Happy Sad Confused - Cristin Milioti

Episode Date: April 7, 2021

Cristin Milioti has been stealthily racking up the eclectic acting career. But those who know...know. She's one of the most versatile and exciting actors working today. Cristin joins Josh on the podcast for the first time to chat about everything from Broadway and "Wolf of Wall Street" to "Palm Springs" and her new HBO Max series, "Made for Love". For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! And listen to THE WAKEUP podcast here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Nights definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins now. Today on Happy, Sad Confused, Kristen Miliotti, from Palm Springs and Made for Love to her comfort movie, Kill Bill. Hey, guys, I'm Josh Harowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad Confused.

New guest on the pod this week, one of my favorite actors I've discovered in recent years, Kristen Miliotti, always turning in, unexpected. diverse unusual performances in a wide array of television and film projects. And if you just look at her recent work in the last year, Palm Springs, one of my very favorite movies of 2020, currently on Hulu. Her and Andy Sandberg just killed it in that. And now she's starring in her own HBO Max series opposite Billy Magnuson and Ray Romano, a very darkly humorous, disturbing, funny project called Made for Love in which she and Billy are kind of caught in this really toxic, horrible relationship, Billy is not a good dude to say the least. And it has this

a little bit of a Black Mirrorish, actually, a premise behind it. Ironic in that one of her most notable roles in recent years was on that fantastic episode of Black Mirror of the USS Callister with Jesse Plemons, Jesse Plemons, who she'd also appeared in in Fargo. It's basically all six degrees of Kristen Miliotti game we're all playing in. But no, Kristen is an actor that I've talked to a little bit before, but certainly never at this length. The last time I chatted with her, as with many folks on the podcast, I feel like it's a recurring theme. I have like these guests that I haven't seen or talked to since Sundance of 2020, a little bit over a year ago. And certainly that's the case for Kristen. And it was such a happy, bizarre memory.

I'll describe it in brief here because it is really funny, a funny story. I was interviewing Kristen and Andy Sandberg about Palm Springs alongside my buddy, Ben Lyons. We did a kind of a special limited edition series, a podcast series called The Festival Rules. And you can, by the way, download that just for the sake of understanding this story and experiencing this story. You can download this episode, the Andy Sandberg and Kristen Miliotti episode. Anyway, we're talking to them in this beautiful space hosted by the NRDC. I asked Andy something to the effect of, you know, who are you most excited? Who would you lose your mind to run into here at Sundance?

Because you always run into random sorts of people. He says, Robert Redford. And I say, well, actually, Robert Redford, a huge benefactor of NRDC, is scheduled to walk into this room in about five or ten minutes. this is all caught on tape as it were on the podcast and sure enough Robert Redford walked in in the middle of this conversation it was just like one of those like perfect moments that you cannot script and to hear Andy kind of lose his shit at Robert Redford walking in just as he's talking about losing his shit

about the idea of meeting Robert Redford is just one of my favorite memories of an otherwise horrible 2020. But it was a cool, it's also a cool memory because it's the day that I first kind of learned about Palm Springs, which again was one of my favorite movies of 2020. And if you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it. It is just a delightful, very funny movie, but also a very thoughtful movie and kind of deep in many ways. By now you probably know the twists. But if you have If you've avoided it for a year, you've come this far. I won't, you know, ruin it for you now. But check it out on Hulu. There's also, by the way, as I mentioned in this podcast, Hulu was wise

enough to put together an additional commentary track with Andy and Kristen. That is fantastic. And I miss commentary tracks. Back in the days when I used to collect DVDs, I would just listen to so many of those. So I wish more streaming services would do those. I would just devour them. Anyway, as I said, Kristen has just been killing it in all these different sorts of projects. A delight to talk to her about her entire career as well as her comfort movie. She picked a great one. She's a huge fan of Kill Bill, most notably Uma Thurman's performance as The Bride. And yeah, it's a good conversation about that iconic performance in Kill Bill, I guess technically

like killville volume one and volume two there are two different movies they were filmed as one that's a whole other podcast we can debate that another time anyway uh a great chat i hope you guys enjoy it um other things to mention i think i mentioned it last week but by now you guys have probably watched godzilla versus kong so why not check out my conversation with milly bobby brown i had a great chat with her for mtv news a lot of people have been checking that out really proud of that one. You know, she's such an unusual circumstance. She's 17 years old and has been like one of the most famous human beings on the planet the last like five years and seems to be wearing it pretty well. I always enjoy chatting with Millie. She's got a good sense of humor,

a good perspective, and I expect great things from her in the future. She's got a lot of cool stuff coming up. So check that out. I put it up on my Twitter and Instagram, Joshua Horowitz, but you can always go to MTV News's YouTube page to check out my interviews for them. I'll leave it there except to say, oh, I mean, I guess on the personal front, and I put this out on my social media, I was lucky enough to get my second shot, my, my, my, my, my, my, Madonna volume two. I feel the moderna coursing through my veins. I'm on my way to, you know, relative immunity, and I hope you guys are getting the

opportunity to get vaccinated. If you're not, I sympathize. It's a struggle in some states, certainly a big struggle in many countries around the world. If you have the opportunity, please get vaccinated. This is for yourself and for the collective good of the planet. You're doing not only yourself a service, but we're all trying to get back to normalcy, get to that herd immunity. And I don't know if you can feel it where you are, but certainly in the States, in New York, things are coming back slowly but surely. You know, there's some live theater, even starting to be contemplated here in New York again. Movie theaters are open.

