Not to get TMI on body types,” Laura Dern explains, “but I have a radically tall torso.” It’s one of the reasons the 5ft 11in actor was cast opposite the 6ft 2in Will Arnett in their new film Is This Thing On?, a sensitive comedy drama about divorce by Bradley Cooper. “It means that when Will and I are sitting side by side, we’re the same height. And it’s crazy to be in a scene with a male actor, and we’re actually looking straight into each other’s eyes, you know?”
The couple they play needed to be evenly matched, she says. “When she tells him, ‘Something is wrong [between us], this isn’t working,’ I had to be formidable coming at him.” Has Dern ever been turned down for jobs because she’s so tall? She practically spit-takes. “Oh, 150 times! I was 5ft 11 at 12 years old and acting already, so I was losing parts constantly!”
