ACT NATURAL

With her new movie, Blake Lively proves her acting talent and appeal... again.

On TV, Serena van der Woodsen changes boyfriends, life goals, and party plans on a daily basis.  But Blake Lively, who embodies Serena so well on Gossip Girl, couldn't be more different. 

When executive editor Stephanie Trong sat down with the fast-rising star to discuss her new movie, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, she found that the former high school class president and California native is a focused and fiercely intelligent young woman.

The one similarity between Blake and her on-screen alter ego?  They pile on designer clothes with the glee of a tween stacking her first set of plastic bangles.  But nobody can blame her - if we had a Serena / Blake closet experience, we'd do it, too.

Check out photos of Blake from the November issue of NYLON, then get the real thing on newsstands now.  But you'd already have it in your hands if you were a subscriber...

Blake on her new film, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.  "I had a leash around my neck, and Julianne Moore was taking pictures. I thought, What am I doing with my life? What is happening? How is this a good idea?"

How she pranks her friends.  "I [credit-card] swipe my friends with, like, my phone or something, - I slide it in their butts. Like in middle school! You say ‘Visa! Mastercard!’ Just to give somebody a jump. I’m a prankster."

Her empathetic nature.  "I feel a lot. I get really bad stomachaches all the time. So I went to a doctor, and he said, 'You’re a feeler. I take on people’s pain a little too much."

Is she completely different from Serena?  "No, because I dress just like Serena!  I own half her wardrobe, so it’s far too similar to the way I dress. I feel ridiculous at times with her – because I’m, you know, killing someone or marrying someone, but I look like me. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is absurd.’"
INTERVIEW BY STEPHANIE TRONG



This story was published on November 2, 2009.