In Murderball director Dana Shapiro’s intimate new drama, Monogamy, Woody Allen alum Chris Messina and Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones play a comfy Brooklyn couple whose relationship starts to disintegrate when Messina’s character becomes fixated on a hot blonde exhibitionist. The real-life buddies are in New York for the movie’s premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and they checked in for a frank conference call about the film, their thoughts on monogamy, and the peculiar ins and outs of having sex in public.

So Rashida, did you really just escape the ash?
R: Can you believe it? I was stuck in Europe. I had to drive thirteen and a half hours from Paris to Madrid. It was pretty crazy. I just got out Monday night.
C: Of course, the whole time I was worried about you. And then I was even more worried that you wouldn’t make it to the screening.
R: You’re such a dick! [Laughs.]
C: Rashida and I are friends, but we really know each other through my girlfriend. We obviously don’t have any of the history that the couple in the movie does, so it was really kind of wild, weird, and cool to go down that road with her and get pretty dark.

Did that make playing a couple awkward?
C: Well, it’s always strange to kiss someone with 10, 20, 40 people around. And when you’re looking at someone who was, like, holding your baby in her arms in your house in California last week, you know, it’s odd. I was nervous about it, to be honest with you.
R: Were you really? I didn’t know that.
C: I think I’m always nervous about all of it, and then I was nervous because I wanted Rashida to have a good time. As you do with all these things, you’re taking a risk. I mean, Dana Shapiro, he’s terrific. He did this movie called Murderball and it was fantastic, but who knew if he could make a narrative? I’m super happy with the way it turned out, but it could have obviously gone another way.

So what are your respective thoughts on monogamy – the way of life, I mean, not the movie?
C: Well I have two boys and a girlfriend, so I obviously believe in it, but it’s still hard! I don’t know how natural it is, at least for me — for a lot of men I know. I would love to close my eyes and see myself with my girlfriend when we’re 99 years old and I have a pipe and she’s knitting a sweater, and I hope that’s the way it goes. I think it’s a challenge every day.
R: I agree – I don’t think it’s necessarily a natural state of being for animals such as human beings, but I do think the rewards of sticking with it are pretty fantastic. That being said, I really don’t think there’s a lot of that going on right now. There’s a lot of fear and running and bullshit irresponsible behavior. I think dudes are acting out right now in a huge way. Guys are freaking out. I think as a culture we’re going to have a really hard time with it.

What about having sex in public? There’s a lot of that in the movie, too.
R: I totally get how people get off on it. It makes perfect sense to me. If that’s the thing that works for you, do your thing. Whatever gets you to the mainland.
C: Yeah! I’m down with that answer. I mean, I’ve liked having sex in bathrooms when there were people knocking on the door … that was fun. But I don’t know – these characters take it to a place that I never have. I have a tough time showing public affection.
R: I think it’s weird, right? It’s one thing to make out in public, but to actually have sex in public? That’s tough to do. I was just in Naples and I saw two young people making out on a corner. It was pretty awesome. But they were young.
C: Young – that might be the answer right there. Or maybe it’s old people, too. Like maybe if you saw an 80-year-old couple making out you’d be like, “That’s incredible!”
R: That’d be kind of cool, actually.
C: If you saw two, like, 80-year-olds, fucking on the corner of Bleecker Street?

I really have no idea how I’d respond to that.
R: You would love it! Oh my God. You would love it.
C: Yeah, you’d totally take your iPhone and take a video of it. And it’d be on YouTube the next day. It’d be like, “Hey, how do I get to that site again?” “Google 80-year-olds fucking on Bleecker.” “Oh, there it is.”

From New York Magazine

The “Parks and Recreation” actress and clothing brand are teaming up to “style it forward” by choosing outfits to help benefit charities.

Known she-crush Rashida Jones has already made a name for herself as the star of Parks and Recreation, I Love You, Man, viral videos on Funny or Die and, as if those efforts weren’t enough, she’s a Harvard-educated humanitarian (hence the she-crush). Now, Jones has teamed up with another current favorite, clothing line Theory, to lend a hand with their new Fashion Insider project and help support two of her favorite causes in the process.

