That was my question.

Because it is Hell. I don't like to be a whiner, but - and I could go on about it, but I won't - and so...

Who said you weren't allowed?

The producers. They didn't want me to scare him. They didn't want me stirring up trouble. As it turns out, John had done his research - which I did not. And he spoke with other actors who had worn prosthetics - I did not. And when they were working out the schedule he made it so it was as comfortable as possible for himself.

Michelle, when you see a script, how soon do you know you are going to do it?

It is different. Sometimes I will read something and half way through it my heart just starts going (makes a patting motion on her chest) and I am on the phone. That is quite rare. I am on the phone and sign me up. I don't care how badly this ends, I know I want to do the first half of the script. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer. Mostly that's the case. Mostly I do take a little time, I read it a couple of times. In the case of "Stardust" I really wasn't sure and I didn't quite know. I loved the script a lot. I thought it was going to be real interesting. But I wasn't really sure what to do with the part. And if I don't know what to do with the part, then I don't know what to do with the part. So I met with Matthew Vaughn. And it was kind of the same thing with "Hairspray." I did not know what to do with Velma and it scared me on the page. I just thought she was just so awful all the time and that's all she is. But Adam, hearing his vision and hearing how he wanted to modulate it and where he wanted to go. Yes, she's evil, she's bad, she's bad top the bone. And she has to be. And that's my job. But we want to find the humanity there. I was very excited to sing again, I hadn't done that in awhile. So in answer to you question, usually it takes me a lot of mulling over.

It terms of "Hairspray" did you end up going to see the Broadway show or were you familiar with it before selecting this role?

I had seen it. I had actually seen it a long time ago and liked it very much.

The Broadway musical?

The Broadway musical. In fact I have not seen the John Waters movie which I am dying to see. It is one of things that I never got around to seeing when it came out. Then when I signed on to this I really didn't want to see it. Now I am dying to go back and see it. There will probably be so many great things that Debra Harry did.

I thought of sure you had seen it because there are certain ... some of the body language. It is just because it is a beautiful woman being mean.

When I was younger, in my early 20s, people used to come up to me and think I was here. That was when Blonde was really, really big. I guess it makes sense that they would have thought of me for it.

I found out at the Michael Bay roundtables that anyone between the age of 35-40 is an old lady.

(Jokingly) Can't wait to meet him. Where is he? Go get him.

As speaking as an old lady myself, how is it in this industry? It is a bit of a challenge?

I have to laugh because yesterday I was doing the Hollywood Foreign Press. One of the women said to me "So, now that you have this old and decrepit body." She had a heavy accent so I thought she really didn't say that. I said "Excuse me. Did you just say I had an old and decrepit body?" And I think it was sort of in her language. The worst say people say horrible things like that but they really don't mean it. Maybe he really doesn't mean that we are old and decrepit.

What was it like working with Nikki Blonsky?

What can you say? She's a marvel. You just .. she was born to play this part. You would never know that she had never been on a movie set. She just .. it was like she had grown up on a soundstage. So comfortable. So gracious. She has such a grace and maturity about her. And looking into that face. That was the hard part. I had to be really mean a lot. The beginning scene when she comes in to audition we actually shot toward the end. So we had done all this sort of mean, mean, mean, mean stuff. And then I come to do this scene when I am in her face .. it killed me.

Are you about to start a new project?

I am not about to start a new project. It looks like I will be going back to work. And I won't wait four years. Let's just put it that way.

What about Brittany Snow as your daughter?

I just fell in love with Brittany. I just wanted to put her in my suitcase and take her home. She is a remarkable young woman. She started very young. She is an incredible person and I adore her. She is going to do very well.