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InAll About Nina, Mary Elizabeth Winstead layers several performances on top of each other.
Ninas tone vacillates just as wildly as its protagonist its funny then dark, sexy then deeply disturbing.
joke cut from the script that wouldve revealed the truth about the comicbefore the New YorkTimesdid.
How are you doing with the Kavanagh stuff today?
Ive been a bit of a wreck.Im a wreck.
Im just so emotional all the time.
Like, the emotion is right uphere, and youre just trying not to give into it.
And its another thing to actually bring it out into the world.
Its really coming out.
She had a very light touch about it all.
She didnt inundate me with notes or thoughts about what the character was going through.
And I tried to do the same with her.
I tried not to barrage her with questions.
We became really close to one another without really trying.
In the year since Weinstein, have you seen things change for you as an actor?
Of course those powerful men know exactly what theyre doing.
At this point in my career, I dont come across that very much.
I havent in quite some time.
She would go with you to jobs?Yeah.
My mom is always around.
It was pretty overbearing.
Did she insist on it?Yeah.
And I was very used to it.
That was our dynamic.
My mom was always with me from the age of 12.
Shes scary?Yeah, shes kinda scary.
All of that I felt on a daily basis.
So I can absolutely relate to everything that women are feeling right now.
The anger Ninas able to express really struck me.
Its rare to see a woman being really angry on film, especially one whos a redemptive character.
Im not someone who gets angry very often.
Im a total pushover.
So Im not exactly sure how I found it, or where I found it.
Anger is the dominant emotion in every woman I know right now.
But it feels useful in some ways.It feels potentially useful right now, absolutely.
I think it just has to.
Moving away from our mutual rage Im curious how you prepared for the stand-up portions.
Had you ever done stand-up before?I was absolutely terrified.
I cant really copy somebody elses cadence, or inhabit somebody elses point of view.
I have to just figure out who she is as a person and let the comedy come from that.
Because thats kind of the pop in of comic she is.
Its less about her timing.
Its more her point of view as a woman.
Was the audience in the film aware you were an actor playing a stand-up?Not initially, no.
Lets talk about the vomiting.
Theres a lot of vomiting.There were a couple of different things that I tried.
But I usually preferred some sort of split peas soup with chunks in it.
And to make it look like youre not sitting there with a mouthful of soup.
Its gross, oh my God.
The scene where I drink the vomit was an improvised moment.
You and Common have some very intimate scenes in this movie.
Howd you develop that dynamic did you guys hang out beforehand?
Was any of it improvised?I was pretty anti-rehearsal.
And with these kinds of movies, these character pieces, I tend to prefer that.
Or if I just still havent gained that kind of recognition?
I really dont know.
Whats the movie that people freak out about?Still to this day, itsScott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Which is kind of surprising but its a great movie.
Its nice that people still feel that way about it.
I read an interview with Eva where she said that there was a Louis C.K.
joke that got removed from the script.
Do you know what that was?
You get to see a hot girl onstage.
And then the audience was supposed to boo.
This was before theTimespiece?Before it came out, yeah.
Holy shit.Yeah, that was in the movie.
Do we wanna say that?
Were all talking about this.
Its a big deal in the comedy world.
And I was like, Yeah.
If thats whats happening, we gotta talk about it.
But then obviously by the time the movie came out, it was kind of a moot point.
I dont listen to him anymore.
Hes not showing that hes learned from that.
So theres just no interest in him for me.
