When Carmen Electra landed an audition for the first Good Burger movie, which was released back in 1997, she didn’t want to go through with it. While she wasn’t a stranger to being in the spotlight, Electra says it was the first feature film she was ever a part of, which felt intimidating even for someone at her level of fame.
But her agent at the time coached her through the tough moment and helped her land the role of Roxanne, a customer at the Good Burger fast food joint who seduces Kel Mitchell’s character Ed into going on a date in an attempt to learn his secret sauce recipe and bring it to their competitor, Mondo Burger. Now, more than 25 years later, Electra appears in the Good Burger sequel starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, which is streaming on Paramount+.
“It’s for kids but I also think all the kids that watched the first one that are grown up now will enjoy it, and they can watch it with their kids, too,” Electra tells Rolling Stone about the new film.
A lot has changed for Electra and the rest of the world since the first Good Burger movie came out. There’s been an evolution around the idea of “sex symbols.” While Electra says she didn’t feel objectified, she does feel more secure in herself, her identity, and in having found her voice in the present-day.
Electra opened up about her return to the big screen in Good Burger 2, her popular OnlyFans account that she’s happily leaning into because of the agency it gives her to create content on her own terms, and the Skims campaign she shot this past summer alongside Jenny McCarthy. Thirty years after releasing her musical album Carmen Electra, the legendary entertainer also reflected on what it was like working with Prince and how he was the one who came up with her stage name.
Good Burger 2 is your first film role in a while. How did it feel to be back on set and working on this movie?
It was so much fun. The first one I enjoyed and that was pretty scary for me because that was the first real movie I’d ever been a part of. I remember auditioning and canceling the audition right before but my agent said, “You have to go, you have to go.” So the second time around, they straight-up gave me the offer to play Roxanne, which is the same role I played in the first one, and it was great. We shot in Connecticut and it was so much fun to see the cast again, especially Kenan and Kel.
Did it feel nostalgic for you to be back with the cast? It’s been so long since you filmed the first Good Burger.
That’s what I was thinking: “What took so long?” Luckily the [SAG] strike is over just in time. We had shot the movie before the strike and now it’s out on Paramount+, but there wasn’t going to be publicity. I’m happy that everything worked out for everyone. I wasn’t on set for that long. It was a really quick trip. I just remember walking down the hall to the song “Roxanne” [by Arizona Zervas] and this time I have a baby on my hip. Trying to be sexy all day with a baby on your hip is definitely a task. I have so much respect for all the mothers out there.
How was filming the Good Burger movies different for you compared to other projects you’ve worked on?
You know, I started kind of backward not thinking that I wanted to act but I would get called in to audition and finally, once I got a little bit more comfortable, I wouldn’t cancel [the auditions] and I would actually show up. I just did the Skims campaign for Kim Kardashian with Jenny McCarthy and that was so different. It was a one-day shoot. We shot a bunch of photos and some videos and we were just done. There was no memorizing dialogue or anything like that. It was a fun day to get back together with Jenny because she’s just such a girls’ girl. We’ve always gotten along so well.
How did that all come about? What was that experience like for you?
Literally just a phone call asking if I want to do it with Jenny McCarthy. We got the dates all set up and we went into shoot, we both had our own hair and makeup team, and it was blast. She’s always a good time. It was a really cool-looking shoot from our past. They had a lot of pictures that we both had shot throughout the years as references on a reference board. That was the inspiration. Although we’re wearing Skims, a lot of what we were doing was inspired from both of our pasts.
Did you get to meet Kim?
I’ve met her a bunch of times but she wasn’t actually there that day.
The campaign celebrated you in a positive way as a “sex symbol,” which is how so much of the world has perceived you since the 1990s. The world has also changed so much since then. What do you think about the evolution of the sex symbol and the business opportunities that some women, like Kim Kardashian, have been afforded compared to the boxes someone like you was put in back in the 1990s?
There were definitely boxes that I would get put in. I was told, “You can’t be overly sexy and you can’t wear those sexy clothes if you want to be taken seriously in this business.” The publicists and your team would try to change everything and now what I think is really cool is that everyone can be their individual selves. You almost can’t really tell someone, “You can’t, you’re not this, or you shouldn’t be this, or you can’t wear that.” You know what I mean? But throughout that time, I learned a lot and I started to really get into fashion because I was at a point in the early to mid Nineties where where I had a little [debit] card, I’d go and pull out a couple hundred dollars, and I’d go to Melrose and just buy the sexiest outfit I could find, then I’d go out that way. It’s funny when people send videos on a red carpet or walking into a place where [paparazzi] were shooting, a club or a birthday party or whatever, and I’m like, “Oh my God, I was really wearing that.” What I do notice now is all the girls are wearing that Nineties look again and I love it.
