cameron diaz movies
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 Chapter 3 - Character portraits from the school life
Diaz’s foil in the movie is her across-the-hall neighbor, Amy Squirrel, played by Lucy Punch. “Amy is conscientious, well-meaning, and kind, but she’s also a pain in the neck and very annoying,” says Punch. “When Elizabeth comes in and not only starts butting heads but making a play for her man, that’s when everything falls to pieces.”
“We spent way too much time trying to think up the names for our characters,” laughs Eisenberg. “For Amy Squirrel – she’s so annoying, we liked the idea of a silly noun. And when we came up with Squirrel, we liked the idea that she would do a little squirrel impression to explain her name.”
Of her look, the blonde British actress says, “I really wanted the red hair. She’s Amy Squirrel – she should have red hair! Also, I thought she should look very different from Cameron’s character – they should be total opposites. Amy is not concerned with what she wears, as long as it’s comfortable and practical. I wore some really hideous clogs! She has a total lack of vanity and relies on her perky personality to get her through most situations.”
“Lucy walked in the room and made that part her own,” says Kasdan. “She saw what was on the page, and she did all of that, but she also made it a very complete and real person.”
“Lucy is just zany – she commits to it,” says Eisenberg. “Even the way she walked, she walked with purpose, in those unfortunate clogs.”
Rounding out the love quadrangle is Jason Segel as the school’s gym teacher, Russell Gettis. “Russell is just a happy-go-lucky guy,” says Segel. “He’s just enjoying life and looking for other people who can hang. I think that’s why he gets along with Elizabeth – if she’d just let her guard down.”
How can he keep getting turned down by Elizabeth but keep coming back for more? “He’s just not fazed by rejection,” says Segel. “In fact, there’s something safe about flirting with a girl who tells you right from the beginning that it is never going to happen: there’s no risk. Women can keep saying no – all he needs is one to say yes.”
“Jason is hilarious, but he plays the only normal person in the entire movie,” says Eisenberg. “He can call out Elizabeth on her stuff, he can react when Amy says something ridiculous. He grounds the movie.”
Phyllis Smith, who plays her namesake on “The Office,” plays a prominent supporting role as a teacher. To portray Lynn, Smith channeled one of her very first parts. “When I was in high school – a long time ago – I had a very small part in the drama club. All I did was say these meek lines – ‘I don’t know,’ ‘I guess so,’ ‘If you say so,’ ‘Kind of.’ That all came back to me when I opened the script and saw Lynn on the page. When I said the line, ‘Would you like to grab some lunch?’ my voice started shaking and the character just evolved out of that.”
Smith also has some teacher cred – literally, a real-life teaching credential. “I have a degree in elementary education,” she says. “I never used it for an extended period of time. But my parents told me I needed a real degree so I could get a real job as a backup, and for a time, I taught first grade. I also have a dance certification to teach young kids dance, but it’s been a long time since I used that, too.”
“Even though we wrote for ‘The Office,’ we didn’t explicitly think of Phyllis for the part,” says Eisenberg. “When she came in, she just killed it, and it was great to have her around. She has a way of delivering lines like she’s scared or nervous – almost apologizing for speaking – and to see her walking with Cameron, in her bright yellow miniskirt, and Phyllis a couple of steps behind, trying to keep up, is just hilarious to me.”
Bad Teacher also represented a reunion of sorts for several members of the production. Director Jake Kasdan previously helmed several episodes of the television series “Freaks and Geeks,” which starred Jason Segel – and on which Phyllis Smith served as a casting associate, helping to hire Segel on that show. (Dave (Gruber) Allen, who played the guidance counselor on “Freaks and Geeks,” also has a role in Bad Teacher.) “Jason makes everyone feel comfortable. It was nice to walk into the room and sit down by him,” says Smith. “I didn’t really know Jake back then, but we crossed paths. I was able to tease him about it when I auditioned – ‘We have a past,’ I told him. He couldn’t figure it out. Back then, I was totally behind-the-scenes. It was totally different.”
“Phyllis is one of the most naturally funny people I’ve ever seen,” says Kasdan. “Lee and Gene suggested her, of course, because they worked together on ‘The Office,’ and now the dynamic between Cameron and Phyllis is one of my favorite things in the movie. She’s the best and made Lynn her own in every way.”
The cast is rounded out by John Michael Higgins, who plays the school’s principal Wally Snur; “Modern Family’s” Eric Stonestreet, who recently won an Emmy Award for his performance on “Modern Family” and takes on the role of Elizabeth’s hygiene-challenged roommate, Kirk; and Thomas Lennon as Carl Halabi, the state administrator with the key to Elizabeth’s future.
“Wally is the kind of guy who is very good at his job, curious, kind, and roundly despised,” says Higgins. “He does everything right and is not rewarded for it in any way whatsoever. Not only that, can you imagine going through life with the name Wally Snur? It’s difficult to climb out of that hole. It’s just fingernails on the blackboard with a name like that.”
Thomas Lennon plays Carl Halabi. “He’s the uptight administrator in charge of the standardized test – so in Elizabeth’s eyes, he’s all that stands in the way between her and her new-and-improved rack,” says Lennon. “When she finds out there’s a bonus that goes to the teacher whose students have the best scores, there is very little she would not do to get a copy of the test and cheat her way to the money.”
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