Random Interviews: Bryce Dallas Howard Talks About Her 50/50 Role, Vampires &"Restless"

At the film’s press day, Bryce Dallas Howard talked about how much she wanted to be a part of such a fantastic project, how daunting it was to live up to the expectations of the fans of the book, making the character into a real woman instead of a two-dimensional villain, the fun and freedom of playing a bitch, and the honor she felt in working with Sissy Spacek, Viola Davis and Allison Janney. She also talked about taking on a dramedy with 50/50, in which she plays Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s girlfriend, and the experience she had producing the Gus Van Sant film Restless, due out in September.
How much fun is it to play a bitch?
HOWARD: It’s fun to play a bitch. There’s a lot of freedom when you’re playing a character like that. You don’t need to worry about being likeable or appealing, or anything like that. I really, really, really enjoyed playing this character, and there were some tough things about her as well. It’s not like you’re playing some fantasy bad girl. She’s a genuinely evil person. It was like nothing that I had ever had the chance to do before. I’ve played a vampire (in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), but that’s more of a mythological character.
Was 50/50 your first comedy?
HOWARD: Yeah, but I’m definitely not the funniest person in that movie. I play more of a dramatic role, and I’m not one of the central leads. That movie is really a bromance between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. It’s based on a true story. It’s actually the story of the writer who wrote the screenplay. Will [Reiser] got cancer at 25 and was battling cancer, and his best friend, in real life, is Seth Rogen. The way in which they approached Will’s illness and his recovery was really through humor and through their friendship. One of the things they did, when Will was in recovery, was say, “Dude, we need to write this into a movie,” so they did.


Who are you playing in the film?
HOWARD: I play Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s girlfriend, who is definitely not right for him. That was a really fun part to play. She’s just a girl that makes really, really terrible decisions.
What is your next project?
HOWARD: Well, 50/50 is coming out in September. And, I produced a Gus Van Sant film, called Restless, that’s coming out in September. That’s an every day project. Mainly, what I’m going to be doing [is my pregnancy].
Is producing the next phase of your life?
HOWARD: I don’t know. That was a circumstance where I had developed a screenplay with one of my friends, who is a first-time screenwriter. He ended up being an astounding writer, and I was the person that was the protector of it. I was the person who was going to deliver it and hopefully make it into a reality. The smartest decision that I made was partnering up with people who knew a lot more than me. I’m really lucky that Gus was the filmmaker. I co-produced it with Imagine Entertainment, which is my dad’s company, so that was really a huge relief. At that point, I was really green, and just had instincts about things.
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More: moviefone
Bryce Dallas Howard has played a vampire, a character from a bedtime story brought to life, and the wife of 'Terminator's John Connor, so isn't it about time she plays a villain? We're not talking about a Disney-type villain clad in black robes here, but rather a well-to-do southern woman with a vicious temper and racist tendencies.


Did you like playing the villain then?
I loved playing a character that I didn't have to worry about being appealing or likable or attractive in any way, that gave me a real sense of freedom. It's a character that's so different from myself that I didn't have to worry about making her different from me, whereas sometimes you play a normal person and you don't want to be playing yourself so you come up with these things and they're not necessarily organic to the movie.
So it's almost easier to play the extreme.
For me, it's way easier to play an extreme.
So not being a vampire.
Yeah, being a vampire was way too close to home for me. [Laughs]
Straight up, your character is a bitch. Everyone hates you.
I know. We'll see how that turns out!