‘Hell’ of an ent t trance
Lindhome showers praise on horror spoof role
Riki Lindhome has no trouble standing out among the ensemble cast in “Hell Baby.” After all, no one else in this horror spoof of exorcism movies, devil baby movies and haunted house movies makes their entrance stark naked.
The intentionally awkward scene has Lindhome’s character, Marjorie, emerge from the shower and surprise a flustered Rob Corddry, who plays her sister’s husband.
But instead of a quick cover-up with a towel, the bare-it-all scene continues for seven minutes.
“It’s ridiculous because it keeps going and going. And going,” Lindhome, 34, said.
“Nudity is always funny if it’s random and unintended,” said co-director/co-writer Robert Ben Garant, who plays a Vatican appointed exorcist. “We’d never do nudity in a sex scene. For us, it’s ‘Let’s meet a character who has zero hang-ups.’ ”
And that, Lindhome decided, is the essence of spacey Marjorie.
“She’s well intentioned, a simple, lost kind of hippie who really wants to help but doesn’t know anything.”
For instance, Marjorie’s never seen boyfriend Curly Bear took all her money and left her penniless but she remains positive.
“She keeps meeting these wrong numbers and saying, ‘It’s all fine.’ She really is the biggest optimist,” said the actress, who played Laura Dern’s co-worker Harper in HBO’s “Enlightened” series.
Lindhome had gone starkers onscreen before, in “The Last House on the Left” remake.
“So it wasn’t that traumatic. There I was naked before murdered, of course,” she said, laughing.
“Last House,” she added, “was a lot tougher with me naked for several days of filming.”
“Hell Baby” “was a closed set with no action. We shot as fast as we could. Everyone was there to be as easy as can be and focused on making me feel comfortable.
“Almost all of us were friends going in — and we were in New Orleans. So it was a fun vibe.”
(“Hell Baby” opens Friday.)