Jenny Slate
Appearances
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yeah. Yeah. And that, you know, that's the moment for me where you realize that Molly has decided she wants to experience sex. She's had an awakening. She's being called, in fact, by her child self. It's sort of an awakening. It's also a reckoning. And it's a big, bold, beautiful chance at not dying in sex.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
pain, I mean, in emotional pain, but living to the very end in understanding and with the courage to face that which has been sort of hounding you. And for Nikki, She starts being like, I'm not good at taking care of people. I have no idea what I'm doing. And for me, in the moment where Nikki says, now I know that I can. I can love fully. I can love both while being my total self and selflessly.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yeah, I liked her courage. I liked her instant boil anger because I don't express anger in the same way. And I really needed that moment to be able to be loud and unapologetic. I loved that about the character. Oh, I love that.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I know what it's like to completely risk everything. because love is so glorious. Nikki gets that incredible self-reliance and self-esteem that one can experience from understanding themselves as a person who is the center of receiving and giving love. Yes. I really, I love that.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I was nervous about the intubation when they were pulling the intubation tube out. That was hard for me. The tube like scared me. Really? Why you think? I'm scared of that as a person. I'm scared of being intubated, not being able to speak. That's like a fear of mine. So I tried to put everything into the relief of the tube being out of her body. Right.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Um, and I was like, okay, that's going to be here. I'm going to put it into the performance. I'm safe. I'm going to look into Molly's eyes. That's what Nikki would do. I'm keeping Molly with me. I'm, this is a weird blend, but like, go just like do it. Just do it.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
What I hope first and foremost is that people are entertained. I hope that they felt something that feels personal to them. I think my wish is always that people allow themselves to believe
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
in the idea that feelings can be simultaneous and that harder things don't cancel out the more positive things and that the positive feelings aren't there to rescue us from things that are difficult, but that the mixture is really where truth lies and that it's really worth it. Oh, that's good.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Good. Not that I'm the question asker. I know you're asking me, but what are some of the main things that you've thought about when you think about this show actually being out there and released?
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yeah. Yeah. And I do believe, at least from how I've gotten to know you so far and you talk about Molly, that yeah, you might have to let go, but you'll still continue to love her. You know, you just won't have this work to engage with. And now you'll have to decide for yourself how you participate in your relationship with her.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
23.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Oh, my gosh. It's the same for me. That's about seeing you, not seeing myself. I'm not like, oh, there she is.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Let the magic begin. I've found her. There me is. Oh my gosh.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Well, I'd had a conversation with my agents and I was saying, I just love acting. But if I could choose, I wouldn't do anything unless it gave me a certain feeling about going full wingspan is what I kept saying. Oh. Like, let me extend as wide as I can and like see how far I can go.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Well, like two days later, they were like, we think this is what you're talking about. It's called Dying for Sex. And I read the first two scripts that night. And it wasn't just that I loved the role of Nikki. It was that I loved their relationship. I loved the way that the story was patterned and what was important to tell.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
It was a feeling of like, of course so many actors could play this role because it's written with such a spirit in it that it can be done by many people. But I know that for me, I could fully extend myself into this and go to places I've never been if I could only be given the chance.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
There were many things. I think the intimacy that Nikki is capable of with Molly, um, but not necessarily with other people was a really interesting thing to get into. I also was interested in like, wow, this is a person who. gets her heart broken while also discovering the strength of it. At the end of the story, I was like, I want to see that.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I want to see this person have to risk her heart, know that they are going into what they're going into, these two women, and throw that all down and not throw herself and life away. And she comes close in our series. There are many people that say to Nikki, like, you don't have good boundaries. And... Yeah, I liked her courage.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I liked her instant boil anger because I don't express anger in the same way. And I really needed that moment to be able to be loud and unapologetic and feeling right without being self-righteous. I loved that about the character of that. Yeah.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yeah, I believe so. I think that I asked you that when I first met you.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yeah.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I felt the same. Really? Yeah. Just easy.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yeah, I mean, that day when we filmed the first scene, which was actually way into the Shoot. The first scene where you see Nikki and Molly together, I feel like, you know, because that scene was sort of looming. It was like it hadn't been shot, and then it got pushed, and it was like, this is a really hard scene. But on that day, it had already started to be spring, and there was a beautiful...
