Lake Bell Dives Right In

LAKE BELL IN A GOOD OLD FASHIONED ORGY. PHOTO COURTESY OF FRED NORRIS/SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS.

Looking for an unconventional way to celebrate Labor Day? Maybe you should consider having group sex with your oldest pals. That’s the premise of A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, a surprisingly sweet comedy about growing up, letting go, and getting naked. The film revolves around Eric (Jason Sudeikis), who has been throwing wild themed parties at his father’s swank Hamptons hideaway since high school. When Eric’s dad informs his son that he’s selling the house, Eric decides he wants to go out with a bang—literally. He informs his seven closest friends that their very last party will be an intimate, debaucherous affair: the titular orgy.

One of those friends is played by Lake Bell, an actress who’s as well known for her crack comic timing as she is for her long legs and dazzling smile. We spoke with Bell about her foray into the world of orgies minutes after a short earthquake rocked the East Coast.

LAKE BELL: Hillary. Are you okay?!

HILLARY BUSIS: Yes! At first, everybody in my office thought that it was only them, and then all of a sudden, we realized there actually was an earthquake.

BELL: My other brother was like, “It’s definitely Osama bin Laden’s ghost.” Because Osama bin Laden clearly lives in the plates of the underworld. But he had diabetes, so he can’t make, like, a 9 [on the] Richter scale. He can do a 5.8, though.

BUSIS: You’ve really given this a lot of thought.

BELL: Listen! I get into it, OK? I want to talk about the hot topics. The issues.
BUSIS: Well, will you settle for talking about your movie?

BELL: Yeah, let’s talk about orgies.

BUSIS: [laughs] To start, I’m wondering how you reacted the first time you saw the name of the movie.

BELL: I was like, “They’re going to change that title.” That was my first reaction. But when I read it, I was actually more surprised that a movie called Good Old Fashioned Orgy was so honest and sweet and endearing. You know, that was the biggest surprise, that you cared about the characters—it wasn’t a sex romp. It was this wonderfully surprising Big Chill with a sprinkling of Porky’s on it.

BUSIS: A huge part of that is how comfortable you and the rest of the cast seem around each other. It’s easy to believe that you all have been friends since high school.

BELL: When we got down there, it was just really apparent that this was going to be one of those experiences that I’ll never forget. Truly, I made some of my best friends. And because it’s been three years since we shot it, I can tell you honestly that I am still very dear friends with these people—they are on my speed dial.

BUSIS: So if you were in an earthquake, they’d be the people you would call.

BELL: I already called every cast member to make sure that they were okay. And they’re all on the West Coast! So in a way, it just shows my dedication to them. If you need to get a tissue, this would be the moment.

BUSIS: When you weren’t shooting, did it feel like you were all at a month-long party?

BELL: One hundred percent. If you’re on location in a small town in North Carolina and there’s only x amount of bars, x amount of live karaoke joints, and x amount of Donkey Kong tournaments, those are the people that you want on your team.

BUSIS: Did you do a lot of karaoke while you were there?

BELL: There was a lot of live karaoke. The SNL boys really take the cake with that.

BUSIS: What’s Jason [Sudeikis]’s go-to karaoke song?

BELL: There’s a whole repertoire. The guy could be Billy Joel in a second. I think “Into the Mystic” was one of his classics. And Will Forte—I mean, the guy commits to any bit with such gusto.

BUSIS: One of my favorite visuals in the movie involves Will Forte. Hm, this is kind of tough—there are things I want to ask you about, but I don’t want to ruin anything.

BELL: Well, here’s what I think. When you see the trailer, I feel like there is a possibility that the orgy does not actually happen. I feel like it’d be funny to have something called Good Old Fashioned Orgy, and then the orgy is really like, the emotional orgy between the friends. That’s the misdirect that I’d like to lean on.

BUSIS: I was wondering if it would lean that way, because that seems like the more commercial way to do it. Oh, wait—[a voice comes on over the loudspeaker]

BELL: Are you okay?

