{"id":4409,"date":"2014-02-17T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/?p=4409"},"modified":"2015-07-16T20:03:46","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T00:03:46","slug":"an-interview-with-madeline-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/an-interview-with-madeline-blue\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Madeline Blue of \u2018Wet Hot American Summer\u2019 and \u2018Justified\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"madeline\"
\n

\nI met Madeline Blue in quite the serendipitous way. My friend \/ next door neighbor Jeanine asked me how my mom was doing, because she\u2019s been quite ill this winter. I told her she was a bit better, but still very much on the mend, and that I\u2019d been spending a lot of time with her watching TV\u2014in particular, we\u2019d been marathoning the brilliant FX series <\/i>Justified<\/i><\/a>. \u201cMy friend was on Justified!\u201d My jaw dropped. \u201cYeah, and she\u2019s been staying with me the past couple days!\u201d My jaw dislodged entirely and fell to the floor and spent way longer than the five-second rule there.<\/i><\/p>\n

Turns out her friend Madeline had played a prostitute by the name of Minerva in the third season. A quick IMDb-ing refreshed me as to which prostitute this was, and also enlightened me to the fact that this very same actress had also played the highly-memorable role of \u2018Cure Girl\u2019 in one of the greatest comedies of all time, <\/i>Wet Hot American Summer<\/i><\/a>\u2014a favorite not only of mine, but of my mom\u2019s as well.<\/i><\/p>\n

I knew that a surprise visit from her would be the perfect thing to help perk my mom up. Jeanine agreed, and put me and Madeline together, who immediately got the synchronicity of it and was more than happy to do it. And it couldn\u2019t have gone better.<\/i>
\n
\nThat brief moment of \u2018How do I recognize this person?\u2019 in my mom\u2019s eyes when she opened the door, followed by me being able to say \u201cThis is Madeline Blue, who played Minerva, one of the whores on Justified\u201d and watch her face light up and beam is a moment I\u2019ll treasure forever. It was the perfect merging of fantasy and reality\u2014pure magic, as though she had stepped right out of the TV.<\/i><\/p>\n

They talked for a while about the show, and all the while, I was smiling at my mom\u2019s happiness, but also at the fact that I knew I had one more ace up my sleeve. When the time was right, I dropped the bomb of \u201cBy the way, she was also in Wet Hot American Summer.\u201d \u201cNo!” my mom exclaimed. “Who did you play?\u201d Without missing a beat, Madeline raised her arm in her inimitable way, blowing her mind once more.<\/i><\/p>\n

At the end of the visit, Madeline signed a flyer for her from the inside of our <\/i>Justified Season 3<\/i><\/a> blu-ray set. Here\u2019s a scan of it:<\/i><\/p>\n

\"MadelineAnnieScan\"
\n

\nNot long after that day, I sat down with Madeline to find out about her experiences being in some of my favorite things:<\/i><\/p>\n

Walk me through how you were cast in Wet Hot American Summer. What was the audition process like? And at what stage did you meet David Wain?<\/b><\/p>\n

Hmm\u2026 so, I went to an audition! \u00a0I had a lot of those growing up. \u00a0My mom would drive me into New York City from New Jersey, where I lived. \u00a0I got to cut out early from school! \u00a0It was awesome.<\/p>\n

I had one audition in the room with David and Michael [Showalter], then probably another, although I don’t remember\u00a0if we even did callbacks\u2014I’m sure we did, but this was over a decade ago. \u00a0Either way, I’m sure I did pretty much the same thing both times, and that’s always the best way to do it. \u00a0They had me read for Mallrat Girl and<\/i> Cure Girl. \u00a0I remember I had the characters totally backwards in my young mind\u2014I thought Mallrat Girl meant someone gnarly, nerdy, and un-showered, and I had no idea what \u201cCure Girl\u201d meant but I pictured her as a total Valley Girl. \u00a0(I didn’t know <\/i>I was being ironic with my delivery, but once I saw how they were going to clothe me, I guess I realized it’d be good for the part!) \u00a0Backwards as I was, I remember having my hair up neat and tidy when I read for Cure Girl, then taking my hair down and messing it all up in front of my face and breathing all heavy and creepily to read for Mallrat Girl. \u00a0Whatever I was doing, I guess they liked it! \u00a0David and Michael were both very warm, and I remember them laughing generously in the room. \u00a0Sweethahts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Were you ever allowed to read the whole script, or did you just get sides for the scenes you were in?<\/b><\/p>\n

As soon as I was cast, I stayed up one night,\u00a0all <\/em>night,\u00a0devouring the whole script. \u00a0But I had no sense of humor and it was all very… sexual-seeming. \u00a0I was super scandalized. \u00a0I wasn’t gonna give up the part or anything, but I remember thinking, “My mom is gonna freak<\/i>.” \u00a0I def thought I\u2019d been cast in an amateur porno.<\/p>\n

