The actress talked to Movieline this week about some of the challenges inherent in that process, how she reconceived the character counter to what the Duplasses had originally intended, and how Hollywood has a problem with allowing women be funny.
The Duplass brothers said that they're not great at writing female characters, but that you fixed that. Is that just self-deprecation, or do you really have room to co-create this character?
That may or may not be true, but I did see the character differently than they saw it. I thought that she should be more of a dynamic personality so it would make sense that her son would [be so attached]. Like, they're good friends and they really enjoy each other, and I thought that would help to make sense of why he hasn't gone off and found rooting elsewhere yet. I guess they saw her more as an Everywoman, so I think we met in the middle.
So how do you approach that with them? Do you go in from your first meeting and say, "This is what I'd like to do with the character," or...
I will now! [Laughs] Actually, I think I'm more conscious of that in retrospect than I was at the beginning. I mean, it seemed like we were all on the same page, and then as we got into it -- especially in terms of the look -- they were like, "Sweatpants and t-shirt," and I was like, "Platform shoes and an afro." [Laughs]
They wanted her to be a little schlubbier?
Yeah, I think so. Earthy, yes, but what I thought was that she was a modern-day earthy. She had soul. I think things changed a lot anyway because it's a studio movie, and yet they kept what's so amazing about their work. Their transformation to this kind of budget has been incredible. They're very clear about their vision, that they like to shoot in order, and that they do long takes with a loose approach but an extreme focus underneath it.
Have you ever shot a movie in sequence before?
No. I've shot movies where my scenes happened to be in order, but not where the movie was in order.
That must be a nice luxury as an actor.
I was so lucky. It's liberating, too -- it takes so much anxiety out of thinking, "How would this scene go when I haven't done this other scene yet?" Or, "Oh, that didn't go the way I thought it would, so how do I bridge these two scenes?" Does that make sense? It's hard to explain.
Oh yeah. I don't know how actors do that stuff out of sequence.
That's where you just have to trust the directors, and these guys looked after each character. They didn't hang any of us out to dry -- no one looked the fool, no one looked one-note. My character could have looked so blind in another person's version. There's usually a sacrificial character who, for the plot to go forward, they have to seem like half a moron. [Laughs] But they didn't do it. They treated every character with compassion while also letting their tushies show.
They like a very intimate set. Jay's even the camera operator.
Mark's an actor and Jay has the camera on his body. Jay has to be emotionally available in the scenes with the actors! He has to be where the action is, where the juice is. There's no setup where he's removed and stands back and looks through a lens -- he has to be feeling it with us to know where he's going to train the lens. It costs him something emotionally as well, and that's unusual. A lot of people are scared of actors! They're not.
What has brought your character Molly to this point where she's so focused on nurturing and encouraging the men in her life? Did you come up with a backstory for her?
I think that's her nature. Also, they made her a massage therapist, where you're nurturing people and tuned into how they're feeling and open to alternative ideas, maybe. I think that's what she's interested in life.
They like cringe-inducing humor. Was there ever anything that was too awkward, even for you as an actor?
Some of the stuff in that dinner scene [where the centerpiece line is "Please don't f**k my mother"]. I was kind of like, "Um, wow. Yeah." [Laughs] Some of the break-up stuff was uncomfortable, some of the harder emotional stuff was uncomfortable, but you got used to it. That's what's so amazing about [the Duplasses] -- sometimes they'd be like, "This is too awkward for us even as filmmakers." They can just be there, not knowing what to do with it, and figuring it out until it comes to them. They're not backing off, and that's amazing.
Jonah is such a quick improviser and John is so good at making things seem organic. When you're sitting there between them, how do you contribute?
Well, I was a little bummed because they have this rivalry to play, and I have to not see certain characteristics of that.
How do you make those blinders feel real?
It was hard! It was really hard. It's just what you were talking about before, that she sees things positively all the time, that's in her nature. It's not as strong a point-of-view, it's not as funny a point-of-view, so that kind of bummed me out. But you have to accept it.
You've had the good fortune to play a lot of funny female characters, but you seem to be getting at a recurring problem in Hollywood -- sometimes, they just don't let women be the funny ones.
Yeah, yeah.
What do you do when your offered those types of things?
I mean, I don't know what I'm going to do. I've been thinking about it. [Laughs] Actually, on this movie, I did say to them, "You have to let her be funny, too."
Do you think it's just rooted in filmmakers who aren't quite sure how to write for a woman?
Yeah, I do. It's also just like, "What are you interested in?" And the story that they're interested in is this rivalry. Still, I think they really protected my character and they didn't make her look like a fool, so that was a plus.
What are you working on next?
Another comedy, the untitled one with Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling.
Who are you playing in that?
I'm a crazy love interest of Carell's.
Crazy how?
I don't want to say. [Laughs]
They're weirdly secretive about that movie! They released so little about the plot, you won't tell me about the character, there's no title...
There's no mandate, believe me. I think they're frustrated that there's no title, too!