Fashion Insider is part of Theory’s new spring 2010 campaign. They invited 17 of today’s hottest stylists to pour over lookbooks and create outfits based on the spring collection, choosing their must-have pieces in the process. Stylecause is a further extension of the Fashion Insider campaign — think of it as Fashion Insider with a do-good component (insert Tonic seal of approval here, here, and here).

According to the release, “Through Fashion Insider: Stylecause, Theory will invite members of the entertainment community to join the Fashion Insider team to style for a cause. Each will mix, match and style their must-have Theory looks to raise much needed funds. Ten percent of the proceeds from the sale of the items in each outfit will be donated to the selected charity.” Enter Rashida Jones, inaugural celebrity guest stylist for Theory’s Fashion Insider: Stylecause.

Jones has used her fashion savvy to style three summer looks that will be sold exclusively at Theory retail stores and Theory.com beginning on April 22. Ten percent of proceeds from all sales will go directly to two organizations the actress supports. “I’m delighted to be working with Theory on such a wonderful project that benefits two organizations so clearly dedicated to young people — Peace First and Children Mending Hearts,” Jones says on the campaign website.

Both Peace First and Children Mending Hearts work to help risk-averse youth and combat the skyrocketing youth homicide rate through support groups and in-school programs. Peace First works with schools to build safer climates and they rely on young adult volunteers to teach students how to become active, engaged citizens. Children Mending Hearts is a global arts exchange program between children living in conflict zones abroad and at-risk children in America. It is overseen by a team of arts and culture specialists who conduct workshops to help the children find their inner voices and creativity.

To help Rashida Jones and Theory “Style it forward” for Peace First and Children Mending Hearts, stop into a Theory store or visit Theory.com starting tomorrow.

From Tonic

Rashida Jones on American Idol’s Future: ‘Simon Cowell is Irreplaceable!’

Simon’s imminent departure is mind-boggling to all of us! Who in the world could possibly replace the man that put American Idol on the map?

There’s been a ton of speculation over who could ever fill Simon Cowell’s shiny loafers when he leaves the hit Fox singing show at the end of the season. Although stars definitely have their favorite picks, Rashida Jones firmly believes there’s no one else on earth quite like Cowell.

“I’m a huge Simon Cowell fan, and he’s irreplaceable honestly,” the 33-year-old Parks & Recreations star told HollywoodLife.com exclusively during the Artists for Peace and Justice fundraiser in Santa Monica, Calif. Jan. 28.

From Hollywood Life

When word hit the Internet not long ago that Rashida Jones, the co-star of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, was creating her own comic book series—a spy thriller called Frenemy of the State, co-written with Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, that will be published in early 2010 by Oni Press—the response was a resounding “Yes, please.” Actually, as sometimes happens when attractive women mix with comic fandom, things got a little creepy. Bloggers didn’t hesitate to use terms like “geek chubby” when describing their excitement. And as one online commentator noted, “Rashida Jones is so hot, and the fact that she made a comic makes her much hotter.”

Jones isn’t the first actress to try her hand at comic book authorship—Jenna Jameson and Rosario Dawson both created their own graphic novels, Shadow Hunter and Occult Crimes Taskforce, respectively—but something about Jones’s comic ambitions seems especially surprising. After all, this is the daughter of Quincy Jones and the Mod Squad’s Peggy Lipton. This is the woman who played the woman who cock-blocked Pam on The Office. Sure, she got all the worst lines in the Paul Rudd/Jason Segel flick I Love You Man, but goddammit, she was in I Love You Man! A woman of her pedigree should be hanging out in Hollywood nightclubs, snogging with John Mayer and trying to decide if she’s too drunk to drive. Learning that Rashida Jones wrote a comic book is like finding out that the hot cheerleader at your high school is really into video games and heavy metal. It’s validation that maybe the things that you love don’t necessarily make you a social outcast. To borrow a phrase from Benjamin Franklin, it’s proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

I called Jones to talk about Frenemy of the State and comics in general. She was gracious and outgoing, talking to me with the warmth of an old friend. And best of all, she was unfazed by the occasional jackassery of my questions—especially when I asked her if she could convince Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau (who she’s rumored to be dating) to slip some Li’l Wayne lyrics into the president’s next speech (“Look at the ice, radiculous price. Your camera has neva seen a picture this nice”)—for which I am eternally grateful.

