7 Questions with Tori Spelling

Tori Spelling is one of those people who tends to divide opinion into “love her” or “hate her” camps. At least she used to. Since shaking her daddy’s-little-rich-girl-persona first by starring as the naïve fiancé in the awesome screen version of The House of Yes, then by producing and choosing roles that proved she could make it on her own, sans support from her late father, Aaron “90210” Spelling. In her new film, Kiss the Bride (release date: April 18, 2008), Spelling plays Alex, a sassy multi-dimensional character caught in a love triangle with two gay men. Or questionably gay men. Anyway, it looks entertaining. I sent my main man Fred Topel into the lionesses den to sit down with Spelling and these are the best 7 questions.

Zimbio: We heard you're a potty mouth. What sort of things do you say?
Tori Spelling: I’m not the type of truck-driving potty mouth. I’m kind of a little girl potty mouth because I say it with such vulnerability. It’s this weird mesh, you know what I mean? It’s not that bad of a mouth.

Zimbio: So you're like the character you play in Kiss the Bride.
Tori Spelling: When I received the script and I read it, I completely fell in love with the character of Alex. I was pretty much obsessed with her. Actually it was the word “pussy”. I got to say the word “pussy” and I was like, "That’s so me." I just loved her personality and I just loved everything about her. I loved all different sides of her. She really got to run the emotional gamut in this movie so I was really excited to play her. Alex has two sides. She’s a nice girl and then she can kind of let loose and be this fun, raunchy girl. I have those two sides.

Zimbio: You never have to work again if you don't want to. What makes you keep acting, producing shows, writing a book, doing a jewelry line, etc.?
Tori Spelling: I’m a bit of a workaholic. So I love knowing what the next thing is and always thinking about a million things at once. There’s nothing worse for me than having downtime with nothing to do. I love having something to do and I love having the balance of being able to have the day to spend with my son and husband and also thinking about a million things to do.

Zimbio: What did you learn about producing television from your father?
Tori Spelling: I think just watching him for so many years, it was the best on hand experience I could get without even knowing I was getting it. But I knew, even as a child, I loved going to the set with him. Summer vacations, most kids wanted to go to camp or take art classes and play ball. I wanted to sit in my dad's office

when there was nice weather out and just watch him. I was like five. I remember I would take notes and stuff. It led me to here so I guess it was all for something. When I got to do So Notorious, which was my first executive producing gig, I just knew I loved all the behind the scenes things. I loved [everything] from casting to wardrobe to writing to just doing every aspect of it. Now getting to do a reality show, it's a different format but I still love it and I'd love to produce more.

Zimbio: What's missing from TV now that your father's no longer with us?
Tori Spelling: Oh my goodness. My dad's number one goal, and I'm pretty sure he achieved it, was just entertaining people. He would always say, "You know, people have such complicated lives, hard lives. When they come home at night, they don't want to have to think. They just want to sit back, relax and just watch something that's going to entertain them." That was his main focus, just entertaining people." I think that's a great philosophy and when he told me that, I thought that rings so true. Maybe that's why TV has gone in the direction of reality, because people don't really have to think too hard. They can kind of just relax and watch someone else's life. Maybe that's what they need right now. So I just hope people keep entertaining people and keep dreaming. I mean, my dad was so creative. He would just dream up these shows. I mean, Fantasy Island, Love Boat… He was a real believer in storytelling and fantasies. He had that little boy at heart kind of thing and I hope people continue with that.

Zimbio: Now as a mommy, how would you feel about your kids following in the family business, and having them grow up on camera with your reality show?
Tori Spelling: Oh gosh, I don't know. Whatever they want to do, I just want them to be passionate. Whatever you're passionate about, I believe in and so be it if they're passionate about the entertainment industry. Good luck. I feel like with our show at least, when Liam's on the show, it's our controlled environment. We're comfortable with it. We can kind of control what we want to happen in relation to him. But his life's kind of out there for the public anyway so at least this way it's controlled by us. I mean, when we're out on the streeTori Spelling and there are paparazzi, there's nothing we can do about that. We shield him the best we can. At some point, we just have to be like, "Come on, we're just going to live our life." So at least this is controlled.

Zimbio: Are you excited for this new 90210 they're planning, to see a new generation of teen drama?
Tori Spelling: I mean, I'm surprised it took this long. I guess in some way, every show that really followed 90210 was kind of a remake of 90210, just with a different name. But for the fans' sake, I'm really happy for them because I know I've been asked that for years, "Are they going to do a spin-off, a new generation?" I didn't know so it'll be great for the fans.

Kiss the Bride Trailer below:
--Q&A by Fred Topel