00:00 she started talking to me in her old Doleo talk.
00:03 And I legit was like, oh.
00:05 I was like, whoa, OK.
00:08 Most people want to be kajillionaires.
00:10 That's the dream.
00:11 That's how they get you hooked.
00:12 Hooked on sugar, hooked on caffeine.
00:13 Ha, ha, ha.
00:14 Cry, cry, cry.
00:15 Me, I prefer to just skim.
00:17 So do I.
00:18 I love these characters so much.
00:21 And there's certain components of their ideology
00:24 that I recognized, even though they're entirely unique.
00:28 So I have to know, who are they?
00:30 Are they based on anyone in your life?
00:33 You know, I grew up in Berkeley, California,
00:36 which is like full of sort of righteous,
00:38 self-righteous outsiders.
00:40 And then I became like a punk myself,
00:45 which is another kind of outsider,
00:47 but has its own tendencies towards rigidity.
00:51 So you know, they're neither of those things.
00:54 And yet I think I drew from like a wealth of familiarity
00:58 with a kind of person where you do-- you are sort of like,
01:01 well, I kind of feel that way about capitalism, you know?
01:05 But on the other hand, like, this is a joke.
01:08 This does not function, you know?
01:10 We split everything three ways.
01:11 We have since I was little.
01:13 I don't want to do it that way this time.
01:15 Don't.
01:16 I was wondering if the character changed.
01:19 Miranda and I worked really closely together.
01:20 The second I signed on, we started
01:22 working on Odolio and what she was going to look like
01:24 and sound like and how she was going to move.
01:27 Because gender is never spoken about in this film,
01:31 and that's one of the things I loved about it,
01:33 is Odolio is just Odolio.
01:36 And so we wanted her to be genderless.
01:38 And I think I consider myself androgynous,
01:42 but I think I lean more on the feminine side,
01:44 probably more than I would like to.
01:46 So there were tells.
01:47 There were just things that I would do that would give me
01:49 a way that we had to work on.
01:51 And we would watch videos.
01:53 We drew from animals.
01:55 We drew from improvisation and limiting
01:59 my ability to communicate.
02:00 We'd do a scene, and she'd say, OK, you're not allowed
02:03 to look anybody in the eye.
02:04 OK, do it again, and you can't say words.
02:06 Do it again, but you're an animal.
02:09 And through these exercises, we found Odolio and these isms.
02:14 And I mean right down to, like, I
02:16 practiced how I would put my hair behind my ears
02:19 hundreds of times till I got it right.
02:21 Hon, you've never called me that.
02:25 What's it like being on set with her as Odolio by contrast,
02:31 and was she in character the whole time?
02:32 She's not full character the whole time,
02:33 but because her character is so specific
02:35 and such a huge transition, she would get into it
02:39 a little earlier on because it was physical.
02:41 It was vocal.
02:42 It was the whole shebang.
02:44 It was very uncomfortable for her,
02:45 so I commend her incredibly because it wasn't just
02:48 the physicality that was uncomfortable,
02:50 but she was layers of clothing.
02:51 And so when I first came on, because I didn't get
02:54 to rehearse with anybody, I was shooting another film,
02:55 and then I jumped on set.
02:57 But the newness--
02:58 I had been-- I was talking about it earlier--
03:00 was like, you know, because I didn't know everybody
03:03 and we were just meeting on the--
03:06 on set and in the film, that newness
03:08 was just organic and delicious.
03:10 So I got to, like--
03:11 you know, that got to be alive without us, you know,
03:14 having to do anything for it, which was lovely.
03:16 But she started talking to me in her Odolio talk,
03:20 and I legit was like, oh.
03:22 I was like, whoa, OK.
03:25 And I will never forget Gina Rodriguez's reaction
03:27 the first time I said something, because she didn't know that I
03:30 was changing my voice.
03:32 And they yelled action, and this line has been cut out,
03:36 but I think I said, this is a shadow.
03:40 And she freaked out.
03:42 She looked at me like I was making a joke,
03:45 and they yelled cut, and she was like, whoa.
03:48 Didn't see that coming.
03:49 What is going on?
03:50 I'm insanely impressed, because I saw her transition back
03:54 and forth in and out of this character.
03:56 And she's also the most loving, the most kind,
03:59 the most generous lead I've ever worked with.
04:02 And clear.
04:03 Now.
04:04 There's a camera there, there, and there.
04:11 Now, in any order.
04:12 This is not a cheap tie.
04:14 Con films have a lot of recurring themes and tropes.
04:18 Were you trying to avoid those?
04:20 And I was wondering if there's any films in that
04:23 genre that inspired you.
