Noel Wells at peace with her dark side
“I’ve gotten to the point where it’s fun to be underestimated by people.” — Noel Wells
Noel Wells’ first movie as a writer-director, in which she also stars, is “Mr. Roosevelt.” It premiered as part of this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.
From San Antonio, Wells, 30, attended the University of Texas at Austin before moving to Los Angeles. After a series of online comedy videos racked up millions of views, she appeared on “Saturday Night Live” for the 2013-14 season, gaining attention for her spoton impressions of young celebrities such as Zooey Deschanel, Lena Dunham and Emma Stone.
After leaving “SNL,” Wells appeared as the female lead/romantic interest on the first season of Aziz Ansari’s acclaimed series “Master of None”; co-starred with Jessica Williams in the movie “The Incredible Jessica James,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; and she just finished shooting the movie “Happy Anniversary,” co-starring Ben Schwartz.
Wells also has an upcoming series at Comedy Central that she co-wrote, co-created and stars in.
The following is an edited transcript.
Q: You went back to Austin to make your movie. Why?
A: For me, it always felt like my first movie would be there. So much of my formative years were there, and I’m still kind of unpacking that. It’s a town filled with all these incredible, supportive people, and I really wanted to celebrate it. Also, it’s such a great setting and filled with all these characters, and I wanted to collaborate with my friends and people that I’ve known.
Q: In the film, you deliver a monologue in which you decry being labeled a quirky girl as a way to diminish a woman’s intellect and power. Is that how you feel in real life?
A: It happens all the time. Emily the character, she gets upset about it, and so she goes on her soapbox tirade. I’ve gotten to the point where it’s fun to be underestimated by people. People are constantly talking down to me. When I was on “SNL,” they were like, “Don’t worry, you’re a cute girl, and Lorne Michaels likes cute girls.” And it blew my mind that people didn’t see me for how I felt about myself.
Q: Your roles on “Master of None” and “Mr. Roosevelt” show your knack to shift from a manic comic energy to something much more emotionally real. Where does that come from?
A: My comedy, what’s driving me, is a very dark, sad thing. I find the world incredibly bleak. Everybody is a cartoon to me, even myself. It’s just a part of me. And the trick that I have in my back pocket is that I am very OK with becoming very vulnerable really fast and just being incredibly honest.