American Pie - Coolidge Glad To Leave The Comedy Behind To Play Cage's Stepmom

AMERICAN PIE star JENNIFER COOLIDGE has her adopted New Orleans, Louisiana to thank for her role as NICOLAS CAGE's stepmother in gritty new film BAD LIEUTENANT - because she fears she wouldn't have landed the part if she didn't live there.

The acclaimed comedienne accepts she's not every filmmaker's first choice when it comes to landing dramatic roles and was thrilled when director Werner Herzog took a risk on her - because she hopes the part will lead to other serious parts.

She says, "My odds were just not good in getting the role... I mean, I've been in American Pie, Legally Blonde and the Christopher Guest films, so it's impossible for someone like me to get in on anything dramatic, ever. I can't get in the door.

"I do think that living in New Orleans, where the film was shot, and having a house down there somehow helped - because a lot of people auditioned in L.A."

Coolidge admits she is getting tired of playing wacky housewives and oddball characters in comedies: "I am grateful but bored because I do get offered the same roles over and over again. If I go to a wardrobe fitting the costume designer will always roll in with maybe 12 leopard dresses on the rack no matter what role I do. I'm not just the lady in the leopard dress.

"I do hope this role helps me to do other things. It was so nice to do something where I didn't have whoopie cushions in my shoes."

And now she's looking for a 'killer' role: "I would love to play a serial killer; something like that would be nice. In my next film, The Exterminator, we have a pesticide company that ends up killing boyfriends that did their woman wrong."