04:24 I mean, my very deep well to draw from
04:28 is all the hundreds and hundreds of Mission Impossible episodes
04:31 I watched as a child with my big brother.
04:34 So it comes from there, which is to say,
04:42 I don't have to come up with anything or study anything.
04:47 The whole high anxiety, like, who's the good guy,
04:51 who's the bad guy, sudden reversal,
04:54 that's all kind of in my DNA already.
04:58 And so to be able to apply that to a deeply personal kind
05:02 of weird story just felt good.
05:06 I felt like I'd been waiting to do that since I was
05:08 a six-year-old little girl.
05:10 I was wondering if, during that preparation,
05:12 you did any con prep.
05:14 Did you rip anyone off or at least walk away?
05:18 Look, it was discussed.
05:20 Miranda and I did discuss maybe pulling a couple of cons
05:23 before the filming started, but we did not get a chance.
05:26 Me and Richard and Debra and Miranda
05:30 rehearsed together a lot and choreographed strange cons.
05:34 Some ended up in the film, some didn't.
05:37 She would have us literally walk in circles and in lines
05:41 and change characters, like, mid-walk,
05:44 or change outfits mid-walk, or, like, steal a watch mid-walk,
05:48 you know, and pass it back to each other
05:49 and pass it over our heads.
05:50 And we would do these, like, weird Charlie Chaplin-esque,
05:54 like, choreographed cons, which, you know,
05:57 just came out of Miranda's brain.
05:59 And I think that helped us get into character,
06:02 even though they are the worst con artists ever.
06:06 This is the way the big one starts.
06:08 If you're lucky, you'll get crushed.
06:10 And then you'll -- you just die right then and there.
06:14 -There's a recurring theme of the big one in the film.
06:19 And given the era in which the movie came out,
06:24 people are jokingly and colloquially referring
06:26 to 2020 as the end of the world.
06:29 Is that timing ironic to you,
06:31 or were you trying to write to this era?
06:34 -Well, yeah, I wasn't seeing the future.
06:37 I was, of course, always worried there would be the big one.
06:40 Here in California, that big earthquake.
06:43 And, I mean, there's no getting around
06:47 that this is probably worse, you know?
06:49 Like, we are in the big one.
06:53 And the movie is about also surviving
06:57 and being transformed by the big one.
06:59 So I hope that that works for who we are now.
07:04 I think it might work better.
07:05 It went from being, like, my weird thing to, like, our thing.
07:09 -Is this the normal amount of turbulence for this group?
07:12 -Yes. -Really?
07:14 -Totally.
07:16 Oh, no! -What?
07:18 -Oh.
07:21 I thought that I forgot about it.
07:23 -I loved your character, because Melanie is introduced to us
07:27 as this almost, like, basic, like, you know,
07:31 Instamodel-esque character, and then you come to learn
07:34 that she is the wisest and most down-to-earth
07:37 of the whole group.
07:39 Was that particular arc of doing the Melanies
07:42 of the World justice, was that important to you,
07:45 taking on the role?
07:46 -You know, I love that you say that,
07:47 because there was definitely a desire
07:49 to do the Melanies of the World justice, you know,
07:52 because we have a -- or at least I,
07:57 I'm only speaking for myself, right?
07:58 We tend to judge a book by its cover, unfortunately.
08:01 I try not to do that, but it is a natural instinct
08:05 that we can all learn to curb.
08:07 But nonetheless, you know, the woman that knows
08:12 how to express herself outwardly,
08:17 makeup and hair and, you know, like,
08:19 and I respect and admire that woman,
08:22 because clearly I don't know how to put any makeup on my face,
08:25 but, you know, like, for me, it was so incredible
08:28 to embody a character that has --
08:32 can give off a certain perception,
08:34 but you're completely wrong, you know?
08:36 And, like, it's very fun.
08:37 And it was a fun evolution to play a character
08:39 that was ready for a risk in her life,
08:40 to jump into something fun, and then evolved to realize
08:44 there was something she actually was meant to do here.
08:48 There was, like, an awakening.
08:49 -I always thought it was insulting
08:51 to treat you like a child, and I thought we agreed on that.
08:55 -We can only ever be how we are.
08:58 -♪♪ How did I fail? ♪♪
09:04 -I can't waste too much time gushing, unfortunately,
09:07 but I got to tell you, I love this movie so damn much.
09:10 I'm not supposed to waste time gushing,
09:12 but I just have to say I love this movie.
09:16 I love it so damn much.
09:17 I love this movie so damn much.
09:21 -Yes, Jeff!
09:23 -And congratulations, like, seriously.
09:26 I haven't stopped thinking about it.
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