True Bloods Carrie Preston directed a film that played at The Sundance Film Festival this year. Her husband, Lost star Michael Emerson, was even in the audience to support her. The Sundance rep who introduced the film called it a pussy comedy. Thats What She Said is a raunchy girls comedy. Dee Dee (Anne Heche) is a bitter divorcee who chain smokes, drinks in the afternoon and is happy to call other ladies cunts. Bebe (Marcia DeBonis) is a perennial optimist even though it seems like her dream guy is a married man whos standing her up. They meet Clementine (Alia Shawkat) in a coffee shop and find she is an emotional wreck with sexual issues.
The day gets worse and worse for this trio of ladies in a misadventure that should appeal to the Bridesmaids audience. Certainly thats what a studio should be thinking when they consider buying the indie film. When I compared her film to the hit Kristen Wiig movie, I became Prestons BFF.
Prestons fabulous True Blood red hair certainly shone against the white snow of Park City, UT. Two days after her premiere, Preston and her cast were partying at the festival and Preston would stay for a full week. We chatted in a warm loft off Main Street about naughty jokes and Arlene on that vampire show.
SG: Can this be an audience participation movie where we call out Thats what she said after every joke?
CP: [Laughs] I would love that. You could only imagine the Thats what she said jokes that were going on when we were shooting the film. Hows it going? Well, its been long and hard but we went all night. Thats what she said! People just making things up but then it got to be ridiculous, like, Go stand on your mark. Thats what she said! Stuff that didnt even really make sense.
SG: Thats why its funny, because youre thinking, Well, could that make sense?
CP: Yeah, could that work? Yeah, I guess it could.
SG: We could start writing an audience participation script to go along with the film.
CP: Sure, you can. Like a Rocky Horror kind of thing. Right on. Lets do that.
SG: Are you grateful that Steve Carell brought that immature joke back into popularity?
CP: You know what, its funny because we thought that title would work on two levels. It would be a nod to those dude kind of movies, a nod to men who use that phrase with each other in relation to any kind of sophomoric sexual innuendo and kind of reclaim it for the chicks. And then also on a second level it is a movie about women talking. So it is literally thats what she said. You could say any of the three women being the she. So I liked how it had two different levels.
SG: Do you really call this a pussy comedy?
CP: I dont call it a pussy comedy. I call it a chick flick thats not for pussies.
SG: So the person who introduced the film said it wrong.
CP: He did but I didnt want to correct him because I adore him. Whatever, if he wants to use the word pussy, he can. But a chick flick thats not for pussies I think is a little more [accurate].
SG: Because youre not afraid to let the women really be bad.
CP: Im not afraid to let them be bad. Im not afraid for the audience to be uncomfortable and see things that theyve not seen before. We have as audiences metaphorically been watching men grab their crotches since the beginning of film. I think its time to watch a woman do it.
SG: Is it frustrating that so many of the supposedly raunchy women movies are still so tame and watered down?
CP: I think weve turned the corner a little bit. I think that definitely the audiences are ready to see things that are a little grittier and a little more real with women, what they say and their behavior. So I feel like our film, even though weve been working on this film, Kellie Overbey who wrote it started almost eight years ago, we were creating this script all along the way when it was a little more subversive. But it couldnt be better timing to come out at a time when audiences I think are a little more ready for it.
SG: Is that because of Bridesmaids?
CP: I think Bridesmaids has helped. Yeah, I think its helped. You know, women have been having sex for a long time so there are bound to be different points of view about that.
SG: Is it your or Kellies idea to have the C word in the movie?
CP: Thats Kellie. Again, reclaiming that word, not being afraid of it. Also its right in line with the character that Anne Heche plays. Dee Dee would use that word. Bebe would not. Clementine would not. So its not like were saying that everyone should say that word. It is specific to that character.
SG: Yet as raunchy as it is, was it important to have a loving element with the flashbacks to Dee Dees marriage?
