Applegate likes view from the top

LOS ANGELES -- Christina Applegate has matured from a TV sitcom floozie -- playing airhead Kelly Bundy on Fox's "Married . . . With Children" for 11 seasons -- to trusty chick-flick sidekick.

"I think I've done a pretty good job of getting away from her. I'm proud of that," the 31-year-old actress said. "She was such an asset to my life, and I appreciate her."

Last year, Applegate played Cameron Diaz's best friend in "The Sweetest Thing." In the new comedy "View From the Top," she and Gwyneth Paltrow are a pair of friends who dream of finding success as trans-Atlantic flight attendants.

"View From the Top" had been set for release in 2001, but "9/11 happened," the actress said, "and a movie about flight attendants and flying and some of the content we had in it, it wasn't going to be OK."

Applegate started acting in commercials and soap operas at age 5, and appeared with her mother, actress Nancy Priddy, in the 1981 B- movie "Jaws of Satan." She got her breakthrough role on "Married . . . With Children" in 1987.

Since then, she's appeared in the comedies "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" (1991), "Mars Attacks!" (1996) and "Just Visiting" (2001).

In 1998, she had a two-season run as the title character on the NBC sitcom "Jesse," about a single mom trying to balance her love life with her job and family responsibilities.

She also appeared last summer as a celebrity host for the "Pussycat Dolls" burlesque show on the Sunset Strip, a dancing romp in which performers, wearing corsets, garters and feather boas, tease the crowd with sultry jazz moves.

Applegate reunited last month with her "Married" family co-stars - - Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal and David Faustino -- for a Fox interview- special about the long-running comedy, which ended in 1997.

The reunion was a surprise hit, watched in nearly 11 million homes -- about double what the show attracted originally.

Although Fox had approached Applegate about reprising her Kelly Bundy role, "I thought it would be more interesting if they got us sitting around and talking, because that's what you never got to see us do, just be ourselves," she said.

Applegate, who married actor Johnathon Schaech in 2001, is now taking on leading-lady duties alongside Ben Affleck in "Surviving Christmas," playing a type of anti-Kelly -- "a really intelligent, well-rounded, grounded woman."

Her other upcoming projects include the black comedy "Grand Theft Parsons," with "jackass" star Johnny Knoxville, and the true-life drama "Wonderland," about four 1981 murders linked to the porn industry.

1: How did the filmmakers handle the delay of "View From the Top"?

Applegate: We did a lot of additional scenes, they added a lot to Gwyneth's story line. . . . They added more of the romance, which actually was an asset to the film, I believe.

2: Are you comfortable in sidekick roles?

Applegate: Yeah, man, less pressure. (laughs) . . . I just lost a job that I really wanted. It would have been for another sidekicky kind of role, very much a character -- and the director said, 'I want her to do more leading lady stuff.' . . . So I lost a job. It was kind of a backhanded compliment -- unless he was just saying that.

3: Would you ever play Kelly Bundy for a TV movie or film?

Applegate: No, I don't think that will ever happen.

4: Are you interested in more dramatic roles?

Applegate: Absolutely. Actually, the films I'm waiting to hear if they're going to go my way are all dramas. I don't have any comedies in the works right now. . . . I love the darkness. I'm a dark creature and I don't think I could be funny if I didn't have that.

5: After the "Pussycat Dolls," do you plan to showcase your dance moves anywhere else?

Applegate: It's a lifelong dream for me to be able to dance and sing on Broadway. . . . That's a huge target for me. To do a musical (film) for me would be incredible, but I don't know if you can top "Chicago." . . . I would have loved to have been in that movie -- anywhere, I don't care. I wish they just would have stuck me somewhere.

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