Jenny Slate recently sat down for an interview with Cosmopolitan ahead of the premiere of her new movie Landline. Here are some highlights from that interview:
Have you ever been in a relationship like [the one in Landline], where it's maybe a little too comfortable?
"I like comfort. I'm also not really a person that stands for that. I ask questions. When I want something, I ask for it. When we were making this movie, I was getting divorced, and even though my divorce was amicable, I would attribute a lot of that split-up to the simple thing of people growing apart and not matching up anymore. That is what Dana is dealing with. Are we growing apart? Is that bad? Or are we just growing and can we grow together? Sometimes you can, and sometimes you can't."
What I also appreciated about the movie was that its portrayal of infidelity felt realistic. It wasn't like Unfaithful where somebody dies.
"Right. I think it's a pretty honest thing. “This is awkward. Where do we do this?” It's the '90s. There are no cell phones, so every time they're going to go do it, they are doing it on purpose. They have preplanned it. You have to sit with that really uncomfortable, sickening feeling, that you are doing something dishonest. I think Dana doesn't have the stomach for it. It's not her style. But she wants new experiences. That's the starting point for why she breaks the boundaries of her relationship. She's not confident enough in her relationship to believe that newness can happen within it. While her infidelity isn't permissible, it's understandable. It's a human mistake. I like that she isn't denigrated into some sort of "bad" woman or into a hero or any sort of majorly simplified character in that way. I like that, in the end, you see her as someone who has made a mistake, who's learned from it, and who now knows that it's not worth it to be in a partnership if she is not making choices and reassessing those choices and choosing again all the time."
Has your view on infidelity changed as you've gotten older?
"I understand it. It's certainly not something that I want to have happen to me. And I'm sure that if I had a partner and that partner cheated on me, that I would be devastated if we were in a committed, monogamous relationship. So of course, it's a devastating thing. But I also think, again, while it's reckless and hurtful, it's not usually connected to that person has somehow become evil. It's usually connected to weakness and dissatisfaction, and that's really sad. It's sad for everyone. I think, for Dana, the lesson that she learned is that she doesn't feel whole. She doesn't feel whole in the relationship. She doesn't feel wholly seen. Instead, she chooses to lead an even more fragmented existence and she realizes that, although it raises interesting questions, and playful moments about her and her identity, that it's not sustainable. Cheating is not freedom. Infidelity is not freedom. It's a momentary respite from stressors that are going to come back."
Who was your '90s crush?
"My no. 1 '90s crush was Leonardo DiCaprio. I had 27 pictures of him on my wall. And I, like, wanted more, but the internet didn't exist then."
Read the full interview at Cosmopolitan.
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