TV Tattler: Celebrity Interviews

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April 4 -- It's not easy being blue.

Just ask Rebecca Romijn who must undergo hours of grueling makeup application for her role as blue-skinned Mystique in the 'X-Men' film franchise.

But Romijn is only blue on the outside, because this former supermodel is one happy gal these days. The new 'X-Men' movie hits theaters in May, she is engaged to Jerry O'Connell and she makes her TV series debut in the new one-hour WB comedy 'Pepper Dennis.'

In an interview with AOL Television editor Sean Doorly, Romijn chatted about taking a face plant into a puddle, wedding plans and her encounter with 'American Idol' contestant Chris Daughtry.

What drew you to working on a television series?
I wasn't specifically looking for a TV show. I was looking for anything that would get me excited. I was reading scripts from the film world and I was reading television scripts. Nothing like this was coming my way in the film world and I hadn't had a chance to do comedy before. I read 'Pepper Dennis' and by page two I was like this girl is crazy. I want to get involved with this. If I'm going to commit to potentially five years of my life on a TV series I wanted it to be fun.

How is your work day different than a film work day?
It is crazy. I work 16-17 hour days. It is a grind, but it is so deeply satisfying. It is really challenging though. On a film it sometimes takes up to a week to do a scene and on this show we do five scenes a day. We do so many pages on the script before lunchtime. You don't have time to second-guess yourself because you are always on to the next thing. Weekends bring on a completely new meaning to me. They never felt more deserved.

Anything you can share about 'X-Men: The Last Stand?'
I really can't. I don't know what I'm going to do when it comes time to promote that movie. I can't reveal anything. They really have our hands tied. They didn't even give us scripts when we first started the movie. It was one of those top-secret things. I'm very excited about it though. It is going to be a big one.

My wife is a big fan, and she said, "Wow, you are interviewing the blue-skinned woman?" Do you get that reaction a lot?
(Laughs.) Last week the Idols were shooting on the Fox lot, including Chris Daughtry, who I love. He is my favorite one on there. Apparently he is a huge 'X-Men' fan and he wanted to meet Mystique. So they brought him over to the hair and makeup trailer where I was getting ready. I was sitting there with no makeup and wet hair. He said "Hi" and I said, "Is this living up to the fantasy?"

It probably did.
(Laughs.) I'm sure it did not. I said, "I'm sorry I don't have the blue skin."

Do you enjoy physical comedy?
I love it. I feel like I have been waiting my whole life to try it out. I have done all these big action movies and now I get to be funny.

Was that you falling in the puddle of water in the first episode?
Yes, I took a dive into that disgusting puddle. They set it up downtown on a city street and I said, "Please tell me you cleaned it up." (Laughs) It tastes just like E. coli. It was fun and there was plenty more where that came from. We have pratfalls in every episode.

What kind of research have you done for this role?
I have been watching a lot of local news. There was a show that was called 'TV's Most Outrageous Moments' and it was all live local TV clips. I collected all three and brought them over to the writers house and we watched them all together and laughed our butts off. Now we have the next 50 teasers for our show. I was watching something on 'Good Day LA' and they had a reporter filing a report from a moving roller coaster. I called the writers and [asked], "Could Pepper file a report from a moving roller coaster?"

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