"That Funny Girl"

Mila Kunis has almost stealthily gone from teen star on That 70’s Show to one of the funniest actresses in Hollywood today in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Friends With Benefits, while proving herself equally adept at other genres in the films Max Payne, The Book Of Eli, and Black Swan.

Now the 28 year-old tackles probably her greatest comedic challenge, competing with a CGI teddy bear for Mark Wahlberg’s affections as Lori Collins in the film Ted, written and directed by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Kunis claims however that doing the film wasn’t as much of a challenge for her.

“You know what? It actually wasn’t so bad,” Mila says, “I didn’t have very much physical interaction with the bear. Mine was very circumstantial, where the bear was to the left of me, to the right of me or in front of me or walk through.”

“I think Mark had it really the hardest,” she continues, “For me, it wasn’t so frightening. You have a stick and two eyes. As far as the animation or the look of the bear, I was never too concerned with. There’s not a question in my mind that MacFarlane can do that, and do it incredibly well.”

In Ted, John Bennett, played by Wahlberg, wishes a stuffed teddy bear, played by MacFarlaneto life, grows up with him, and ends up the third wheel in his relationship with his girlfriend, played by Mila. The actress talks about how MacFarlane felt it was important to keep Lori from being just the nagging third wheel in a triangle with two guy friends.

“It was a hard thing to do because you want to play the fine line of not having to be too cool because then that’s not realistic,” she says, “But you don’t want to be the nagging girl in the film because then you’re stuck being the nagging girl in the film. Seth was very responsive to anytime that

"That Funny Girl"

there was an argument that I had regarding the character’s dialogue when the response wasn’t justified. To his credit, in all honesty we had many discussions on set over it. And it was always because I was like, ‘This is coming across too bitchy. It’s not how a woman would react. This is not how a woman would fill in the blank.’”

“He, more times than not, was like, ‘Okay, how do you propose we fix the problem?’” Mila adds, “It was actually awesome because it allowed me to help make the character be what I wanted her to be, but with Seth MacFarlane’s voice. So it was very collaborative and he was very open-minded to the idea. It’s a hard character to write, especially for a man because I wouldn’t even know where to begin, and I’m a female. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. You’re stuck in this weird limbo.”

Mila, who has worked alongside MacFarlane for years as the voice of teenage daughter Meg Griffin on Family Guy, talks about what makes his humor so special and unique.

“I’ve done so many interviews about Seth,” Kunis says, “It’s kind of redundant for me to say this, but over the years, from Family Guy to this, I think that Seth’s humor is incredibly socially relevant. It’s not humor for the sake of being humor. And I think that there’s a certain linear story to his humor. It’s very consistent. It’s smart. It doesn’t make you feel dumb.”

“It’s like lowbrow/highbrow humor, the two terms people use the most,” she continues, “I’ve always said that he’s brilliant at what he does because he sets people up in lowbrow situations with highbrow humor, and I think that’s one of the hardest things to do. That, and also all of his humor is rooted in truth and honesty. From Family Guy’s flashbacks to the songs that some of

"That Funny Girl"

the characters break into to the fact that there’s a movie coming out about a talking teddy bear that nobody seems to be questioning, it’s because it’s all rooted in truth. It’s very grounded humor. I think that nowadays it’s very rare to get that.”

Kunis was asked whether she prefers doing comedy films or other genres.

“Somebody recently was like, ‘After Black Swan, we didn’t really expect you to follow this up with Ted?” Mila recalls, “And I literally went, ‘Why, because it’s funny?’ So being funny somehow takes away from the quality? It doesn’t. I’ve had this argument with Seth many times. I don’t think I’m funny. I really don’t. That doesn’t mean that I don’t love comedy. I just would never be able to go on a stage and do a roast. I would never; I think I would panic. That being said, I love comedy when it’s written well. When someone like Seth MacFarlane gives me dialogue to say that I think is brilliant, I will say the shit out of it, okay? And I will make it work to my best ability.”

“But I will not go and do something that I don’t believe in, whether that be comedy or a horror or a sci-fi or action or whatever genre,” she adds, “It doesn’t matter. It’s about quality. So if I love Ted and I think that’s a good movie, I don’t care if it’s funny or sad, as long as it’s good. It’s just entertainment. So, I will go in whatever direction I’m drawn to. After Ted, I went and did Great and Powerful Oz. I am dying to know what genre people are going to put that movie in. And then after that one I went and did Hell & Back, which is a stop-motion animation R-rated movie. Then I went and did Blood Ties, which is a cop

"That Funny Girl"

drama, and none of this makes sense. If you look at my movies, they all look like a crazy person chose them who’s erratic and has no lineage whatsoever, but I choose the work that I believe in.”

Finally, Mila talks about how she stays grounded and what makes me happy in life.

“I don’t know,” she replies, “I guess I’m very honest and I speak my mind at all times. I think that that, if anything, helps me stay grounded because I will say what I think, but I don’t expect the yes in return. If you ask a question, there’s always two answers, a yes and a no. You’re not always, right but I will fight to prove that I’m right, but I will accept being wrong. I have an amazing family. I have an incredible group of friends, truly, truly and incredible group of friends that I can count on one hand, Seth and Mark included. Look at it this way. MacFarlane, I’ve known since I was 13 and I’m so blessed to be, and lucky, in the position to work with people, Mark included for the second film, that I respect and look up to and admire and actually want to show up to work with. So I think a lot of that speaks for itself. You are able to do the job that you love and surround yourself with the people that you like to go to work with and work for 17 hours a day and people whose opinion you trust and people whose outlook you respect.”

“So I don’t really know how to answer that question because I’m sure many people would disagree and tell you that I’m a horrible human being,” Kunis continues, “But I do believe that it all depends on who you surround yourself with and what you put out is what you get back in return. I work hard.

"That Funny Girl"

I work my ass off, and I have worked that way for 20 years. But me working hard, I don’t have to show you how hard I work. As long as I know how hard I work, that’s all that matters. And I think people get so caught up in trying to prove to everybody else how hard they work that they lose all sense of what they do and why they do it. So as long as I do my homework and I know I did and I show up to work and do my job, end of day, that’s it. That’s all that matters and then I can have a life.”