“Kajillionaire” cast members Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez and director Miranda July chat about their quirky comedy in this interview with CinemaBlend senior video producer Jeff McCobb.
Rodriguez shares her hilarious first reaction to hearing the changed voice Wood used as Old Dolio, July discusses drawing on classic con artist genre tropes and loads more.
Rodriguez shares her hilarious first reaction to hearing the changed voice Wood used as Old Dolio, July discusses drawing on classic con artist genre tropes and loads more.
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00:00 she started talking to me in her old Doleo talk.
00:03 And I legit was like, oh.
00:05 I was like, whoa, OK.
00:08 Most people want to be kajillionaires.
00:10 That's the dream.
00:11 That's how they get you hooked.
00:12 Hooked on sugar, hooked on caffeine.
00:13 Ha, ha, ha.
00:14 Cry, cry, cry.
00:15 Me, I prefer to just skim.
00:17 So do I.
00:18 I love these characters so much.
00:21 And there's certain components of their ideology
00:24 that I recognized, even though they're entirely unique.
00:28 So I have to know, who are they?
00:30 Are they based on anyone in your life?
00:33 You know, I grew up in Berkeley, California,
00:36 which is like full of sort of righteous,
00:38 self-righteous outsiders.
00:40 And then I became like a punk myself,
00:45 which is another kind of outsider,
00:47 but has its own tendencies towards rigidity.
00:51 So you know, they're neither of those things.
00:54 And yet I think I drew from like a wealth of familiarity
00:58 with a kind of person where you do-- you are sort of like,
01:01 well, I kind of feel that way about capitalism, you know?
01:05 But on the other hand, like, this is a joke.
01:08 This does not function, you know?
01:10 We split everything three ways.
01:11 We have since I was little.
01:13 I don't want to do it that way this time.
01:15 Don't.
01:16 I was wondering if the character changed.
01:19 Miranda and I worked really closely together.
01:20 The second I signed on, we started
01:22 working on Odolio and what she was going to look like
01:24 and sound like and how she was going to move.
01:27 Because gender is never spoken about in this film,
01:31 and that's one of the things I loved about it,
01:33 is Odolio is just Odolio.
01:36 And so we wanted her to be genderless.
01:38 And I think I consider myself androgynous,
01:42 but I think I lean more on the feminine side,
01:44 probably more than I would like to.
01:46 So there were tells.
01:47 There were just things that I would do that would give me
01:49 a way that we had to work on.
01:51 And we would watch videos.
01:53 We drew from animals.
01:55 We drew from improvisation and limiting
01:59 my ability to communicate.
02:00 We'd do a scene, and she'd say, OK, you're not allowed
02:03 to look anybody in the eye.
02:04 OK, do it again, and you can't say words.
02:06 Do it again, but you're an animal.
02:09 And through these exercises, we found Odolio and these isms.
02:14 And I mean right down to, like, I
02:16 practiced how I would put my hair behind my ears
02:19 hundreds of times till I got it right.
02:21 Hon, you've never called me that.
02:25 What's it like being on set with her as Odolio by contrast,
02:31 and was she in character the whole time?
02:32 She's not full character the whole time,
02:33 but because her character is so specific
02:35 and such a huge transition, she would get into it
02:39 a little earlier on because it was physical.
02:41 It was vocal.
02:42 It was the whole shebang.
02:44 It was very uncomfortable for her,
02:45 so I commend her incredibly because it wasn't just
02:48 the physicality that was uncomfortable,
02:50 but she was layers of clothing.
02:51 And so when I first came on, because I didn't get
02:54 to rehearse with anybody, I was shooting another film,
02:55 and then I jumped on set.
02:57 But the newness--
02:58 I had been-- I was talking about it earlier--
03:00 was like, you know, because I didn't know everybody
03:03 and we were just meeting on the--
03:06 on set and in the film, that newness
03:08 was just organic and delicious.
03:10 So I got to, like--
03:11 you know, that got to be alive without us, you know,
03:14 having to do anything for it, which was lovely.
03:16 But she started talking to me in her Odolio talk,
03:20 and I legit was like, oh.
03:22 I was like, whoa, OK.
03:25 And I will never forget Gina Rodriguez's reaction
03:27 the first time I said something, because she didn't know that I
03:30 was changing my voice.
03:32 And they yelled action, and this line has been cut out,
03:36 but I think I said, this is a shadow.
03:40 And she freaked out.
03:42 She looked at me like I was making a joke,
03:45 and they yelled cut, and she was like, whoa.
03:48 Didn't see that coming.
03:49 What is going on?
03:50 I'm insanely impressed, because I saw her transition back
03:54 and forth in and out of this character.
03:56 And she's also the most loving, the most kind,
03:59 the most generous lead I've ever worked with.
04:02 And clear.
04:03 Now.
04:04 There's a camera there, there, and there.
04:11 Now, in any order.
