You have to be sweet and sympathetic for a good chunk of this movie, but you also get to be bad. Is that more fun?
Oh yeah! I feel like Joanna is the first time that I was actually able to play a character, because previously, I've played people who were more like me that I could relate to. Joanna is really layered, so I had a lot of fun drawing from memories of a couple girls who were... [she makes a face]. So I thought, this is my opportunity to channel this sort of person I used to know, and it was so much fun, but it was also challenging to make the audience feel bad for her. It's difficult because she was such a mean girl, and if she could just apologize [to Kristen Bell's character], it'd be great and done.
Is there a limit to how mean you can make her, or does the audience enjoy that? You watch a movie like Mean Girls, and it's almost like the audience prefers the bad behavior.
They're ready for it! Absolutely. There were a couple of times where I thought, "Wow, I seem like such a bitch, and I'd better be careful -- I'll walk away from this movie and people are going to hate me!" But then I thought exactly what you just said, that this is what they're expecting and you just have to let everything else go, because it'll make it even more worthwhile when you have to be sympathetic at the end. Hopefully, it works.
You mentioned channeling some mean girls in school, and you did a little bit of acting when you were growing up -- you even appeared in Kindergarten Cop. Did that affect how your classmates treated you?
Yes. Kids are horrible! They can be so mean, and I never really experienced it until I was in high school. I went to a really small school with a class of 67 kids...
Wait, you grew up in Riverside, right? They have classes that small in California?
Crazy, right? And everybody knew each other, so it almost made it worse, because you were this big family, but like in every school, you had your bullies. Of course, I was really lanky and pretty awkward, and this one girl did not like me so much. So yeah, those memories stuck out and it was easy to draw inspiration from that, because I've been there. I know how those girls treated me, so it was easy to pretend to be them.
You initially pursued a totally different career in college. Did you have second thoughts about acting?
Well, here's the deal. I did grow up doing it, but I really wanted to focus on school and have a normal childhood. Growing up about an hour and a half away from Los Angeles, the commute was really brutal, as you know.
I hate that drive to Riverside.
It's ridiculous. It's not fun, especially when you're seven years old and all you want to do is play with your girlfriends, but you're in a car for two hours to go to an audition that you don't even know if you'll book. So it was a little difficult, but I really did enjoy acting, and it wasn't my parents pushing me. They're not stage parents at all -- they said, "Do whatever you want to do, but maybe go to [college] for a year." So I went to a community college for a year and a half and then I thought about going to Loyola Marymount for business finance, but I thought, "You know what? That's not what I want to do. What am I going to do with business finance? That's a joke. I want to act, and I'm not going to half-ass it and go to school at the same time. If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it." So I moved out to Los Angeles at 19 and that's when I took it seriously and said, "Parents, friends, everybody: This is my goal, and I'm going to do it. And if I don't, I can fall back on school and have a back-up plan."
Did you feel embarrassed to actually admit "I do want to be an actress"?
Yes. When you have all of your girlfriends and they know they're going to school and they're going to be a doctor, a lawyer, a housewife, or whatever, to say, "I'm going to be an actress," like, who _does that? Really? "You're going to be an actress? OK sweetie, go on and see what happens." But whenever I put my mind to something, I've been able to do it -- sort of like with You Again. I read the script and thought, "This role has got to be mine. I'm going to make this happen."
When did you shoot this movie?
I want to say last July?
So it kind of predated this huge Betty White wave, right? You've been able to see that happen since you shot the film with her?
I have. I think The Proposal had just come out then, but yeah. Wow!
Obviously, people have always had a soft spot for her, but why do you think this surge came from out of nowhere?
Out of nowhere! But that's just who she is. She's just got this thing, and she's so witty and funny. I don't know anybody that's as vivacious and energetic and on it as this woman. What is she, 88?
Yeah.
I mean, it's unbelievable. She can school me in two seconds.
Let's talk about Jimmy Wolk, who plays your fiance in the movie. I keep hearing from people who've seen his new show Lone Star that he's the next Jon Hamm.
Wow! Jimmy Wolk, he's such a sweetheart -- you'll never find a nicer guy than Jimmy. He's so excited to work, and I appreciate that, because that's how I am. I'm still learning and making my own path and I feel like that's who he is. He's really sweet and really funny and he can do drama, too -- I can't wait to see Lone Star. I feel like he's going to be a huge star.
Odette, you appeared in a Marc Webb-directed video for Weezer. Have you shot him an email to say, "Hey, Mr. Spider-Man! How you doing? Any roles in there for me?"
[Laughs] You know, I knew that Marc was going to be big. Even working with him on that music video, he's so smart and he just knows what he's doing. I'm so proud of him and happy for his successes. No, I haven't talked to him about Spider-Man, but I have a feeling I'm not the right girl for the role, so I'm not going to push it too much. I want him to still think good thoughts about me. [Laughs]
You speak fluent Spanish, and you're gorgeous. Why are you not on Pedro Almodovar's radar?
Oh God, are you kidding me? I'm trying to stalk him at this point, I really, really am! Yeah, Spanish is my first language, so I'm into that idea. That's my next challenge: learning French, and [meeting] him. "Pedro Almodovar, please! I'm in!" [Laughs]