Alison Brie is full of surprises. After gaining attention for complicated good girls on series like "Mad Men" and "Community," she became an '80s-era wrestler for "GLOW," a medieval nun in "The Little Hours," and a rom-com star in "Sleeping with Other People" and "How to Be Single."
Now, she's co-written, co-produced, and stars with Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon, Zach Woods, Debby Ryan and Alessandro Nivola in the genre-defying new movie "Spin Me Round." The SAG award-winning, Golden Globe-nominated actor, writer, director and producer joined me on "Salon Talks" to discuss the inspiration for her character's Italian odyssey, what "GLOW" taught her about creativity, and that "Community" reunion we've all been waiting for.
The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
This movie goes in directions I could not have seen coming. Your character Amber, where do we meet her in this story? And then what transforms her?
When we meet Amber, she is living in Bakersfield and she is a manager at an Italian chain restaurant, a job she's had for the last nine years. You get the sense that she's pretty stagnant in her life. She's not a very assertive person. She's a bit of a pushover, lets people walk all over her. She doesn't really make big moves to change that. But she gets the opportunity to travel to Italy for this exemplary managers program.
It's sold to her as this fully immersive Italian trip where she's going to enjoy food, wine, and culture. She really has high expectations about
"In the last few years, it's been this moment of major reflection for all women."
falling in love. When she gets there, things don't go the way she expected. But through the experiences that she has and through the people that she meets there, we get to see her come out of her shell and become a more self-possessed woman.
It's a story about someone who — and we've all fallen prey to this — thinks that she's going to go on one vacation and then be a different person.
I think we've all had those moments in our life, whether it's a big trip or a new job or a myriad of things in which you think, "This is the life-changer. Everything is going to be different after this." Something that we thought was funny is that idea of dashed expectations. But the underlying message is, even if that thing doesn't change your life wholly and completely, maybe you do still come out of it a different person. There is some personal growth there, however microscopic, and that is the case for my character in this movie.
This is another co-writing project for you. What you seem to have really brought to the story is these types of interactions that a lot of us have had, which only in retrospect seem weird and not OK. Tell me about how you developed that part of it, because that wasn't in the initial concept for this.
In the last few years, it's been this moment of major reflection for all women, analyzing a lot of the situations that we've been put in, that we've put ourselves in and how we feel about those situations. Jeff [Baena] had the original idea for this movie and when he brought it to me, he already had about a 10-page outline in terms of the main story beats. I was so on board for the story and the idea, which was fabulous.
Then I got to come in and infuse that with personal experience, with personal history and anecdotal history. I do think it just helps to really add to the specificity of the moments that this character is having, especially in her interactions with Alessandro Nivola's character, Nick, because as you said, it's a weird line.
I feel like the personal connection brings a lot of truth to it. It's based on a number of different men that I've known in my life and experiences that I've had. I think it helps us to not put a commentary on it. We can let the viewer take away what they would like to take away from it without us infusing it with a message. It's more just me presenting, "Here's the type of person that I've experienced. Here's some situations that I've been in." It's an interesting litmus test for different audiences to see what people take away.
I don't know a single woman who hasn't had that experience of a male colleague or a male supervisor who is just confidently strange with you.
As women, we're raised to be very polite. "Smile more" is the thing that we're all sending up these days. It resonates with me the idea, especially when I was younger, of not wanting to rock the boat, not always knowing how to respond, and not always knowing until later that maybe I was a little uncomfortable, not necessarily knowing when and if you're being manipulated, or, if you're into it or not. Sometimes maybe you are. At the start of this movie she really is taken by that character. He's the fantasy, right? He's a rich, charismatic, attractive man. He wants to take her sailing off the Amalfi Coast. It's the things that movies and television have told us we're supposed to want.
[Amber] has a lot of that going on, where everybody in her life is telling her, "You're going to fall in love on this trip." She goes into the trip really feeling like she should. It takes her a little longer to really catch on to what's going on, because she doesn't want to. She wants the fantasy.
One of the things I thought was so cool about this movie is the score, and the way that it subverts all of these expectations. The film's composer comes out of the thriller genre and did the score for "Don't Look Now," "Carrie." The music is so discordant with some of the scenes, which are often very funny, and it really creates this kind of off balance feeling for it. How does that come together?
I think that the score is one of the best parts of the film. It's work done by Pino Donaggio, the iconic composer worked on a lot of Brian De Palma films, and erotic thrillers from the '80s. It was Jeff's idea. He thought that that would be such a perfect fit. We used his score from "Body
"My favorite part of filmmaking is the collaboration between artists on every level."
Double" as a guiding force. Jeff reached out to him a little bit before we were in Italy. Then when we were there shooting the movie after we wrapped filming, Jeff and Aubrey and I actually went to Venice to meet him in person to coax him, convince him, beg him to do the movie. We got to spend some time in his studio, which was a really incredible experience. He's the real deal. He's this Italian maestro. You feel the weight of his beautiful work in the film.
It's clear that building a team and creating that collaboration is a big part of your work in general. Alison, you seem to be a classic team player in so many ways. In a field that is often about being the center of attention, you gravitate to projects that are really more about everybody having a different piece in this bigger puzzle. Is that something that you've developed as you came along in your career?
