Slate focuses on film career
Actress talks Landline’s sister sub-plot and finding time for standup
Actress and standup comic Jenny Slate doesn’t find humour in gossipy items about being linked to famous leading men such as Jon Hamm and Chris Evans, so she ignores the hearsay.
Slate even promoted the comedy-drama Gifted last spring alongside Evans after they had broken up. Now that’s a trooper.
Others might lose their focus. But not Slate, who is so busy with her film career these days that she doesn’t have time to pay attention to the whispering tidbits or, for that matter, to perform her standup act.
Landline is another one of those cinematic distractions. The 35-yearold couldn’t resist the invitation to reunite with Landline writer-director Gillian Robespierre and writer Elisabeth Holm, who had hired Slate for her break out role in Obvious Child.
“We wanted to do something together again,” says Slate from Los Angeles. “The (Landline) story came from the fact that they both grew up in New York in the ’90s and both parents were divorced and they were 16 years old, so they had this shared experience of going through a family crisis.”
Set in 1995 Manhattan, Landline features a family in social turmoil, with a twist of wit. Slate portrays the older sister trying to mentor her teen sibling (Abby Quinn), even as she is cheating on her fiance (Jay Duplass). Even worse, both daughters suspect their father (John Turturro) is being unfaithful to their mother (Edie Falco).
Besides loads of references to the ’90s, including pop music, posters, a younger Hillary Clinton and the title, there is the necessary absence of social media, a positive that Slate thinks helps the narrative.
“There are no social-media devices to distract, so the characters have to talk it out,” Slate says.
And, talk they do. The dialogue-heavy film leans on the ensemble approach, but luckily the cast came together quickly despite having “only an afternoon of rehearsal” before filming began.
“I think Gillian and Liz have wonderful taste in casting and they hired performers who were ready to open up immediately,” Slate says.
Despite the nostalgia trappings and the familiar dysfunctional family trope, Landline contains a more serious feminist purpose.
“I think they were very interested in the three women in the movie who are at different stages in their lives,” says Slate of Robespierre and Holm. “They are examining their partnerships at different stages and how it causes a ripple effect.”
In fact, the sister sub-plot is especially vital and provides some of the film’s strongest moments. “The sisters are like the people who put on those padded Sumo suits and bounce off of each other,” says the actress.
After graduating from Columbia University, Slate was all about comedy. Guest spots on sitcoms came along while she continued to perform standup and do voice roles in animated features. Next up for her is the futuristic thriller Hotel Artemis with Jodie Foster, Sofia Boutella and Dave Bautista.
“I choose acting jobs for different reasons,” says Slate. “But, I guess I mostly choose jobs like I choose people I want to hang out with.”
Meanwhile, her comedy career has to be relegated to the sidelines, although she is booked at Toronto’s Comedy Festival on Sept. 24.
“I do have a monthly show in L.A.,” Slate says of her solo act. “But, once a month is not enough. When my film career started to happen, it just became harder, but I can’t help myself: I still love standup.”