‘Landline’ comes calling
Slate reteams with director for comedy about love, divorce
Jenny Slate is hoping lightning will strike twice. When Slate teamed with director Gillian Robespierre on the 2014 indie hit “Obvious Child,” the Milton native’s career dramatically changed into a “Before and After.”
Prior to “Obvious Child,” Slate, 35, had never headlined a picture, much less played such a complex character.
“It’s fair to say ‘ Child’ is a marker for me and probably personally for me because before that I was never asked to explore my range that way.
“It was really satisfying and I became a more confident performer because of that.”
With Friday’s “Landline,” Robespierre, Slate and “Child” co-screenwriter Elisabeth Holm reunite for a realistic drama about a troubled Manhattan family.
Bickering parents Pat (Edie Falco) and Alan (John Turturro) are anything but close. Dana (Slate), their eldest daughter, is engaged and living with her fiance, Bem (Jay Duplass), but panicked by her sudden attraction to an old beau (Finn Wittrock, “American Horror Story).
Her teenage sister Ali (Abby Quinn) is righteously rebelling with sex, drugs and attitude galore.
As its title suggests, “Landline” is a period picture, in this case 1995.
“That was a time when people wrote thank-you notes and wouldn’t cancel 15 minutes before a date,” Slate said.
“You’d call on a landline and know you’re entering their personal space. I miss all of that.”
For screenwriters Robespierre and Holm, “Landline” was personal.
“They’re both from Manhattan and came of age in the ’90s, and both experienced their parents’ divorce when they were 16,” Slate said.
“They said, ‘We sort of want to make a comedy about divorce.’”
Slate could not be more enthusiastic about multifaceted Dana than if she wrote the role herself.
“Dana is probably the most intense person I’ve ever played. She’s incredibly sweet, an overachiever who doesn’t care about being cool at all.
“She’s very romantic. I don’t think as a woman she ever considered whether she’s ‘empowered.’ She gets to a point that she realizes her relationship has been consistent — and that that is not necessarily a plus.”
What Slate most wanted was, “That at the end of the movie, I didn’t really care which guy Dana ended up with. I’m really tired of which male a woman ends up with.
“I just wanted Dana to be as complex as a real person.”