When it comes to gaming, there are actresses who show up to the occasional Los Angeles game launch event for photo ops, and then there’s Mila Kunis. The star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, lives and breathes video games. She’s already acted in a game, voicing Tanya in the original Saints Row. She and her boyfriend Macaulay Culkin own every current console and log serious hours playing Wii, PlayStation 3 and World of Warcraft at their homes in LA and New York City. So it seems fitting that Kunis is appearing in Max Payne, the latest video game adaptation flick, hitting screens October 17. Kunis took some time out to talk about her new movie and her genuine love for video games, and having a bone to pick with a few denizens of Azeroth. Hit the jump to read the full interview.
Das Gamer: What’s your role in Max Payne?
Mila Kunis: I play Mona Sax. My sister gets murdered and I blame Mark Payne for that. I go and fuck him up and realize that he didn’t do it.
Sounds pretty straightforward. Did you ever played Max Payne before being offered this role?
Mila Kunis: I played Max Payne when it came out but I wasn’t very good at it. It came out around the same time as 007 and any game that requires you to move your head around, I’m not really good with. I’m much better at RPG games. But also, you don’t have to play the game to get the movie. If you never played the game in your life and you never even heard of it, you can still get the movie 100 percent.
What video games did you play growing up?
Mila Kunis: We were too poor for games back in the day. I wish I had a Nintendo when I was little. I didn’t play it until I was 13. We couldn’t afford the game consoles. But my girlfriend got the old-school Nintendo in second grade and we had Donkey Kong and Tetris on it and those were the first games I played.
What did you play when you got older?
Mila Kunis: I played Doom on the computer. My dad, my brother and I played that. That was the first non-console game I really played.
And when you could afford games, how’d you splurge with gaming?
Mila Kunis: When I could afford my own game console all hell broke loose. What didn’t I play? When I started on my own with consoles I got a Nintendo because it was on sale. Mario Kart has always been with me. Another favorite was Duck Hunt. I didn’t start playing videogames full-on until I moved out.
What consoles do you have today?
Mila Kunis: To this day, in both New York and LA, I own every single game console. You can never be away. What if you want to play Mario Party and you have a bunch of friends over? You need your Wii. Right?
Those Wiis are hard to get, you know?
Mila Kunis: I got two. You let me know. When you need one, I’ll hook you up.
What are you playing these days on your consoles?
Mila Kunis: On the Wii I’m really good at Mario Party and Mario Kart. I’m not really that good at Madden but I like playing it. The new Madden is meant for people like me. I don’t understand sports, but I like playing games. Madden’s great for that. The first time I walked in and my boyfriend was playing it, I thought he was watching a football game. It looks amazing.
So is football your go-to sports video game?
Mila Kunis: I also like playing the NBA games. I don’t know much about sports, so I have my boyfriend set up my team for me. And then I go and play. The basketball game shows the sweat on the players. I was like, “Holy shit! It looks like you’re watching a basketball game!”
Do you have a special team you like to play with in the NBA video games?
Mila Kunis: I have a Dream Team. My boyfriend is into stats so I have Kobe and Shaq and all the obvious choices. Then he puts a lot of guys I never heard of who have really good stats. So they play well together.
Has playing virtual sports impacted your real sports knowledge at all?
Mila Kunis: Playing the basketball video game made me want to watch an NBA game. And then after 10 minute of watching I was like, “Ok, let’s go play the game.”
It sounds like you guys play a lot of PS3 games. Have you played anything on Xbox 360?
Mila Kunis: I tried Halo and I’m not really good at that. The only thing on 360 in this house is Call of Duty and Halo.
Did you bring any games with you on the set of Max Payne?
Mila Kunis: I brought Warcraft with me. I’ve been playing Warcraft for over a year. I have two characters at level 70 and then I’m tweaking one character right now, but I’m going to keep her at 39.
How much time do you spend playing World of Warcraft?
Mila Kunis: I played all through Burning Crusade and I stopped playing six months ago. When Lich King comes out I’m going to start playing again. The problem I’m having is when Burning Crusade came out they made getting to level 60 easier and when Lich King comes out they’re going to make getting to level 65 super easy. They’re going to be a lot of people playing that game.
They already have over 11 million players in World of Warcraft, that’s a lot of gamers.
Mila Kunis: But they’re not all legitimate gamers. The thing is that a lot of people buy their characters. So you have all these idiots who have level 70 hunters in the middle of Stormwind yelling, “How do I shoot? Where do I buy my bow?” I’m like, “Come on, dude. You’re level 70. There’s no way you don’t know how to go to an armory.” It’s annoying.