Eric Spitznagel: Have you seen the reaction to Frenemy of the State online? It’s like geek boys across the globe experienced a simultaneous orgasm.

Rashida Jones: (Laughs.) Yeah, people have definitely been very nice about it. I’m humbled by the whole thing. It can be hard to change direction, and making a comic is not necessarily a natural progression for me. So it’s really amazing that people are being so supportive.

Promoting a comic is a lot different than plugging a movie or a TV show. Are you ready for the nerd clusterfuck that is Comic-Con?

I’m not, but I imagine my instincts will quickly kick in. I’m very excited about it. I know that Comic-Con has turned into something else over the last couple of years, but I think it’s still a great event for people who genuinely love the art form. It’s not quite at the level of Sundance yet, which a lot of people go to just because they’re giving away free shit. People still go to Comic-Con because they love comics.

Are you emotionally prepared to see a 40-year-old man dressed as Frenemy’s female heroine?

(Laughs.) I’m not going to lie to you, that’s going to be a little shocking for me. But I will try to appreciate their commitment.

Your comic is about a rich heiresses named Ariana Von Holmberg who leads a double life as a C.I.A. spy. I’ve heard that the character is loosely based on Paris Hilton but, well… that can’t be true, can it?

It sounds like kinda a stretch, I know.

When most people look at Paris Hilton, they don’t think, “Hmm, I wonder if she’s secretly fighting crime?” They think, “Hmm, I wonder how long until her next amateur porno leaks?”

Back when Paris was at her height of fame and people were just obsessed with her, I had this funny notion that she’s actually some crazy genius who knew exactly what she was doing, and she was just conducting this elaborate anthropological study on the world. I imagined that she was going home every night and whispering into her mini-recorder: “Day three hundred and twenty seven. I continue to have them all fooled.” That was sort of where the idea for this comic started. And also, I’m obsessed with our country’s almost cannibalistic obsession with people who are famous for no other reason than that they’re famous. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to give somebody like Paris Hilton another layer? What if her fame is something more than just an overwhelming need to be an object of desire?” Ariana is a little bit reluctant to be in the spotlight, and there’s a sadness to that.

“Reluctant” isn’t a word I’d use to describe Paris. She practically dry-humps the paparazzi.

I think a lot of these girls are completely complicit in their overexposure. They need that attention from the outside to make themselves feel valid. But for a lot of these girls, they don’t need more attention, they need help. We’re just supporting their demise. It’s like we’re all part of this terrible Schadenfreude machine. It’s my biggest complaint about how everything went down with Michael Jackson. We don’t honor and support and uplift our heroes when they’re alive. We need the mythology of tragedy before we’re finally able to honor them.

Do we all deserve a little of the blame for Jackson’s death?

Nobody wants to take ultimate responsibility for why something like that happens, but it starts with just one person, one businessman who buys a US Weekly at the airport. Just don’t do it. Don’t support that kind of storytelling. It’s eating away at us. And I think it’s only getting worse. It may actually be killing our culture. (Laughs.) Not to get too heavy on you.

No, please, I’m digging the doomsayer vibe.

All I’m saying is buy a Newsweek instead. Buy a Sports Illustrated.

Or a… (coughs, mumbles) Vanity Fair.

Sure, yeah. I remember being a kid and seeing the National Inquirer at the grocery store checkout line. When somebody actually picked up a copy, it was mortifying. You felt dirty for them. But now it’s perfectly acceptable to read something like that. There’s absolutely no taboo surrounding that kind of exploitation. I’m not trying to be a puritan, but come on, there’s a lot of other shit going on in the world. Why do you care what’s happening with Brangelina? Leave it alone! I don’t think people understand what they’re doing to themselves. It’s like fast food. It’s going to take twenty-five years before people really understand what the effects of all this tabloid journalism are.

