That '70s Star Is a Rushing Bride

Laura Prepon, who has played Donna on Fox's That '70s Show since its 1998 premiere, returns to the "present day" to headline Oxygen's Romancing the Bride (premiering Dec. 3 at 8 pm/ET), a romantic comedy in which an always-in-control bride-to-be embarks on a "Dude, Where's My Car?"-type journey to piece together how she woke up in bed with — and married to! — a hunky Latino stranger (played by Days of our Lives alum Matt Cedeno; see related Q&A in Soaps News). TVGuide.com spoke with Prepon about the inherent evil of wedding dresses, the potential glory of furry pink handcuffs and the out-of-this-world joy of having Princess Leia for a mom.

TVGuide.com: I really like you as a blonde. You have this Deborah Kara Unger thing going on....
Laura Prepon: Aww, thanks, dude! I appreciate that. She's really pretty!

TVGuide.com: You're in virtually every frame of this movie. How was that for you?
Prepon: It was pretty intense. I haven't really done romantic comedy outside of [That '70s Show], not that that is considered romantic comedy. So to do a movie like this where you're the lead and you're carrying the movie and it's not some crazy, dark, f---ed-up independent movie like I usually go for was really great. It was also challenging — imagine wearing a wedding dress in 100-degree weather chasing someone in a parking lot!

TVGuide.com: Yeah, I truly felt for you. But at least you got a wardrobe change about halfway through.
Prepon: The days that I got to get out of the dress were a godsend. In between takes, there would literally be four people standing around me holding up my dress and blowing a fan under me. I'd go up to the director and say, "Did you see the beads of sweat rolling off my face?!" At some points hair and makeup threw their arms up in the air [and were like], "I don't know what to do!"

TVGuide.com: This is a cute, fun and sometimes very sexy movie — a great fit for you. I could totally see you doing this in a feature film.
Prepon: Thank you so much. I love my sitcom job so much — it's the most amazing thing in the world and we have so much fun — and when I [am on hiatus] I want to do dark, character-driven, dramatic stuff. But then I had a realization going into the summer — when I was doing this really dark, messed-up movie about these Canadian murders — that I said, "OK, I don't need to do this to myself. It's so torturous." I decided I want to do work that speaks to me. So I tell my friend, "I want to do this amazing movie, Come Early Morning [which just made the 2006 Sundance Film Festival], with Ashley Judd, and then do a romantic comedy outside the United States. The next day the script for Romancing the Bride was sitting on my doorstep! And then I got the Judd movie. Every goal I had was accomplished!

TVGuide.com: Your bride is handcuffed to Matt Cedeno for a good part of the film. Anything for your art, right?
Prepon: Yeah. [Laughs] It could definitely be worse. But this role was kind of just meant to be, because the character was great for me and Carrie Fisher [playing mother of the bride] was so funny, it kills me. I don't think people realize what a brilliant woman she is.

TVGuide.com: Yeah, I looked for little Star Wars "in" jokes but didn't see any.
Prepon: [Laughs] Oh my god, being around Princess Leia, people don't know what to do. Even in Acapulco. They really don't. It's crazy.

TVGuide.com: When your day comes, might you be a "bridezilla"?
Prepon: Dude, I don't know. I'm not your typical "wanting to get married" girl at all — and I've been with my boyfriend for seven years. I wouldn't be a bridezilla, but I love entertaining and doing Martha Stewart stuff. Whenever I do even a Christmas holiday, it's like this huge thing where I get real garland the length of a football field and I hang it all around. My friends always tell me to send pictures to home-and-garden magazines because I love that stuff and I go all out. I make little caramel apples and I put them in cellophane with little tags that say "Merry Christmas from Chris and Laura."...

TVGuide.com: You should have gone on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.
Prepon: Yeah, I know! That would have been hysterical.

TVGuide.com: We snarky entertainment reporters, of course, must occasionally quip, "That '70s Show is still on the air?" Do you get that a lot yourself, as a cast member?
Prepon: This year it's more of, "Wow, that's awesome, because you've been going for so long." This is our eighth season. The thing that's so crazy is it's really awesome this year. Ashton [Kutcher] did a couple of episodes, Topher [Grace] just came back last week.... It's like while we're shooting, Topher and Ashton are hanging out! It's actually a really great year. We have different executive producers, there are a bunch of new story lines, everything is fresh....

TVGuide.com: You have Mary Tyler Moore guest-starring down the road....
Prepon: She's so amazing and funny, I can't even tell you. Seriously, I love going to work every day. I really do. There are so many people who claim, "After you're on a show for that many years, you're fighting with people, blah-blah-blah." I like going to work every day.

TVGuide.com: Just no more Catholic schoolgirl outfits for Donna!
Prepon: Exactly! Burn that thing. Between that and the wedding dress...

TVGuide.com: So this is not necessarily '70s Show's final season?
Prepon: People keep asking me and I actually have no idea. We're doing well in the ratings and having a great time and we all still love it, but I don't have the answer to that question.

TVGuide.com: You voiced a Marine in the video game Halo 2. So how good are you at fragging?
Prepon: Well, the first Halo I was really good at — we'd have these huge Halo parties where we'd connect four TVs at my house with FireWire and have, like, 16 people going at once. I'm friends with mostly guys, so they come over, I make them all food and we play Halo and poker. My manager learned about it and told me about the audition for Halo 2, and I was like, "Dude, that role is mine. There's not even a choice!" And then I got it, and now more people talk to me about Halo than the show. "Oh my god, you're the voice in Halo 2!" I'm like, "Yeah, dude!"

TVGuide.com: Do you like your digital rendering?
Prepon: I do! She has red hair and green eyes. She's rad! F---ing awesome!

TVGuide.com: You're a proud New Jersey native. Can you help the governor with a new state slogan?
Prepon: I gotta think of something? I can't think like that right now. I just woke up!

TVGuide.com: Well, recently, at the last minute, he scrapped launching "New Jersey: We'll Win You Over."
Prepon: Aww, that's kind of cute! When I'm out here I get so much s--- for being from New Jersey. "Where you from?" "Jersey." "Oh, I'm sorry." I'm like, "What?!" I kind of like that slogan. "We'll Win You Over."

TVGuide.com: Hey, you won me over. That's a start!