What was it like on set? Did it feel at all like being at camp? Did you make friends, and feel included?<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, we were certainly on real campgrounds! \u00a0Bunk beds and cold showers and everything. \u00a0It was also rainy-mucky most of the time\u2014also green and nature-y, so that all felt like camp. \u00a0I had only been to sleepaway camp once in real life, so I wasn’t familiar with much except the scenery and the raging hormones (maybe those were just mine\u2014nah, they were probably everywhere). \u00a0I remember liking a boy who told me my pupils were cool while he was actually crushing after a way<\/i> hotter girl, so that was pretty summer camp typical. \u00a0Then there were the adults running amuck and brown-bagging it\u2014that was probably pretty typical too, but a little foreign to this <\/i>gal.<\/p>\n

Everyone was super warm, fun, friendly, encouraging\u2014we all sat together in the mess hall, and I definitely beat Paul Rudd in a game of HORSE!<\/p>\n

Do you ever get recognized as the Cure Girl? You really stand out in the movie, even though it\u2019s a small role.<\/b><\/p>\n

Um\u2026 I’m doing this interview, aren’t I?! \u00a0Yes, Cure Girl follows me wherever I go. \u00a0Only among the cool kids, of course\u2014and I wouldn’t have it any other way! \u00a0Without her, I probably wouldn’t have ever had any friends or boyfriends ever.<\/p>\n

But seriously, I appreciate WHAS fans more than I can say! \u00a0You’ve all given me a small taste of what it feels like to be a super-cult, F-list, never has-been child star, pseudo-celeb.<\/p>\n

\"handraise3\"
\n

\nTalk to me about the greatest arm raise in film history. Where did you raising your arm in that way come from? Was that in the script, a direction on set, or an improvise?<\/b><\/p>\n

Ha! \u00a0The arm raise! \u00a0That, my friend, was pure<\/i> inspiration. \u00a0That\u2019s definitely a trademark party trick I like to show off when someone says, “You know, Madeline was in Wet Hot American Summer,” and someone else responds, “Oh, yeah?\u00a0Who were you?”<\/p>\n

[Arm raise.]<\/p>\n

They just done told us to raise our hands… and I was gettin’ a pretty good hang of that goth-chick thing.<\/p>\n

Was there much improvisation in the scenes you were in, or did things stick to the script?<\/b><\/p>\n

There were moments of improvisation\u2014mainly bits of physical comedy, like the arm raise. \u00a0But for the most part, as I recall, everything was scripted so quirkily already that most of the magic was embedded in the writing. \u00a0At least, as far as I can remember about my scenes, the language stayed pretty tight\u2014it was the extra little non-verbal beats that got some play-time.<\/p>\n

What was David Wain like as a director?<\/b><\/p>\n

He’s amazing. \u00a0Just the nicest dude. \u00a0So in-tune, warm, inspired. \u00a0Really listens.\u00a0 Like many of the best directors, he just trusted his cast and let them have fun. \u00a0Man, he’s blown up! \u00a0What I wouldn’t give to go back in time to a time where he warn’t so derned busy\u2026 I’d pick his sweet brains over a cupcake or two!<\/p>\n

Did you ever think it\u2019d become such a huge cult movie, and when did you notice that it had become one? It was panned by a lot of critics when it initially came out, and did quite poorly at the box office. But I honestly don\u2019t know a single funny person who doesn\u2019t like it. It\u2019s like this perfect, sense-of-humor litmus test. And everyone who does like it has seen it like 10 times or more.<\/b><\/p>\n

I think the first time I really noticed what had happened was when I visited my sister at college. \u00a0No one in my high school gave a damn about the movie (it wasn’t very Jew-y where I lived). \u00a0But when I visited my sister at Tufts, I was a total celeb! \u00a0Boys flirted with me and thought I was famous. \u00a0It was so weird.<\/p>\n

And, I agree with all your super-nifty sentiments about the film. \u00a0I wasn’t a very funny kid in my real life when the movie came out, so I didn’t really get it! \u00a0As I got cooler, Wet Hot became truer to me. \u00a0It’s just “the way”.<\/p>\n

\"madeline2small\"
\n

\nIn addition to being in one of my favorite comedies, you were also on two episodes of one of my favorite TV shows, Justified. Talk to me about that experience\u2014what was the casting like, and how was it working with Olyphant, Goggins, and McDonough?<\/b><\/p>\n

So, casting’s rough. \u00a0I mean, auditioning\u2014I’m sure casting is too, but I’m not a casting director. \u00a0I actually got the Justified gig through a chain of events including, but not limited to: moving to LA, dying my hair blonde, paying to meet casting directors, sending lots of postcards, having three different agents and reps all clicking buttons and making phone calls to the same office, and 8 out of 10 producers thinkin’ I’m alright.<\/p>\n

