By Fred Topel | Image property of Columbia Pictures
Growing up the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Rumer Willis was only allowed to act in her parents' movie. They didn't want her becoming a child star. Now that she's a grown-up, she'd decided to continue acting. She plays a sorority girl in The House Bunny.
Daughter Willis on The House Bunny
"I wanted to do it as soon as I got on a movie set and I kind of grew up on them so being able to do so myself has been really amazing and I’ve felt really lucky to do the few things that I have," said Willis. "It is a very different experience. There is a shift in your mindset when you go from being the accessory to being the one who’s actually in front of the camera. I grew up around sets when I was younger, but I was never necessarily in the movies. I would sit in the trailer and hang out, but obviously it is a different level and when you grow up at a certain level and you see people who have already worked very hard in their careers and already gotten to a certain point. I’m kind of at the very beginning. I’ve had exposure to the media but in terms of actual work I’ve done its very little in terms of that so it is just a different experience to actually be the one who is at the press junket. I’ve been to press junkets but I’ve never actually been the one sitting behind the table. It is a different experience."
Willis's character in The House Bunny wears a back brace, which limits both her social life and her actual movement. "I actually told everybody just for five minutes when we were doing an interview to sit up straight, perfectly straight with your spine. It’s really difficult to do for more than five minutes. Mind you I had help, but, it’s really difficult and I have a lot of respect for those girls in high school who have to wear them, especially the ones who got magnets stuck to them. But, it’s different thing when you have to have another prop on you as well. I always seemed to be on a stool sitting perfectly straight, but I actually couldn’t get up one time. I felt like a turtle. I was lying on my back when we were outside on a blanket. Our director came over and we were talking and I tried to get up and I couldn’t. He asked me if I was kidding and I was like, ‘No, I really can’t get up.’ I tried to roll over a couple of times. But I had a lot of fun with it. It kind of became my purse and I wouldn’t let the prop guy take it back from me at night. And they bedazzled it for me. It was quite nice and an interesting thing to work with."
The House Bunny
The film has a message about being yourself. The geeky sorority girls do get makeovers, but what makes them special is who they are.
"I think one of the things I’m most excited about, especially just growing up in Hollywood and having two younger sisters, there is so much pressure I think from everywhere to look a certain way and dress a certain way. I definitely know I don’t entirely fit the convention and to be able to be a part of something that could hopefully allow young girls to go and watch this and feel confident about themselves and go, 'Okay, well that girl isn’t entirely the ideal or what the perfect picture is supposed to be and she feels confident and beautiful than I can too.' If we have the ability to do that than I’m very excited about that."
She can relate to all those little girls she's trying to inspire too. "I was a dork. I was a computer nerd. I grew up and had braces and glasses and this curly fro. I wasn’t necessarily too active in getting in the social crowd, so I definitely understand the entirely not fitting in. But I think everyone has their own version of feeling a bit out of place and one of the great things I think that we have the ability to do is show that it’s alright. You can have that awkward phase. It’s not about whether you’re the popular girl or the nerdy one. It’s just about feeling confident and comfortable with kind of where you fit and who you are and accessing that and making that your own."
The House Bunny will open to theaters August 22nd.
The House Bunny
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