Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Time for Studios To Gamble on Funny (Raunchy) Girls, Says 'Bridesmaids' Actress/Time To Remember the Legendary Dietrich Again

Can women pull off doing a raunchy big-screen comedy? Kristen Wiig's "Bridesmaids" was previewed at the recent SXSW Film Conference to a chorus of agitated reviews, horrible to ecstatic, and attendee applause. Sounds like the kind of response that's greeted other comedies with gross-out moments that sell lots of tickets despite critical loathing.

"I hope that other studios will start taking a gamble on funny girls, because we're interesting," declares the movie's Wendi McLendon-Covey. "There are a whole lot of girls out there who aren't afraid of making themselves look stupid, who aren't vain, who can do what the boys are doing."

She adds, "We're always seeing the same funny boys in the same types of movies, the manboy movies. OK, but girls are funny, too."

Some of those manboy comedies are, of course, the work of moviemaker Judd Apatow, who happens to be producing "Bridesmaids," which was co-written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo, and directed by Paul Feig ("Freaks and Geeks," "The Office"). It has Wiig, as a highly put-upon maid of honor, teamed with Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, McLendon-Covey and Jon Hamm as a hateful boyfriend. The flick (the late Jill Clayburgh's last) is due for May 13 release from Universal.

McLendon-Covey reports that when she and her cast mates first got together for a table read of the script, it was 2007. The delay in getting it before the camera "might have been because of the reticence to finance anything female-driven that wasn't 'Sex in the City,'" she surmises.

"Bridesmaids," she stresses, "is not a chick flick. There is no shoe-shopping montage, none of that."

And there were no cat fights on set.

"People ask me that, but no. What's to fight about? A bunch of nerdy girls who like to be funny, supporting each other."

McLendon-Covey plays a character named Rita who is "very, um, damaged and thinks she's so much smarter than her life. I love playing the weirdos. She's a fly in the ointment, the one telling the bride, 'You're making a big mistake.'"

With "Bridesmaids" on the way, the "Reno 911!" alumna says she's gone out for a few pilots, but nothing that has her excited.

"I hate to say this, but when I read for pilots, a lot of times, I can't tell one from another.

I'm happy with my nice little recurring gig on 'Rules of Engagement.'"

LEGENDARY: Charlotte Chandler is hoping that her new "Marlene: A Personal Biography" will remind the public of the amazing ways of legendary film queen Marlene Dietrich.

"The contribution she was proudest of was coming to the United States and speaking out against the Nazis," reminds the esteemed author, who spent time with Dietrich prior to her death in 1992. Dietrich's WWII-period exploits, including dangerous visits to the front lines to entertain troops, could make for a movie in themselves.

Among the morsels of information the star imparted to Chandler at the twilight of her days was that "she had a very brief affair, one night, with John Kennedy. And at the end of it, he asked, 'Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?' ... and asked if she'd had an affair with his father. She'd had a relatively long affair with Joe Kennedy, but she realized the answer that John wanted to hear, so she told him no. And he said, 'That old fox. I knew he was just boasting.'"

Dietrich, famously reclusive in her final years, asked to be buried near a three-star French restaurant so that friends could go and dine before or after visiting her grave, "to make it a religious experience," Chandler recounts. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Chandler, longtime next-door neighbor and pal of the late Luciano Pavarotti at New York's vaunted Hampshire House, says that she usually knows someone who knows her book subjects and can put her in touch with them. Past subjects have included Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Federico Fellini and Joan Crawford. Next, she says, she's writing a biography of Audrey Hepburn.

THE REAL THING: Hayley Kiyoko, who'll be seen starring in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Lemonade Mouth" come April 15, says that her real-life experience of opening for Justin Bieber helped her out in the movie.

"I know what it's like to play for thousands and thousands of people now, so I knew how to act in the scenes where we're playing to large crowds," says the young talent. "One of the scenes has us playing in Madison Square Garden."

For Kiyoko, making the movie — about a group of high school misfits who find unity and success through becoming a band — was an opportunity to bond with her cast mates.

"I have five new friends," she says.

But Kiyoko also has pals out in her non-show-business world in Westlake, Calif.

"I'm really fortunate to have best friends who aren't in the industry. It's nice to have that separation," she says.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2011 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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