04:12 This is not a cheap tie.
04:14 Con films have a lot of recurring themes and tropes.
04:18 Were you trying to avoid those?
04:20 And I was wondering if there's any films in that
04:23 genre that inspired you.
04:24 I mean, my very deep well to draw from
04:28 is all the hundreds and hundreds of Mission Impossible episodes
04:31 I watched as a child with my big brother.
04:34 So it comes from there, which is to say,
04:42 I don't have to come up with anything or study anything.
04:47 The whole high anxiety, like, who's the good guy,
04:51 who's the bad guy, sudden reversal,
04:54 that's all kind of in my DNA already.
04:58 And so to be able to apply that to a deeply personal kind
05:02 of weird story just felt good.
05:06 I felt like I'd been waiting to do that since I was
05:08 a six-year-old little girl.
05:10 I was wondering if, during that preparation,
05:12 you did any con prep.
05:14 Did you rip anyone off or at least walk away?
05:18 Look, it was discussed.
05:20 Miranda and I did discuss maybe pulling a couple of cons
05:23 before the filming started, but we did not get a chance.
05:26 Me and Richard and Debra and Miranda
05:30 rehearsed together a lot and choreographed strange cons.
05:34 Some ended up in the film, some didn't.
05:37 She would have us literally walk in circles and in lines
05:41 and change characters, like, mid-walk,
05:44 or change outfits mid-walk, or, like, steal a watch mid-walk,
05:48 you know, and pass it back to each other
05:49 and pass it over our heads.
05:50 And we would do these, like, weird Charlie Chaplin-esque,
05:54 like, choreographed cons, which, you know,
05:57 just came out of Miranda's brain.
05:59 And I think that helped us get into character,
06:02 even though they are the worst con artists ever.
06:06 This is the way the big one starts.
06:08 If you're lucky, you'll get crushed.
06:10 And then you'll -- you just die right then and there.
06:14 -There's a recurring theme of the big one in the film.
06:19 And given the era in which the movie came out,
06:24 people are jokingly and colloquially referring
06:26 to 2020 as the end of the world.
06:29 Is that timing ironic to you,
06:31 or were you trying to write to this era?
06:34 -Well, yeah, I wasn't seeing the future.
06:37 I was, of course, always worried there would be the big one.
06:40 Here in California, that big earthquake.
06:43 And, I mean, there's no getting around
06:47 that this is probably worse, you know?
06:49 Like, we are in the big one.
06:53 And the movie is about also surviving
06:57 and being transformed by the big one.
06:59 So I hope that that works for who we are now.
07:04 I think it might work better.
07:05 It went from being, like, my weird thing to, like, our thing.
07:09 -Is this the normal amount of turbulence for this group?
07:12 -Yes. -Really?
07:14 -Totally.
07:16 Oh, no! -What?
07:18 -Oh.
07:21 I thought that I forgot about it.
07:23 -I loved your character, because Melanie is introduced to us
07:27 as this almost, like, basic, like, you know,
07:31 Instamodel-esque character, and then you come to learn
07:34 that she is the wisest and most down-to-earth
07:37 of the whole group.
07:39 Was that particular arc of doing the Melanies
07:42 of the World justice, was that important to you,
07:45 taking on the role?
07:46 -You know, I love that you say that,
07:47 because there was definitely a desire
07:49 to do the Melanies of the World justice, you know,
07:52 because we have a -- or at least I,
07:57 I'm only speaking for myself, right?
07:58 We tend to judge a book by its cover, unfortunately.
08:01 I try not to do that, but it is a natural instinct
08:05 that we can all learn to curb.
08:07 But nonetheless, you know, the woman that knows
08:12 how to express herself outwardly,
08:17 makeup and hair and, you know, like,
08:19 and I respect and admire that woman,
08:22 because clearly I don't know how to put any makeup on my face,
08:25 but, you know, like, for me, it was so incredible
08:28 to embody a character that has --
08:32 can give off a certain perception,
08:34 but you're completely wrong, you know?
08:36 And, like, it's very fun.
08:37 And it was a fun evolution to play a character
08:39 that was ready for a risk in her life,
08:40 to jump into something fun, and then evolved to realize
08:44 there was something she actually was meant to do here.
08:48 There was, like, an awakening.
08:49 -I always thought it was insulting
08:51 to treat you like a child, and I thought we agreed on that.
08:55 -We can only ever be how we are.
08:58 -♪♪ How did I fail? ♪♪
09:04 -I can't waste too much time gushing, unfortunately,
09:07 but I got to tell you, I love this movie so damn much.
09:10 I'm not supposed to waste time gushing,
09:12 but I just have to say I love this movie.
09:16 I love it so damn much.
09:17 I love this movie so damn much.
09:21 -Yes, Jeff!
09:23 -And congratulations, like, seriously.
09:26 I haven't stopped thinking about it.