Alia Shawkat Goes From Little Girl in "Three Kings" to Party Girl in "Cedar Rapids"

Alia Shawkat shot her first film, Three Kings, when she was nine, playing a child mourning the execution-style death of her mother, shot before her very eyes. Now that she's of legal age, Shawkat's film roles have grown up as well -- from Ellen Page's best friend in Whip It, to the unnamed bassist in The Runaways, to the prostitute hanging outside the hotel in Cedar Rapids, who's always up for a party. In Cedar Rapids, she takes a special liking to an innocent named Tim (played by Ed Helms), who seems unaware that she's a hooker, and drags him along to a party he won't soon forget -- but in Three Kings, she's the one who is along for the ride.

Q: What do you remember about making Three Kings?

A: It was a three month shoot in Arizona, three months for a first film. My character is always tired, she’s getting dragged everywhere, and in the same outfit, because it’s all supposed to take place in one day, so I had a lot of dirt and Vaseline in my hair. The first day, I loved the outfit, I thought, “It’s so cool!” And by the middle of the second month, I was like, “I don’t want to wear that outfit anymore!” But [director] David O. Russell was really complimentary and gave me a lot of confidence, and George Clooney was really sweet, and Mark Wahlberg. Spike Jonze, I’ve hung out with him since – I went up to him at a party six months ago and I was like, “I know this is weird, but I was the little girl in Three Kings!” And he was like, “No way!” It’s usually something nobody knows about.

Three Kings airs on Current TV on Saturday, February 19 at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT.

Q: Is it weird to go back and watch a movie you've done that you don't fully remember doing?

A: I’ve never done acid, but it’s a little like what I would imagine an acid trip to be like. You’re watching something you did, that you don’t fully remember doing. You’re like, “I did that?” I just remember brief moments, but more off-set, not doing actual scenes. I’ve never seen anything I’ve been in more than twice. The first time I saw Three Kings was at the premiere, and the other was a few years ago. It would be interesting to see it again. It’s not like a vanity thing – anytime I watch anything, I’ll think of the 10,000 other ways I could have done it, and it frustrates me. So I think it’s better that I don’t watch it, and just hope the director’s happy.

Q: Your dad also had a part in the movie. Did you audition together, or were you discovered at his audition, or vice versa?

A: I had just started acting. I had done a Barbie commercial and a Gap commercial, and in my second week of auditioning, I had an audition at some old weird high school, and my mom took me. I remember auditioning for the casting director, but there were no lines really, because everybody was just speaking in Arabic in that scene, the main sequence is my mother gets killed. And the casting director got really excited, and said, “Can you stay?” And at the callback, David O. Russell was there, and they were just saying things to be, telling me to react, and they were saying some pretty dark things for a nine year old to hear, “I killed your mother, I’m going to kill your father.” I don’t remember what I was doing, just saying all these horrible things, screaming and crying. And then he wanted to meet my dad. My dad’s Arabic, and he ended up working as a dialect coach on set. And then a few days before shooting, David said, “Tony, you should be in the movie!” So he’s the one opening the Slim Jim – product placement! – and then he thinks Saddam Hussein is coming in the Mercedes. And he got to undress Jaime Kennedy in one of the sequences. They needed someone, and he looked like he could be a Saddam Hussein soldier, so he was flattered.

Q: It's a strange sort of compliment! Were you flattered when you were told you could look like a prostitute, to play Bree in Cedar Rapids?

A: Right! Yeah, I can take that as a compliment. With Bree, [director] Miguel Arteta and I had been friends for a year, since he was shooting Youth in Revolt and I was shooting Whip It in Michigan. So he called me up, and he said, “There’s this girl Bree, and she’s a prostitute, and she does meth,” and I said, “Okay! That sounds fun.” The idea for her being blonde came a few weeks before the shoot, I asked Miguel what he thought about that, and he said, “I love it!” So I just did it. I think Fox Searchlight was a little nervous, because people only know me as a brunette, and I look ethnic, but going blonde with the roots showing seemed more realistic. All of that was getting her look like – the frosty blue clothes, the cheap coloring – that was all part of making her.

Q: What did you imagine for her backstory, or her motivations?

A: With Bree, part of it is her whole family is kind of messed up. You see her uncle pick her up and what kind of guy he is. She kind of goes out and parties, but this hooker thing is kind of new to her. She’s just thinking, “I’ll do this for a little while.” I don’t even think she goes all the way with them – more like, “Do you want to party? We can do drugs and I’ll give you a blowjob.” She’s unsettled, and I don’t think she’s super comfortable with being a hooker, which is part of why she likes Tim, because even though he doesn’t have any money, she’s like, “Don’t worry! Let’s just hang out and have fun! Because you like me, and you don’t even know what I do.”