Michelle Press
"Charlie's Angels: New Generation"
Santana Lopez-Pierce
"Charlie's Angels: New Generation"
Kate McKinnon
"DC League of Super-Pets"
Akwafina
"Glory Days: Unraveling Michelle Martins' Past"
Saoirse Ronan
"Glory Days: Unraveling Michelle Martins' Past"
Sarah Paulson
"Ratched"
Everybody settled on their seats, Michelle taking her spot in the middle of Santana and Sarah as the three of them started catching up while everyone settled down on their seats. "Where's Theo?"
"You only want me for my children, Paulson."
"I'm just being an amazing GODMOTHER and checking on my favorite baby, which I could say cause the twins are not babies anymore."
"Bold of you to assume that your one of the godmothers Paulson."
Sarah just shrugged and sent one of her good friends a big grin. "Oh I know I'm one of the Godmothers, Press. You love me."
When Tana and Sarah started talking, Michelle took the time to look around the room, feeling empowered by all of these amazing women in the room.
She could see Saoirse and Akwafina catching up on the other side as well, before eventually turning to Kate who sat down on the right side of Akwafina and started talking to her as well.
Playful banter and teasing stopped when the interviewer came into the room and sat on her seat. They greeted her before the producer said that it was rolling.
"Welcome to Close Up with the Holly Reporter Actresses. I'm Rebecca Ford and I would like to welcome Michelle Press, Santana Lopez, Kate McKinnon, Akwafina, Saoirse Ronan, and Sarah Paulson."
They all smiled at each other. Michelle knew almost everyone at the table except for Kate and the host so she was more comfortable compared to being in a room where she didn't know anyone.
Which reminded her of the director's roundtable she was going to be doing later on in the day.
She gave everyone a smile, noticing everyone basically paying attention to her despite the interview not starting yet, especially Kate. "May I say before we start, I am such a huge fan of your work Michelle, I am super starstruck."
"Okay, good to know." Sarah, with her usual comments, made the table laugh.
Michelle nudged Sarah, making the actress sit up straighter on her seat and Santana snicker beside her. She had always teased her about how Michelle is the only person who could actually get her to settle down and it's looking like she still has the same effect.
"Don't mind her, she's just always like this. But I'm a huge fan of your work as well."
She watched in amusement as Kate bit her lip to try and not smile so wide but by the look on her face it was obvious she was failing,
"Okay, we're going straight to the questions. When were you most afraid or intimidated by a role and how did you overcome it?"
"Probably Charlie's Angels," Santana answered, making them all look at her. Michelle raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue and elaborate more on her answer. "Nobody has ever seen it yet except for a handful of people but the character Michelle wrote for me was just so complex and I really had to dig in through everything to try and bring her character justice. Not to mention all of the stunts."
Sarah nodded her head in agreement, her being one of the few people who had seen the whole film. "Lot's of action, and not to mention the fact that most of you guys did your own stunts right?"
"Scar and I have our stunt doubles, that are so amazing by the way, godsent. But Michelle did not."
Everyone's head turned to the brunette, who smiled shyly. "I want to do the stunts okay? I didn't put them there just for nothing."
"Which is why I believe that she would one day be the death of me."
Saoirse cleared her throat, indicating that she wanted to speak next, so everyone in the room turned to their side of the table. "Playing Quinn Fabray was very intimidating because I am playing a part of this amazing and talented person who went through a lot in her life. I remember spending 2 weeks with Quinn before we started filming and she helped me understand her mannerisms, told me her story, and it was just... it was an amazing experience filming Glory Days,"
"Yeah, it also didn't help that all of them were there during the filming process," Akwafina added. "I think my biggest takeaway from filming GD was that we are all people, no matter how perfect a person may seem. Like behind all of that, there is this story."
"Michelle, was there one specific maybe, that scared you more than most?"
Michelle tilted her head up and hummed. "I don't actually have a lot of projects to compare them to since I'm more of a behind the camera person myself, but playing Anastasia in Black Widow was a bit challenging since during that time I was still dealing with my anxiety of getting myself found and then the World Cup and being away from my daughter. And at that point, people did not know that I acted so there was that. More scared of the feedback compared to the role really."
