King Magazine
October/November 2005
By Peter Rubin
Original Source

French Kiss

Dying for Dolly’s Emmanuelle Chriqui can’t stand the gratuitous American boob shot. A breast shot in a French film is a different cup if tea, however.

PQ: “I’d love to do foreign film… I mean you don’t have a French actress without showing her titties at least once [laughs]—but it’s a part of the story!”

Screw the witty intro banter. Instead, let’s address the obvious. 1) Her last name rhymes with “freaky,” pronounced sher-ri-ki. 2) No, she’s not exactly white. She’s French/Moroccan/Jewish: born in Montreal to Moroccan parents. 3) Swapping spit with musicians on camera isn’t some fanatical stipulation in the 27-year-old’s movie contracts. In addition to N*Sync’s Lance Bass and Usher, Dying for Dolly’s leading gal has appeared in Wrong Turn and Snow Day.

Screen time with Cuba Gooding Jr. post-Best Supporting Actor Oscar is cruel and unusual punishment, but the sticks and stones thrown at the Entourage cast member by her grammar school mates has thickened her skin. So KING’s candid convo, which touched on frontal nudity and Vitamin D (use your imagination), wasn’t such an affaire.

A line? That’s scandal-less. I thought you were going to say “conveniently forgot his Calvins.” You know how ol’ boy can be.
No, just a line [laughs]. But it created this moment where I spontaneously filled it—and I kissed him! He was totally blown away, and everyone in the room was just hooting and hollering. There were two times in the movie that we smooched, and, you know, it was great.

Seems like he asks a lot of his actresses. You can always count on some nudity in an Almodovar movie.
It’s so true, but in American movies, when there’s nudity, it’s almost offensive because it’s so gratuitous. It’s like “token boob shot now.” And in foreign movies—I mean you don’t have a French actress without showing her titties at least once [laughs]—but it’s a part of the story! It’s not “and pan to the boob.” It’s organic.