The surprising song that Aubrey Plaza wants to be played at her funeral
Although she has recently secured yet more critical acclaim thanks to her prominent part in the second season of HBO’s hugely successful series The White Lotus, Aubrey Plaza has been around for a while now, with her fanbase already a dedicated one. Years earlier, playing the deadpan and often blazé April in Parks and Recreation and the hilariously intense Julie in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Plaza established herself as one of the best contemporary character actors in Hollywood.
Elsewhere, other early Plaza flourishes came in the form of Seth Rogen’s love interest Daisy in Judd Apatow’s 2009 outing Funny People, along with a popular CollegeHumor short she featured in alongside Will Arnett and Jason Bateman. Unsurprisingly, the type of sarcastic character that fans of the actor came to expect from Plaza is authentic, with this often displayed in full force during interviews that ultimately manifest into online viral videos. This dry sense of humour also meant that when the time came to play Harper in The White Lotus season two, she was in the perfect position to deliver what some are hailing as her definitive performance.
In addition to her role as the vacationing lawyer, Plaza’s career has recently entered a new chapter thanks to her leading role in John Patton Ford’s atmospheric thriller Emily the Criminal and as Lenny / The Shadow King in FX’s dark series Legion. Due to her newfound prominence, Plaza has been doing rounds in the media, allowing fans to get to know her better. During a January interview with NME, she revealed that she is a lifelong lover of the late actor and musician Judy Garland, who shot to fame with 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.
Plaza disclosed that the first album she ever purchased was Garland’s 1961 live record Judy at Carnegie Hall. She said: “I’m pretty sure that I when I was about 12, I bought my local music store’s entire stock of Judy Garland albums. I did a book report on her for school, so I started watching her movies and became kind of infatuated with her. I thought it was pretty cool when Rufus Wainwright did his remake of her Carnegie Hall show. I mean, you’re never gonna compete with the greatest singer of all time, but it was a beautiful homage.”
However, more significantly, Plaza explained that her connection to the late icon is so great that she wants Garland’s song ‘Get Happy’ played at her funeral. She said: “I mean, I’d have to pick a Judy song for sure. I like the idea of this one because it’s, like, even though I’m dead people could come together to get happy with each other. Does that sound weird?”
