From Mormon to Stripper, Andrew Rannells Talks Taking It Off for Kirsten Dunst & Co. in Bachelorette

Fresh off his scene-stealing turn on HBO’s buzzed-about series Girls, Andrew Rannells is hanging out with another set of badly behaved ladies in the film adaptation of off-Broadway hit Bachelorette. In the comedy Rannells plays a stripper hired during a wild weekend of pre-wedding festivities.

“It was very strange and really funny,” Rannells told Broadway.com of filming a scene in which he sheds his clothing. “I knew I was going to have to do that scene and didn’t really think about it too much. Then all the sudden I was on the set in front of Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson and about 20 extras, and I was in a gold Speedo. I just thought, ‘Well, now we’re doing it!’”

Filming the scene was a welcome break for Rannells, who at the time was starring in The Book of Mormon as by-the-book teenager Elder Price. “I was happy to take off my Mormon underwear for a few days and play a stripper,” Rannells said with a laugh. “I’m bummed I never got to see [the play] but am very proud to be part of the movie.”

Written by Leslye Headland, Bachelorette follows three twentysomethings tapped to serve as bridesmaids in the wedding of an overweight high school friend. Things go incredibly wrong as the girls go on a raunchy cocaine binge before the bachelorette party. The show opened on July 21, 2010, at Second Stage Uptown’s McGinn-Cazale Theatre, starring Celia Keenan-Bolger, Tracee Chimo, Katherine Waterston and Eddie Kaye Thomas.

Up next, Rannells can be seen on the NBC comedy The New Normal, which begins its run on September 11. Bachelorette is available on Video on Demand on August 10 and will play select theaters beginning September 7. Watch the movie’s red-band trailer below!