Vulture interviewed Mary, her All About Nina co-star Common and the film’s director Eva Vives during the Tribeca Film Festival. You can watch their Q&A below along with a game they played.
Additionally, moveable interviewed Eva and what it was like working with Mary during production:
It was great. I mean, what a cast to have for a first film especially. And I love their acting, but [Mary and Common] are also the two of the nicest people. I got so lucky with Mary in particular, because I was a little worried that it’s a punishing part in many ways and I don’t think she looked at it that way – because she’s insane, and I mean that in a good way [laughs] – but she makes it look so easy. I remember one day I looked at the schedule and it was the [scene where] she met Rafe, [a different scene where she] made out with that dude in the closet, and [another where she] fucked Mike on the same day. Plus, she did a [standup] routine and some other thing. I was like, “Oh, my god. How does she do this?”
It’s very intense to be playing Nina. There’s a lot of funny stuff in it – and she obviously does comedy and can make people laugh, but then there’s also drama. And she dances. There’s a sex scene. It’s just endless. Mostly, we talked about it a lot. [Mary’s] not big into rehearsing, and I can go either way, so we talked about who she is and where she was coming from and what was happening in each scene and the parts we did rehearse were the stand up, which I think was the part that worried her the most although I knew she was going to be totally fine. It was just a question of getting her comfortable and in the rhythm. Together and separately, we watched a lot of comedy, we went to shows and I’m very familiar with the comedy scene, more New York than in LA because I used to be in it, and we had a great comedy consultant in the movie, Jamie Loftus, who is a young comedian who was integral in this because it was her and I, and Mary sometimes, adding jokes and taking it further. Jay Mohr was helpful as well. We just ran our routines past him and took notes.