Konkle grateful she landed in comedy
Three months after having her first baby and not long after she completed the Emmynominated series “PEN15,” Anna Konkle liked the sound of filming her next project in a remote Mexican jungle.
“You had heard of casts going to these beautiful places, and they had to be quarantined, and so they would just stay in these amazing hotels and film there,” she said.
In reality, Konkle’s experience of making her new movie, “The Drop,” which recently premiered on Hulu, was anything but blissful. The poor cellphone reception and limited access to food and water were the least of the breastfeeding mom’s worries. By the end of the shoot, she had to have fluids administered through an intravenous line.
“Everyone got horrific diarrhea, and I stopped making milk, so then I would have to get the IV while I pumped to make milk because I was so dehydrated,” Konkle recalled. In the end, she was glad she made the movie — and not just because her daughter “adapted wonderfully and was very fat by the end of filming.”
“I loved the idea of motherhood being not saccharine, but R-rated and funny. And that just felt exciting to be a part of that, I think, especially grappling with the stage that I was at,” Konkle said.
“The Drop,” which was executive produced by Jay Duplass, follows Lex (Konkle) and Mani (Jermaine Fowler) as the happy couple tries to get pregnant. But their relationship is put to the test when Lex drops their friends’ baby in front of everyone during a
destination wedding trip.
For Konkle, the film’s honest exploration of being a parent and the mistakes that come with it was a refreshing reminder as she was adjusting to life as a new mom.
“The amount of criticism that I find myself having, scrutinizing myself, comparing myself to other people and, you know, they’re vacationing with their child or they’re teaching them science or whatever,” Konkle said. “I just loved in the film that it was kind of like, (expletive) happens, no one’s perfect, and you grapple with that, and you keep going.”
Konkle, along with her best friend Maya Erskine, garnered critical praise for “PEN15,” a cringe-filled homage to seventh grade set in the early 2000s that the duo starred in and co-created. Although she and Erskine both studied
experimental theater in college, where they met, Konkle sees comedy as a natural, albeit unexpected, step in her career.
“There is something in comedy of laughing at the darkest moments and your own vulnerability that feels like you can go farther than drama,” Konkle said. “I didn’t think I’d end up in comedy. I was like so serious. But it’s the perfect home. I feel so grateful that that’s where I kind of landed.”
Jan. 22 birthdays: Actor Piper Laurie is 91. Singer Steve Perry is 74. Bassist Teddy Gentry is 71. Actor John Wesley Shipp is 68. Actor Linda Blair is 64. Actor Diane Lane is 58. DJ Jazzy Jeff is 58. Chef Guy Fieri is 55. Actor Olivia D’Abo is 54. Actor Gabriel Macht is 51. Singer Lizz Wright is 43. Actor Beverley Mitchell is 42. Rapper Logic is 33.