Anna Faris is back at the top of the box office and speaking more candidly than she has in years. In Variety’s new in-depth feature with Faris, the actress addressed Scary Movie 6’s franchise-best $55 million opening weekend, her decades-long pay disparity with male co-stars, a scene poking fun at Melania Trump that was cut from the final film, and a childhood anxiety that saw her wear gloves for six weeks because she was convinced she would be framed for murder.
“I was convinced that I was going to be framed for murder,” Faris said, explaining that at age eight she wore “disgusting royal purple knitted gloves” for six consecutive weeks to avoid leaving fingerprints. The anecdote lands as both a laugh line and a window into the hypervigilant anxiety she has carried through a Hollywood career that began with the original Scary Movie in 2000.
That first film paid her $65,000 Canadian dollars — money that, she says, “quickly dissipated after taxes and manager’s fees.” Twenty-six years later, the franchise has generated hundreds of millions of dollars, and Faris is blunt about her share: “I don’t think I ever got a male-comparative paycheck.” She was excluded from Scary Movie 5 entirely, she says, due to concerns about “age and money.”
The new film, produced by Marlon Wayans who reclaimed the franchise after years under Weinstein family control, reunites Faris with Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks. Variety’s earlier report on the film’s cut content revealed that Faris had pushed for Cindy Campbell to be played as “classic MAGA rabbit hole” — and that a scene was filmed in which her intoxicated character glanced in a rearview mirror and murmured “Be best, Cindy Campbell. Be best,” a wink at Melania Trump’s signature phrase. “That didn’t make it, but I liked my little winking there,” she said.
She is unapologetic about the film’s degree of offensiveness: “I’m in a movie that is truly the most offensive movie ever made… I think I can kind of do anything. It liberated me.”
The $55 million opening arrives after a period Faris describes with unusual frankness. After departing the CBS sitcom Mom in 2020 during COVID, she experienced depression and prolonged professional uncertainty. Coming back for Scary Movie 6 was, in part, a reclamation — of a character she created, a franchise she helped build, and a sense of comedic freedom the intervening years had worn down. What’s next: a screwball comedy called Spa Weekend and a dark drama titled Primetime opposite Robert Pattinson.
The pay and recognition themes Faris raised this week have surfaced repeatedly across the industry this season. Tyra Banks’ defamation lawsuit against Netflix put selective-editing and power dynamics in the spotlight, while Wanda Sykes’ candid reflections on Hollywood comedy’s gender dynamics continue to draw wide discussion.