I'm already starting to think about my return to the cinema after a year away. So these are all exciting things. Scary things, too, because I haven't seen another human being outside of my family virtually in over a year. But I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'll see if I still know how to speak human sentences to somebody in person besides my loved ones. Anyway, these are good problems to have. All right, on to the main event. Remember to review, rate and subscribe to Happy, Sad, Confused.

Always appreciate you putting in the good word and spreading the good word of this podcast to others. And I hope you guys enjoy this chat with one of our most interesting and talented actors working today. she's uh she's going places this one miss christin miliadi i'm not a 75 year old old-timey agent it's just how i sound i'm introducing the podcast here's me and christian oh my gosh it's christian miliotti on my zoom screen on my on my little box on my computer hi christin hi thanks for doing i'm doing all right i'm doing okay um uh congratulations on the new show. We're going to cover a lot Made for Love on HBO Max. But I do want to start with one of the few highlights of 2020 for me, which I feel like it was a turning point, at least for me, was when you, me, and Andy Sandberg saw Robert Redford. I know. I was thinking

about that before, as I was like setting up this Zoom rig that I have to set up every time I zoom. It's like a bunch of boxes stacked on a chair. And I was like, wow, right. That was right before that was, you know, and I, and we've been asked this a lot in interviews too because that was not only like the last big film festival before the shutdown, but it was also the last time that I was like at a house party or like just in a space with hundreds of people. Yeah, all the silly fun things we used to do. All the funny fun things and like us doing that podcast in the lobby of that building weirdly. And I know I think about it very fondly and mostly because of Andy's freak out over Robert Redford. Oh my God. I think they tore.

a, you know, through the space-time continuum part, clearly, and that's what COVID came out of was just Andy Sandberg's poop escaping his body as he saw Robert Redford. Yeah, he was so nervous that it created a vortex and it threw everything into just the right. So I'm glad he had a good moment, but sad for all of us. But I'm glad that we at least have that memory because that was, you know, I'd been doing Sundance for many years and that was definitely a highlight. Not only that conversation, but Palm Springs, which I'm glad we're still talking about a year later. Amazing. I can't believe it. I know. It's amazing. And it really is like, you know, when we were doing some press for that around like, you know, like awards stuff, people would

ask, sometimes they'd be like, don't, are you so tired of talking about it? And I really never tired of talking about it because I can't believe that it is still being talked about. It's such a pleasure to talk about something that's very rare. Well, it's also going to, I mean, and as I'm sure you've talked with others about, I do have the sense that we're only a year past, you know, if the first people seeing it, but it feels like that kind of film that because it works on so many levels, because it is funny and it's hard and all that kind of, you know, like all the cliches, but it also is really deep.

It's going to be that, like, film that there's going to be like a college course about or there's going to be late night dorm debates about. Like, this is going to live on for a while. So that's got to feel pretty special. It does feel very special. Even, you know, and I feel like when we did press for that film, it was in the, it was in like the wild west of Zoom. Like, no one, like, they were like,

do you know this thing called Zoom? Got to download Zoom. Like, it was early days of the pandemic. And even then, you know, I've done enough press in my life that like I was I was blown away that I would be interviewed by people who had of their own volition watched it like five times before we spoke, which I've never experienced and I know that's not necessary. And they would, it kept happening time and time again. Someone would say, oh, you know, I watched it to interview you for this thing. And then I wanted to watch it again

because I wanted to look for Easter eggs. And then I invited my friend over and we watched it a third time and then we had, we just wanted to check it one more time and it was, I've never experienced that. It really was wonderful. And by the way, I would recommend not only those second, third, and fourth viewings, but also, I mean, I grew up listening to commentaries all the time and I was so thrilled with Hulu was smart enough to have you guys do that commentary. That was like two hours of just bliss for me. I have not seen the commentary. I mean, I, you know, filming it was a joy, although it was also very, like, weird and dystopian because a bunch of people in hazmat suits showed up to my apartment with equipment and then a voice came in over a speaker and like taught me how to

like oh my god lighting rig and like the teleprompter and because andy and i couldn't be we weren't allowed to be in the same space so we had to look at each other through a teleprompter with the movie like playing through the glass it was so weird it was like what is this and i i'm so glad it turned out well even though i love to have done it like old school style yeah i imagine like not not even in a way that's real, like him and I, like, smoking a cigarette and washing it and being like, well, let me tell you about this scene. Well, you maybe do it once every few years. I mean, there's no reason not to come back to it. I hope it's the kind of movie. I hope this is okay to say. I hope it's the kind of movie, like, I watched a screening of something at the Hollywood Cemetery once. And I, like, I like, I am excited. I hope that it goes there.

