Entertainment

How Anna Faris & Chris Pratt Really Feel About Being #RelationshipGoals

by Rachel Simon
Jesse Grant/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

When it comes to celebrity couples, there are few pairs sweeter than Anna Faris and Chris Pratt. The actors, who married in 2009 and had son Jack three years later, are truly the cutest, whether they're posing together on red carpets, chatting about each other in interviews, or sharing adorable photos of their fam on Twitter with their devoted fans. In other words, you'd be forgiven for labeling them total #RelationshipGoals — but if you're going to do that, you might want to know that Faris and Pratt aren't exactly thrilled with that title.

"It’s really f*cking weird," Faris says when we speak on the phone in mid-July, just ahead of the release of her latest film, The Emoji Movie. "It’s wonderful, but you kind of feel like you’re the little things on top of a massive wedding cake."

While there's certainly some pressure to keeping that public image up ("That’s why I straddle him on the red carpet and just ride him into the sunset," Faris jokes) overall, she and Pratt don't actually mind being seen as relationship role models too much.

"I love being in love, and I love that our relationship inspires people," she says. "And Chris and I laugh all the time — we have this amazing inside joke about how we’re just a couple of hometown kids who sort of stumbled into this weirdness, and I love that we can look at each other and be like, 'ah, yup, this is crazy.'"

Although part of fans' love for the duo comes from the fact that Faris and Pratt regularly share snapshots of their lives together on Twitter and Instagram, the actor says that she and her husband weren't always comfortable being so open. "It was a long struggle," she tells me. "We’ve struggled with the idea of is this fair to Jack, to post photos of him. But when other people are outside your house, taking photos of you... it's an attempt to take back control."

Being a parent hasn't just affected Faris' view of social media, of course; it's also made a difference in the type of projects she chooses to take on. An actor and comedian known for foul-mouthed films like Scary Movie and The House Bunny, Faris isn't the first person you'd think of when it comes to PG-rated content like The Emoji Movie, but she couldn't be happier to be making the (temporary) switch.

"I love that my son will be able to see The Emoji Movie and he’ll be like, 'Mommy, that’s you!' Or he’ll be like, 'Mommy? That sounds like you, but doesn’t look like you,'" she says with a laugh.

Columbia Pictures

In the film, out July 28, Faris plays Jailbreak, a hacker who helps emojis Gene (T.J. Miller) and Hi-5 (James Corden) on their journey inside the smartphone world. A recent convert to the emoji world ("Being a working mom, I'm just like, ah, I get to do this? I can just text or send a picture of an owl? Great!" she says of her new discoveries), the actor says she loved playing the codebreaker character, who's frustrated and discontent with the way her universe works.

"I was such an angry kid, and I finally get to play a really angry character," Faris explains. "So that made me feel really good, in a weird, f*cked up way."

And even though she may not be as much of an emoji pro as her character is, starring in the movie has certainly amped up her knowledge. When asked what emojis she and her family are most like, the answers come quickly; Chris is the eagle about to land, she's the dagger ("I know, a little darker," she says with a laugh), and Jack, a toddler, is a smiley, of course. Emoji expert or not, Faris clearly knows her way around the internet — even if she finds the whole thing more than a little weird.