Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • Services
    • Aircheck for Actors
    • Demo Reels
    • Audition Prep/Self-Tape Reader
    • Mailing Labels
    • Contribute
    • Industry Links
    • Advertise
    Daily Actor
    • Acting Tips
      • Actors on Acting
      • Advice Columns
      • Acting Quotes
      • Audition Tapes
      • How To Become An Actor
      • How to Memorize Lines
    • Monologues
      • Monologues from Plays
      • Monologues from Movies
      • Monologues from Musicals
      • Comedic Monologues
      • Dramatic Monologues
      • One Minute Monologues
      • Monologues for Women
      • Monologues for Men
      • Monologues for Teens
      • Monologues for Kids
      • All Monologues
    • Acting Resources
      • Acting Resume
        • Acting Resume Template
      • Acting Classes
        • Los Angeles Acting Classes
        • Las Vegas Acting Classes
        • San Diego Acting Classes
      • Acting Schools and Colleges
        • Los Angeles
        • New York
        • BFA Acting Schools
      • Casting Websites
      • Headshot Photographers
        • Los Angeles
        • New York City
        • Headshot Printing
      • Acting Techniques
        • What is Method Acting?
      • Stage Directions
      • Demo Reels: Everything You Need to Know
    • Interviews
      Featured
      Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

      Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

      Recent
      Casting Director Interview - Brett Benner and Debby Romano

      Interview: Casting Directors Brett Benner and Debby Romano Talk ‘Shrinking’, Finding Actors and More

      March 6, 2023
      Jeremy Davis Olaf in Frozen Interview

      Interview: Jeremy Davis on Playing Olaf in ‘Frozen’, Costume Mishaps and Making the Role His Own

      January 19, 2023
      Casting Director Kim Coleman Interview

      Interview: Casting Director Kim Coleman on ‘Five Days at Memorial’, Self-Tape Tips and Portraying Real People

      January 11, 2023
    • Actor Blogs
    • Reviews
      • Movies
      • Theater
      • Books
      • Products
    • Actor Services
      • Airchecks
      • Demo Reels
      • Website Design
      • Mailing Labels
    Daily Actor
    Home » Film » Rashida Jones on Writing Her First Script and Getting to the Serious Side of Andy Samberg in ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’
    Film

    Rashida Jones on Writing Her First Script and Getting to the Serious Side of Andy Samberg in ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’

    Chris McKittrickBy Chris McKittrickAugust 2, 2012Updated:September 16, 2018No Comments3 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

    rashida-jones-celeste-jesseIt’s becoming increasingly common for actors to write their own film scripts, particularly for smaller, independent projects that actors do in between the big-budget studio films.  Add Rashida Jones to the list, as the former The Office star co-wrote Celeste and Jesse Forever with fellow actor Will McCormack, and the pair also star in the film alongside Andy Samberg.  Jones spoke to the Huffington Post about writing the film, the challenges associated with performing a character after creating her, and whether funnyman Samberg was able to handle the film’s serious elements.

    Jones admits that writing the script was difficult.  She explains, “We had to kind of dig deep, because we felt like that was the only way we were going to make it feel honest and real. Especially because Will and I have never written before. If we were gonna do something and people were gonna take notice, we had to say something that felt somewhat unique. That had to come from real experience.”

    Curiously, even though Jones wrote the character of Celeste, whom she plays, she gave the character some less-than-wonderful qualities.  She says it was a challenge to do so, both “as a writer and as an actress. I’ve been lucky enough to work a lot in the past couple of years, and the characters I play are very likeable. They’re kind of dependable and logical and, you know, couldn’t do anything bad if they tried. And I wanted to play somebody who was maybe a little bit less likeable, and whose character flaws were standing in her own way, you know? And as a writer, I think it’s always important to have a character who has somewhere to go… I like stories about people who change a tiny bit, because that’s what happens in real life. You go through an entirely traumatic experience and then you change a tiny little bit.“

    Despite working with Saturday Night Live star Samberg, Jones explains that the two avoided improvising and mainly stuck to what she wrote, revealing, “I mean, we would see how far we could take the jokes and see which ones worked the best, but when it came to most of the dialogue we really stuck to the script.”  Nevertheless, Jones says that Samberg had no issue acting in a scripted, more serious film, pointing out, “Andy was really up to the task. We’ve been friends for years, and he read the script even before he had anything to do with it. And he was really nice about liking it, but also at a certain point was like, I think I can do this. He hasn’t done anything like this before, and I think he felt ready. Especially because the character is a lot like him, and I think there are things he related to. If he was gonna step out and do some drama, this would be the right time to do it, because it’s very much like him.”

    Celeste and Jesse Forever opens in theaters on Friday, August 3.

    Related

    Previous Article‘The Newsroom’, ‘The Babymakers’ & ‘The Daily Show’: Olivia Munn is Having a Great Year
    Next Article Tippi Hedren’s Troubled Relationship with Alfred Hitchcock Portrayed in the HBO Film ‘The Girl’

    Related Posts

    David Harbour Black Widow

    David Harbour on Building a Character, Finding Contradictions and Mastering an Accent

    September 3, 2021
    Nicolas Cage in Pig

    Nicolas Cage on Using a “More Quiet and Measured Performance Style” in ‘Pig’

    August 17, 2021
    Aubrey Plaza in Black Bear

    Aubrey Plaza on Auditioning and Why UCB Was the “Best Time” of Her Life

    August 12, 2021
    Add A Comment

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Daily Actor Facebook Daily Actor Twitter Daily Actor Instagram Daily Actor Pinterest Daily Actor YouTube Page
    Popular Pages
    Become An Actor | Acting Tips | Acting Quotes
    Acting Resume | Resume Template
    Headshot Photographers
    Los Angeles | New York
    Print Your Headshots
    Acting Schools & Colleges
    Los Angeles | New York
    Monologues
    Movies | Plays | Comedic | Dramatic
    Men | Women | Teens | Kids
    • Contact
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Resource Listings
    • Write A Column
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy

    Disclaimer: Daily Actor at times uses affiliate links to sites like Amazon.com, streaming services, and others. Affiliate links provides compensation to Daily Actor which helps us remain online, giving you the resources and information actors like you are looking for.

    © 2023 Daily Actor

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.