Like her character in “Dinner for Schmucks,” which opened Friday, –Stephanie Szostak sympathizes with those not in on the joke. She stars as Paul Rudd‘s girlfriend Julie, who’s appalled he has agreed to take someone to supper to ridicule. Upper West Sider
Szostak knows how it feels to not fit in. She left France to attend the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. “It was quite a cultural shock – the language, the humor,” Szostak says. “I remember waiting at the library to buy books and this guy standing next to me goes, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ And I looked up in the sky and was like, ‘I don’t know. What is up?’ So that was tough. Just not being able to relate the way I was used to.”
How many takes did you do for your kissing scene with Paul Rudd?
As many as I could.
Was that weird?
It wasn’t awkward. I’ve never had an awkward kissing scene.
Your “Schmucks” character works for an artist named Kieran (Jemaine Clement), who paints portraits of himself on animal bodies. Who are your favorite artists?
I love Gustav Klimt and I love Egon Schiele. I kind of like dark art. So Kieran’s art was good to look at because you had to find, “Okay, what do I like about this?” I thought they did an amazing job because it was completely outrageous, but in a way, it was quite realistic. I did some research on the Internet about this crazy art and there’s a lot out there that’s crazy similar.
What’s Steve Carell, who plays the “schmuck,” like on the set?
He’s pretty tame, and then the minute the cameras start rolling, the show begins. This scene where Julie comes out of the elevator and Barry [Carell’s character] thinks she’s someone else – when we were doing my reaction shot to Tim [Rudd] having sex with someone else – he just came up with crazy, crazy things. He was just giving me a wide choice of things to react to. And I was just like, in total shock. I cracked up and said, “I can’t believe you said that!” And he’s like, “Huh? What?”
What did you do before -becoming an actress?
I studied business in school, so I worked for Chanel in marketing. And I also worked part-time in an office. So I had office jobs. And then I realized I needed to get the hell out of there, just realizing there was no fulfillment.
Why’d you move to New York after college as opposed to L.A. or France?
I remember passing through New York in college and thinking, I’m going to come back here. The energy just made me think of Europe – everyone walking, seeing the delis and flowers outside. It just felt very familiar. I loved it right away.