Oh, my God. It would be amazing. I think it bodes well that that there's so much love just a year in. And we won't only talk about Palm Springs, but it is a special movie. I'm just curious, again, because the last time we saw each other was at Sundance. And the funny thing about that experience, beyond Robert Redford appearing out of thin air, was, as I recall, you were doing press for a movie. Literally, no one knew anything about. No one had seen the movie, which kind of made the conversations fun. We were just, like, shooting the shit for 20 minutes and having a random conversation. But I got to think, like, also just in terms of going to a premiere,

I didn't see that the premiere. I think I saw it the next day. Yeah. But that first screening, is that just transcendent? What was that like? Consented. I mean, it's obviously, especially now so. But it was something that like when we would do press for it later,

I was always, I understand why with like a trailer you have to show what it is. It's very hard to make something to advertise for something when you can't give away the thing. But in that first screening, which probably was like three or 400 people, no one knew. anything about it. They thought you could tell that for the first 10 minutes, the misdirect that the movie does, where you're like, oh, you're at like a wedding comedy that everyone was kind of like, okay.

Like, they were like, no, okay, this is fine. And then the minute, like, it's around like minute 12 when the twist comes and he's hit with the arrow. I've never experienced, you know, I like look for this a lot and it's hard in TV and film, but I'm from, I have a background in the theater. And one of the things that I, like, yearn for a lot, but is sort of you can't have in the experience of TV and film

is a live audience. And it was sort of the closest I got to being in a room with three or four hundred strangers freaking out about something that we, you know, had made like eight months earlier. And it was sort of the most magical thing you could ask for. Like I spent so much time watching the audience in that screening and they gasped and laughed

and clutched their chests and cried. And like at all the moments that I had felt those things when reading it and even when shooting it and that, that, a lot of times that's lost in translation just by way of like, it's really hard to make things and you can't predict anything. And to see that preserved and to see it celebrated and to see it like so deeply felt by a room full of strangers

was just enormously gratifying. It's been fun, you know, I've been a fan of your work for a while. I mean, I saw you way back on once on Broadway and following through Wall Street and all the kind of the exciting developments for your career. And it's been fun to kind of take kind of a macro look for this occasion. When you look back on these kind of occasions when you're talking to people like me, I mean, is there a film or TV project or theater performance that when you look back on and say that was in retrospect where things kind of the biggest shift in my career happened,

Are there a few of those? Is there one of that jumps out? For sure. I remember there's a couple. And some of them were in macro ways and some were in like business ways. Right. There's the career stuff. Then there's like as an actor just like, yeah.

Personal. Yeah. I remember that I did this play. God, a million years ago at Lincoln Center called Stunning. And it was like my first real big role in New York. And it was this. incredible play and I played this 16-year-old in this sort of sect of Judaism and I think in Midwood where all the girls are they dressed like Kardashians but they're married off in high

school to like much older men and it was this it was slightly autobiographical this incredible playwright David Adjee and it was this wild show of like heightened comedy like everyone's walking like a million amounts per minute like the first scene was like my character at a card game with her sister and her best friend being like oh my god did you hear about someone's out like going that fast with like thick New York accents and then it like delves into this

crazy like very disturbing you know watching this you're watching this girl having her childhood ripped from her and it was I remember being a part of that and being like this is what I want to do like this I love

this and I remember that it was like, it was also one of the first, you know, I've done a couple off-broadway plays and, you know, to varying degrees of like, I guess, feeling the audience was with you every step of the way. Like, I've done off-roadway plays where people have, like, flush toilets and, you know, literally during my monologue. Like, I've done a lot of those. And this was one where I felt like the audience was with us every step of the way. I felt like I was able to completely disappear into this role. I felt. like it was like flying every night and I remember that being a shift and then shortly thereafter I did an Evo Vanhova play and he, that was like my college basically like that was like walking on the moon it was nuts and those two

Which production was that? I've seen a few of his I did little foxes. Okay, I haven't seen that one but I've seen, he's quite out there I mean people have different feelings about his avant-garde kind of like approaches to theater where do you stand? Um, you know, I love the fact that he takes, he takes a stand and he takes the swing.

And that to me, um, whether it's your cup of tea or not, and I, and I remember in little foxes, like I got very familiar with the sounds of like, there were these seats that would like spring when you would stand up and we would hear people walk out because you could hear the seats go like, but that was like acting school for me. I was, I, uh, Elizabeth Marvel and I, you know her. She's like, I mean, just a fucking legend. Her and I mother and daughter and in that they try to kill each other and it was just the most incredible that again that felt like flying like I'd never been in any that whole production design was like a purple velvet box we were all

stuck in no props we moved like a dance ensemble I felt like I was part of a a company like a theater like it was like how I imagined like oh this must be like what Worcester group feels like or I remember like those two experiences sort of inwardly made me made me sort of discover the type of stuff I wanted to be a part of and the type of work that like really you know for lack of a better term I guess makes me feel like I'm flying um well then it also sets a you know you're chasing that drug for the rest of your life then you're you know what you know what's like it can be at its best and then you have the juxtaposition of like where art meets commerce so like here I am at evil van hova show every night um shrieking and being thrown down a

staircase by elizabeth marvel and like you know radio head is playing and It's like this like, let's use every, like, witchy cell in our body. And then I'm going to audition for, like, gossip girl and duffing it because I don't know how to, like, I don't know how to mel the two worlds of sort of, you know, at night playing this, like, feral, you know, possessed child and then coming in and being like, having two lines to be like, did you hear about Stacey? It's going to be lit. that's the fascinating thing because even a little later perhaps i'm not sure if i'm getting the timeline