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
apple blossom blooming in the backyard of the little apartment that they had for a bunch of us to wait in while we were, you know, getting ready to shoot. I felt that it was a very tender, sensitive day because it was also the day that you had offered to send me some pictures of you and Molly at the end of her life. And I was sort of like... I don't I'm sort of afraid. Yeah.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
And I was like afraid that it would be too much to see the images. For many reasons, I just thought, I don't know if I deserve to see that. And on that day, I was looking at the tree and I was thinking like. Wow, it really feels like Molly is here.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I felt like I should ask now to see on this day of like beautiful beauty, like the earth was sort of warming up and the pink blossoms and it smelled so good. And I texted you and was like, I know it's last minute, but would you still be willing to share those pictures? Yeah, I sort of felt like I had like Molly's permission, not just yours, but to look at them that day.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
And I sent him probably right over because I didn't know this. Yeah, it was so lovely. And I was looking at them before I drove the car into that scene, which is also kind of confusing to me because it's like you don't roll up crying. That's not a great moment before, right? Right. But I guess I wanted to know in my mind that. this woman's life is about to change.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
And this is what the end of the story kind of looks like. And I haven't really had an experience like that ever.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I'm so glad you say that. I think, you know, one of the things I loved the most about the script was that humor isn't like a gimmick and it's not a cheat in terms of like, oh, how do I get around not feeling scared and bad? But in fact, it's that... Nikki and Molly just love each other so much.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
There's just so much joy and gratitude in the fact that they have each other that they will grab at any extra joy, any extra laugh.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
If it occurs. And like there's a scene where they're in the bathroom and Molly is writing in her journal and she's reading to Nikki and... you know, it's very pivotal. It's incredibly serious. It's not a joke. No one should joke about what's in that moment. And yet, because they're real people, that scene does end in a really funny way. It's kind of like, you know, Church giggles, as they say.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
You know, you probably shouldn't be laughing, but you can't stop. But the comedy comes from actually being alive and not being desperate to experience something good, but just really eating up those morsels of, like... sweetness and real, real friendship.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I don't know. It just happened. I think it's first of all, it's all on the page. And then it's all in the podcast, the connection between you and Molly and then on the page, the connection between the characters of Nikki and Molly. Right.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
It's to understand the character and imbue her with someone who has complete concern, complete loyalty, ever-expanding love and joy and total access to this other person. Can I get some more blankets?
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yes. Why are her hands bolted down?
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
And in terms of her own, Mike, what's on your hat?
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Yeah. I mean, this might seem like it's coming from left field. And also one would think like you learn from the character you play, but in fact, you learn from everyone in the story. At least I do. And I thought a lot about Molly and what she was unable to confront for so long. You begin to understand that.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
Molly believes in an ever-present, always threatening, like tightly, the springs are ready to spring off badness. And the badness is going to come out. And it's already directed her and her life. And when I watched that, I started thinking about my own fear of death.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
upsetting people, my own fear of being criticized, and how that can make me impatient, angry, and scared sometimes, even if I don't express it the way that Molly expresses her own anger when she eventually does, or how Nikki immediately expresses anger. And I really thought about it and I was watching Molly and watching Michelle.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
And I got to this really weird place of unexpected catharsis, which was like, oh, I think I've been thinking that there's something deeply wrong with me for basically my entire life. And I was able to really start to let that go during this work. Anyway, I've been thinking of the difference between...
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
something bad happened or I even did something bad and I'm bad yeah is so important and you can intellectualize it and you can suggest that other people go you know and understand that and live by it but I actually don't think I have been living according to that line of thinking until I made this show Oh, I love that.
Dying For Sex
Jenny Slate, and Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock: On Throwing Out the Rules | 9
I'm glad. Yeah, that was one of my favorite scenes when I read the script. And I actually think that that scene was the scene that when I read it, I started to have that feeling of like, oh man, I would love to be able to do that.