One of the greatest blessings to Olivia Munn’s belief in her acting skill was from a job she didn’t get.
In 2010, she auditioned for 30 Rock. She remembers feeling the most prepared ever to take the test. Although she initially booked the job, questions about how young she would appear opposite series star Alec Baldwin prompted them to change course and go with another actress. For most artists, this would be a devastating blow. Moon found validation.
“These people, the top people — Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, Grace Wu on the NBC team — they all thought I was good enough to get the show,” Munn says. “This is what I needed. Whether I got the job or not, it didn’t affect my self-confidence.”
Today, Moon seems confident in all her career decisions. After becoming uninterested in acting a few years ago, she found herself withdrawn again with Apple TVs Your friends and neighbors — was originally planned as a one-season concert for the actress-turned-two. She returns opposite Jon Hamm in the second season of the dark comedy, which premiered on Friday.
Speaking during the latest episode of Hollywood Reporter Podcast I have a ring (Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple) Munn gets candid about her flirtation with retirement, lessons learned from working with a vindictive director and controversies on TV 30 Rock The job that wasn’t.
Before you took this job, I’m under the impression that you called your agents and asked them not to expose you to anything, and that you just wanted to work off-camera. What path were you considering?
I wanted to start producing and investing in companies. I had done this for a very long time, so I thought this was the way. I just don’t want to be in front of the camera anymore. I didn’t want to put myself out there. I’ve been going through so many health issues that I felt like I needed to create a little distance between myself and any kind of exposure in a way that made me very vulnerable.
Do you still feel that pull?
I am, but I also feel like acting again. I’m really glad I didn’t make one of those big announcements. I never understand when an actor announces his retirement. Guys, you don’t play for the Dodgers. No one expects you to be there at 7pm at the stadium. You don’t need to advertise it. I would walk away slowly. but [this show] It is a lot of fun. Not every project is a lot of fun. So I’m excited to work on this project. I’d be excited if there was something else that piqued my interest, but I’m not looking for the next thing. I don’t want to go back on the hamster wheel of trying to find another project.
When in your career have you felt like the hamster wheel was spinning out of control?
2010-2011 was a great time in my life, professionally. I was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Shortly after my stay newsroom. And at that point, there were all these opportunities. The first one to come was Magic Mike. So there was this little trio working with Jon Stewart, Aaron Sorkin, and Steven Soderbergh. I received a lot of different offers and started not knowing what I should accept. There were a lot of rom-coms coming up. The hamster wheel really affected my thought process, because I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t know where to go next.
Well, up to this point, your career hasn’t followed the traditional path: Display attack to Daily show to newsroom to X-Men And now this. Was this by chance or design?
Complete accident. I just took advantage of the opportunities that were in front of me. Some didn’t feel it was the right thing. I like to say no to some things that I probably should have said yes to. It kind of feels like a buffet in a way. I’m like, “I’ll take this.” I wish I could be more organised. When I got my first big opportunity, I wished I had sat down and made the decisions for myself. Often times, reps or agents would offer you things like, “Hey, do you want to do these things?” There was no real guidance around, “What do you want to do in your career? What kind of work do I do? Let’s aim for that.” Because I think I would have really enjoyed that. I don’t remember a lot of the things I worked on. I remember a bunch.
What do you remember most?
newsroom. I’ve never really had a significant acting job before. I had a sitcom on NBC, but this was on a different level. I was the only one who wasn’t a Broadway caliber actor. I just wanted to get good at it. For this character, I thought, “I’m going to play it as if I were a man representing this job.” I won’t fall into the tropes of hysteria or be like the apologetic, the meek, the bitchy, or the boss lady. I just wanted to play it straight. And yes, women can play this way. But, at that time, a lot of the references you could draw on with women were very different. It felt like we had to be a caricature of what we thought women would be.
I told a story about the visit newsroom The director who gave you some objectively bad feedback – suggesting that your character is a bit like what you’re talking about, courting men. You didn’t take notes and later found out he abused you to prevent you from getting another job. You still got that job, but I’m curious what the lesson was from that experience. Obviously, you should be able to disagree with any feedback. But you don’t know how people will react to that. It seems like an uneasy equation to me.
