Best known for his work on “Saturday Night Live,” Jimmy Fallon is the latest Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Player to leave the seminal late-night show to pursue a full-time film career. The 30-year-old Brooklyn native’s first starring role is in “Taxi,” as an inept cop who teams with a cabbie played by Queen Latifah to try and thwart a crew of shapely criminals led by model Giselle Bundchen.
QUESTION: “Taxi” may be the first film in history in which the villains are Brazilian supermodels. Could this be the beginning of a trend?
JIMMY FALLON: The media tries to downplay the news, but 75 to 80 percent of all bank robberies are committed by Brazilian supermodels. It’s a huge problem in America. I’m trying to get Michael Moore to do a documentary about it, but he hasn’t returned my calls.
Q: What aspect of your “Taxi” experience made the most lasting impression on you?
JF: Working with Ann-Margret (who plays Fallon’s mother in the film). Ann-Margret knocked it out of the park. I met her, and I couldn’t believe they cast Ann- Margret. She’s Ann-Marg-rock, if you’re a “Flintstones” fan. She did “Viva Las Vegas.” She didn’t say anything about Elvis, in case you’re going to ask that.
Q: She’s a seasoned veteran, and you’re a movie neophyte. What was your relationship like on set?
JF: We hit it off. We made each other laugh. There were a couple of moments of improv during shooting, where we were both laughing to the point of crying. No one else was, just me and Ann-Margret.
Q: You worked with several lovely ladies on this movie. Can you tell us about some of the others?
JF: (Queen Latifah) is awesome to work with. Her facial expressions are great — she just sells everything. I really learned a lot from her. She was very generous to me. And Gisele was great casting. She played a Brazilian badass so well. Of course, she’s very easy to look at. Almost too easy — it was distracting when we were doing scenes.
Q: Being a New Yorker, you must have your share of funny cab stories.
JF: Well, right after 9-11, I think Osama Bin Laden drove me somewhere. Not really him, but his name was Osama Bin something. I thought I was being “Punk’d.” That was really weird.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 8, 2004. Read the original PDF.