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Paula Pell has a lot in common with herWine Countrycharacter, Val.
Our characters are very close to who we are with some artistic license heightening it, Pell tells Vulture.
I had been divorced and was really depressed, wanting any kind of connection with anybody.
I was trying to date and being really awkward about it.
I got knee replacements and wanted to have a new life and start over.
All those things happened during the writing of this, so its very close to my heart.
And I am a filthy person.
I mean, you cant get away from it.
It was over $800.
Nothing but the best for my friends.
I dont know how the hell I got through TSA with all that.
After two and a half decades in the industry, the Netflix movie marks Pells first big film role.
AtSNL, she was terrified of even briefly appearing on camera for sketches Id have abdominal disruption before.
Its one line, so if you fuck it up, youre an idiot, she says.
But thats all changing now.
At one point, I came out singing As If We Never Said Goodbye fromSunset Boulevard.
I had a cornucopia on my head and a skirt on, nothing else, she says.
Then my agents called, panicked, when I signed the nudity waiver.
(She jokes that after her knee replacement, shell get the boobs next.
Theyre members of SAG.)
Earlier this year, she reprised her role as Helen on NBCsA.P.
I wanted to walk out and say, Look at me.
Im five-foot-two and 200 pounds.
I wrote this from my experience!
We did six episodes and it never saw the light of day, she says.
With fat, I think its kind of one of the last bastions of comedy.
Pell is happy that things seem to be changing, one show at a time.
I cried so hard watching it.
Aidy is such a powerhouse, she says.
It sucks being young and vital and growing up big.
I never thought I would want to be with someone in comedy, Pell says.
She is just an absolute wonderful love tornado.
With all that to be happy about, she still needs the occasional reminder to savor things.
I carry around that fear sometimes, but this has been the most incredible two years.
Thats my hardest thing: to be present and absorb it.
When you get older and a little sturdier in your bones, youre able to.
