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Hangin' With Archives
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Updated
4/2//03 We're Hangin' With..... AMANDA BYNES who tells us... "What a Girl Wants" by: Lynn B. You see
that poster everywhere. Cute 16-year-old Amanda, flipping a peace sign
and hanging out with two Buckingham Palace guards. For her new film What
a Girl Wants, the star got to travel to England for the first time
and she had a blast. After a big success on t.v. in her own show and being
lauded as a talented comic actress, Amanda starred with Frankie Muniz
in Big Fat Liar and is now a hit in t.v. comedy "What I Like
About You", as Jennie Garth's younger sis. The actress is determined
to continue to branch out into film work. AGW: What is it like seeing the poster all over town with your face on it? Amanda: It's really weird. I was surprised to be on the poster of Big Fat Liar because it was Frankie's movie. So it's weird and definitely odd. It's not scary as much as I want to stop and look at it. It's so colorful and they did a good job making it bright and it catches your eye. AGW: What did you learn about British culture while filming? Amanda: I learned that it's not as different as we portray it in the film. We try to magnify the difference between Americans and the English. In real life they like the same music, dress the same and it's really much more similar than anyone thinks. But as soon as you get off the plane and get in the car and the actual driving is on the other side [of the road] and the driver is the passenger, it's just weird. It seemed to give me a headache automatically. I was video taping as we were driving and it's just so beautiful. It is so rich in history and everything and it's fun to be there. AGW: What were the fun things you did in London? Amanda: It was my first time getting to go somewhere by myself. I would just walk around and go to the park and go shopping. I was centered in Piccadilly which is close to everything. I just met a lot of really cool people that were on the crew. Everyone was so nice and it was an entirely British crew except for Kelly [Preston] and I and Dennie [the film's female director]. I'm so protected in my Nickelodeon bubble and "What I Like About You". It's all pretty much the same people I've worked with before. Going to another country you're not in your house, you're with people you've never met before and I think it's definitely a good growing experience. AGW: What was the hardest part? Amanda: The food. I'm so picky so it was hard for me. You're in your hotel most of the time so you have to get used to that food. I was definitely craving the food I like at home. Even like Mrs. Field's cookies. They don't have the cookies we have here which is fine. They have biscuits. But they have afternoon snacks which consist of small sandwiches and everything is buttered like buttered cucumber. Personally I've never really liked that. The candy is different. Even though they have M&M's they are a different kind of M&M's and they taste different which is fine but for somebody who has had the same thing for so long, it's odd. AGW: Did you get recognized in England? Amanda: We did one scene on the Millennium Bridge in London. It was interesting because there was some sort of school outing with 500 kids and some kid recognized me and screamed "Amanda" and the rest of them were like "Huh?" It was scary and overwhelming because we were doing this scene and you hear people saying Amanda and that can't happen because my name's not Amanda in the movie. AGW: Can you talk about getting the part? We hear Britney Spears and every young actress in Hollywood wanted it. Amanda: (Laughs) I got a script and you never really know. It's paper and it could be great or awful. Even scripts that are good could end up not working. Once I read it, it seemed really cute but I didn't finish it. I don't like reading scripts because I'm everywhere and I have such a short attention span for that. I didn't know if I wanted to do a movie. Then I heard Colin Firth was interested and I was like "What? He's interested?" I said "let me look at that again." AGW: So acting with a hottie attracted you? Amanda: I just thought this is a good thing to give to girls. Kids are watching me and as they're growing up I'm growing up and hopefully they can get a good message from it. But, yeah, when I found out Colin was doing it I was shocked that he would be near me let alone do a movie with me. He was amazing. Even better than I thought he would be. He's down to earth and has such a good sense of humor and is so charming and such a lovely guy. AGW: What did you learn acting-wise from Colin Firth? Amanda: He's so natural that when he does [a scene] I don't ever see him studying lines but he always brings something to it. He's hard on himself and will do the take 50 times and make sure it's right. Having that type of commitment and stamina is really impressive and is really a good role model and something good to see. AGW: There's a lot of physical comedy in the film. Amanda: I hit my head a lot and fell over a lot seemingly. I think they wanted the movie to have some glimmer of clumsiness. I think there's so much more to the movie than that. That's a minute part of it and I think in some of the previews that is magnified for the kids as something that they would enjoy.
