Electra gets fruity in film role

Greig Watson
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

The makers said Carmen Electra was their first choice for the role

Whatever Carmen Electra is famous for, it is not her acting.

In earlier, simpler times her film career would have begun and ended with a date in the woods, man in a monster suit and a scream.

But beneath the eyeliner and thousand watt smile must lurk a steely ambition, which has led her to a rap music album, workout DVDs, a celebrity marriage (and divorce), MTV shows and Playboy covers.

Now, with her starring role in the British comedy I Want Candy, she gets a chance to show what she can do with a half-decent script and more than five minutes screentime.

OK, so she is playing a porn star called Candy Fiveways who spends a good part of the film skipping around in underwear and getting to know fruit intimately - but it is a leading role.

The film tells of Baggy and Joe, two Leatherhead-based film students who, by the sort of luck to be found in movieland, sign the world's top porn star for their end of term project.

Carmen said: "A lot of comedy I have done has been very physical, very slapstick, running into trees, being hit on the head.

"That's fun to do and is funny to watch but this is a different kind of comedy, it's based on good writing. It's an English comedy and is a little bit smarter.

The students have to make their film in the suburbs

"I have a tremendous respect for everything English, from fashion to music to actors.

"So when the script came to me I thought it was a great role, I loved the idea and it was just a matter of making sure I had the time before saying yes."

But as a porn star?

"It shows there is way more to Candy than the obvious.

"She's smart, ambitious and warm-hearted. She believes in what they are doing and in the process falls in love with the guys."

So did England and its actors come up to expectations?

Hot weather

"Everyone told me it was going to be cold and grey, and the other actors said that's how summers here usually are.

"But when we started filming the weather was just so hot. The studios didn't have any air conditioning so I got everyone these little fans because they weren't used to it either.

"It was hard work and long hours, but we carried on and everyone was really sweet and we enjoyed ourselves."

She added: "The film is sexy and funny. It's got lots of laugh-out-loud moments and will give people a good time".

British actor Tom Riley plays a film student to Electra's porn star

Candy Fiveways's name prompts a good deal of sweaty speculation in the film, including the playground game of creating your own porn star name, as Carmen explains.

"You take the name of your first pet and the street where you grew up. Which makes me Heidi Hermes, which kinda works I think."

Tom Riley, who plays Joe, said: "Carmen was fun. She was very easy to get on with and very bubbly.

"But when the cameras roll it's about the team, you need the other actors and they need you. We had a good time and made a great movie.

Producer Piers Thompson said: "Carmen was always our first choice. If you say it stars Carmen Electra as a porn star, people realise that the film is saucy without being sleazy.

"It's going to be hot, but remain family entertainment because that is the persona Carmen has."

I Want Candy opens across the UK on 23 March