An Interview with ‘Landline’ Director Gillian Robespierre

Director Gillian Robespierre was in town to promote her new movie Landline, in which she reunites wither her Obvious Child star Jenny Slate for a comedy-drama when a family is thrown into upheaval upon the realization that the father (John Turturro) is cheating on the mother (Edie Falco).

I had the chance to ask her a few questions while standing in a loud hallway, meaning that I’m 90% sure the words transcribed below are accurate.

First question: Is Jenny Slate going to be in every one of your movies?

[laughs] Maybe. She is definitely a great collaborator and my muse.

Landline has a story that permeates time, so why the 90s?

We wanted to make sure we did set this in the 1990s, but that if we did take that aspect out it’d still be a strong story, a human story that could be set in any time period. We set it in the 90s because we didn’t want to be restrained by social media and cell phones. We wanted to show a family that was not connecting through technology, and that was keeping secrets inside. The clever way to do that was to set it in 1995.

And it’s loosely based on my childhood and [co-writer] Elisabeth Holm’s childhood.

That was going to be my next question.

I lost my voice, sorry.

That’s okay. You sound fine to me.

I’ve talked all day. I normally don’t sound like this. [

Interviews all day?

Yeah. Everyone in Seattle is so nice.

We’re pretty chill.

Yeah, very chill.

You interviewed with Sara Michelle Fetters, another Seattle critic, earlier today. She was raving about you.

She was awesome. Nice. Smart. She was actually my favorite interview.

Good. Well I’m probably not going to come close to surpassing her. So the story—all of the personal, family issues that occur—are based on your lives?

Liz and I came up with the story because we both have this one thing in common, that both of our respective parents divorced when we were teenagers. This similar thing happened where we became closer with our siblings, and a lot closer with our moms. They were suddenly not these untouchable women—they became humans. The relationships in our own family dynamic changed forever, and really for the better. We were able to flip that divorce scenario around, where so many divorce stories are so tragic. Divorce is sad, but it can also be beautiful, wonderful in regard to how relationships change. At least for my family, it was better for us. [laughs]

Are there other filmmakers you watch for inspiration?

In the television world, Jill Soloway. “I love Dick” is amazing, “Transparent” is amazing.

I’m also into “The Leftovers,” which is incredible. I can’t get enough of that freaking show.

I still need to watch a couple seasons of that.

It’s so good. It’s so beautiful, so cinematic, it’s gripping, it’s scary. When I’m not watching movies, that’s the kind of show I like to watch. It’s all about fitting things into my busy schedule—I’m also a parent of a toddler so I cannot watch full movies a lot of the time.

Alex Ross Perry comes to mind, too. There are many New York filmmakers I’ve slowly become friends with.

I love the question. I could go on and on.

What’s your favorite movie growing up?

I would say Raising Arizona. It’s such an important movie, especially for a kid. It’ where I realized you can do mixed genres. It’s silly, but also dramatic. I fell in love with Holly Hunter in that movie.

When I got older, I was more into her Broadcast News-type roles.

 

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How our ice creams are made to pair with dessert + a recipe for strawberry lime pie

How to Invest in Real Estate If You Don’t Have the Money

I talk to a lot of real estate investors through email, Facebook, and in my coaching programs. One of the most common questions is, “how do I get started if I don’t have the money?” There are a lot of gurus who teach real estate is the answer to any financial problem. Real estate can be an awesome way to invest your money and build wealth. It can even be a great way to make a lot of money when you have very little. However, real estate investing is not easy, and if you want to make a lot of

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10 Weird Facts About Golf

Brush up on your golf trivia with our list full of facts about the game below. Two-times is not the charm on the green. The chances of making two holes-in-one in a single round of... Read more

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Kohler’s Experience Showroom Puts Art Front and Center [VIDEO]

Design Milk headed to the new NYC Kohler Experience Center and talked with Laura Kohler about their 40-year-old Arts Industry program, a collaboration between the company and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. The artist’s program brings a select group of artists each year to Kohler, Wisconsin and into the factory to create art using Kohler’s equipment and materials. The artist keeps most of the pieces, but they are also exhibited at Kohler company, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and now at the new Kohler Experience Center in NYC. Watch and learn more:

Special thanks to Kohler for making this video possible.

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A Short Interview with ‘Landline’ Star Abby Quinn

While Abby Quinn was in town with her co-star Jenny Slate and director Gillian Robespierre for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) release of their new drama-comedy Landline (now in limited release), I had a very brief (seriously—for under four minutes) opportunity to interview the actress.

With Landline being her biggest film and biggest role to date, I asked her about what it was like to work alongside the likes of Slate, Edie Falco and John Turturro, and who she looked up to when she was younger.

Any chance to see Seattle much while in town?

I’ve been to Seattle twice, but not really—I’ve been in Woodinville, so quite different. On our break, we walked to a pharmacy.

That’s exciting.

We got to walk around a little outside.

Landline is your biggest movie to date. Do you feel like while making the film there was more pressure or higher expectations?

