Aubrey Plaza On Doing ‘The White Lotus’ And ‘Little Demon’ Before Joining ‘Megalopolis’: “I’ve Been Busy For 10 Years”
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Why, yes — Aubrey Plaza is showing up in just about everything these days. After getting rave reviews for her Sundance thriller Emily the Criminal this year, Plaza voiced the mother of Satan’s daughter in FX’s Little Demon before hopping a plane to Italy to join the second iteration of HBO’s The White Lotus. Now filming Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis before turning her attention to Marvel’s Agatha: Coven of Chaos for Disney+, Plaza looks back on playing a criminal for the big screen and a possible murderess on the HBO anthology.
DEADLINE: You’ve got a lot going on. Are you busier than ever, or is this just another month in the life of Aubrey Plaza?
More from Deadline
AUBREY PLAZA: This is just another month in the life of Aubrey Plaza. I’ve been busy for 10 years. A lot of things that I’ve done are all coming out at the same time. I can’t control that part of it, but I’ve been busy from the minute I moved to Los Angeles. I haven’t stopped.
DEADLINE: It’s hard to launch a little indie like Emily the Criminal. Were you fearful you wouldn’t get the eyeballs?
PLAZA: I’m one of the last people that’s kind of waving that theatrical flag. Me, Martin Scorsese and Spielberg, just the three of us. I’m romantic about it. I just believe with all my heart that if you make a movie that’s undeniably great, people will hear about it and want to see it.
DEADLINE: Desperation makes Emily fearless, right?
PLAZA: Oh yeah. I mean, what I love about the movie is that it starts and she’s already had enough. She’s already had it up to here. Most times movies start at the bottom and you see the character slowly get to that place. But she’s already at that place once we start. So this sh*t’s gonna go down.
DEADLINE: Was it depressing to learn how easy it is to commit credit card fraud?
PLAZA: It’s very useful to know. It was actually really surprising to me how easy it is to do and to learn. I mean, there’s YouTube tutorial videos you can watch on how to scam people out of their money. It’s wild.
DEADLINE: Was it a quick shoot in Los Angeles?
PLAZA: It was very quick. We shot the movie in 20 days in Los Angeles last summer. 20 days in Los Angeles and one day in Mexico. That was it.
DEADLINE: Are these the best reviews of your career?
PLAZA: Yeah, I think so. I don’t think you could ask for better reviews coming out of Sundance. It’s one thing to be reviewed for your performance, but I produced the movie as well. So getting the reviews for the film was also just awesome. You can’t ask for anything better, not for a small movie like this.
DEADLINE: What was it like going on location for The White Lotus?
PLAZA: It was incredible. We were shooting in Sicily for four months, living in a luxury hotel and staying in this gorgeous town. You walk outside and look at the ocean from these cliffs. It’s breathtaking. And you’ve got the backdrop of Mt. Etna volcano that can erupt at any second. Damn, that just kind of infuses the whole scene with this wild energy.
DEADLINE: Is your character, Harper, capable of murder?
PLAZA: Human beings are really fascinating creatures. Sometimes things can just push you over the edge. So, I think we’re all capable of murdering in some ways.
DEADLINE: Were you told at the beginning how it would end?
PLAZA: Yes, I knew it all. What’s so great about working on this show is that I got to treat it like a seven-hour film. I knew exactly what was going to go down, which I really appreciated.
DEADLINE: Can you say anything about who you are playing in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis?
PLAZA: I don’t think so. But I’m really excited about it. I’m biased, but I think I have the best part in the movie.
DEADLINE: You joined the cast of Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Marvel’s upcoming WandaVision spinoff series for Disney+. Can you confirm that you play a villain?
PLAZA: No, I can’t confirm anything. Are you kidding? The Marvel machine? I’m not allowed to say anything. I’m not trying to get fired from that job before I start. I’m going to start 2023 with Coven of Chaos. Who knows what’s going to happen?
DEADLINE: Were you aware that these ultra conservative moms were going on social media to complain about Little Demon?
PLAZA: I had heard about it, yes. And it’s not the first time that a project I’ve done has created some kind of backlash in the Christian community. The Little Hours was the first movie that I produced, and I believe the Catholic Review or something called the movie “trash, pure trash.” We put that on the poster. If Little Demon was an independent film, we’d probably do the same thing for that. It’s an adult cartoon. Everybody calm down.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
