There’s nothing like winning an Emmy award for a role in a massively popular sitcom to put an actress in her pigeonhole. The ghost of Phoebe Buffay haunted Lisa Kudrow throughout her early career in film. It was her role in 1998’s ‘The Opposite of Sex’ as Lucia de Lury that earned her stripes as a palatably complex actress with far more potential than ‘Smelly Cat’ let on. Since then she’s starred in striking roles in Don Roos’ Happy Endings and De Niro-does-comedy Analyze This/Analyze That. Now ‘Hotel For Dogs’ sees her reprise a role in a more lighthearted feature, and we caught up with her for a few appropriately lighthearted words.
We all remember your Friends character Phoebe singing. In Hotel for Dogs, your character is hilarious yet again, especially when she sings. What was it like to sing in front of the camera again?
Yeah, it felt familiar. I tried to be as bad as I possibly could and it’s actually not that hard for me.
What are you saying – you’re that bad at singing?
(Laughs) No. I can be better, but it’s fun to be bad. If I was good it wouldn’t be funny.
In the movie you play someone who doesn’t exactly have a heart of gold. In fact she’s pretty mean to Andi and Bruce isn’t she?
Oh yeah. At times they had to tell me ‘Can you soften that a little? You are a little bit too mean’ (laughs).
Let’s talk about your image in Hotel for Dogs, because it is pretty over the top 80s rock. Who or what was your inspiration?
No-one in particular, but the hair felt sort of like when people tried to look like Madonna, but we made it a little edgier with the color in the front. My character and Kevin (Dillon)’s are near-misses in life so our looks attempted to show that.
It would have been a huge advantage on set to have been a good person with dogs. Do you have any at home?
Yeah, we have a Toy Poodle. His name is Woolly and he looks like a little white stuffed animal.
Poodles are pretty smart dogs.
Yeah. Sometimes they don’t act as if they are smart, but they are. Woolly understands complete sentences. If you give him a command he might not do it, but if you say ‘Woolly, go back into your house’ he will. It’s crazy. He understands it.
How old is he?
He’s six. I grew up with big dogs, so Woolly is my first little dog.
How big were your dogs when you were young?
Really big (laughs). We had a Great Dane when I was two-years-old. My parents found the biggest dog they possibly could. He used to sit on me, shove me on the couch and pee on me just to let me know I didn’t count. He’d whack his tail and I’d go flying across the room. Then we had a German Shepherd. He was a show dog, although we never showed him. I did pretend to show him when we’d walk in the park. I would try and be his master and he would allow me.
There’s a great scene in Hotel for Dogs when you’re in the kitchen with Friday, the cute Jack Russell terrier, and he is hiding from you. What was that like to shoot?
That was a big scene for the dog. It took his trainers a lot of time to train him to do it and we shot it in one day. The dog and his trainers are just so good. I thought it would take longer, but no, he is a star.
Were there any dog divas on set?
No. They were never late to set or anything like that. You know why? They’re hungry. The trainers show them food and they’ll do what their trainers want. They eat a lot during the day.
Most of your scenes were with Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin. What were they like to work with?
These kids are extraordinary. They are so mature and professional. There was a lot being asked of them. Adults, when they are done with a take, can go and do what they want. They can call their friends and do whatever. For kid actors, once they are done with a scene they are straight back to doing school work. There’s no rest. They don’t even grimace when they hear ‘OK, back to school’. They’re just problem free. I loved being around that because it sets a standard for everyone else – adult actors and the crew.
Is it true you wanted to do this film because of Emma?
Sure. Emma was one of the big draws for me to do the film. I saw Nancy Drew and thought she was so great. I think it’s tougher for teenage actors. You know, they have so much more going on. When they are in school, it’s tough because socially there are distractions, but she is so professional. She knows how to compartmentalize when it is the right time to do work, to do school work and to talk to her friends. When it’s time to work, she is right there.
Your son, Julian is 10-years-old now. Does he want to be an actor like his Mum?
Sort of. I think he thinks it would be fun. He actually read lines with me when I was working on this and he was really good. School offers opportunities for him to be in plays and he is a performer. There’s no doubt, whether it’s acting, music, stand-up comedy or talk shows. He loves it. Every school production he is involved in he stands out and he doesn’t do it on purpose. He just gets into this performance zone and he goes. But, he wants to own a shopping mall, so that could be his occupation (laughs).
Hotel For Dogs is out now.