It kind of felt like there were no expectations, because no one knows me. In a lot of ways it was a first for me, too. It was the biggest character I’ve ever head. So I don’t know, I felt like I was lucky, I got to just go into it—I felt like I could work from a completely clean slate. It was pretty liberating, I guess.

The rest of the main cast are pretty well known people. Did that help motivate you or encourage you to up your game?

Oh yeah. I’m a big fan of everyone that I worked with. So it’s equally nerve-racking because I want to do a good job, of course, but also for these people. I don’t want to ruin this scene. Just watching them I feel like I learned a lot, and it kind of took me out of thinking I was in a scene because I was so focused on interacting with them. It helped a lot.

Is there an actor or actress you wanted to be when growing up?

Well, the only thing I can think of was that I was really obsessed with Grease. For four years in a row I had Grease-themed birthday parties. My brother was really obsessed with Corey Feldman and Cory Haim, and I wanted to be like my brother, so I pretended I was really obsessed with Olivia Newton John, but I wasn’t really, it felt kind of forced. So, I was never obsessed with a person as much as a movie.

Right now, I’m really obsessed with Joaquin Phoenix for some reason. I just really love him.

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An Interview with Jenny Slate: “You Can’t Deny Our Humanity”

Jenny Slate reunites with her Obvious Child director Gillian Robespierre for Landline, another drama-comedy set in New York that is now playing in limited theaters, and opens in Seattle this week. While she was in town for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) to screen the film, I had the chance to sit down with her (actually, stand in an extremely loud hallway) and ask her a few questions about the movie, her career, and Harley Quinn.

Most notably, don’t be surprised to see the bubbly actress in a dark “psychosexual thriller” at some point, and if you ask her about more opportunities in her career, she may [rightfully] slam Donald Trump in the process.

Important question to kick things off: Do you have any competition with Margot Robbie over who plays the better Harley Quinn?

She definitely has more lines, and has a physical body. So no competition.

You’ve been in three good movies this year (The LEGO Batman Movie, Gifted, and Landline). How do you pick your projects?

You know, with the LEGO Batman Movie, I just loved the first LEGO Movie, so when they asked me to do this one, I just said yes immediately. I didn’t know what my part would be, I just said yes, whatever it is. Those movies are so funny.

In general, I look at movies and determine, os there enough for me to do so I won’t be boring or reiterative. Does it seem like a worthy use of my time?

You and co-star Abby Quinn truly look and feel like sisters in Landline. Do you work on establishing chemistry off set?

Part of the knack of people who are good at casting is they cast people like Abby. She is a very steady, chill, but a very curious young woman. I’m also curious but not super steady. I’m very, very chatty. We just immediately made an interesting pair and we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know each other. On the first day, I went into her trailer and went, “Oh wow, you’re a real person! Let me know if you need anything.” But it was more to establish that I’ve worked with the director before and I can help you answer questions, but I think in general we just had natural chemistry.

You kind of can’t fuck with that.

What’s your favorite childhood movie?

Meet Me in St. Louis. But I also loved Crossing Delancey.

You have six or seven movies coming out this year…

[laughs] There are a few more in the can.

It feels like things are accelerating for you. How have things changed over the last few years?

Maybe. It generally feels steady or even keeled. Nothing huge has changed. I have an appetite for work and it always feels like I’m a little hungry for it. I’ve always felt that way since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to be an actress. I’m never satisfied. That’s a steady feeling.

In my observation, people who come from the comedic side tend to be always working, whether it’s late night, standup or whatever. They’re always doing projects.

I started in comedy because that was the easiest way for me to be able to perform at all. That’s what my nature is, to make people laugh or whatever, but I’ve always wanted to be an actress like Madeline Kahn, who was wonderful in Clue and High Anxiety, but also was able to do a lot of different genres. Not just comedy. I do think that one thing that has changed for me in the past years is that I’ve been able to inwardly legitimize myself as an actress, not just as a comedic actress or whatever. Also, you don’t want to shit on your roots.

Is there a particular genre you haven’t been in that you’d like to be?

I’d like to be in a Polansky-type movie, like Rosemary’s Baby or The Tenant, sort of like a psychosexual thriller would be pretty cool. I remember watching Under the Skin a few years ago and thinking, “I want to do that.”

What about a villain role?

Yes. I would like to be a villain. I always think the people with the most energy, and who are most bubbly, are the scariest as a villain. I guess I was a villain in Zootopia but that doesn’t really count.

Are there other filmmakers you want to work with, or follow when new work comes out?

You’re putting me on the spot! Nicole Holofcener, Miranda July, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jonze… Charlie Kaufman—I love his work.

You’ve had several interesting roles in interesting movies. Do you see a groundswell of change in terms of opportunities, roles, or directors who want to work with you?

Yeah, I think the signs point to that. And I think it’s obviously way overdue. Way overdue. There are lot of categorically negative things happening in our world right now, especially in our country, but I think that when you oppress large groups of people, you do things like trying to deny people their healthcare, their voices get really, really loud and their stories really start to be told.

One good thing that has come out of the last few months is that several issues have been pushed into the mainstream.

Yeah. You can’t deny our humanity.

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