I’ve learned from watching other actors get notes that when they give you a note, you nod. “Okay, I get it,” she says. Then you just have to do what you want to do. They come to you with another note and you say, “I get it!” And then you just do what you want to do. Eventually they’ll be like, “I guess she can’t do it. She doesn’t have the ability.” She plays the game a little more. And I should be able to speak for myself and I should be able to draw the line, but we can’t. I cannot change the world and I cannot change the way women have been portrayed and received for as long as we have been on Earth. So I knew I was going to handle this situation in a way that would be the best outcome for me. I used to see a lot of other actors do that, and I’d think, “Why don’t you take the memo? I can’t believe you’re so upset.” Then I realized it was a way to protect your art and your personal choices. I hope I’ve helped more actresses learn this.
Undercurrent in Your friends and neighbors Does this “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality seem to inflate what one has even more? Working in an industry that often resorts to comparison, have you ever found yourself stuck in this dilemma? How did you get out of it?
It starts from the beginning of trying to make it in Hollywood. It’s an audition. You get out there and find a million girls who look like you because that’s what they’re looking for. When you don’t understand it, you think, “What did I do wrong?” I had a really great acting teacher when I first came out here, her name is Sandy Marshall. She always gave this advice to all students. You might say, “If you audition and the person who gets it looks exactly like you, then you’ve done something wrong.” I thought that was really helpful. There’s a way to play the character, there’s a way they want it and you’re responsible for asking the questions, for discovering it in the script. If you’re an actor, you should be able to present whatever version of the thing they’re looking for. So when I see the things I’m going to experience and not get, I see someone getting them. If they are anything like me, I will look into what they did and realize what I was doing wrong. That comparison I was making, I just wanted it to help me and not hurt me. Jealousy and envy are very natural feelings, but they can take over and become insidious. I wanted to try to reduce the extent to which these feelings control my personality.
When did you become confident in exams?
Grace Wu brought me on the NBC team 30 Rock. I had gotten to this place where I was really understanding the testing process. Because when T He went to the audition, especially at that time, it was very scary. You log in and then you sit there waiting and people come up and try to intimidate each other. Someone might come out of the casting office saying, “Okay, great, I’ll see you on Saturday!” Oh my God, are they friends? Or someone comes out of the room crying and says, “Hey guys, good luck!” She cried? Was she able to cry? There are all these things playing with your mind.
So delve into[[the30 Rock]Testing, I felt really good about everything. I dressed for the part which I had never done before. I logged in and exited near the soundstages. Usually I want to be there. I want them to see me. I had this confidence like, “They’re going to come find me.” I continued working on it until I entered the room. I just stayed [the character]. I got the call that I had booked the job, and I knew I was protecting myself and preventing myself from feeling envious and competitive with other women.
But you weren’t on 30 RockWas I like that?
The end of that story is that I got the job…and two days later, they said, “Alec [Baldwin] He thinks you look too young to play his love interest.” Two more days later, “No, no, no. They think you’re perfect. You will travel on Saturday.” Friday: “No, no, no. You look so young, Alec thinks as he puts his foot down. Then Elizabeth Banks got this role.
While you were telling this story, I couldn’t guess the role. Avery Jessup. Very interesting.
Yes. What’s interesting is I think back on that and it would have been a pretty big break for me. But I was not destroyed. I just thought to myself, “Wow, look how far I’ve come.” I ended up not getting the job because of something I couldn’t control. I got that in terms of my ability and my acting. It gave me a lot of confidence.
I know you’re not actively pursuing other acting jobs right now, but is there a passion for acting that you still really want to scratch?
I would really love to do an amazing horror suspense film. Like something that really scares people to their core. Something people want to come back and watch. Mine is Strangers. It’s very deep. I remember actually screaming. I discovered a lot about this movie. It wasn’t tested very well at first, but then this editor really worked on it. I think editors are everything. If I could be anything in this business, I would be an editor. It takes a long time to get there, and I don’t think I have much time left in my life, but editors make a difference.
If you could trade jobs with anyone for the day, who would it be and why?
I would like to go to the mayor of Los Angeles and get a lot of things done that need to be done in this city to make it safer for everyone. I will make sure all tanks are filled to the brim with water. I will do many things and I will do them in one day. I have a list.
At the risk of ending on a real petty note, were you still in production on Season 2 when the Jon Hamm dance meme exploded?
No, I didn’t! Oh, my God. It’s very good. I want to meet the first person who started this whole thing.
