411 Movies Interview: Alanna Ubach of Still Waiting Posted by Tony Farinella on 02.23.2009
411's Tony Farinella sits down with Alanna Ubach of Still Waiting for an exclusive interview!
Alanna Ubach is one funny woman. She is not afraid to cuss, smoke, and live it up. Did I mention that she's funny? Recently, I caught up with Alanna to talk about her role in Still Waiting, which is currently out on DVD. The film also features John Michael Higgins, Luis Guzmán, and Andy Milonakis. I hope you enjoy my interview with Alanna and be sure to pick up Still Waiting on DVD.
TONY: What was it like returning to this franchise and doing another Waiting film?
Alanna Ubach: I was really excited because John Michael Higgins was in it, and I just wanted to work with him so badly. And I found out we had this little love scene together and it's pretty funny. So I thought, ‘I want to work with John Michael Higgins. That's it. I'm fucking doing it. I don't care what lines I have or what I'm doing; I just want to watch him work.' That's a really dorky answer, but, shit, it's the truth.
TONY: Did you add any new personality traits to this character?
Alanna Ubach: It was funny, because I asked them, ‘Is she still going to be waitressing?' They said, ‘No, she's actually a hostess this time.' I was like, ‘Oh! So I don't have to wear a uniform?' They're like, ‘No, you have to wear this tight little black number.' And I thought it was funny because the new concept was that this place called Ta Ta's opens up next door to us, so we're basically going under because this place, it's a little like Hooters and they're basically burying us. So I decide to go over there and try out and basically interview for a job there as a waitress and they basically tell me that my tits aren't good enough and I'm not going to be hired. So I'm so depressed the entire time and I get drunker and drunker and drunker as the movie continues and my hair gets messier and messier, sort of like Nic Cage's character in Raising Arizona. So it's fun.
TONY: What was it like showing up to work every day and getting a chance to bounce ideas off so many unique actors?
Alanna Ubach: It's funny. In fact, I was talking to John Michael Higgins and I asked him, ‘What do you do to prepare for parts?' Because basically you got to stick to the script and Rob has such a certain way of writing that you're like, ‘Shit, I can't really improvise that much.' But you don't need to, really, with his kind of stuff. So we were just rehearsing, and he clearly has done his homework. He says, ‘Hell no, I don't have any fucking tips! I just had a kid. I just look at the lines right before we do them and then we say them. That's it. That's all I do.' And I thought that was so funny that he was giving me that kind of advice because he seems like this constant thespian, but that was his answer and I loved that. I thought that was really funny.
TONY: Have these films changed your opinion on the restaurant business?
Alanna Ubach: Oh, hell yeah, hell yeah. Do not fuck with the people who handle your food. Do not insult. My mom loves to belittle waiters and waitresses, and she's probably had her plate spat on at least 7,630 times and she has no idea about it.
TONY: You have worked with so many legendary comedic actors in your career, so I have to ask you, what tips have you picked up from specific actors along the way?
Alanna Ubach: Dustin Hoffman and Ben Stiller. They really, really know their shit. They come prepared. They love acting. They love what they do for a living. So when they love to work, you love to work. With any kind of profession, if you walk into place and you're right next to the head chef and the head chef is having a blast cooking, you're going to have a good time doing all the chopping. So it's kind of like that sort of thing. He's so fun. Dustin Hoffman reminded me one of those little theater kids in college in the theater department, the ones who can't stop acting. They're on all the time and they always have something funny to say and they always have something clever. He was like that nice Jewish boy who entered theater school. It's like a huge fan woke up one day and realized he was in Dustin Hoffman's body. He loves being Dustin Hoffman. It's really funny. It's quite humble, I think. It's kind of innocent and cool.
TONY: Speaking of Meet the Fockers, what was it like getting into that character and playing that part?
Alanna Ubach: I tried out for it like seventeen times. Finally, they realized, ‘OK, let's use her, because I guess we can make her look older.' I was smoking a lot of cigarettes at the time, so my voice was really gravely. So they put a big fat cushion on, and they were like, ‘Are you cool putting a fat cushion on?' I was like, ‘Hell yeah, let's make this as funny as possible.' I'm from the old Pee-Wee Herman School of acting: The sillier, the better with me. I love silly.
