Photographs by Zazie Beetz shot on the Polaroid Flip
Interview by Megan Hullander
It’s hard to find a through line in the projects you do. Is that intentional, or has it happened naturally?
It’s partially intentional. I started this career thinking I needed to find versatility so I could have longevity, so I wouldn’t get stuck doing one thing. I wanted to be able to keep working as I age. I had this thought early on that if I got stuck in one lane, then maybe when I’m 40 or 50 or 60 or 80, that lane wouldn’t apply anymore, and it would be harder to keep acting.
Along the way, I like making little pit stops and trying different things. It keeps it interesting for me, and it allows me to keep exploring as I move along in what I hope is the larger arc of my journey.
What do you look for in a script? And has launching Sleepy Poppy, your production company with your husband, changed the way you approach them?
He’s definitely much more of a producer than I am. He’s an actor and a writer, too, but he also has that producer quality. He’s more Type A/B mix, and I’m pretty solidly Type B. I have the ideas and the interest in producing, but I’m not as good with the organisational side.
The desire to produce really came from wanting to make things that he and I weren’t necessarily being thought of for, but that we were interested in. Like, if I’m interested in a certain kind of story but I’m not necessarily being considered for it, how can I make it happen myself?
There’s also the desire to see something through its entire lifespan. As an actor, you often come in years into a process, and I often feel this pressure not to break the machine that’s already been created. I’m arriving as this additional cog in something that’s already alive and moving.
That can be nice, but it also brings pressure because I really don’t want to mess it up. Producing gives me the chance to help create the whole thing and shape a world from the beginning, which sounds really exciting to me. I have ideas about the kinds of worlds and feelings I’d like to see in something, so it feels like another way to extend creativity.
It’s also made me think more seriously about what I really want to do. Eventually, we’d like to expand into projects that don’t necessarily involve us as performers. It’s all a learning process, but it has made me focus more on what I want to pursue and how to actually make things happen, rather than just waiting for them to come to me.
Do you see any thematic connections in your recent work?
Good Luck, Have Fun and They Will Kill You feel pretty different to me in terms of theme, tone, and what they’re trying to do.
With Good Luck, Have Fun, the message was extremely important to me, and creatively, it felt exactly like the kind of movie I’m drawn to. I enjoy films that are a little off-kilter, a step left of reality. I think Gore [Verbinski, the director] does a really great job of creating worlds like that.
I was also so excited to work with Sam Rockwell on that. He was already attached when I came onto the project. And for me, the script was just so tight. It had comedy, but also darkness. I liked that it was threading the needle with something extremely sensitive and urgent, and it had this real sense of danger to it that I want to explore in art.
With They Will Kill You, I had a different motivation. I liked the director a lot. He felt like a really interesting person with a very specific creative point of view. When I saw his other films, they felt unique and very specific to him – this overt slapstick, this dark slapstick. I just thought he seemed really interesting.
I’d also never headlined a movie before, and I thought it would be a good physical challenge, and I thought the script was really funny. It felt like a chance to stretch a different muscle.
They Will Kill You is your first lead – how does that pressure feel different when you’re first on the call sheet?
The energy of a set really trickles down from the director and whoever your lead is, and also the producer and the AD. There’s incredible responsibility in being the lead, in setting the tone, motivating others, and being the motor of a set. Especially on a very physical movie, I felt like I had to be a bit of an Energizer Bunny. I didn’t want to be the person saying, “Ugh, I’m over it, I don’t want to do this, I can’t do this,” because I felt like that would just suck the energy out of the set.
Obviously, with this kind of movie, you’re jumping around a lot. In other movies, maybe you’re in an extremely emotional place the whole time, and you’re exhausted in a different way. But either way, I think it becomes part of your job to maintain the feeling that we can keep doing this.
I’m very rest-oriented in my life. I work hard, but I’m also very protective of my mental space. I’m not going to let a job destroy me mentally – it’s just not worth it to me. But there was something really empowering about waking up tired, not feeling like doing something, and then realising, actually, I can do it. I can bring good energy even if I’m not naturally feeling it in that moment.
