’m really sorry. I wasn’t doing that.’ Anyway, I don’t know if I handled it well.”
While Faris wasn’t able to fully apologize to Diaz, she did issue a compliment to her fellow actress.
“She does something that I call the ‘Cameron Diaz Effect,’ which is a scene in Charlie’s Angels when she is dancing to ‘Baby Got Back,’ man, she’s having so much fun,” Faris recalled. “The audience’s having so much fun. You’re loving it, and I was able to give her that compliment.”