TONY: You've talked in previous interviews about how important it is for an actress to have confidence and conviction. How have you established that over the years?
Alanna Ubach: I was a basket case in my twenties and I've just entered my thirties, so now I kind of feel like the older you get, the more you just don't give a shit. And that's so important with acting. Usually, a lot of the times, you have these kids who are sort of acting on instincts when they are younger and maybe they work on a couple of things and then you never hear from them again because they're just relying on their instincts. Then they enter their twenties, then the weed kicks in, the bad relationships, thinking you're ugly, all of that shit. The twenties are a nightmare, I think, for everyone. It's really hard. Around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, you kind of look back and you just think, ‘What the fuck do I care what people think?' And that's kind of what you have to do the moment you throw yourself into a character. I've also gotten less nervous auditioning, because, now, the people auditioning me are my age. So when I was younger, I was like, ‘Oh my god, they're all adults, so I better do everything right or else I'm going to be spent to my fucking room.' So every time I wouldn't get a job, I was just like, ‘Oh my god, I'm being punished and I'm being sent to my room. I'm not good, I'm a bad person.' Now, I don't take it personally anymore. And that's something that goes a lot with having confidence is not taking anything personally. Just plowing through bullshit.
TONY: I interviewed Josh Malina a couple of months ago and we talked about the DVD release of Sports Night and what it was like working with Aaron Sorkin. What do you remember about your role on Sports Night?
Alanna Ubach: Oh, he's fucking amazing. I remember I had coached for it the night before the audition and my acting coach looked at me and said, ‘Mamet. Aaron Sorkin writes just like Mamet. It's boom, boom, boom, boom. It's ping pong. You can't miss a beat. You have to come over right after the actor finishes his line. So you've got to memorize the other person's lines for tomorrow.' I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so fucking hard.' She was like, ‘Yeah, it's really hard, but if you can get it right before tomorrow, then you'll probably book it.' So I went home and I spent hours on it, trying to get that whole Mamet beat to it and then the next day I tried out for it. I remember going in and they called my name, and I quickly ran into the elevator, pretending like I was in the bathroom, because I needed even more fucking time. You got to give about four hours before something like that to really get it right. So I was in the elevator and it kept going up and down, up and down, and finally, I was like, ‘OK, I'm ready.' So I finally got out there and they were like, ‘Oh, Alanna, you were in the bathroom. We missed you. So come on in there.' So I finally did it and he looked at me and he was like, ‘Nailed it. You're hired.' So he's just really cool. He leaves actors alone on the set. It's interesting.
TONY: Earlier in this interview, we talked a little bit about your confidence and how you don't worry as much about what other people think of you. What's it like to have that when you enter a room and try out for a part?
Alanna Ubach: Throughout my twenties, I think I went through seventeen different fucking acting teachers who were always telling me the stakes always have to be high in comedy. You have to treat it like it's drama. And I had so much shit happen to me that it was just like, ‘I'm sick of going out for these cheesy movies of the week and always crying and playing the runaway victim.' If you really have a hero in comedy and you watch their stuff all the time, it's like, ‘Shit, if they can do that, I can do that. That looks really fun and that looks really easy.' So to act like an idiot and get paid for it, it's really fun. The way to make it so you're not fearful is always watching comedies all the time and saying, ‘Shit, I can do that.' If Cameron Diaz can fucking do comedy, anyone can do comedy. All these models turned comedians, it's hilarious to me. And I think that's what happened too. If you see a big star and they're doing a comedy and they were clearly models beforehand, you're just like, ‘Wow, they have a really great coach. Shit, anyone can do comedy.' It's really about timing. Musicians would make great comedians. They just don't know it. It's all about beats.
TONY: What has it been like watching women like Tina Fey thrive in the comedy world?