CP: Yes, I wanted to make sure I know Kellie did too that the film was not a male hating film, it wasnt a film that was in any way dismissive of men and their behavior. The film is about women and how we relate to each other by talking about relationships, by talking about men, talking about women. So the men are peripheral to that. Theyre secondary to that primary relationship and thats why I intentionally shot them from behind or profile or sort of out of focus, because they arent the focus of this particular story that were telling.
SG: Did you take out a scene where all of the girls sing into hairbrushes?
CP: [Laughs] There was no such sequence.
SG: Im glad you know what Im talking about though.
CP: There were no such scenes. No, there are no high fashion singings where people are living in huge apartments
that dont exist.
SG: How did those become our movie clichs? Who looks at a hairbrush and goes?
CP: Ive got to sing into it. I don't know. Have you ever done that?
SG: No.
CP: Me neither.
SG: I would sing for real, but not pretend something else is a microphone.
CP: I know, exactly. But I did have a montage in there. I had a little nod to the montage with the girlfriends going through the city. But theyre having a shitty time as theyre doing it. It was a fun montage but theyre having a rough day, so its kind of a little wink to that formula too.
SG: How did you help Anne Heche get as far as she goes in this movie?
CP: You know, Anne is an extraordinary actor. When she read the script, she was on board immediately. She knew what a great role it was and she wasnt afraid of it. You need to have an actor like that to play that role. We all knew that Anne was funny, but we didnt know how funny. She was literally balls to the wall and you have to be with that character, because if you pull back too much, it doesnt work because the journey that the character [goes through], where she ends up at the end, she has to be pushed there. So we would talk about that, she and I, about everything being a setup for that last scene.
SG: Was it important that there be a lesbian couple, and its not a big deal?
CP: Kellie really wanted that to be in there. Yes, exactly, not make a big deal out of it at all because thats just part of New York City certainly, and part of the world that these women would live in. Also my production company, Daisy 3 Pictures, we make gay films you can take your mother to and womens films with a broad appeal. She wanted to have a little nod to those films that we make too, so she wanted to make sure we had a gay couple in there.
SG: What is your life as a filmmaker like compatibly or separate from your life as an actor?
CP: You know, I find that they really complement each other because I learn a lot in front of the camera about what to do behind the camera. I certainly have more respect now for what does go on behind the camera, what the director is trying to accomplish, why things take as long as they do, why continuity is important. All those things that then I can try to apply when Im in front of the camera. And I am on a TV show now that has such a huge cast that were in all the episodes but we dont work every day. So I have the luxury of having a steady paycheck right now, which is always rare for an actor, which affords me time to work on my film projects so they definitely complement each other in that way.
SG: Have you ever directed an episode of True Blood?
CP: No, I have not.
SG: Would you go there?
CP: I don't know if True Blood is the kind of thing that I would be naturally good for. That said, I would love to shadow one of the directors. In other words, be by his or her side from the minute they come on to when the episode is locked because Ive not experienced that whole process. I only just come on set as the actor. I know its different from features so I would love to do something like that and I intend to talk to them about that and see if they wouldnt mind me doing that.
SG: How nice is it to have a partner whos also an artist and gets it?
CP: I don't know how I would have made this movie if I wasnt married to Michael Emerson because I sat him down about two or three months before I went into preproduction. I said, I have something I want to talk to you about. Im not going to do this until youre okay with it because when youre making a film youre basically not there. You are completely unavailable to the other person. I said, How would you feel if I finally make this movie happen? And he said, Im with you all the way. I believe in it and I believe in you. So he just totally supported me through the whole thing and Im so grateful for that. He would literally take care of the house, take care of the dog. He would come by the set and make sure I was okay. Hes a good man. We do that for each other. When he was in Hawaii, I was constantly going over there and being with him while he was working on Lost. Its just what you do. You support each other.
SG: Are you both in New York now?
