It’s more than just a factory job

Actors often learn to measure success in incremental ways that are perhaps imperceptible to outside observers. A name creeps its way up in the billing or onto a poster, he or she starts to appear in the trailer or on a theater standee, or perhaps one gets invited to participate in a promotional junket. Or, as has recently begun to happen for actress Missi Pyle, you get roles without having to audition for them.

An appearance as the mother of one of the lucky contest winners in the new “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is her highest-profile role to date. Starting her career with small parts in “As Good as It Gets” and “Galaxy Quest,” Pyle has worked her way through roles of varying sizes in such films as “Bringing Down the House,” “Along Came Polly” and “50 First Dates.” She had a small role in director Tim Burton’s “Big Fish,” which helped pave the way for “Charlie.”

“I’m such a fan of auditioning,” admits Pyle, 32, in response to whether it is better to no longer always suffer the small indignities of the casting process.

“I’m so into knowing I’ve gone into a room and really won a part. Some people don’t like it, but I actually enjoy that part of being an actor. Everyone is clear about what I’m going to bring to the role instead of kind of, ‘I hope this works out.’ But there is something kind of nice about just coming in. The jobs I haven’t auditioned for have been really fun, and I felt really confident about the work. So, at the end of the day, the answer is yes and no.”

There is an elasticized malleability about the way Pyle handles her own features, as even in conversation she widens her eyes, cocks an eyebrow or purses her lips to make a point, transforming her face with a sketch comedian’s certitude. In roles in “DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story” or “Josie and the Pussycats,” Pyle submerged any actor’s vanity underneath a dizzying array of wigs, makeup and one particularly frightening uni-brow. Even in roles in which she looks relatively “normal,” Pyle usually brings something exaggerated and slightly twisted to her appearance.

It perhaps goes without saying that she is much more striking, downright pretty, in person than some of her roles might indicate.

For her role in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Pyle has the stylized strangeness that is expected from a Tim Burton film, although somehow Pyle makes the character of Mrs. Beauregarde seem perfectly at ease in the attire of an overbearing stage mother.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say she’s normal-looking. I wear really a lot of makeup and a bad blond wig sprayed with this heavy lacquer. I do wear a blue velour tracksuit, and I had to wear it every day for five months, with a gathered waist and gathered anklets, and a gold whistle around my neck.

“The thing about it -- blond, a lot of makeup and a push-up bra -- you don’t necessarily have to be pretty, and let’s say you walk by a group of electricians, they all get very excited. She’s kind of a hideous-looking woman, but she did get a lot of attention.”

Expectations are understandably high for “Charlie,” which opens Friday, as one of the most tripped-out, freakishly unsettling family films of the post-hippy era gets a makeover by Burton, one of the supreme visual stylists of his day. Pyle expects that when people get a look at the work of production designer Alex McDowell, which was built at the legendary Pinewood Studios outside London, they will not be disappointed.

“The first set I was on was the ‘chocolate river’ set. Walking on the stage was incredible. It was like stepping into Candy Land, the board game. We were on that set about six weeks and it was unbelievable every single day.”

As Pyle discovered, even the confectionary shrubbery of the set was edible.

“We all indulge in one particular tree or another,” she explains. “Tim came into each of our trailers and said, ‘Whichever tree speaks to you, let me know.’ We all got a private moment with the candy. There were these really colorful red and orange and pink marshmallow bulbs that were very spongy. So at one point I’m stuffing my face and I smile and my mouth is all red and pink.”

Laughing at the memory, Pyle continues, “Of course, we did that about 12 times, and altogether I must have had 20 of those things in my mouth. I had a spit bucket. That was pretty much all I ate from the set. There were these giant Wonka bars that we all tried to steal, but they were pretty vigilant.”

PYLE was born in Texas and moved to just outside Memphis, Tenn., as a teenager. It was there she started acting, going on to study at the North Carolina School of the Arts before moving to New York City. She transitioned out to Los Angeles about six years ago.

Pyle has been acting in Hollywood long enough to both understand where she fits in and to see quite clearly where she’d like her career to go. Though she’s happy to have found a niche playing what she calls “funny white lady parts,” she hopes she has more to offer as well.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s also ... I have a lot of friends who are actors and would love to have the opportunities that I’ve had. So I try to remind myself that even though it is still difficult, I’m very lucky to be where I am. People say, ‘Oh, you’re just one job away from that break,’ which I don’t know that I necessarily believe.

“It becomes hard to remember what I want, because you’re just so desperate to work. For me it’s about an opportunity to do something that isn’t a supporting role. I’d really like an opportunity to play a lead role in a film and also to do things that are not huge character parts. An opportunity to do what I do on a larger scale. You get pigeonholed into being a supporting actor.”

Still, Pyle says, you find those new ways to measure success. “The periods of time I don’t work have gotten a lot shorter. The thing I would really like is to not feel like when I finish a job that I’m back to ground zero. I would like to have work lined up. That always feels wonderful. You’re like a professional temp as an actor.”

Pyle initially saw herself becoming a TV actress, and it is easy to imagine her settling in nicely on a sitcom. She has done, by her own count, at least half a dozen pilots in her career, none of which has been picked up.

However, she was able to take the part in “Charlie” only after a pilot withered on the vine. Likewise, she was available for the role she is currently shooting in the spy thriller “Stormbreaker” because a pilot didn’t happen.

“It’s been wonderful having a disappointing television career because I’ve been able to do these great movies.”