Alanna Ubach: Oh my god, it's fantastic because you don't feel like you have to be one of the guys anymore. You can be now one of the girls because there is actually a niche out there. There's a whole subculture of all these really incredible actresses who can write well, like Kathy Griffin and Tina Fey. And you have these girls who are just so knowledge about pop culture and they really are ahead of the time. It's amazing to me. I'm always awe struck with Kathy Griffin and when something comes out of her mouth, because she's laughing with us and that's so hard to do. At the end of the day, you just have to say, ‘This is who I am. I'm not going to fucking change myself for anyone. This is who I am. I'm going to be my old smelly self and either you like it or you don't.' Most people like it because smelly self is really what everyone can relate to.
TONY: As a comedian, what's your take on politics and how do you approach it when you're putting material together?
Alanna Ubach: Well, I think everyone wants to be important. I think everyone wants to feel important, whether it's Obama, Dick Cheney. All of these people want to be important and they want to be famous and they want to be revered. Let's face it, we all do. We didn't get into the media business or show business because we're normal. (laughs) And at the end of the day, it's one big circus to me. Politics is one big circus, especially when I hear that someone used to be a Republican and then they became a Democrat or they used to be a Democrat and now they're a Republican. It's all about the money. It's about the times and what we need in order to survive. Everyone became a Democrat because they had to. I've always been a Democrat, but still. I think what happens is people look at the economical times and say, ‘OK, what is going to make us feel better? Comedy is going to make us feel better. So we're going to invest in comedies. It's going to make us feel better. Not looking into the past, looking into the future and thinking about something that's different.' We want to be different now and we want to think of change. Obama, of course, is brilliant. He went to us and he knew what we wanted because he knew what he wanted. Nowadays, I find people are a lot kinder than they were in my early twenties in public. Strangers on the street are so much kinder. I don't know if it was September 11th, I don't what it is. I feel so comfortable knowing that this man is in office. I'm so excited. It makes me want to be a better actor. It makes me want to be better at what I do for a living. It's made me really feel like, ‘OK, 2009, I really want to prevail and I don't care what it takes.' It seems like when George Bush was in office, I got really lazy, was smoking a lot of weed and not caring. And that's kind of what happened. It just happens. You became apathetic when you know you can't fight the fight anymore.
TONY: Going back to Still Waiting, what's it like playing a character that is so angry? How do you balance comedy and anger at the same time and make it work?
Alanna Ubach: I always thought to myself, ‘OK, the kids who are going to watch this are definitely punk rock. They're cool, they're college kids.' I usually look at the title of the actual movie and that says everything about the movie. It's about waiting. It's about the frustration of fucking waiting and waiting for a lot of things. So with that, you're just like, ‘OK, there's a lot of frustration there, so I'm going to take that frustration and I'm going to fucking cube it.' It's like being the head of the marching band for the title of the film. I looked at it that way. If the movie was called Anger, I would have been even angrier. So Waiting has a lot to do with it. I was talking to Rob and I asked him, ‘Who is this character based on?' And he said, ‘All the angry girls who are in the restaurants.' And you go to Denny's and you will spot that girl and it's so funny. And I had a lot of angry girlfriends growing up. It's just this fear that nothing great was going to happen to them, ever. They were never going to leave their small town and they were never going to find happiness. And I just thought, ‘If everything is sort of fear-based, then I'll just let the anger just come out any which way. As long as I know that it's coming from a hurt place, I'm just going to line up all the fucking guys who broke my heart and wrap them up in one character and I'm going to just do it. Every line, I'm going to say to them. Every asshole I dated.' It was very easy. It was therapeutic at the end of the day.
TONY: Finally, what are your plans for the future and what are you currently working on?
Alanna Ubach: I'm up for something for HBO. Please cross your fingers and say a prayer. I hope I get it. I think I find out today if I got it or not. If I do, it would be really life changing. There's something that I just finished calling Rango and it's a cartoon movie. Gore Verbinski directed it and he's just wonderful. Johnny Depp is in it and Isla Fisher, Beth Grant. It's an amazing fucking cast. And it's about this little household pet that gets dropped in the desert and he tries to find himself. That's the movie in a nutshell and I play all these different characters in the movie. It's been fun. It's been really, really fun. They decided to basically make us the characters themselves, so they're basically filming us acting out these characters so that they can superimpose our expressions underneath the animated drawings. It's very cool and very different. I've never done anything like it before.