CP: Hes in New York on Person of Interest. True Blood shoots in L.A. So we are having to be back and forth.
SG: At the same time, or does it at least alternate schedules?
CP: We have some overlap so right now were in overlap, so were both working. Hell finish in April and then I will work until July.
SG: Are you working on the new season now?
CP: We are. Yeah, we started right around Thanksgiving. Season five.
SG: What sorts of things are you looking forward to getting to do this year?
CP: You know, I just put myself in the hands of the writers. I don't know how they are able to have so many balls in the air and juggle all of them and give all the storylines their due, but they do. I just go along for the ride.
SG: As its expanded, how has that impacted you?
CP: I have less. I have less to do because there are so many characters, but the thing that Ive learned about the show and those writers is, even if you have less to do, it still packs a punch. So I just am grateful that my character is still alive and still there and that they still want and the audiences still want Arlene, because I think she adds a lot of spice to the show.
SG: Alive and still human.
CP: And still human, true. Thats saying something, isnt it?
SG: So when they do cut back to Merlotts its really important.
CP: Well, I think what made the show really work at the beginning was how it was grounded in a reality, albeit a fictitious depiction of reality but still it was grounded in this small town. So you really need to have the characters like Arlene and Terry and Andy Bellefleur, the characters that are representative of the human race.
SG: Would you normally keep your hair fabulously red if it werent for True Blood?
CP: No I wouldnt but I certainly am glad for it because I really like being a redhead. It takes a little
maintenance but I like it.
SG: What interaction do you have with True Blood fans?
CP: I do have some wonderful, wonderful Twitter followers and I love to interact with them and I retweet and comment and talk to them. They are very devoted and thats so fun because who would have thought you could reach 37,000 fans with one sentence? Its extraordinary.
SG: Have you been meeting with buyers at Sundance?
CP: No meetings but I know that theyve been seeing the film and we have our fingers crossed that well be able to get a good partnership there.
SG: What is it like to be directly involved with that side of things at the festival?
CP: Yeah, you might actually meet personally with them and I feel like theres an audience for this film. I could feel it in the screenings that weve had that people are really into it. Im assuming that somebodys going to also pick up on that and want to keep it going.
Look for That's What She Said in theater later this year. You read about it here first!
The day gets worse and worse for this trio of ladies in a misadventure that should appeal to the Bridesmaids audience. Certainly thats what a studio should be thinking when they consider buying the indie film. When I compared her film to the hit Kristen Wiig movie, I became Prestons BFF.
Prestons fabulous True Blood red hair certainly shone against the white snow of Park City, UT. Two days after her premiere, Preston and her cast were partying at the festival and Preston would stay for a full week. We chatted in a warm loft off Main Street about naughty jokes and Arlene on that vampire show.
SG: Can this be an audience participation movie where we call out Thats what she said after every joke?
CP: [Laughs] I would love that. You could only imagine the Thats what she said jokes that were going on when we were shooting the film. Hows it going? Well, its been long and hard but we went all night. Thats what she said! People just making things up but then it got to be ridiculous, like, Go stand on your mark. Thats what she said! Stuff that didnt even really make sense.
SG: Thats why its funny, because youre thinking, Well, could that make sense?
CP: Yeah, could that work? Yeah, I guess it could.
SG: We could start writing an audience participation script to go along with the film.
CP: Sure, you can. Like a Rocky Horror kind of thing. Right on. Lets do that.
SG: Are you grateful that Steve Carell brought that immature joke back into popularity?
CP: You know what, its funny because we thought that title would work on two levels. It would be a nod to those dude kind of movies, a nod to men who use that phrase with each other in relation to any kind of sophomoric sexual innuendo and kind of reclaim it for the chicks. And then also on a second level it is a movie about women talking. So it is literally thats what she said. You could say any of the three women being the she. So I liked how it had two different levels.
SG: Do you really call this a pussy comedy?