Funnily enough, same as Wet Hot, the casting office was having gals audition for two roles at once\u2014Cat and Minerva, the two hookers that appear in that scene in the trailer\u2014and I gave a very different, quirky, instinctive take for each of them. \u00a0I had Cat in mind as a bit of an airhead, and Minerva as a drug-lovin\u2019, rough-voiced hussy\u2014and I guess they ended up hiring me to do something in the middle. \u00a0I think it’s nice when you can show people your \u2018range\u2019\u2014turning on a dime gives you a fast opportunity to prove you’re not a hack. \u00a0It also doesn’t leave you much room or time to over-think your choices and get all self-destructive and \u2018heady\u2019. \u00a0Also, I had developed a relationship with Christal Karge\u00a0at Cami Patton’s office, and she was really nice and \u2018got\u2019 me (guess she thought I had chops!). \u00a0Those ladies practically run<\/i> that show now. \u00a0They’re awesome.<\/p>\n

All those guys are great. \u00a0Just GREAT. \u00a0I spent the most time with McDonough, and he was a total joy to work with. \u00a0Very easy and fun. \u00a0Brilliant to watch how little the best TV actors have to \u2018do\u2019 to be golden on screen. \u00a0Subtle stuff. \u00a0Only had a bit of time with Olyphant, but he was very gracious.<\/p>\n

\"madelinesopranos\"
\n

\nYou were also on an episode of The Sopranos<\/a>. How was that, and did you have any interaction with the late great James Gandolfini?<\/b><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I did not. \u00a0My scenes were all flashbacks, so I had an entirely different set of wonderful actors to work with. \u00a0But I was the original <\/i>Janice Soprano (they re-cast Young Janice as someone more Aida Turturro-like in Season 3, dammit). \u00a0I did meet and spend some time talking with Anthony Jr. (Robert Iler) who had literally been scouted off the streets somewhere, if I recall. \u00a0That was my first TV gig! \u00a0And the birthing place of my first<\/i> physical trademark\u2014The Middle Finger. \u00a0Needless to say, it was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

Where can our readers see you currently? Any cool projects at the moment?<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, the coolest and most current spot to catch me is in Howie Mandel’s hidden-camera comedy Deal With It<\/a> on TBS. \u00a0I’ll also be making a very small appearance on his new dating game show, Can’t Buy Me Love. \u00a0Other than that, write to your congressmen, cross your fingers, and pray lots of prayers to Yahweh or Baby J or whoever, asking that this girl makes some money doing what she loves this year!<\/p>\n

Find out more about Madeline at\u00a0<\/i>MadelineBlue.com<\/i><\/a>, where you can also check out clips from her work. And\u00a0<\/i><\/i>be sure to check out her Facebook fan page<\/a>, and follow her on Twitter:\u00a0<\/i>@MadelineBlue22<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"madeline\"
\n

\nI met Madeline Blue in quite the serendipitous way. My friend \/ next door neighbor Jeanine asked me how my mom was doing, because she\u2019s been quite ill this winter. I told her she was a bit better, but still very much on the mend, and that I\u2019d been spending a lot of time with her watching TV\u2014in particular, we\u2019d been marathoning the brilliant FX series <\/i>Justified<\/i><\/a>. \u201cMy friend was on Justified!\u201d My jaw dropped. \u201cYeah, and she\u2019s been staying with me the past couple days!\u201d My jaw dislodged entirely and fell to the floor and spent way longer than the five-second rule there.<\/i><\/p>\n

Turns out her friend Madeline had played a prostitute by the name of Minerva in the third season. A quick IMDb-ing refreshed me as to which prostitute this was, and also enlightened me to the fact that this very same actress had also played the highly-memorable role of \u2018Cure Girl\u2019 in one of the greatest comedies of all time, <\/i>Wet Hot American Summer<\/i><\/a>\u2014a favorite not only of mine, but of my mom\u2019s as well.<\/i><\/p>\n

I knew that a surprise visit from her would be the perfect thing to help perk my mom up. Jeanine agreed, and put me and Madeline together, who immediately got the synchronicity of it and was more than happy to do it. And it couldn\u2019t have gone better.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,22],"tags":[3527,3528,32,3535,893,3525,3523,3524,3536,3530,3529,3534,104,185,3526,3532,3531,3533,839],"class_list":["post-4409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allposts","category-codysinterviews","tag-cami-patton","tag-christal-karge","tag-cody-clarke","tag-cure-girl","tag-david-wain","tag-justified","tag-madeline-blue","tag-madeline-blue-interview","tag-mallrat-girl","tag-minerva","tag-minerva-justified","tag-neal-mcdonough","tag-smug-film-2","tag-smugfilm","tag-the-sopranos","tag-tim-olyphant","tag-timothy-olyphant","tag-walton-goggins","tag-wet-hot-american-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4409"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6367,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409\/revisions\/6367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}