Janet Varney – Diani & Devine Meet the Apocalypse

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) How did you got involved with the movie Diani & Devine Meet the Apocalypse?

A) I went to college with Gabe [Diani], but I don’t know if we met then. I think we met after school. He and I worked in a sketch group together way back in the day, maybe almost twenty years. So, I’ve always been a huge fan of his writing. I’ve had the opportunity to improv with him a bunch and act on stage with him a bunch and shoot a few things. It’s very much a situation when he and Etta [Devine] call with something I say, “Just tell me when and where to show up…and what to say.”

Q) How was your character Shana originally described to you?

A) I think he just said that it was my favorite kind of character, which is someone who seems normal at first but then turns out to be weird and creepy.

Q) How were you able to work off of that and create the character?

A) That is something I love doing. By absolutely no choice of my own, I was born with blonde hair and blue eyes and sort of tall. I think sometimes you get typecast based on what you look like and in my case, it’s a soccer mom. I didn’t always, but that is just sort of what evolved. So, when someone gives me the opportunity to play off that riff and give it a weird twist that is always really fun. It’s more fun to play strange, interesting characters than it is to play bland ones.

Q) Was there anything you added to the role that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) Once Jonathan Silverman was cast as my husband, it really got fun because he is great at doing characters that seem very bored and tame and sort of safe. He likes the same thing I do, which is when you have the twist underneath of a little more intimidating or foreboding.

Q) What was it like working with Jonathan Silverman?

A) Jonathan and I are neighbors so we had actually met before we worked on anything together. We randomly got cast in an ABC pilot several years ago where we played husband and wife. It was a really great pilot that I wish had gone forward. Leah Remini, Matthew Lillard and Shaun Majumder were in it. It was a really, really fun show and that was sort of the beginning of us becoming great friend and I’m also great friends with his wife Jennifer Finnigan, who I think is just wonderful. She is on the show “Tyrant” that is on FX right now. That was that and really any opportunity to get together and work together we have taken ever since.

Q) Was there something you found challenging about this role?

A) Not really, only in the sense that they managed to make it so easy. We had shot a lot of stuff for their movie The Selling, which is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. They just create a really great environment and a lot of the same people were on the same movie. So, it was nice to get back into the saddle with them.

Q) What were some of your most memorable behind the scenes moments?

A) I don’t want to give anything away. So, I’ll just say once we got upstairs…Everyone will figure out what the sort of means when they see the movie.

Q) What did you take away from your time working on the film?

A) One of the things that is so remarkable about the era we live in now is that we have this thing called Kickstarter and other things like it. This is a movie that raised over a hundred thousand dollars on Kickstarter. This film was really low budget, but it wouldn’t have been possible at all without these amazing and generous investments by our Kickstarter supporters. Knowing that people believe in the project and they want to participate on some level…We’re living in a world now where thousands of people are now technically producers on the movie. So, you want to honor that and give them your best in appreciation. You really want to show up for those people that believed in. I think that is something taken extraordinary seriously and they just appreciate it so much. Anything I can do to help get that word out and get them involved and get them behind these wonderful people is a treat for me.

Q) What are the other recent projects that you are working on?

A) Not unlike the vein of The Selling, which is available anywhere, the show I will be in on IFC it is called “Stan Against Evil.” It is created by one of the creators of “The Simpsons,” comedian Dana Gould. It takes place in a small town in New Hampshire where I have just come in as the new sheriff. I am replacing the old sheriff who has just had to step down and he is played by John C. McGinley. He and I kind of work together to battle these demons in a small town. It’s funny and smart. It is a little bit like a live action “The Simpsons.” It’s like “The X-Files” and “The Simpsons” had a baby. It will premiere on Halloween and will run past that. I also have a podcast on the Nerdist network. It is free and it is called “The JV Club.” I interview tons of famous people about their awkward teenage years, which is a subject close to my heart. You can check that out on iTunes and all the places you can find podcasts.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure fans know about Diani & Devine Meet The Apocalypse?

A) It premieres at the Austin Film Festival. I love that it really gives Gabe and Etta the opportunity to kind of play themselves this time around. It also includes their kind of sketch and comedy that they do together as a pair in real life. I love them as sketch comedy performers so I love that they are getting to be movie stars and sketch performers all in one in this movie.