BUSIS: Yeah. There was just a voice over the loudspeaker saying, “We are not evacuating the building. There was an earthquake a hundred miles away.”

BELL: There’s another one?!

BUSIS: No, I think he was referring to the one in Virginia. I’m sorry that this day is so nuts!

Anyway. When Jason Sudeikis’s character is trying to convince his friends to do the orgy, he says something I think is really interesting—that people currently in their 30s are members of the “lamest generation,” because they’re much more sexually inhibited than their parents or contemporary teenagers. Do you think that’s a fair assessment?

BELL: I think that is a fair assessment. What he says in the movie is that the problem is AIDS. Like, we were so scared of AIDS when we were kids that we don’t get to have orgies. I do think that we’re historically a puritanical generation. And what I’m hoping is that the movie will get the entire generation to start brewing up some orgies.

BUSIS: Are you more uninhibited now?

BELL: Oh, I’ve had four or five orgies since shooting the movie. The first one’s hard, but once you get over the hump, you loosen into it. Listen, if you’re interested, and you need some guidance—

BUSIS: What are your tips for the first-time orgy holder?

BELL: Contrary to the movie, I think that costumes are not good. Stay away from costumes; get real with yourself.

BUSIS: Is an orgy better if you’re sleeping with people you know?

BELL: No, I think the best orgies—from my professional orgy opinion—are orgies with complete and total strangers. But in truth, I am super prude. How old are you?

BUSIS: I’m 23.

BELL: Do you feel like your generation is more adventurous, sexually? I’m asking if you’re sexually active. Which is appropriate.

BUSIS: If you’d like me to list my sexual partners in alphabetical order, or chronological order—

BELL: Not alphabetical. I’m not even into the alphabet. Everyone’s like, “I love the alphabet!” but I’m not into it. It’s so regimented. I like my fucking letters mixed up. I’m sorry, the earthquake is affecting this interview. Are you recording this?

BUSIS: Yes.

BELL: God bless you. Okay, what else? What should we cover?

BUSIS: We could also talk a little about How to Make It In America. You’re coming back in October, right?

BELL: Oh yeah! October 2. All I can say is, it’s good for us, and when I say us, I mean ladies. Because [there’s] lots of funny stuff for ladies this year.

BUSIS: It’s nice to look at your career trajectory and watch you evolve from “hot girl” roles to characters who are actually funny, not just eye candy.

BELL: Indeed. I agree with you. I’m very thankful for that. I think coming to work and being absurd and neurotic and thoughtful at the same time is far more interesting, you know? But that said, I get my tits out a lot this year.

BUSIS: So there’s give and take there.

BELL: Yeah, there’s a give and take. [laughs] But I think this season of How to Make It definitely injected more of what I get off on, in storytelling in general. Because it’s very real. There is such integrity in how New York is depicted in the show. I just feel like it embraces a sort of cultural zeitgeist.

BUSIS: Speaking of the zeitgeist—I know that Orgy was filmed three years ago, but it’s being released during what has become the summer of raunchy, hard-R comedies.

BELL: I guess you’re right. There’s Friends With Benefits, and the movie I did, No Strings [Attached]—those are all sexual.

BUSIS: And there’s Horrible Bosses, The Change-Up, Bridesmaids, Bad Teacher—they’re all raunchy, even if they’re not just based around sex.

BELL: But you know what? I think we win. Because we have “orgy” in our title, and everybody else is pussyfooting around the issue. [mockingly] “The Change-Up! Horrible Bosses!” We’re like, “No. Orgy.”

BUSIS: How do you change the mind of a person who sees the title and says, “I will never see that movie”?

BELL: How do I convince them? I say, fuck them. I’m not convincing them. I’d be like, “I don’t have time for this. Go have an earthquake.” Was that a fair button?

A GOOD OLD FASHIONED ORGY OPENS FRIDAY. HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA RETURNS TO HBO OCTOBER 2.