James Marsden talks 'Walk of Shame'

According to Walk of Shame actor James Marsden, the only way to get a role as an actor these days is through personal connections. "I'm going to be completely honest with you, I've known Elizabeth [Banks] for a really long time," Marsden told Bustle of scoring the role as the male love interest in 2014's female-centric comedy, Walk of Shame . "We did a movie together, it wasn't a comedy, it was a more serious film. We're always looking for an opportunity to go and do a movie together. I've always enjoyed her capabilities as a comedic actress. So this came along and thought it would be fun," he explains.

Walk of Shame stars Pitch Perfect 's Elizabeth Banks as Meghan, reporter who has uncharacteristic one-night stand (enter Marsden) that leaves her stranded in downtown L.A. without her car, her purse, or her phone, and eight hours to make it to the most important interview of her career.

"I was doing a table read for Anchorman 2, and Steve [director Steven Brill] was in the audience and he came up to me afterwards and goes: 'You know, I'm doing this film with Banks and you'd be great for the guy.' I said sure. That's how things happen these days."

One of the first scenes in the film features Banks and Marsden's characters in his downtown L.A. loft, drunk off their asses, messing around with everything from guitars to butcher knives. "The knife scene, in my apartment.... no hesitations. I mean, that's the kind of thing when you're working with friends that it's a safety in numbers thing. If you jump I'll jump. It's so much easier with friends, sometimes you have to go and create chemistry with someone you don't know at all," Marsden explained. "It's so much easier to do a scene like that with somebody you feel comfortable around. Steve, he was open for us to go explore, mess around, go find things to do, and half of that stuff we came up with on the day of [shooting]. I remember me in a dress, I remember being nearly naked on a table being stabbed with a butcher knife... I remember jumping around with a guitar."

But from the first time Banks' Meghan steps foot into Gordon's hipster-y life, there is nothing but chaos. And after their hurried, albeit adorable, hookup, Meghan embarks on an eight-hour "walk of shame" to get her towed car back before an interview that will determine the rest of her working career. She is mistaken for a prostitute at least a dozen times during the course of the film, she makes friends amongst heroine dealers, she steals a child's bike, amongst other "shameful" acts, but as the film aims to point out, slut-shaming and terms like "walk of shame" are shameful in themselves.

"Here's how I feel about the whole thing: Adults who are doing this kind of thing [sex] consensually, there shouldn't be any shame at all," Marsden said. "We're adults, and if someone is feeling shameful we should feel equally as shameful. It shouldn't be something just women feel. I'm a big advocate of neither one feeling shameful, if you're doing it responsibly. I think there are so many wastes of energy out there in the world these days, you shouldn't feel shameful, you should be smiling, and say, 'that was fun!' I don't want to advocate irresponsible behavior, but that's my two cents."

From most of his roles, Marsden has the sexy good guy down pat. From his romantic roles in chick flicks like 27 Dresses, to playing the most beloved president on the planet, JFK, Marsden has all of the good looks and charm to be a mainstay leading man in Hollywood. But as his recent roles have proved, he's more than just a pretty face. "There always has to be something with the guy, he can't just be a straight forward guy that you can anticipate," he said of choosing roles.

When I suggest to Marsden that many of his characters have a similar happy-go-lucky demeanor, he disagrees: "I feel like these characters are all different: It's fun to play the villain, it's fun to turn around and play the hero, play the love interest, it's part of being an actor: you're afforded the luxury of being someone that's not you. I always gravitate more towards the guy that makes me laugh, like Jack Lime in Anchorman. The guys who think they're the greatest but are really not. I always love the misguided guy, who think they are the shit and then just fall on their face. I have a hard time playing the guy who's got all his shit together. I have a lot more fun, and I believe myself more, playing the buffoon."

Marsden has most recently been in the news for taking over the late Paul Walker's role in The Best of Me, a Nicholas Sparks' adaptation that Walker was set to star in before his untimely death in November of last year. This will be the second Sparks' adaptation for Marsden, who starred along side Rachel McAdams in 2004's The Notebook. The film comes out in October of this year, and as we would expect from a Sparks' adaptation, "it's a tear jerker" Marsden confirms.

The smart and funny Walk of Shame hits theatres Friday.