CP: I dont call it a pussy comedy. I call it a chick flick thats not for pussies.
SG: So the person who introduced the film said it wrong.
CP: He did but I didnt want to correct him because I adore him. Whatever, if he wants to use the word pussy, he can. But a chick flick thats not for pussies I think is a little more [accurate].
SG: Because youre not afraid to let the women really be bad.
CP: Im not afraid to let them be bad. Im not afraid for the audience to be uncomfortable and see things that theyve not seen before. We have as audiences metaphorically been watching men grab their crotches since the beginning of film. I think its time to watch a woman do it.
SG: Is it frustrating that so many of the supposedly raunchy women movies are still so tame and watered down?
CP: I think weve turned the corner a little bit. I think that definitely the audiences are ready to see things that are a little grittier and a little more real with women, what they say and their behavior. So I feel like our film, even though weve been working on this film, Kellie Overbey who wrote it started almost eight years ago, we were creating this script all along the way when it was a little more subversive. But it couldnt be better timing to come out at a time when audiences I think are a little more ready for it.
SG: Is that because of Bridesmaids?
CP: I think Bridesmaids has helped. Yeah, I think its helped. You know, women have been having sex for a long time so there are bound to be different points of view about that.
SG: Is it your or Kellies idea to have the C word in the movie?
CP: Thats Kellie. Again, reclaiming that word, not being afraid of it. Also its right in line with the character that Anne Heche plays. Dee Dee would use that word. Bebe would not. Clementine would not. So its not like were saying that everyone should say that word. It is specific to that character.
SG: Yet as raunchy as it is, was it important to have a loving element with the flashbacks to Dee Dees marriage?
CP: Yes, I wanted to make sure I know Kellie did too that the film was not a male hating film, it wasnt a film that was in any way dismissive of men and their behavior. The film is about women and how we relate to each other by talking about relationships, by talking about men, talking about women. So the men are peripheral to that. Theyre secondary to that primary relationship and thats why I intentionally shot them from behind or profile or sort of out of focus, because they arent the focus of this particular story that were telling.
SG: Did you take out a scene where all of the girls sing into hairbrushes?
CP: [Laughs] There was no such sequence.
SG: Im glad you know what Im talking about though.
CP: There were no such scenes. No, there are no high fashion singings where people are living in huge apartments
that dont exist.
SG: How did those become our movie clichs? Who looks at a hairbrush and goes?
CP: Ive got to sing into it. I don't know. Have you ever done that?
SG: No.
CP: Me neither.
SG: I would sing for real, but not pretend something else is a microphone.
CP: I know, exactly. But I did have a montage in there. I had a little nod to the montage with the girlfriends going through the city. But theyre having a shitty time as theyre doing it. It was a fun montage but theyre having a rough day, so its kind of a little wink to that formula too.
SG: How did you help Anne Heche get as far as she goes in this movie?
CP: You know, Anne is an extraordinary actor. When she read the script, she was on board immediately. She knew what a great role it was and she wasnt afraid of it. You need to have an actor like that to play that role. We all knew that Anne was funny, but we didnt know how funny. She was literally balls to the wall and you have to be with that character, because if you pull back too much, it doesnt work because the journey that the character [goes through], where she ends up at the end, she has to be pushed there. So we would talk about that, she and I, about everything being a setup for that last scene.
SG: Was it important that there be a lesbian couple, and its not a big deal?
CP: Kellie really wanted that to be in there. Yes, exactly, not make a big deal out of it at all because thats just part of New York City certainly, and part of the world that these women would live in. Also my production company, Daisy 3 Pictures, we make gay films you can take your mother to and womens films with a broad appeal. She wanted to have a little nod to those films that we make too, so she wanted to make sure we had a gay couple in there.
SG: What is your life as a filmmaker like compatibly or separate from your life as an actor?
