Q. I saw your cameo in Celeste & Jesse forever. That was crazy! Anyway, just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the film and I was wondering if you could write a little bit about your part in it. How did it come about? What was it like to be on set with so many cool actors and actresses?
A. I’m so glad you liked it! I still haven’t seen it, which is ridiculous, but as soon as it’s on Netflix, I’m there.
Filming was a very cool experience – I had already worked with the director, Lee Toland Krieger, and a handful of the actors and crew members on a previous project (The Vicious Kind), so it was fun to see some old friends.
I actually didn’t know anything about the movie (including who was in it) when I showed up on-set – Lee had called me just a couple of days earlier and asked if I was free to come to Rhode Island to play a bridesmaid. My response: “I’m sort of…pregnant…? Is that OK?” But hey, bridesmaids are sometimes pregnant too, and so we just adjusted my dress a little to accommodate my waistline and got on with it. My part was a cameo, so I was only on set for a couple of days, but I was so happy to be a part of the wedding scene; it’s always fun to film big celebrations.
I have to say, though, when I showed up at the house where we were filming and saw Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, Ari Graynor, and Elijah Wood hanging out on the porch, just chatting away, I was a little stunned. But they were wonderful – especially Elijah, who may just be the nicest man on the planet (he actually went straight onto RG on his iPhone once I told him what I did, and was very kind about the site, and we spent the next couple of hours talking recipes and restaurants). Particularly amazing was watching Rashida do her big wedding speech: she did it over and over and over, and each time was heartbreaking and funny and compelling and different, which is an incredible and rare skill.
When I got home, Kendrick asked me: “Did it make you miss acting?” And I had to think about that one for a minute, because acting was an enormous part of my life for over a decade…but the honest, bottom-of-my-heart answer? Not at all. Acting is so much fun, but every time I get the chance to step into a role I’m reminded again why I enjoy it as a hobby, but not as a career.
There are people who love everything about the filmmaking process – live it, breathe it, can’t get enough of it – and when I was an actress I remember very much wanting to be one of those people, but knowing that I wasn’t. I’m worlds more comfortable in the hosting sphere for a million reasons – partly because I think I’m much better-suited to it than I am to acting (which, for me, more often than not involved some seriously crippling anxiety and insecurity), but also because it moves so fast: I often write scripts on the subway on the way to the shoot, and it’s rare that we do more than one or two takes for any particular segment. You get in, do what you have to do, and move on to the next project. I love that.
But I’ll never, ever take the opportunity to step foot on a for-real movie set for granted, and I certainly hope that this wasn’t the last time I get to play someone other than…myself.
It’s nice to leave reality behind once in awhile.
Some more shots from the set are here…
And above is a clip with Adam Scott from The Vicious Kind, if you’re interested.
Related posts:
Careers in the Arts and “Taking What You Can Get”
‘Cause You’ve Been Asking (My “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” Story)
