Actress Debi Mazar has been showing off her Tuscan cooking skills on the Cooking Channel show Extra Virgin, but in the biopic Lovelace -- out in August and featuring Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace, star of the seminal '70s porn Deep Throat -- Mazar shows off a whole new set of skills as the brassy porn star Dolly Sharp. Here she chats with us about how to get ready to film a fake porn scene and her husband, Extra Virgin co-star Gabriele Corcos' racy big screen debut.

Did you have any qualms about playing a porn star?
When I got the offer, I was like, "Is this a mistake? I'm in my 40s, I haven't worked out in like three years." But they said, "We like the fact that you're not all toned." So I was really excited. I thought it was going to require some nudity, so I grew out my bush -- because I figured it's the '70s -- and I grew out my armpit hair. But then I got to work and I realized it would be covered up. I was ready to try to really be authentic and it wasn't necessary.

I would have thought that too, since you have a scene where someone is going down on you...
That was a direct scene from the actual Deep Throat. I asked the director, "Who's gonna be the guy that's going down on me?" And he said they were just going to get an extra, so I was like, "How about my husband? He's really cute." He wasn't '70s-looking enough, so they gave him a '70s wig. At least I felt comfortable with him down there, and he's really proud because he gets his first movie credit.

What are some of the other standout sex scenes you've had?
My first nude scene was in a terrible film called Money for Nothing with John Cusack. I was really nervous, because I had just broken up with my boyfriend, and I was really skinny and depressed. I had a scene in this movie Trees Lounge where I have to dance with Steve Buscemi. All we're doing is dancing but it's really intimate. Sometimes what's more uncomfortable is the intimacy of the scene.