Hollywood Notes; Leslie Mann, 'Grimm', Mila Kunis

I just finished chatting with Leslie Mann ("Funny People") about the upcoming release of her movie, "This is 40," on DVD.

We talked about a lot of things, including how the comedy is a spinoff of "Knocked Up" and working with her husband, director Judd Apatow.

The conversation finally got around to an appearance she made with "This is 40" co-star Paul Rudd on BBC America's "The Graham Norton Show." The talk show is a whirlwind of interviews and musical performances, all coordinated by the always funny Norton. It's unlike any American talk show and that's what ended up being a test of Mann's strength.

"Being on the show was the coolest thing because all I had wanted to do was be on 'The Graham Norton Show.' The problem was that I was sick with walking pneumonia," Mann says. "I did the whole press day in London with a fever and chills."

But she wasn't going to miss her chance to go on Norton's show. Mann decided she could make it through a talk show segment, which in America runs between eight and 10 minutes. But, as mentioned before, Norton's show is very different.

"I got there and they said that the guests stay the entire show, which is about an hour and a half. They do the show without breaks," Mann says.

Despite being so sick, Mann made it through and found the experience "super fun."

'Grimm' obsession: If you haven't been watching "Grimm," it's a series that takes a modern look at classic Grimm Brothers' fairy tales as told through the "Grimm," or Portland homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli), whose job it is to keep all the weird creatures in line.

He has to deal with problems at home when his fiancée, Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch), is bewitched by his boss. That's where tonight's story line begins.

Tulloch has had to deal with extremes on the first two seasons of "Grimm." In the first year, she was Burkhardt's loving support. This year, she's been a woman obsessed -- not of her own free will -- with another man. The actress liked the first season because she was the only person on the show who wasn't in law enforcement or who had a weird power.

"I always sort of approach the character as being the one through which the fans could see it from like a normal person's point of view. But this season has been so much more fun for me. And now, being under the spell and just being completely confused," says Tulloch. "She is starting to completely lose her mind, as I think anybody would, if you wake up from a coma and there's some guy staring at you, saying that he's lived with you for three years and you go to your home that you remember and there's photographs of you with somebody else.

"It's really trippy. And it's kind of fabulous."

In case you're wondering, Bitsie isn't a contraction of her name, Elizabeth. It's a nod to her grandfather, a bomber pilot in World War II.

Being Wicked: Mila Kunis, who stars in "Oz: The Great and Powerful," is a dream interview.

She has a way of making people feel comfortable, which makes the interview feel like more of a chat. When we talked for "Black Swan," the conversation got around to how we share a passion for In-N-Out Burger.

But Kunis can be just as engaging when actually talking on a topic. During an interview for "Oz," she seriously discussed taking on a very iconic role, that of the Wicked Witch of the West.

"It was one of those things where I got very nervous about playing such an iconic character, or at least playing a character that had such an iconic end result. I didn't want to ruin it, and I didn't want to re-create it. And I didn't want to re-interpret it," says Kunis. "In order for me to wrap my head around it, I had to make sense of her origin.

"Here's a girl who's incredibly naïve and very young and doesn't believe she's almost worthy of love, has never really truly experienced love and probably doesn't have the emotional tools of dealing with heartache. She takes the easy route given by her sister and goes through an emotional transformation that's mirrored by a physical one and so happens to change color."

She calls getting to play the role a gift.

Getting to talk with Kunis is a gift -- she makes the job so easy.