"I'm curious, have you ever been in a position where the actor you had to work across from wasn't giving you what you needed or it just wasn't really vibing the way it needed to? Or you needed her with that?"
Michelle looked at Kate who was just nodding her head. "Kate, I would imagine- I mean no offense because I know you have a lot of chemistry with practically everyone you work with- but I would imagine that being in SNL and doing sketches with different celebrities that you would have some celebrities where you just didn't connect with?"
Kate sat straighter up on her chair and nodded her head. "Ph uh, yeah for sure. There were times where I had to really adjust and put in more effort to try and make the skit work but that's really something I learned in all of my years in the industry ya know. You have to make adjustments if something is not working, and sometimes you just... have to sit and watch the whole thing burn."
"I take it, you and Gal do not have that chemistry," Santana teased, referring back to the skit where Kate and Gal kissed.
Kate, knowing she was teasing, nodded her head and laughed. "Yup, no chemistry... at all."
Sarah looked at Michelle with a glint in her eye. "Mitch and Gal had so much chemistry though. So much that they ended updating each other."
"Oh boo hoo, Paulson, you're part of the people I had 'chemistry' with."
"And look at that, we both exploded."
Michelle scoffed and shook her head, trying to stop the grin that was on her face. "Speak for yourself."
They looked at Akwafina when they asked her answer to that question. "I wonder now like if I was that person who people are like 'Yeah, there just wasn't a connection there, I don't know what's going on."
They laughed, Saoirse, who was sitting beside her shaking her head. "I could assure you, you are not."
Akwafina smiled and leaned into the Irish actress. "Thanks, but yeah, I'm just retracing that in my mind. I think for me if you come on to set and if the other actor is having a bad day, or I feel like I sometimes, that energy will come off a little bit and that's not anyone's fault. And I think it's always like... if you hate me, then I'm going to feel uncomfortable right now. But then I think when you do have those talks with your costars or whatever, you kind of realize that they're humans as well and they have the same fears. I think that helps the onset connection."
"Are there roles that you guys would not do? Lines that you cannot cross? And roles that you would not play?"
They say Sarah react, so they looked at her.
"Sarah, you seem like you have something to say,"
The actress shook her head and chuckled. "No, obviously I don't." She glanced at Michelle and Santana making the two chuckle. "No no, no I don't. I've done a lot of crazy shit in American Horror Story, so there's really nothing."
Michelle hummed and looked at her playfully. "Yeah, you've had two heads..."
Sarah slowly nodded her head in agreement. "Right, like, I was a 35-year-old, you know, had two heads... So you know I don' really think that there would be a role where I said I would not do that."
Santana snorted and shook her head. "Paulson is like -I will not be playing a 34-year-old."
"Yeah, 37? nO. 35 yEs."
"Anyone else? Michelle, how about you?"
Michelle looked at Santana when a lightbulb light up in her mind. "I will never do commercials because auditioning for them, they make you do the weirdest shit."
"I did a commercial once," Santana said while spacing out.
Michelle snorted and Sarah started laughing before the both of them recited her lines at the same time. "I like yeast in my bagel, but not in my muffin."
Santana looked at the duo, shaking her head, before paying attention to the interviewer. "Wild wilds days."
"Michelle was actually handed a lot of roles that she had to turn down. *cough* *cough* Ocean's Eight." Sarah said, faking her cough.
That caught everyone's attention. "Okay, I was on the run, and if I had accepted that role then Sandy wouldn't be in the movie and it would have been completely different."
"Plus you would have had to babysit Cate and me."
"Sandy actually called me while you guys were doing the press tour and asked for tips and on how to keep you both calm."
"Yeah, and you gave her tips on how to take care of a dog and went as far as to send her dog food."
Michelle shrugged and chuckled. "Work didn't it?"
"Yeah, plus it didn't really taste that bad."
"How about you Santana?"
"I mean there really isn't a line I can't cross since Britt and I already have a sex tape floating around the internet and they have seen everything they could see, but having sex with an animal is a good line I would never cross."
The whole table laughed while the Latina kept a straight face. Michelle scrunched her nose in disgust while playfully pushing her best friend. "You are so gross."
"And we are ending on that note. Thank you ladies for being part of this."
"Thank you."