Last Friday, the WME screening room in Los Angeles was filled with jugglers, musicians, and stars of The Office who’d come out to support Rainn Wilson for the launch of his spiritual new book, Soul Pancake. Before the friendly fête was in full swing, Wilson explained one of the book’s concepts to Vulture: the “reverse pickpocket,†where a benevolent prankster stuffs “cash or a Starbucks gift card†into the pocket of an unsuspecting stranger. Has anyone ever done that to Wilson himself? “No, no,†he laughed. “I’m far too wealthy.†We continued to mingle with the crowd, attempting to pry tidbits on the Star Trek sequel and Alien prequel from Damon Lindelof (“Nice try,†he said, refusing to confirm reports about the former’s potential villains and the latter’s rumored same-sex-romance subplot) before striking up a conversation with Sarah Silverman about gay equality and her upcoming nude scene.
The comedian was heartened by the response to her recent YouTube video castigating gay-rights opponents, which she recorded in a moment of sudden inspiration: “I was all scrubbed and ready for bed, lonely in a hotel room, and no Law & Orders were on,†she said. “It got me to thinking!†Still, she’s not as worked up about the “electric cars are gay†controversy from The Dilemma. “Pick your battles, I’d say. Maybe that’s the one you want to pick, but I don’t know. I didn’t really get passionate about it. I just kinda went, ‘Eh.’ You know, it’s like when an old person is racist, or Jerry Lewis says that women aren’t funny. It’s like, ‘Who cares? It’s adorable.’â€
If gay men went wild for Silverman’s YouTube video, straight men seemed equally avid for the news that she would be appearing nude in Sarah Polley’s upcoming film Take This Waltz. “Uh, they are setting themselves up for major disappointment,†Silverman confessed. “The movie, I think, is gonna be great because Sarah Polley is incredible, but my body? In all honesty, I would say it’s a lot closer to Kathy Bates in About Schmidt than, like, Julianne Moore in Short Cuts. I am begging you to lower your expectations!â€
What should we be expecting, then? “I’ll tell you what you can expect: a Cream of Wheat–ish texture on the upper thighs, from knee to belly button, I would say in all honesty. And a misshapen upper thigh that actually is not misshapen because there’s probably more [in the world] like it than not, but it doesn’t look good in jeans.†Still, Silverman was more than willing to go there for the chance to work with actress turned director Polley: “I just wasn’t going to say no to anything she asked. I’m lucky to be in that movie. And also, what’s gonna happen? I’m gonna lose a part to Megan Fox? I’m not up for the same roles as Megan Fox.â€