right but like kind of when things you know ostensibly really started to like hit with with once wall street that was the big that was when i was like oh wow this feels different but like even that it's kind of fascinating again from the outside looking in because you're it's not all of one piece they feel like you're doing how i met your mother you've got like you've got once this gorgeous you know broad with big Broadway musical you've got a martin scorset and you've got a martin scorset like there are different these are different paths to go down for most actors and it's hard to have that career where you can do all of that let alone all of that with at the same time that was a wild for so i really appreciate that um i because i that year was really wild because

i did feel like i was and i still feel this way you know i've been really really lucky and also have really made this a priority i think i have a little bit of like spiritual ADD and even the things with like that I consume like actually trying to figure out you know like the movie we're going to like a comfort movie today I'll tell you I know what we said about but like the choices that went great this is why like I have trouble sometimes like not trouble but like it's it is it matters to me a lot to be able to do as many different things as possible because that's what excites me it excites me as a consumer of things as well and that year felt or that time or whatever, I felt so it did feel like a little bit like going back to like

where I started in New York theater being like, wow, I'm getting to like fly in all of these different realms and play different people and like really and like different genres and really like stretch myself and it was wild. It was yeah. Did it feel like you had to make a choice at that point? I mean like because there's an alternate world where like you've got a hell of a career as like a sitcom star. Like I think of, it's funny, I think of that and I associate when I started to think about you on that show, then I thought of like,

you probably remember this being in that world. Greta Gerwig like almost did like the How I Met Your Mother spin-off. She did the spin-offs, like two months later. So like, I mean, it's just fascinating to think of like that alternate reality where Greta Gerwig is like on season five of like how I met your father and you've got your own CBS sitcom. It's just like it's a different life and it's a fine life, but it's,

Did it feel like you had to kind of make that choice in terms of what you were gonna double down on? It did. It did. You know, I had such a wonderful time on that show and everyone was so kind to me and so welcoming. And I didn't really know like how big the thing was that I was sort of like stumbling into,

for lack of a better term. I did a sitcom right after that for NBC. And again, like the cast, I still to this day, adore the creatives I adored. I wonder if it is different now, but at the time, I didn't feel like I was able to be the full sort of being that I felt coming from where I've come from in terms of work

in a network setting. I felt a lot like I was being asked to sort of just wear a tight pencil skirt and smile. And I would sort of sit there and be like, and again, that's no fault of the create. It's like, it's like working for a, you're working for a giant corporation.

And we are even on Netflix too. Like everyone, we're now back, by the way, like we're now back to like ABC, CBS. Like we're just. Now they're called HBO Max and Netflix and Hulu. And like, of course, people have a bottom line. They're working with, you know, it's like 30 rock, right?

Like it is literally NBC is like funded by GE or something. So like you're definitely working for these like large conglomerates. But I felt like the things that had, made me feel so alive and, you know, like working with Evo, like working on stunning, like working on once, like working on Wall Street, like things where I got to like really let it go. I didn't feel like that was welcomed there. And I did make a, you know, I think right after A to Z, I did Fargo. And I remember being like, I've like, I cried down to Fargo. And I was like, yeah, I miss this. I want to do this. I want to do this. And that's, again,

And also not to like, you know, some of my favorite shows of all time are on networks, like 30 Rock is one of my favorite shows of all time, parks and rec. I think there are ways in which they can like subvert the system for lack of a better term. And I don't want to put like too fine a point on it. The office obviously. Like it's it's kind of one in a million. And I just felt like I wasn't I didn't, I didn't thrive under those conditions. So backtracking a bit. So for once, which is a huge part of your career in that like just in terms of volume you were performing that for over a year between the out-of-town stuff and Broadway right yeah um so i'm sure it's hard to encapsulate that kind of experience but like is there in some ways nothing better and more satisfying than like

a successful Broadway run where like you got the good reviews you know the parts of the show that are going to hit and resonate it's kind of like clockwork in a way you've got friends coming backstage you got some a random celebrity coming backstage like is that am i idealizing it or is it or is it as cool as it sounds everything because you also live like a monk i mean i did i'd never done a musical and i was so terrified of losing my voice and i felt you know i i never saw anyone and i you know like never went out and felt like i i truly lived like a monk for like 30 months but then you know I think about, like, some of the most magic moments I've ever experienced were on that stage. Like, I think of this, I could cry talking about it. Like, I think it was my 27th birthday or something.

There was, you know, the number gold, which was my favorite number in the show when everyone started slow dancing with their instruments. And in that number, I have to, it's like my character is slowly falling in love with the guy and, and slowly realizing it. the way that it is that falling in love is portrayed is like everyone's slowly getting up and like slow dancing with a cello slow dance with a guitar and like everything sort of like swirls around her

and I walk, I was getting chills thinking about it and I miss that show so much and I remember it was on my birthday and I walked through the cast as everyone was starting to rise and their backs were to the audience and every time I would pass someone they would mouth I love you happy birthday

and I was a mess like immense. That's almost cruel. It's beautiful but also cruel. It's testing you. Is that type of stuff that like still to this day, it is, because you're in the trenches together because, yes, in a show, I'd never experienced a show that like everyone, you know, a show that was a commercial success at all. I mean, I'd been doing off-Broadway and getting paid like $200 a week and like, you know,

my friends and family would see it and like New York theater people would see it, but certainly not tourists, not, you know. And I do remember feeling like it was really magical, but I think even in retrospect, I didn't realize, like, quite how special that experience was. Yeah. And how we, like, what an insane ride that was, because it was such a little, like, off-Broadway jewel. And we all loved each other. And we all, like, you know, went on this, yeah, crazy ride together. So, yeah, it was the most magical thing you could, I mean, to perform a show like that in front of 1,200 people. I thought a lot about it in the pandemic, actually, and been like, you know,

because I limped out of that theater. I did that show over 500 times, and that show's brutal. It's like really sad, like it's so brutal, especially for her. And I remember like limping out of that theater being like, ugh, like, you know, my eyes were like dust.

