Missi Pyle – Jennifer Falls

Q) What are the recent projects you have been working on?

A) Obviously, I’ve been working on “Jennifer Falls.” I’m also doing a new animated series for FOX called “Bordertown.” It’s Executive Produced by Seth MacFarlane. I play a five year old named Gert. She is Southern and nobody else is. That’s been fun. I’m also still playing music and doing stuff like that.

Q) Please tell us the premise for the show “Jennifer Falls” and about your character Dina Simic.

A) It centers around Jaime Pressly as a high powered business executive who gets fired from her job for an anger problem and gets blackballed from the industry. She didn’t really have any savings because she has a teenage daughter. Because of that, she and her daughter have to move back in with her mom. She has to bartend for her brother and his wife, who is a girl she used to babysit. I play her best friend from high school. She kind of dissed me when she got fancy. I still live in town and I work for OPS (Optional Parcel Service). She has to win me back and we end up go on these little adventures. We pick up where we left off when we were back in high school.

Q) What was it about the show or role that made you want to be a part of the project?

A) I saw a lot of television pilots. I’ve never gotten one to go to air. Last year, I did one for TV Land with Ben Falcone called “I’m Not Dead Yet.” I really loved the people over at TV Land and when they brought the script over to me I thought, “One of the things I liked about TV Land was that they gave shows a chance.” It’s such an interesting time in television where a lot of network shows you might get picked up for six episodes, they air one and then they cancel it. I really wanted to be on a network that would give a show a chance. Then, this one came along and it was to play someone who is a little bit younger than I am, which I thought was really fun! [laughs] I get to play Jaime Pressly’s best friend and I like her a lot. I think she’s really talented. Jessica Walter was involved and I thought, “This sounds like it could be a lot of fun.” And I loved that it was on a network that supports comedies wholeheartedly. They really put their heart and soul into them and that’s a rarity to find these days.

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

A) We’re kind of finding out who they are. We started out with these characters on a page and as we go on we do have a chance to definitely go off the script a little bit. Sometimes you’ll get something in the script that you have to in your own mind sort of make sense. You have to find a reason to say the words that you are saying. So, you create all that yourself. But there are little things about her that I have definitely created for her. It really just starts with the script, but then we are kind of able to move off the page when we find out what their voices are and how the scenes are going. The creator of the show and the Executive Producers have been really great about that.

Q) Have you found anything challenging about portraying Dina?

A) It’s funny because Jaime and I talk about this a lot. We both are character actors in our hearts. A lot of times when you give your character an accent or something that comes from somewhere very specific it can sometimes be a little easier to play. But with her, I found it difficult because I play a lot of big characters – characters with prosthetics and big wigs. So, you kind of hide a little bit under that. With this one, it’s just me and that’s kind of harder for me, but such a blessing though because I haven’t really had anything to hide under (unless you count my OPS uniform.) But I’ve been able to create her and not really have any tricks to hide behind and that’s been hard, but also really inspiring and fun. Things come out of it that I didn’t think were there before.

Q) You have great comedic timing. Is it something that you have worked to hone or is it a natural ability?

A) I love comedy because it is so immediate. It’s almost like mathematical on some level. When you do something, you can kind of come up with a formula to get a laugh from it. There is something about that that your brain works really well on and understands that. I just love it and a lot of comedians thrive on it. When someone laughs, it brings them a little piece of joy and there is really no feeling like it. I watched The Princess Bride a lot as a kid and I thought it was so funny. I just watched it over and over and over again. I feel like on some level Rob Reiner is where I got my sense of humor, from watching that movie over and over. I was also really tall and kind of awkward as a kid and I found that when I would make a fool of myself people would laugh. And I liked that feeling. Then, I just gravitated more towards comedy and because when I’d hear a laugh I would wonder, “How do I go about getting it?” I was good at finding that out. I went to drama school and I really gravitated towards comedy around the school yard. I did a lot of theater in high school and it was always the comedy that really sailed for me. I think I developed that through a bunch of different mediums, but I do think you kind of have to have a knack for it. You have to understand it. And if you don’t at like a base level, then you just have to throw it away and trust it will work for you. You can’t force a laugh. It’s just one thing that just has to come.

Q) Working with Jaime Pressly, did the chemistry between you two come naturally or did it take some time to develop?

A) I think both is true. We worked on a movie called Haunted House 2 together and just around that time I had gotten the script for her show. I didn’t even know she knew who I was. She said, “I really want you to play this character in my TV show.” Again, when I had read it I was like, “Well, this is a little out of my comfort zone.” Jaime and I would talk about the movie though that we were working on, which was this improvisational world wind. We actually bonded on that movie because it was this cyclone that is Marlon Wayans. We were floored by him because there would be scripts and we would do one take and then it would kind of just turn into this world wind. We would talk about it and go, “Oh my gosh! What are we doing?”  So, we really bonded there first, but we didn’t have a ton to do together on that. Once we got “Jennifer Falls,” I don’t think either one of us expected it, but we started having a ball and cracking each other up. I’m having a lot of fun and it is totally unexpected! This absolute interesting stuff is just popping up and happening on camera that we didn’t really expect to happen.

Q) What have been some of your most memorable moments from filming the show?

A) I love the scenes I do with Jaime. It’s fun when we leave the studio and go out on location. Also, I was working with this actor Steve Howey and he gets buck naked! He wears nothing, but a thong and I have to let him out of a closet. He said, “What’s really funny about TV right now is that men are the new women and men’s asses are the new women’s boobs. We are now treated like objects.” I was like, “Finally!”

Q) You are on social networking sites. Are you looking forward to the instant feedback you’ll be receiving from fans when the show premieres?

A) Social media to me is still just a crazy thing to me. You used to think of something funny and then text it to your friends and now you send it to however many strangers, only to be texted and retweeted as who knows what. But I am excited and I’ll do anything if I can get people to watch the show. I think it’s really good and I think there is something really there with the chemistry. There are a zillion comedies out there. This has a lot of heart and I’d do anything to get the chance to make more. I’m going to do my best on social media. I think people are going to really enjoy the show. I think if you tune in once then they’ll love it enough to want to watch it again and again.