Amanda: I just said whatever you need or if you need help you can come to me. I'm not that experienced this is only my 2nd one. He came into it being very open to advice. AGW: How is your fashion style similar to the character you play? Amanda: I think, in the beginning, the character was more similar to me because she's supposed to have street style from New York. I like stuff that's dark and some solid stuff and jeans and klunky boots. In real life I'm into sweats but I do like to get dressed up like most girls at least. The one fancy dress I wanted to keep was the white dress because I thought if I ever get married one day it would be a big help. At the end I had to wear it for so long that it gave me bruises and it wasn't as comfortable. AGW: What's your favorite article of clothing? Amanda: Probably zip up type sweaters. You can put them over anything, wear them under jackets and they're warm and can still be cute. Like every other person I like "Juicy". I hate to say it because I hate to be so trendy. I'm so into classic good things. I'm really not into prints. I like solid colors either black, white, green, pink whatever. I'm not really into flowers. AGW: So, if we see you out and about, you'll be in sweats? Amanda: I want to look my best. I'm not going to go and wear something that looks stupid. If you wear sweats and someone takes a picture then ok, I was wearing sweats and I had to go the market. Who cares? What's the big deal? AGW: Girl movies fell out of favor for awhile. What did you watch growing up? Amanda: I loved Clueless. That was one of my favorite movies of all time. When that came out I was fairly young and it was a more teenage movie with adult type stories but there's something about watching a movie with girl empowerment. It gets a cliché name and it's stupid but it's really important for girls. I think Legally Blonde did that too because it was a fun way to feel good about being a girl and I like that message. I like Princess Bride. That's one of my favorite movies. I really like Christopher Guest. I think he's really talented and I like Jim Carrey. AGW: What in your life is your anti drug? Amanda: Probably my friends. I know the people you hang out with absolutely has an impact on what you do. I think my friends are not interested in that sort of thing. Having that support is important and just me. AGW: How do you keep up friendships with your crazy schedule? Amanda: It's really hard now because we're shooting the last week of the t.v. show this week and then the movie is coming out and the premiere and it's hard but phone is probably the most important way and online and seeing them whenever I can. They're coming to the premiere and I just try to keep them involved. AGW: How will you spend your summer break from What I Like About You? Amanda: I will be done with everything fully in the middle of April. So I will have May to go back to school which I do whenever I can. Then I'll have summer and last summer I was in England for 3 months so it will be good for me to have fun. I've been looking at scripts and I've turned down a few things. I'm waiting to find something that's right for me. I want to do something that's a little bit older than this one. I don't want to stay at this level. I want to keep growing. AGW: Do you plan to go to college? Amanda: I do plan to go to college. It depends on where I am and if I'm doing a movie at that time. I'll play it by ear. AGW: Do you feel you've missed out on a normal high school experience? Amanda: I don't feel like I've missed out because I've gotten to go back and I've never not been in school. Even when I was 10, I've always gotten to go for half the year and I still have my friends. I think I got the best of both worlds. Some people may not have liked this life but for me personally it was exactly the kind of thing I wanted and feel so happy and lucky I get to do. I wouldn't want to change it. AGW: Do you believe in finding prince charming and that there is one guy out there for every girl? Amanda: I don't think necessarily prince charming. I don't know if there is someone for everyone. Every person is so different and I don't think there is an exact match for every person. If you meet someone and they have 20 of the 25 things you want in a person than you're pretty lucky. I'm sure there is someone. AGW: You've grown up on television and now that you're getting older what kind of responsibility do you feel as a role model? Amanda: When all the Britney backlash came about her doing older stuff and with Christina Aguilera now, who are we to judge what anyone else does? That's what they want to do and that's their life. Parents think 'my daughter is going to dress like her now' but you're the mom and you're the dad and that's up to you. It's not up to Britney Spears. She's doing what's right for her and she's 20 or whenever this happened. For me I'm glad kids like the shows but I'm only going to do what's right for me. AGW: Are you driving yet? Amanda: Yes. I am driving. I got my license when I was 16 so I've been driving for a year. Still got the Honda. AGW: What's a quality that somebody might not know about you? Amanda: I think I'm a lot more mature than a lot of teenagers. That would probably surprise people when they meet me. I've always been older than my years ever since I was little. AGW: Where would you like to be 10 years from now? Amanda: It depends. Maybe I'd like to be getting married or traveling the world. Who knows? I would like to be acting. That's the most important thing to me now is longevity. I'm only 16 and I have so much time ahead of me. I'm not going to be rushed to do something. I want to do something important.
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Amanda,
dressed in hoodie, jean skirt and tennies, was very upbeat when we spoke
to her at a cute hotel in Burbank, California where we dished on clothes,
her acting with hot English star Colin Firth, her future plans and what
surprised and educated her about England.
AGW:
Your co-star Oliver James is new to films but he's pretty hot too. Did
you give Oliver any tips on acting?