And I have thought about it so much and been like, wow, I am so astronomically grateful that there was that I got to in front of 1,200 people, you know, 500 times. I can't believe it still. So in the midst of that, you get the Tony nomination. I think you have a Grammy, too, for that, don't you? Yeah.

That's amazing. So, okay, so in the midst of that, you also get Wolf of Wall Street, and that's, you know, for many actors, that's like what you're building to for a 50-year career to get on a set with Marty and Leo, et cetera. That's crazy. So is there any imposter syndrome those first few days? Oh, I have imposter syndrome in every, you know. That's never gone away, ever.

So what's the coping mechanism when you're just in a scene with Leo and Marty on this kind of thing that you know is just like, as top-notch as it's going to get in terms of material? How do you get through it? How do you rise to the occasion? I don't even remember, honestly. I do remember thinking I wish I'd, like, I was so scared. But I did that with ones too. I've truly done it with every job since. That was like, you know, blackout level nerves.

every day but I like somehow just did it you're also you're working with people who are you know I always felt on that movie that like everyone was like rolling up their sleeves and getting to work like it was a real like let's throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what happens and it was such a joy to work on that movie but yeah I wish I hadn't been quite so scared but I always feel that you know that's never gone away like I feel on almost every job I do that I'm like the weakest link and I'm going to get fired and it doesn't go away to like I spend like the first half thinking that and then then I start to like be like oh well I guess they're not going to find well it's too late to fire me now ha ha ha I get like me to

me out like and then I start to like yeah well and then and then it's over and I'm just well if it's any consolation I'm sure you won't surprise you to hear us that's the common denominator in 90% of the people I respect in conversations with them. It's like I don't trust the ones that are too comfortable that that you always need an element of that. It keeps you sharp. It keeps you just like make, right? I guess.

Yeah. Maybe not good for your mental health, but good for us. No. I remember, you know that Amy Poehler, her autobiography, yes, please. She said this thing in there, which I always have like really held on to where she's like acting is so embarrassing. And there is like a huge part of it where you're like, you're putting yourself. out there in such a big way and like you have no idea it's a new group of people every time like

you're perpetually it's like the first day of school where you don't know where the bathrooms are and it's like a different character yeah it's it's the best and also yeah at first I'm always I mean my friends hear about it I call my friends a lot panicking on the ride home being like I don't know what's wrong I'm going to get fired and they're like and they're very well we've heard it 10 times of four you'll be fine you'll be fun they're really lovely about it so so now's as good a time as any what You mentioned, I asked you for a comfort movie. It sounds like you wrestled with this. I appreciate that because, yes, it's impossible to choose one movie that's going to define you.

Don't worry, Kristen. This doesn't define you, but it defines an aspect of you. So what did you choose? Give me your thought process. I chose Kill Bill, Volume 1, but I also think of Volume 2. I think of it as a singular piece, even though I know that they're two separate films. But I do, I think of it as like Kill Bill. I sort of narrowed it down to Kill Bill and Stepbrothers

to give you an idea of those are I think the two movies I've seen the most in my life and I would say that it's like as I thought about that I was like oh that actually makes sense I love both of those things I do need both those you need a kill villain you need a stepbrothers it's like a yeah yeah that's the dichotomy I get it totally and those both would qualify for me so so where and when and how did Kill Bill hit you? Kill Bill hit me. So I saw the first Kill Bill, I think I had just moved to New York.

So I was like freshly 18. I think I moved to New York like a week after my 18th birthday. And it was one of my first experiences in watching a movie that I like left the movie having changed. Like my molecules changed. Like I had never seen anything like that. And I remember Urban Outfitters was selling the like yellow Onitsuka Tiger shoes that she wears in it. And I saved up like all this money to go buy them and they only had them, I'm a size seven and they had them only in a size six.

And I wore size six very uncomfortably walking to class every day like really hurting myself actually because I was like I needed to like channel her. I like needed to channel her at all times. Like, I just, that movie, I thought a lot about that movie, too, when I saw Wonder Woman in theaters, I saw it with a group of girlfriends and there was all these little girls there and I cried the entire time. I couldn't believe it. I was like, watching little girls. And I was like, you better be going to look back on this and you're going to remember. You saw Wonder Woman. Like, I was a mess. And it kind of hit me in that moment that Kill Bill was my Wonder Woman. I was 18. I, you know, was on my own for the first time, and I watched this the most incredible, like all the different elements of that film. And it never, there is like never, every breath of it is perfect. There's like never a dull moment. The women, the fight sequences.