What’s the mental equivalent of diabetes?

Exactly. It’s like sugar overload to the point where you’re making yourself sick and possibly killing yourself.

It made sense why people were obsessed with Michael Jackson. He actually had talent. But somebody like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian? What exactly is the fascination?

In some respects, I get it. It’s glamour, it’s beauty, it’s wealth, it’s all that stuff. But whatever people are projecting onto celebrities, it’s all bullshit. It’s whatever they want to see, whether it’s negative or positive. They’re really just satisfying their own fantasies and it really has no basis in reality. Also, with somebody like Paris, her talent is branding. And that’ll take you a lot further these days than having an actual talent. Control the public’s perception of you and nobody will care if you have any talent. Which is why Michael Jackson became this freak. He was an incredibly talented man, but he couldn’t control how the outside world perceived him.

What about your character Ariana from Frenemy of the State? Is she manipulating her brand?

She is, but I think she has a conflicted relationship with the paparazzi and the press. She craves privacy but it’s a little bit too late for her now. She cultivated this public persona when she was just 18. When you’re 18, who knows how to handle their life, especially when you’re in the spotlight? So now she’s 21 and she looks at what her life has become and she thinks, “Aw shit, I actually don’t want all this attention.” But it’s too late. She’s forced to uphold this status and this celebrity because it’s the best way to keep her cover at the CIA.

Unlike Paris and her ilk, is she a little better at wearing panties?

(Laughs.) Yes, she is very skilled at wearing undergarments. She’s more like a European socialite. Like Charlotte Casiraghi or somebody like that, who is very well educated and travels everywhere and is essentially very sophisticated.

Ariana and you look very similar. Is she at least partly based on you?

On me?

Is Parks & Recreation just a cover for your real passion, espionage?

(Laughs.) Wouldn’t you like to know?

Yes, I definitely would.

Sadly, no, I was never approached by the C.I.A. to be a secret agent. I’ve always dreamt of having some sort of undercover job. I think it’s probably the coolest thing in the world, but ultimately a very lonely life.

(more…)

After getting caught in between Jim and Pam on ‘The Office,’ actress Rashida Jones has moved on to another Thursday night NBC comedy: ‘Parks and Recreation,’ co-starring Amy Poehler.

Rashida plays Ann Perkins, a nurse who is now dating Leslie’s (Poehler) co-worker, Mark (Paul Schneider) — a big improvement, considering that her last relationship quite literally ended in the pits.

‘Parks’ — which was just renewed for a full second season — has seen a big improvement from season 1, says many critics and fans. But according to Jones, that’s not entirely the case.

AOL TV recently chatted with the star about the quality of season 2, the pickup news and whether Karen will ever return to ‘The Office.’

A big congratulations on receiving a full second season. What was the reaction like on set?
It was nice, actually. There was a nice little synthesis on the day that we found out. I feel like it’s been leaking into the consciousness a little bit. People are really starting to feel the show, and jive with it, and root for it and like the characters … It all kind of happened on the same day where we had this really nice piece in Entertainment Weekly, and then we had this nice news in the LA Times … [So] there was all this good energy surrounding the show, and then to have the opportunity to continue that, and continue to grow with the actual legitimate pickup was just so great. We’ve kind of been becoming a cast a little bit, and it also really gels. The day that we found out, we’d done this episode where we were all together in the woods for the entire episode, and we had gone through loving each other, hating each other, being sick of each other, making each other laugh really hard, and for it to come around with the pickup was really nice.

Was there any apprehension about the pickup, considering your audience is much smaller than, say, ‘NCIS”?
Look: You work in TV, and you’re an actor … Nothing’s for real until you’re told it’s for real, and even when you’re told it’s still not for real [laughs]. So, I think there’s always a bit of apprehension. I mean, we were hoping that we would be given a shot, because unfortunately, really most of NBC’s promotion has gone towards ‘Community,’ which is great, because they picked up that show, too. But we haven’t really been given the boost of promotion to propel us to whatever next level of viewing we need to be it. So, we’re happy to be given the opportunity.

(more…)