Interview: Maria Menounos: The Pressure of Glamour
by Scott Juba
Published: July 8, 2005
When Maria Menounos worked as a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, she reported the news. Now, she’s the one making the news. Menounos can currently be seen in 20th Century Fox’s summer blockbuster, “Fantastic Four,” which hits theatres today. Menounos explains why she believes the film will be the most celebrated comic book movie to date. “From what I know, the Fantastic Four comic book was the biggest selling comic book series, so it has such a loyal fan base,” she remarks. “And the cast they got for it is so cool. Jessica Alba is so hot as the Invisible Woman. Chris Evans is awesome as the Human Torch. Michael Chiklis is The Thing. There’s no other person that could have played that. Ioan Gruffudd and Julian McMahon are great, too. Not often are people really excited about movies, but everyone is so excited to see this. There’s a lot of momentum behind it.”
Menounos is also directing, producing, and starring in two short films that will be submitted to several film festivals, including Sundance. “The west coast editor of Glamour magazine is one of my really good friends, and she came to visit me on the set,” Menounos recalls. “She assumed it was going to be in someone’s back yard, because I’m funding it myself and they’re independent. She said, ‘This is like a studio film.’ We had four different sets and built 38 flats to use as walls, so we had a major production going on. It’s so much fun when you’re controlling it, but it’s also so much pressure.”
Besides her filmmaking talent, Menounos’ radiant beauty and charisma have drawn the attention of Pantene, who have selected her to be their new spokesperson. “Actually I’ve been working with them since I was fifteen,” she’s quick to point out. “Back in the day after I won my first pageant there was an agency that was getting me work on the side. One of the jobs they got me was to work for Pantene on a freelance basis in CVS drugstores all across the state of Massachusetts. I would go around every weekend with this three-panel board and would educate customers about their products and give out samples. So now, cut to ten years later, and I’m making this amazing contract with Pantene. It’s incredible.”
And while Menounos may be known for her glamour, she hopes people will recognize the hard work behind her success. “I think people think we’re all sipping martinis by the pool,” she says with a soft laugh. “The odd thing is, I don’t consider what I do work, because it’s what I love. But it is also an enormous amount of pressure, and you have to work an enormous amount of hours. There are so many different sides to the industry. You have to be a CEO every day of your life. You have your managers, your agents, your lawyers, your publicists, and your colleagues that you have to coordinate things with. You have to plan your next move and figure out what the best move is. It’s not just people dictating to you what to do. You have to take control of your own career.”
Despite the demanding hours of her profession, Menounos remains dedicated to charitable causes. She’s currently involved in the Cosmo Girl Cup, an initiative that she created. “It’s a program my partner Kevin and I put together,” she explains. “It’s meant to encourage teens across the country to look at the problems in their communities and come up with solutions. We pitched it to a few different places, and Cosmo Girl’s Editor-in-Chief Susan Schultz, who is very much a visionary, got it right off the bat and committed to doing it. When you do a new project like that it usually takes some time for people to catch on and want to be a part of it, but we had hundreds of applicants in its first year, which is unheard of. We have such amazing groups of kids and great projects. Now we’re getting ready to gear up for our second year.”
This interview marks the second time that I’ve spoken with Maria Menounous. And while her level of success continues to skyrocket, her down to earth, humble nature remains exactly the same. And that is a characteristic more fantastic than any ability any super hero possesses.
Photo by Brian Bowen Smith
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