Like, I just, it blew my mind. I wish I could be more eloquent about it. No, no, no. I get it. Well, it's a tough one to summarize because it's like, it's, it's a, bunch of different things kind of on top of each other. Like, we've been so used to Tarantino as this, like, brilliant wordsmith, right? This, like, amazing writer.

And part of the brilliance and amazing part of that film is, like, then suddenly he's, like, he puts his mind to it and decides to become, like, this insane action movie director. A very twisted heart. Like, I think what also, you know, hit me so hard in that movie is, like, first of all, her performance in it. It's so. I know like it's celebrated I don't think it's quite celebrated enough

because to be to be like the beating heart of that while doing those action sequences like I think in volume two I think of the scene where she turns the corner with a gun thinking she's going to assassinate him and it's her daughter and she goes bang and like Uma Thurman's reaction every time I see it it knocks the wind out of me and even her last confrontation with Bill

like when they're both crying and they know they have to say goodbye to each other and she's just murdered him. It, I don't know, it's so, the scene with Vivica Fox, like the two of them after all this time, I mean, it's just, each scene is not only like a cinematic, like, masterpiece of, like, action and style and whatever, but it's, like, it's gutting.

And it's so grounded in this, like, in this woman's rage and anger and hurt and these friendships. And it just, like, it blew me away. So you think of it as I never watched it in one fell swoop. I mean, I think I do think of them. I think of them obviously they were intended to be one film. It became unwieldy. He decided to cut it into two.

When I was thinking about it last night, when I heard you, it's like this, I think if I had to choose, I actually think I prefer the second half. And maybe that's because I think of, I also love David Carrardine so much as Bill. He's just mesmer. Their first extended scene in the beginning of part two in black and white, like, outside the church, gorgeous, amazing. I know. I also think of, do you know this?

I don't know, I always think about, I always like these like trivia kind of like casting things that Warren Beatty was supposed to be, Bill, that Quentin had, he wrote it for Warren Bayey, fascinating. It's fascinating, that would not have, maybe not, it wouldn't have been what it is. It wouldn't have been a different thing, yes, yeah.

So for you, you mentioned a couple of the scenes. Is there one scene that jumps out to you as the one that resonates most with you when you think of your favorite? I mean, the, God, there's so, there's actually so many, and I was thinking about this today. You know, the scene in the snow with Orinishi. Yeah. Is like part one, yeah. Is not possible.

All the stuff that Go-Go and the crazy 88s, like, that, that is, that sequence is insane. And, like, now also, like, I think about what I saw 18, now that I know, like, it takes to make a scene like that like I was I'm like they must have been there for eight months doing that scene like how like it's there's so many cuts there's so many it's so so good um obviously the scene with Vivica after school so where do you stand they've talked about Quentin's talked about going to do a sequel about the you know because daughter yeah exactly that's like brilliant I think it's brilliant I would love to see that um all Also, I think it's in two when she finds out she's pregnant.

And she's in the hotel room with the other assassin. And she's like, I just found out I'm pregnant. And she's like, show me the test or whatever. And then she's like, congratulations. Like it's just so. And then the scene was her, meeting her daughter for the first time. I know I'm not, I mean, all the Hattori Hansel, like, I can't kind of, I kind of can't choose.

Have you, so have you done anything remotely in that kind of action genre? Have you? I've been, I don't know if this is like kosher to say. I've been like close on a couple. Well, there was a report. I know Birds of Prey, right? Was out there. Yeah, and like a couple others.

And I've been like close to it, but like, I'm going to start the landing. And like, I very much am interested in that. In fact, one of the things that I really like about, and I'm not trying to be like, and now unto Made for Love. But like, there's elements of Made for Love that always struck me as, that sort of like struck a heartstring cord, if that's a phrase, in me. Because I was like, it's as if it was Kill Bill, but she wasn't good at it. I like that, yes.

Like there's a deepness of her escaping where she's like, you want her to be like, like, all this stuff, but she doesn't know. And so she's just like, and then like running and falling. And like I studied a lot of Kill Bill for that and then really tried to be like, except that she has no skills. So that's hopefully where. maybe stepbrothers comes into it or something. I don't know.

It's by the skin of her teeth. But no, I would, I would, oh, I would love to. Please someone let me do one. Well, it's going to happen sooner or later. I mean, how many of those kind of, I mean, it's a prerequisite for any actor now. You must have done your share of the superhero auditions at this point. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I have. Are they, do they take a particular something out of you as an actor to kind of like suck it up and just sort of like. Oh, no. I like each time I feel like I feel like I'm like the Kristen Whig surprises character when I go in and for those like tests from like they're gonna put a jet back on us and we're gonna wear it and I'm gonna have a big gun like I like can't like there's no I find it to be so cool maybe that's why I haven't gotten any of them and I'm like oh my God they're give us a sword they're gonna let us swing it like I it's like freak out Wow. So maybe I have to go in there and be like as if I care or something. Yeah, throw it away. No, I care greatly.

I think it's so cool. So, yeah, so you mentioned Made for Love. I very much enjoyed. I think I've seen the first four episodes of this new series for HBO Max. I would imagine any actor relishes an entrance coming out of the ground, screaming fuck to the world. It reminded me a little bit John Goodman, raising Arizona, coming out of the earth. You remember that? That's right.

