Close-Up: Leslie Bibb

Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 06-Jun-08 @ 11:48 AM

LESLIE BIBB is one tough cookie. As an actress, she's busted up a secret society in The Skulls, navigated catty high school cliques in the WB's Popular, and gold-dug her way into not one but two racecar drivers' hearts in Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby. She also doesn't shy away from her co-star's superhero powers in this month's Iron Man. "To be able to fly or run up a wall or just kick somebody's ass sounds like so much fun," she confides, laughing. Though Bibb probably won't jump you in a dark alley, she's definitely not down with wimpy complainers. Oh, yeah--she's got Oprah in her corner, too. What can't this lady do?

INTERVIEW: Rachel Lux
PHOTO: Carrie Schechter

You play a reporter in Iron Man. Did you take any cues from all the press you've had to do as an actress?
No, because I've never had a reporter sort of go at me the way Christine [Everhart] goes at Tony Stark [Robert Downey Jr.]. She works for Vanity Fair; and she really wants to be taken seriously. She's not just a pretty face. She's getting the facts and going for the jugular and getting big stories. I think that's the irony of what ends up happening with her, because she ends up becoming a little bit of a cliché when she sleeps with Tony. [Laughs.]

There's definitely been a resurgence in comic book movies in the past few years--it seems like everyone wants to be in one. This cast is particularly star-studded.
It is crazy. For me, I still pinch myself a little bit when I get in certain situations where I'm like, "Wow, that's so-and-so." I feel lucky. I think people would think I would be much cooler and suave. But I'm not. I'm a complete dork-spaz. I mean, I was in a scene with Gwyneth Paltrow, and I'm sitting there, like, "Look how pretty she is. She has freckles." [Laughs.] There are cameras rolling, and I'm having this conversation in my head, like, "You're sitting there looking at Gwyneth. That's not Gwyneth--that's Pepper Potts. Stop it!" [Laughs.]

You've thanked Oprah for where you are, career-wise. Explain.
I won a modeling contest when I was 16, and Oprah Winfrey sponsored it. That's how New York got introduced to me. Via Ope. Who knew? It was really crazy. I grew up in the country and big aspirations for me were to go to the University of Virginia. [Laughs.] When you grow up in a tiny country town, I don't know... I didn't aspire to be an actor. I remember thinking I'd be married by the time I was 24, and I'd have three kids or two kids or whatever by the time I was 30. And my life is totally different. [Laughs.]

When did modeling translate to acting?
I did this really big commercial for Lee Jeans. I got to improvise for, like, 13 hours a day for a week. I got to sort of make fun of modeling and be this really dumb, ditzy airhead, and I think from that it was, "Wow, you can talk and you're pretty." Which sounds so silly to say, but in New York, I don't know, it's not easy.

How was shooting both Iron Man and the upcoming horror flick The Midnight Meat Train at the same time?
I remember for three weeks I was working non-stop. One night we'd worked super late, and I'd been crying and on a set where people had been dying. I mean, c'mon. It's called The Midnight Meat Train. What's going to happen in a horror film called that? It sounds like a porno. [Laughs.]

At AP, we like to say, "It's not a porno. Yet."
They don't even have to change the name! [Laughs.] Anyway, I remember I was like, "I don't know what day it is. I don't know who I am. I don't know which character I'm playing." Listen, high-class problems, right? Actors, I think, complain when they don't work and they complain when they do work. It's boring. I find it nauseating. So it's like, "Shut up. Stop being a baby."

Recently, I was shooting in New York City [for next year's film Confessions Of A Shopaholic], and we pulled two all-nighters. I said to my boyfriend, "I'm so tired. I don't know which end is up. I'm shooting a movie at Barne's." I'm shooting a movie at Barneys. Let's look at all the key phrases. Yeah, you're a baby. Shut up. You know if I were sitting there being a pansy about it and complaining about it, you would have your finger down your throat. Then you'd wanna write, "This girl is an asshole." But you wouldn't. You'd be great and you'd write a nice article, but secretly, you'd want to shoot me in the face. [Laughs.]

CHEAT SHEET >> You've watched her complete a human pyramid in a cheerleading uniform on TV's POPULAR and "love" both John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell in TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY. Now see Leslie Bibb bring truth to the masses as Christine Everhart, a spunky magazine reporter, opposite Robert Downey Jr. in this month's big-screen version of the Marvel comic classic IRON MAN.

THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
"A life without music is a life I don't want to live," insists Leslie Bibb. "I'm not kidding. I love food. But I think if I had to get rid of any of my senses--and I can't believe I'm saying this because I love to eat--but I would rather get rid of my taste buds." While we applaud her dedication to her iPod, we hope it doesn't come to that for Bibb, who says she has eclectic music taste and can find happiness listening to just about anything. "I was in London and [my boyfriend] turned me on to M. Ward. Listening to him [while I was in London] was like being part of living movie. I was seeing life happen with a soundtrack behind it.

"I'm always listening to music," she continues. "They make fun of me on my movies because I always have my [headphones] on my head. It just sort of amps me up in a way." What in particular is "amping" her up these days? "I just got into Pearl Jam. Sometimes, if I don't feel inspired by music right now, I'll just go back. I was listening to the soundtrack to Into The Wild, and I was like, 'Oh, fuck. Eddie Vedder is a genius.' So I've been listening to [Pearl Jam's] Ten a lot. The other thing--my secret thing--is Led Zeppelin. [Laughs.] To walk through New York City with Led Zeppelin rolling in your head is kind of fantastic."