Anna Faris: ‘I Wore A Christmas Tree Skirt As A Cape!’

Her latest role may be a glamorous Playboy model in “The House Bunny,” but in her high school days, actress Anna Faris says she sported glasses, odd hairdos and dumpy clothes. 

“I was maybe a little eccentric in high school,” she told Playboy’s September issue. “I felt unattractive, short and self-conscious about my body, and I would purposely emphasize that by doing odd things… I was clumsy and awkward.”

Anna couldn’t land a date until her senior year of school, perhaps because of her outlandish fashion sense.

“When I was a freshman I wore a Christmas tree skirt as a cape,” she said. 

At least she probably got a few laughs. And with starring roles in the “Scary Movie” series and “My Super Ex-Girlfriend,” she’s gotten a few more. 

Comedy is clearly Faris’ forte, but “The House Bunny” – an original idea of hers — began with a more dramatic concept.

“About three years ago I was thinking, ‘What happens when a Bunny gets a little too old and it’s time for her to move on and adjust to a different reality?’” Anna said. “I had a dark version, with the character becoming a drug addict and returning to her small Christian Alabama town, but that wasn’t very commercial.”

Instead, the film follows a Playboy bunny who is forced to leave the Mansion and starts over as a sorority house mom, a story with real-life roots for Anna. 

“I was in a relationship for eight and a half years, and when I got out of that it was like I had to relearn everything,” she said. “I didn’t know the dance or the nuances of dating, so it was an eye-opening experience.”

But Faris has learned to embrace the new, as viewers of the “Scary Movie” series’ more outrageous moments can attest. 

“I was willing to do anything,” she said. “There was no scene I felt nervous about. I felt, ‘They hired me, so I’ve got to deliver.’ When I went with my parents and brother to see ‘Scary Movie’ at a Seattle strip mall the opening weekend, I was like, ‘Mom, there’s going to be a couple of points when I’m going to need you to go to the bathroom or get me popcorn. Just obey me.’ Now I’ve totally broken them in.”