I haven't thought about that a lot. But talk to me a little bit about, so this one, as from what I gather, kind of built around you. You're the first one cast in this. So is that a different experience? Is that better, is that a better kind of alternative to be the person that it's built around as opposed to being the person they plug in to kind of accentuate other people or what? No, I didn't, I mean, I found it to be sort of like, I got to see sort of the, um,

I got to see it change a lot more. Like I signed on very early and I'd read, I don't know, five or six scripts. And then it started to, I like saw the sort of process of them like finding it and finding it. And I don't know. It didn't feel, it felt different, but not in a way that was like here or there. Got it. I think maybe I put a lot of pressure on myself because of that, certainly. Where I was like, oh, you know, if you thought my imposter syndrome was bad before,

I was like, you can't find this up. And I, you know, I don't know, but yeah, I know it still opens with it, but the script that I originally read opened with just the desert. And I just never read anything like that. And I remember reading those first couple pages and I was like, what in the Sam hell is this? And then the more I read, I just, I know this sounds like a very, like, you know, regular answer or something, but like, I just hadn't read anything like it. And I just, I had no idea where it was going.

And I thought that it was, it really moved me, like especially, you know, the relationship between my character and Ray. I'd never seen a relationship like that. Ray Romano, of course, plays your dad in the show. And it's amazing. I feel like we need to stop being surprised that Ray Romano is a great actor,

because he continues to kind of keep doing it. I don't know what, yeah. And also like, even if all you've ever seen is everybody loves Raymond. Like, everybody lives, Raymond goes to some real deep places. Like, I grew up on that show. I love that show. You know, that's a show that I will watch whenever it's on.

It's perfect. Yeah. So good. That cast is so good. It's so beautifully written. He's incredible. And you've got, so it's you, another actor I always adore. He always just, like, jumps out is Billy Magnuson.

I know you guys knew each other before this. We met, yeah. We did a, um, we did a movie together 10 years ago, indie movie where we played a married couple, but, you know, we like live in a trailer park and I had like platform flip-flops and like, get off my lawn. And basically like we started, like we both were like unhinged because they were like, yeah, open it up.

And we were like, you don't know what you asked. You don't know what you just asked for it. And then as the shoot went on, we were basically asked to move like deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into the background of every. shot. Oh no. And then I think I was almost entirely cut out. And he remained somewhat in there, but like there was like a whole party scene where he go to this fancy party, I think a character played by Alexis Bladel at like her mansion or something. And they were like there with everyone and we're like, you know, everyone's like being like snooty and I'm putting snacks into my handbag.

And we just went from, you know, we took the note we ran with it. And like I, I, I remember very succinctly that day of them being like, and Chris and Billy, could you take, I don't know, maybe like 10 steps back and then if you go to your left, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, a little bit further. Okay, cool. And like we essentially, like, and they were like, not even metaphorically, literally asked to leave the frame.

They just were like, you are not. This is karmic payback. Not only are you in the frame, you're in the center of the frame. You've moved on up from the trailer park to the hub to this kind of like high pollutant life. Sadly, the marriage itself, that's so great. But it must be,

that must make, hopefully, the experience of like depicting this really toxic, sad relationship all the, a little bit, make it go down a little bit more easy with someone you're so comfortable with. We're so comfortable together. You know, and we did Black Mirror together too. And when I was doing once,

he was doing a play next door. And so we'd see each other in intermission. and oh yeah and he's a theater kid too and so is noma and dan comes from like you know live performance background and i feel like and ray comes from stand-up and i feel like there's sometimes something with people who you know i don't know started that way where everyone's like really game sometimes i think that like every film and tv i watch now has greater residence for whatever reason because of what we've all experienced the last year but maybe that's not true maybe it's just that there are certain projects and and again this one i think like

Palm Springs in a weird way. It does have some interesting new aspects it takes on, whether, you know, this is this couple that's kind of like isolated, like, and we've all been kind of, sadly, I like my wife a lot, but some people maybe are stuck with people. Yeah. I'm not so happy to be with in the last year. I mean, she's not allowed to leave for 10 years, like that scene in the desert is the first time she's seen like the sun and smelled the air. And, you know, I think also, I mean, you could. I have my own theories for like what the chip could represent if you want to get like metaphorical about it, but also, you know, our own relationships to technology and our own sort of being unable to escape it.

But yeah, I like that there's a reckoning for her, but she's got to like, and I'm glad you've seen through the end of episode four because I feel like that's the when they start to be like, let's go back in time and like see what happened. in here. And I, um, I love that. It, and it is definitely unpredictable and keeps you kind of like guessing. And yeah, I think it's by the end of episode one, you're like, oh, wait, there's Ray Romano with his sex doll partner. This isn't, this show is going to take some chances and, and some swerves. I'm in. I know. Yeah. I really tried to, um, yeah, like a couple, like some of my parents and, um, some of my parents' friends, too, I've been like, so just so you know. first episode's going to be wild what what does the miliotti family uh enjoy most about your career is there a project or something they've geeked out about the most the parents the uncles the aunts

