If you’re not familiar the story of Easy A it’s actually a rather intriguing update on the literary classic The Scarlett Letter, with a modern twist. In order to help her gay best friend who is being bullied in school Olive (Emma Stone) feigns losing her virginity to the boy to save him from ridicule. When more boys trying to up their social standing approach Olive for her services as well, she opens for business pushing the high school rumor mills into overdrive.
What drew you to play the role of Olive?
First of all, it’s really rare to read a really well-written, fleshed-out, funny character that’s female, especially in a comedy, and so that’s exciting right off the bat. Then I just thought the script is so clever, and I really liked Olive’s perspective on things. She’s no damsel in distress, so I just really liked her all around as a character and loved the script itself.
Did you have any experiences in high school that are similar to that of your character? Were there any particular traits that you felt you had in common with the Olive?
Well, circumstantially, I really didn’t have anything in common with Olive because I was homeschooled for most of high school. So, I was kind of on my own for most of that experience.
As far as personality goes, I think she and I are pretty eerily similar in a lot of ways. That might be one of the reasons I responded so quickly to her when I read the script. I could kind of understand her viewpoint and where she was coming from and what it was like to have a family like that because I have really open, straight parents that we talk about everything.
So I liked seeing that kind of cool relationship she had with her family. Yes, I feel like we have a lot in common personality-wise, but I did not have her high school experience.
The story seems to take several stereotypical teen clichés and flip-flop the roles, empowering what is usually simply a supporting character and making her the main protagonist. Do you think a film like Easy A could have been made like say ten years ago?
A big part of it—even beyond the character roles or flipping certain stereotypes on their ear—is the speed of technology now and the digital age and text messaging and Twitter and that type of communication and her being able to not atone but explain everything that’s happened into her webcam and having people be able to see it.
So, I’m sure there could have been some differences ten years ago that would have been similar, but to me, it feels so kind of time sensitive, the issues that we’re dealing with, so it feels like a kind of modern-times movie to me. But in terms of the characters, I would hope that those are relatively timeless.
You’ve been in a couple of movies where you played high school parts like Superbad and The Rocker. But you’ve kind of taken other routes with movies with Zombieland and some of the movies you’re coming out with after Easy A. I was just wondering how is it to be kind of a versatile actress while still being so young. What have you done to kind of take that separate path to get you sort of more adult roles, I guess, as still such a young person?
I don’t really know that it’s ever a conscious choice on my part. I think that when scripts come along, if it’s something I really want to do and I’m going to go audition for it, I think that I understand the age of the character because it’s written in the script, but I just try to bring that person to life in any way that that character is supposed to be.
Like if the character’s 27 and then in the next part is 17, I get to look at it through different eyes because they’ve had 10 years less experience or more experience. So, try to adjust to that a bit but as far as why they keep letting me do all this stuff, I can’t answer that. I guess I’m really lucky in terms of that, but it’s been nice to be able to kind of jump all over the chart and not just play one certain age.
You’ve had pretty major roles in a bunch of other movies, but this is your first truly starring role with your name above the title. What was the experience like to be the lead and do you prepare for the role differently than you normally would have?
I don’t know that I prepared any differently because of the size of the role. Mainly, I put more pressure on myself for sure but I don’t think it had to do with the size of the role. I think it had more to do with just wanting to make sure that the Olive on the page came to life accurately.
So, the only thing I could really do to prepare was to memorize it, but other than that, it was just a daily fight to make sure that I was doing her justice all along the way because she was written so well on the page. I don’t know. It was a different experience for sure, but I don’t think it had to do with the size of it. I think it just had to do with my own self-inflicted pressure.
Hester Prynne from the Scarlet Letter is one of the most memorable characters of English literature. I was just wondering after looking at the movie, what would Hester think of Olive and how Olive dealt with her own situation in the 21st century?
Well, it’s hard for me to tell you what Hester would have thought. It’s just like we say in the movie, Hester decided to be silent about what was going on, and Olive is wildly outspoken and lying the entire time as well. Olive doesn’t actually sleep with any of these people. It’s kind of almost the reverse problem in a way, even though they’re both being ostracized. So, it’s very interesting.
Another thing that I would just to say in terms of it being an updated Scarlet Letter, I think a big part of the Scarlet Letter‘s influence is in that idea where when you’re young and you read something or you watch something, you kind of tend to apply it to your life. The first time you read a book that you really, really loved and you felt like you were that character or that character—finally, someone understood you.
I think since she’s reading that in class and she sees these kind of eerie similarities, I think it almost pushes her to go further with it because she’s reading the book, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily an update of that story because their stories are so different to me.
But it’s more like an extension of— Olive takes it, what’s Hester’s journey, she take it even further then.
Right, right. She kind of takes it to the next level and is just sort of inspired by the book instead of trying to live out the book.
Do you think that Easy A glamorizes promiscuity with younger girls?
I was actually concerned with that for quite a while and still have a lot of thoughts about that, but what I’ve been able to kind of whittle it down to in my mind at least is what Olive learned from this entire experience. The fact is she’s not really doing it. She is a virgin, so she’s not truly being promiscuous. But then again, does it glamorize fake promiscuity or telling people to be promiscuous, which is not good as well? I think what she learns by this whole pact of lying to everyone and watching her life kind of crumble around her and realizing that if she had just told the truth from the beginning, she could have been saved from all that.
I think the number one thing that I find important and the only way I can really … to sex or promiscuity is the importance of honesty with your friends, with your parents if you can be, which I know can be hard. But I think that telling people how you really feel and being who you truly are and being safe and taking care of yourself is the most important thing. I think Olive does kind of learn that in the end.
But you bring up a really good question because that’s something I’ve turned over and over in my mind a lot and hopefully that’s the lesson to be taken from this is just the importance of honesty and being who you truly are and just not to feel pressure from those outside sources because I think she does feel a lot of pressure at a certain point to follow through on this. But Olive is her own person and learns in the end that she needs to stay true to her beliefs. So in terms of peer pressure, trying to get past that and trust who you are.
Anyway, okay, alright. I’m done. Sorry. There’s a million more things I could say but I’m not that concise. Alright.
Finally can you update us on anything about a sequel to Zombieland at all?
Oh, maybe. Why? What have you heard?
What I’ve read on Wikipedia is that everybody wants to do it, but that’s pretty much it.
Yes. I don’t know. We’ll have to see. We’ll have to see what’s going to happen.
Would you be open to doing it if the sequel was green-lit?
I think we all loved making that movie and would love to see what happens next, especially in 3D.
That would be great in 3D.
We’ll have to see what happens, but it’s a pretty exciting notion.
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