Just so lovely
Gillian Jacobs, star of comedy Love, doesn’t play it for laughs.
LOVE is a many splendored thing – a comedy-drama about two people maybe, sorta in a relationship; a slyly subversive anti-rom-com; and a critical and commercial hit for Netflix that’s been renewed for a third season even before the second one premiered last week.
Love is also a chance for fans of the cult-hit Community to see Gillian – hard G – Jacobs in a very different role from that of inept social crusader Britta. Her Mickey Dobbs is a mess – hiding it well though addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex and cigarettes. Yet even when dressed down and glammed down, she’s still gorgeous enough that shlumpy Gus Cruikshank (Paul Rust, who co-created the show with wife Lesley Arfin and Judd Apatow) can’t resist her. There’s a sad sweetness to it without the least bit of schmaltz, and it’s fascinating watching the disaster that might happen with rom-com tropes in real life.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in suburban Mt. Lebanon, Jacobs, 34, was a child actress in local theatre who went on to graduate from Juilliard in 2004. A year after she made her screen debut in the indie Building Girl (2005), her work in OffBroadway’s Cagelove had the New York Times calling Jacobs “a star in the making.”
After her breakthrough in Community, she had a recurring role on Girls, and her films include Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (2012) and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013).
It took me a few episodes to figure it out, but seems to be taking rom-com cliches – “the grand gesture,” “the quirky f rst date” – and showing how awkward or even disastrously that stuff would play out in real life.
I think that’s a part of it, that the writers always try and ground the episodes in what people would actually do in real life, how you would respond to those situations.
And I also think they’re trying to tease out all those first awkward, fumbling missteps when you start dating someone. And when you heighten the stakes with two people who have a lot of issues.
Love
It’s generally referred to as a comedy, but it seems to me that you and Paul Rust are playing dramatic roles.
I agree with you. I think there have been a lot of TV shows in the last couple of years that don’t quite fit neatly into the “comedy” or “drama” box.
I just try to be as truthful and honest as I can and I don’t really try to play it for laughs. I think there is a lot of comedy in the situations and the characters, so I just trust it will be funny.
Again, subverting rom-com tropes, you have a beautiful girl paired with a, let’s say, not conventionally handsome man. It’s not often you see this kind of disparity between a couple on-screen.
Oh, I think Paul’s very handsome! I don’t think there’s any message in our casting. And I think we have great chemistry between the characters. I don’t ever think about that.
OK, then let’s talk about
W hat is it that inspired such outsized fan devotion?
I think it’s
Community.
a combination of some of the best writing on TV and a really amazing cast – I think we got lucky on two fronts. It was a really special experience and I think it was fun because we as actors were also fans of the show.
We’d all run to our trailers on Thursday nights to try and watch the show as it was airing on NBC, and they’d have to drag us back on the set to keep shooting.
Some biography: Two different 1982 birth dates show up for you online – Oct 19 and Oct 20. W hich is correct?
You know, why clear it up? Mystery on the Internet! Who cares? Same star sign. – Newsday/Tribune News Service