Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Amy Schumer and Jillian Bell about the new Netflix comedy movie Kinda Pregnant. Schumer and Bell discussed what drew them to the project, getting to do some physical comedy stunts in the movie, and more.
“Lainy, a middle-school teacher (Schumer) who has always dreamed of being a mom, is jealous of her newly pregnant best friend and gets swept up in a web of lies when she wears a fake baby bump,” the synopsis for the movie reads. “Along the way, she accidentally falls in love with Josh (Will Forte) and discovers the power of sisterhood.”
Kinda Pregnant is now streaming on Netflix.
Brandon Schreur: Amy, you worked on the script for this movie and, obviously, you play Lainy. And Lainy is such a cool character; she’s funny and she’s got a lot of stuff going on. I’m curious, when you were working on the screenplay, what aspect of Lainy were you most excited to tackle?
Amy Schumer: Well, I really do love lying. I love watching people work out the lies that they’re telling. Julie Paiva wrote the initial script and I got to do sort of do re-writes. Just the more that she could lie, the better. The more it plays it real and really sees her heartbreak — that’s my favorite thing, just lying.
Jillian Bell: It’s the best. Watching you scramble to come up with what the new truth is, I could watch it for hours. It’s so freaking funny.
Schumer: It’s my favorite thing.
And it just gets more and more ridiculous as it goes along, that was great, I was so into it.
Schumer: It’s like living in a nightmare! Comedies are, really, just like being trapped in a nightmare.
Bell: Yes. Like, nothing good is happening throughout the whole comedy.
Schumer: This movie is as tragic as The Brutalist.
Bell: If not more.
Jillian, I also really liked your character, Kate, in this movie. I mean, she’s Lainy’s best friend and it’s cool to see how that relationship changes throughout the movie and gets challenged, but she’s also her own person with her own struggles and stuff that’s going on. I’m just kind of wondering what about Kate were you most excited to explore and play with in this movie.
Bell: I honestly was just excited to see a real friendship and play at that. I was excited that I got to work with Amy and that most of my scenes were with Amy. I just feel like nobody really allows females just to be that raw and, like, ugly — not ugly in the sense of our looks, because we’re obviously very attractive.
Schumer: We’re fucking models!
Bell: But I mean, like, the rawness of it, the realness of it, that’s what I was excited to explore, and I really felt like I got to do that with this character.
Oh, totally. And I loved your guys’ banter together, too, both of you are so funny when you have scenes together. Amy, you also get to do a lot of really fun physical comedy in this movie. Whether it’s when Lainy lights herself on fire or the whole bit with the piñata. I’m wondering, out of the physical comedy moments in here, what was the most fun to film?
Schumer: The piñata was fun. It was fun to swing that bat. But I did one — Meredith Richardson is my stunt double, she’s also Jillian’s stunt double. And she’s amazing.
Bell: The best.
Schumer: Just the best, so fun. She’s a stunt coordinator, now. But they let me take a crack at this one. And it’s just so fun watching Meredith do the stunts because I love stunts. You’re just like, ‘Oh my god, yes! Go, get it!’
Bell: She goes for it. She does not care and goes for it hard.
Schumer: Yeah, she just goes right to an 11. But I got to do one where I’m putting my bed away, my fold-up bed, and I flew in the air. That’s really me. I really did it. And that was so fun.
Bell: Your reaction is priceless. It is so authentic because it’s really happening to you.
I know exactly what you’re talking about, that moment is hilarious. Amy and Jillian that was all I had for the two of you, but thank you so much for your time.
Bell: Wait, can I ask what your favorite film is? Of all time?
My all-time favorite film? Sing Street from 2016.
Schumer: I love Sing Street!
Bell: Sing Street! That’s a great film!
Schumer: Oh my god, I love Sing Street.
Bell: I love it. I love hearing from film buffs.
It’s my all-time number one. I love it so much.
Schumer: What a feel-good movie.
Bell: That’s a great one.
Thanks to Amy Schumer and Jillian Bell for discussing Kinda Pregnant.
