The five roles that inspired Aubrey Plaza to become an actor
The career of Aubrey Plaza began with improv and sketch comedy performances at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, but her big break came when she landed the role of April Ludgate in NBC’s Parks and Recreation, which aired from 2009 to 2015.
Since then, Plaza has gone on to earn critical acclaim for her roles in productions such as The White Lotus, Scott Pilgrim and Child’s Play. In a feature with A-Frame, Plaza revealed the films that inspired her to become an actress.
“I want so much to be in a great film and not just a good film or an okay film,” she said. “I want to be in movies that are memorable, that people remember and want to watch again. Because there are so many movies that are made, and it’s hard to be in a film that really stands out. So, for me, it’s all about trying to find a film that could be great.”
First up for Plaza is Judy Garland’s performance was Ester Maine in the 1954 version of the American musical-drama A Star Is Born, adapted from the 1937 original film. Plaza said, “Judy Garland is my number one, and the 1954 version of that movie is one of my all-time favourite movies ever. A Star Is Born is one of the movies that made me want to be an actor from a young age, so I had to put it on the list.”
Next for Plaza is Gena Rowlands in her husband John Cassavetes’ 1977 psychological film Opening Night. Rowlands plays a stage actress who suffers a nervous breakdown after witnessing the accidental death of one of her fans. “When I started watching Cassavetes’ movies,” Plaza said. “I understood performance on a different level than I ever had before. It felt so real to me that I couldn’t get over it.”
Marriage and relationships seem to be a recurring theme for Plaza in some of her favourite works as she picks out Ingmar Bergman’s 1974 film Scenes From A Marriage. “What was so impactful for me watching that film for the first time was just how compelling it is to watch two people talk to each other for three hours,” Plaza said of Bergman’s theatrical release and Liv Ullman’s performance, which had been adapted from a six-part miniseries the year prior.
John Waters is another director that Plaza admires, and she is particularly fond of his direction of Kathleen Turner in 1994’s Serial Mom. “The humour and the absurdity of that film blew my mind. I had no idea that you could make something so weird that people would still accept and could be a movie in a movie theatre,” she said. “That movie inspired me on so many levels.”
Finally, Plaza selects Elaine May’s performance in 1971’s A New Leaf, which May also wrote and directed. The film was based on Jack Ritchie’s short story ‘The Green Heart’. Plaza said of May, “I love this movie. She’s incredible in it. I think knowing that she’s behind the camera directing this film, making something that was so good and so funny, and then acting in it, and having her hands all over it and just being the badass that she was, she’s been an inspiration for me every step of the way.”
Five roles that inspired Aubrey Plaza:
- Judy Garland in A Star is Born (George Cukor, 1954)
- Gena Rowlands in Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977)
- Liv Ullman in Scenes from a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1974)
- Kathleen Turner in Serial Mom (John Waters, 1994)
- Elaine May in A New Leaf (Elaine Mat, 1971)
