Romantic Comedy. Two words that can send shivers down every guy’s spine. But when a Rom-Com features a gorgeous actress like Cerina Vincent, we usually can forgive the genre. We talked to the sexy star of Everybody Wants to Be Italian about her days as the yellow Power Ranger, how counting carbs can ruin your date, and what sets Everybody Wants to Be Italian apart.
Why does Everybody Want to Be Italian?
Why do they not? Well I am Italian, so I might be a little biased. Coming from a big giant Italian family there is a lot of passion, food and celebration. Everything’s a party and everything involves food and everything has an element of passion behind it.
How have non-Italians related to this idea?
We did this little promo thing where we were out the streets of New York asking people when they knew they wanted to be Italian. We had men from Japan, guys from the UK, and women from Africa that all really laughed at that question but had an answer for it. Even if they don’t really want to be Italian they could all say, “Oh well, the first time I had a meatball sandwich”. It’s really relatable.
Sounds a little similar to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, how is it different?
Really the only similarity is that their’s is about Greeks and our’s is about Italians. What’s great about the film is that if you are Italian, you sort of appreciate it a little bit more, because there are not a lot of positive movies about Italians. The whole joke of the film is that there is these two people, who are falling in love and they’re each sort of pretending to be Italian because each one thinks the other one is Italian. It’s not necessarily about Italians at all, it’s about love and soul mates and just ridiculous relationship issues. The Italian part is just sort of the icing on the cake.
One of your first roles in Hollywood was the Yellow Power Ranger, is that a role you are still proud of?
Being a Power Ranger was the first series regular role that I booked, when I moved out here. I was 19, and I learned a lot. We shot 47 episodes and two seasons, and I basically had a crash course of what it’s like to be on TV. I learned all sorts of things, I learned stunt work, we worked 16 hours a day. I worked my ass off on that show.
Did you pick up any martial arts moves on the show?
Not to crush anybody’s dreams out there, but they’re actually little stuntmen behind the spandex. It’s one of those things, we’re the actors, anytime we would “morph”, into power rangers, a stuntman would take our place. They did train us, and we did do a few fighting sequences, but anytime you see a power ranger with a helmet on it’s not the actor underneath it.
You recently wrote a book with Jodi Lipper titled How to Eat like a Hot Chick, how do hot chicks eat?
We came up with this idea because we were really sick and tired of negative things out there for women regarding food and body image. There’s so much diet information that women are confused about what to eat, and too many women feel guilty about eating a piece of cake or having a couple of beers. We just think that’s a waste of time and it’s a waste of life. We wanted to write something fun and uplifting that would make people laugh and make women feel good about themselves while simultaneously giving them tips about how to treat their bodies well.
What could guys learn from this book?
I think there is no bigger turn-off than when you’re sitting with a guy and he orders a salad with the dressing on the side or boiled chicken and he counts his carbs and he is drinking Michelob Ultra. Not that we don’t condone healthy eating, but we think that how a man eats, is how he is in bed. If he is being really picky with his food, then he might be picky in the bedroom.
Why should guys go see Everybody Wants to Be Italian?
This movie is not your typical romantic comedy, because it is kind of meshed with this buddy comedy. All the ladies are loving it and all the guys are loving it. What’s awesome about it, is that this is a little indie film, and now it’s getting a big buzz, and a lot of hype for being the little indie film that could. It’s rare when you can get an indie movie in studio movie theaters and treated like a real studio movie, so we’re all really excited about it.
Everybody Wants to Be Italian is in theaters now.