You definitely helped cement some of those iconic Nineties fashion moments that people are repeating now. In hindsight, do you ever look back at that time and think about being objectified as a sex symbol?
No, not really. I chose that route because that’s what I felt and I really didn’t think of myself as a sex symbol. When people would say it I would go, “Really?” and I took that as a compliment. There are so many sex symbols that I looked up to then and look up to now.
I’m doing OnlyFans now and I love doing it because I can sort of have my own production, choose what I want to wear, and what not to wear. I’m my own boss. It’s just wild how things have changed in that way.
What do you think about how the perception of what a sex symbol is has changed over time? It used to have a negative connotation, but people don’t necessarily think it’s a negative thing anymore.
I don’t think so at all. I’m doing OnlyFans now and I love doing it because I can sort of have my own production, choose what I want to wear, and what not to wear. I’m my own boss. It’s just wild how things have changed in that way.
How has your experience on OnlyFans been? What have you learned so far from participating in it?
I would say when social media began, I wasn’t that into it and I just thought, I don’t want to look at myself all day. I didn’t like to look at any photos of myself. I would get nervous that I wouldn’t like the photo. But I had to get my Instagram together because I had gotten back into music [before the pandemic] and was performing. That was just a blast, doing shows, headlining festivals, and dancing to a lot of dance music, which made the most sense. I had my own little traveling family — my dancers. Growing up a dancer, that’s the happiest moment for me when I’m in dance class with my girls. I love them to death. We still talk to this day. But when Covid hit, we couldn’t do those shows. Everything shut down so I started doing a lot more social media and making money doing social media, which was super cool. I’m glad that I got into it when I did. It was just like, OK, so I’m an influencer now.
Speaking of your music career, it’s been 30 years since your album Carmen Electra that Prince produced. What do you remember about working with him on that album?
I was so nervous. My goal coming to L.A. was to be a dancer with another artist and I had gotten signed to Capitol Records for a demo deal which made me able to stay out here longer than I would have. I was taking voice lessons, meeting people with demos, and recording at different places with different producers. Then I ended up auditioning for Prince and he said, “I want to sign you to my label,” and I said, “I can’t because I’ve already signed to Capitol.” He kind of made fun of me and said, “Are you a blonde or brunette?” I just laughed and I went to Minnesota to work with him. A lot of people I talked to said, “Are you kidding? Go work with Prince. Just go,” and he ends up getting me out of my deal at Capitol. I just remember being really, really shy and doing everything he told me to do. Whatever he wanted music-wise is what it was going to be.
It sounds like you really trusted him.
Well, I was so young. I met him when I was 18. I was just so young and I didn’t have my voice yet of what I knew I really wanted to do in that area or even just say. How do you tell Prince, “I don’t like that lyric” or “I don’t like that” or “I don’t want horns?” There’s no way, I’m not saying nothing. I’m just going to try my best and do what he wanted me to do. But when it came down to the dancing part, he knew I was a dancer so I worked with the best choreographers and that part was really what I like to do. Also, the clothes. He liked my style and sometimes he would just buy me a bunch of things. I never had anyone do that for me [before]. He was very generous. I watched him a lot and studied him a lot, especially his work ethic. I just got to the point where I decided, if I can do it on my own, I don’t want to do it like this. Even though it was Prince and my friends were like, “What are you saying? What are you thinking?” I kind of went on my own path. He had said, “If you want to come back, everything will go back to normal.” I just knew it wouldn’t be the same. So I decided to just try it on my own.
How did you come up with the stage name Carmen Electra in the first place?
Prince actually liked it. He liked the name Carmen and said I’m more like a Carmen and I said, “Really?” Then we watched a movie called Carmen Jones and he just was set on Carmen. One of the lyrics [in the musical] was, “The C is for the car and the M is for the men at my shows,” and I said, “OK, I like it. I love it.” There was another artist out whose name was just Carmen and they had that name copywritten so Prince said, “Alright, let’s think of a last name.” I was painfully shy and I just didn’t know, so he came to me and said, “What about Electra,” and at first I thought, “That sounds like a superhero, but sure let’s go with it.” I decided to keep it.
If you feel like you didn’t quite find your voice yet while you were working on your album with Prince, were there other projects or experiences that come to mind that you think did help you find your voice in your career?
Absolutely. Getting on MTV and hosting Singled Out and specials for MTV premieres, interviewing people, and hosting for spring break and all the things that I got to do with MTV really changed everything for me. I learned that mistakes are punk rock. Mistakes don’t matter. They’re OK. Once I had that set in my head, then I could just open up and try anything. I realized, “If I stutter or miss something, it’s OK. It’s not a big deal.” That changed my life. It really did.
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