I've always enjoyed it. My favorite part of filmmaking is the collaboration between artists on every level in the film. The more that I get to work behind the camera, that's my favorite part too, seeing the artistry that's brought to the table by the production designer, the set decorator, hair and makeup. I've always been really into the hair and makeup and costume design. Especially in indie film and a few that I've been fortunate to be a producer on and get to watch these people work, everybody is so passionate about what they do. I just also like to work with good people.
I've done a couple films with my husband, Dave [Franco]. He is so diligent about finding talented people that are also just really kind, generous, excited, passionate people. Jeff is the same way. That's why he gravitates towards working with the same actors over and over again. Filmmaking is hard. The hours are long, especially [in] indie movies. It's really touch and go. There can be total chaos, and you want to be surrounded by wonderful people. The older I get too, I just think, "Can I just keep doing movies with my friends?" It's fun. For this movie, it was really great to be in Italy with all of these wonderful people.
You wrote the Molly Shannon character with her in mind. Were there other parts in this movie that you thought, "This is who I have in mind for these roles; this is how I want this to come together"? Aubrey Plaza, you've worked with her so many times.
Even when Jeff brought the idea to me, I think he had always had Aubrey in mind for playing the Kat role. And Molly, that's about it. The rest of the parts, we just really delved into the specificity of each character. Then when we cast the movie, we went back in and tailored each role even more to those actors.
"Working on "GLOW" is where that shift happened for me."
You've been in this profession a long time. In the last few years, there has been this seismic shift for women in the industry, where you do get to wear many hats. You get to see more women like yourself who are producing and who are writing and who are directing. Is there an expectation that you have to wear all those hats and that you have to do all those things if you want to stay current?
I haven't really thought about it like that. I can really only speak to my personal experience with it. Working on "GLOW" is where that shift happened for me. It was a set that was run by women, with so many women in front of the camera and behind the camera. That was a really inspiring experience for me. And I got to direct on that show. While we were shooting "GLOW," that's when I first wrote "Horse Girl" with Jeff. Being on that set and seeing women working in so many different capacities was endlessly inspiring to me, and gave me the confidence to try on these new hats. I haven't felt pressure. For me, getting to write is an amazing creative outlet that I get to do. It all feels at my leisure. Nobody's pressuring me to do it at this point.
You've worked with other actor-directors, like Clea DuVall, like Emerald Fennell, like Dave Franco. I wonder what you feel actors bring to the job of directing. Do you feel that you're learning something different as an actor when you then are behind the camera? And I want to know when you're going to be behind the camera next as well.
Absolutely, they bring something different. What is afforded to an actor is the opportunity to work with so many different directors. I've realized recently that when you're a director, you're not often on sets watching other directors. It's a like a solo journey. As actors, especially working in television, we have a new director on set every week. You really get to see how different people work and different directing styles and different ways of communicating with actors. When I've worked with directors who have also acted, there's a very strong line of communication with the actors because they understand what it's like to get notes from a director. When I've been on the other side of the camera, it's fascinating what a small part of the process the actors actually are. My favorite part was working with the actors on "GLOW," especially because I was so close with them by the time I shot that episode in our third season. It's a great perspective that actors have when they go into directing.
Speaking of upcoming projects, I've heard you say recently that the wheels are turning for a possible "Community" update.
The wheels are turning.
Other words on that one?
No, I think I've said all I can say on that front for now, but fingers crossed.
But we do get a reunion of you and Danny Pudi coming up soon in your next project. Tell me about that.
That's right. I wrote it with my husband, Dave Franco. The film is called "Somebody I Used to Know," and it also stars Jay Elli, Kiersey Clemons, Haley Joel Osment and Julie Hagerty. It's a great cast and yes, "Community's" very own Danny Pudi. It was so fun being back on set with Danny; it felt like not a day had passed.
The "Community" group text chain is going off every day. I see Danny all the time for a coffee or a hike. We've stayed quite close, but we hadn't been on set together in a long time. Truly, we were just immediately back to our old antics, and a lot of them kind of made it into the movie. I think that "Community" fans will be very excited to see us together because it feels nostalgic.
In your opinion, what is it about "Community" that continues to hit deep with people? You have people who never watched it in the first run who are discovering it anew. What is it about that particular, weird, quirky show that was also a launching pad for so many talented people?
First of all, it has been really special since the show has gone up on a number of new streaming platforms to see new audiences find it and connect with it. I never would've imagined when we were making it, the staying power that it has had. It's really special to all of us. I think it's always been an underdog show from the inside out. When we were on the air, we were always in danger of being canceled. Thank God we had such a passionate fan base, because they really kept us on the air.
The characters themselves are all underdogs. They're all struggling with something. They're all finding themselves in a place that they don't necessarily want to be and learning to make the best of it. It's got a lot of heart, and obviously it's so funny and unique. It comes from the brain of Dan Harmon and all of his comedic geniuses infused into the show. But at the end of the day, I think people connect with it more because of the heart that it has.
"Spin Me Round" is in theaters and on AMC+ now.