CP: You know, I find that they really complement each other because I learn a lot in front of the camera about what to do behind the camera. I certainly have more respect now for what does go on behind the camera, what the director is trying to accomplish, why things take as long as they do, why continuity is important. All those things that then I can try to apply when Im in front of the camera. And I am on a TV show now that has such a huge cast that were in all the episodes but we dont work every day. So I have the luxury of having a steady paycheck right now, which is always rare for an actor, which affords me time to work on my film projects so they definitely complement each other in that way.
SG: Have you ever directed an episode of True Blood?
CP: No, I have not.
SG: Would you go there?
CP: I don't know if True Blood is the kind of thing that I would be naturally good for. That said, I would love to shadow one of the directors. In other words, be by his or her side from the minute they come on to when the episode is locked because Ive not experienced that whole process. I only just come on set as the actor. I know its different from features so I would love to do something like that and I intend to talk to them about that and see if they wouldnt mind me doing that.
SG: How nice is it to have a partner whos also an artist and gets it?
CP: I don't know how I would have made this movie if I wasnt married to Michael Emerson because I sat him down about two or three months before I went into preproduction. I said, I have something I want to talk to you about. Im not going to do this until youre okay with it because when youre making a film youre basically not there. You are completely unavailable to the other person. I said, How would you feel if I finally make this movie happen? And he said, Im with you all the way. I believe in it and I believe in you. So he just totally supported me through the whole thing and Im so grateful for that. He would literally take care of the house, take care of the dog. He would come by the set and make sure I was okay. Hes a good man. We do that for each other. When he was in Hawaii, I was constantly going over there and being with him while he was working on Lost. Its just what you do. You support each other.
SG: Are you both in New York now?
CP: Hes in New York on Person of Interest. True Blood shoots in L.A. So we are having to be back and forth.
SG: At the same time, or does it at least alternate schedules?
CP: We have some overlap so right now were in overlap, so were both working. Hell finish in April and then I will work until July.
SG: Are you working on the new season now?
CP: We are. Yeah, we started right around Thanksgiving. Season five.
SG: What sorts of things are you looking forward to getting to do this year?
CP: You know, I just put myself in the hands of the writers. I don't know how they are able to have so many balls in the air and juggle all of them and give all the storylines their due, but they do. I just go along for the ride.
SG: As its expanded, how has that impacted you?
CP: I have less. I have less to do because there are so many characters, but the thing that Ive learned about the show and those writers is, even if you have less to do, it still packs a punch. So I just am grateful that my character is still alive and still there and that they still want and the audiences still want Arlene, because I think she adds a lot of spice to the show.
SG: Alive and still human.
CP: And still human, true. Thats saying something, isnt it?
SG: So when they do cut back to Merlotts its really important.
CP: Well, I think what made the show really work at the beginning was how it was grounded in a reality, albeit a fictitious depiction of reality but still it was grounded in this small town. So you really need to have the characters like Arlene and Terry and Andy Bellefleur, the characters that are representative of the human race.
SG: Would you normally keep your hair fabulously red if it werent for True Blood?
CP: No I wouldnt but I certainly am glad for it because I really like being a redhead. It takes a little
maintenance but I like it.
SG: What interaction do you have with True Blood fans?
CP: I do have some wonderful, wonderful Twitter followers and I love to interact with them and I retweet and comment and talk to them. They are very devoted and thats so fun because who would have thought you could reach 37,000 fans with one sentence? Its extraordinary.
SG: Have you been meeting with buyers at Sundance?
CP: No meetings but I know that theyve been seeing the film and we have our fingers crossed that well be able to get a good partnership there.
SG: What is it like to be directly involved with that side of things at the festival?
CP: Yeah, you might actually meet personally with them and I feel like theres an audience for this film. I could feel it in the screenings that weve had that people are really into it. Im assuming that somebodys going to also pick up on that and want to keep it going.
Look for That's What She Said in theater later this year. You read about it here first!