She’s the star of new rom-zom-com Life After Beth, the story of a woman who comes back from the grave to her loving boyfriend before he then has to deal with her slowly turning into a Romero-esque zombie. She plays the dead-pan April Ludgate on the long running American sitcom ‘Parks and Recreation’. She is the girl whose face you know from that thing you thought was funny.

She also hurt my feelings.

It wasn’t personal. I got the sense that she hates all journalists.

 

 

It’s fair to say that a fair few artists, actors and musicians hate talking about their work to magazines and newspapers. We’re seen as a part of the ugly side of show business. And we get it: Aubrey Plaza was deposited in a small, modern but clinical hotel room in Edinburgh before a million interviewers came in and asked her an endless series of the same questions all day. We’d hate it too.

With that in mind, we wanted to get through all the basic stuff up front so that we could find out who she really is.

FAULT: You must get asked the same questions all the time, so could you go through the answers that you give everyone else?
Aubrey: I improvised a little bit but we didn’t have that much time because we were on a really tight schedule. I did not prepare by watching any other zombie movies because I wanted to create my own zombie and I didn’t want to copy any other zombies and also, zombies aren’t real so there’s not like one zombie that I could watch to be like, that’s not an authentic zombie. A zombie can be whatever you want it to be, I like spaghetti… Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead… I don’t know. I really don’t like to be asked what my favourite anything is because I don’t like favourites.

Why not?
Because I’m indecisive and I don’t feel strongly about anything.

 

 

Not caring does seem like your persona. I’m wondering how much of that is true.
I don’t know. I don’t know who I am. I don’t have a very good perspective on myself. You should ask my therapist. She would know better.

Do you watch any of the stuff you’re in?
No.

Maybe that will give you perspective.
Why? Those are just characters. Because my voice sounds monotone people think I’m being sarcastic all the time. When I’m in things on film or TV, people think I’m doing the same thing over and over again – but this is just how I sound normally.

Do you get that a lot?
Yeah, all the time. People say I’m, like, being dead pan or something – which I am sometimes when the role calls for it – but sometimes I’m not. My voice just sounds like that.

That sounds really dismissive…
That’s what people do, they just dismiss you.

People do? Like who?
People like you, interviewers, reviewers, everyone does it.

Yeah, we do. On any kind of long running show people are going to start to see you just as that character an nothing else. Do you consciously try and do something different?
I think because I’ve been on a TV show for so long, and because it was one of the first things I did, that’s just the first impression people have of me and they can’t get it out of their head. So I’m always trying to do things to surprise people – but I’m not so much concerned with that as I am with just doing good work. I don’t make decisions based on trying to battle my TV persona – but it is in my head. I can’t help it. It’s frustrating to be pigeon-holed but I like the challenge of changing people’s minds.

 

 

So what do you look for in a role you take on?
It’s case by case. My acting coach told me that the parts that I want or the parts that I am drawn to are ones where the character has struggles that I am also trying to work out in my own life. I use them as therapy for myself. If I’m feeling really angry, like now…

No one is making you talk to me.
I’m drawn to parts where I get to be really physical and just kick some people’s ass or something. It’s cathartic.

That sounds great if you’re aware that is what you’re doing. Have you always been aware of that?
No, not always. I just realised recently. When I read scripts I think about them in terms of, “will this be something that would be good for me in my life right now?” Some actors can treat it like a job and then, when they go home, they go back to being themselves – but I just get really obsessed. I have to choose things that I really want to take over for a month or two months, or however long it’s going to take, because I’m inviting this thing into my life and I have to really embrace it.

 

 

 

That sounds like a lot of pressure. Is that fun?
It’s fun while I do it, because I’m in it and not aware of what I’m doing, so I’m just being. Whenever I finish a movie, I always get really depressed. It’s like withdrawal. Being a character is like a drug that’ll get you high two months doing, then when it’s over you just stop and go home. I guess you’ll have to interview me while I’m shooting a movie and see if I’m acting like a crazy person or not.

I’ll check my schedule.
I’m going to call you every day to check.

I might be busy
Doing what?

How dare you! Writing about actors that I don’t care about. Feel that sting? Words hurt, don’t they?
I don’t care!

You established that earlier on!

 

Interview by Chris Purnell