what do they really love about what you know they all loved Palm Springs they all loved once enormously i come from a big music family um really really big like you know music playing at all times and i'm like that too from the second i wake up i have like a sonos playlist and i like turn off my alarm and then I hit play and like I that's the sort of house I grew up in too and I I would say that that one was pretty pretty a big a big favorite how'd they like the dark disturbing world of black mirror the ocean castor really loved that yeah they did it's all the talk of potential spinoffs for Callister we'll see I don't know I would love that I mean I would was did anything feel ever feel like it was actually gaining momentum involving your character that we'd

revisit or was it all sort of conjecture and I mean I know I've put it out there you know I worship Charlie and Annabelle enormously and I've put it out there that like if they ever decided to do that even if I have a walker with tennis balls on it I will okay get back in that uniform yeah wander my rickety ass down the hall I don't know well every time you and Jesse Plements have been in a project together it's worked out two for two I guess between Fargo and It's so wild, and it was such a pleasure to work with him on Black Mirror, because I think we only had one scene in Fargo.

I spent so much of Fargo by myself. Yeah, I mean, I want to revisit that season, if only because when I was looking at it last night, I was like, that cast of that season in particular? Crazy. Bananas. It's crazy, yeah. It was a great group. Oh, my God.

I mean, you know, I got to film a lot with Patrick, who I absolutely. I love Patrick Wilson. He's, yeah, the sweetest, yeah. And he's so kind. Everyone in that group was so kind. And then Nick Offerman, who, like, you know, I already worshipped at his altar, but then to be able to do what our characters do in that one episode of particular where it's like us in the house.

No, that show was great. So where are you at? You're back in New York physically, but where are you at work-wise, like mental health-wise? We're coming. Mental-health-wise. Well, we're starting, I don't know about you. I'm allowing myself to feel a little bit more optimistic about life than escaping our little pause.

I don't know if you've been working much in the last year or... We finished Made for Love in the pandemic. We got shipped down halfway through. The whole falls wild. I mean, we... I wish the scene comes in a later episode. One day I'll tell you, I just did ADR for the scene that was like, me and Ray being on set, being like, are we going to shut down? Like, what is this?

And everyone was like, I don't think so. And then like an hour later, they were like, you gotta go home. We'll be back in a week, don't worry. Oh, that's it. Everyone was like, we'll see in two weeks. This is just two weeks to like, to let everybody get COVID out of their system. And like, we should be fine.

And yeah, then we started again, I think, seven months later. Crazy. And so we finished, so I shot, we shot for eight or nine weeks in the fall. And I've shot little things here and there that have been like a day here, a day there, just on like some, like, for lack of better term,

zany stuff that like I just had like a real ball. Um, I actually worked, I shot with Charlie and Annabel, although virtually for the, they did that, uh, death, uh, funny. And so I, with that was like a mini reunion, but like not able to see each other in person. It was sad. Yeah. And I'm sure you're wondering as I do as a New Yorker, um, as a fan of theater, what we're going to see in the next in six months, what it's going to look like here. Although I am, it does feel very hopeful. First of all, I will never not go see a play again. Like, there were so many, times where I was like, oh, yo, yo, do I really want to, like, oh, I'm talking. Right, I know. Or, like, oh, I got to get on the train. I got to go, it's like three hours, a three hour, I don't know. Like, I never again in my life. Right.

It is my greatest joy is seeing plays, even if they don't work, even if they just, like, being a part of like a holy communion in a dark space, concert, same thing. And I still go to concerts. I can't wait to bitch and moan about all the things that I, used to bitch and moan about to be like at the corner of like the party where i i know like two people and i'm like when can't we leave what's i'm why am i here oh my god i think of all the like times i've gone out with friends after a broadway show to do you know west bank no i don't actually yeah i think is this like it's like a theater bar on 42nd and night

okay it's or joe allen all right oh my god i hope joe allen um comes back uh like we're going to joe allen and getting a martini and being like i don't know i thought that one number was and feeling like just like yeah we're New Yorkers like look at us we went to Broadway we're having a martini like it felt like what I would dream about when I was a kid and I'd be like I'm gonna move to New York I'm maybe an actor I'm gonna see plays I'm like you know when me and my actor friends are like go and like it just yeah it it was magical I'm gonna get back there Kristen we're getting there I mean she in the park is coming back there's little pop-ups coming up yeah

Byrne is doing a show at the Armory. Oh, amazing. Yeah, I'm still eyeing. I don't know. I still haven't been to a movie in over a year, but I'm getting my second shot tomorrow. So I'm starting to eye my first theatrical experience. I don't know what the lucky.

I think that's going to happen sooner than we. I know I feel like we are reopening at such a breakneck speed. It's a little actually like I don't feel like my body has quite caught up to it where I've been like, oh, did you not know that I've been like a mulliske for the left? like, you know, here, like just basically, like sitting in my own, like, sweatpants. I know. I need to re-learn how to talk to human beings out in the wild. But I do, but it is also thrilling. Yeah.

Begin to see that, for sure. These are good problems to have. Great problems. Well, I look forward to seeing you out in the wild, whether it's in a Sundance Swag Suite or at Joe Allen's or just on the streets of New York. Congratulations on Made for Love. Everybody should check it out. It's on HBO Max. Also, you can check out Kill Bill, Volume 1 and 2, also on HBO Max.

You are all about the HBO Max. It's been good to chat today, Kristen. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person.

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