Noël Wells is an actor, writer, and director based in LA. Her acting credits include “Happy Anniversary,” “F*cking People,” and “Master of None.” She is also currently developing a show at Comedy Central as creator/writer/star, tentatively entitled “Power Couple.” Wells was a featured player on “Saturday Night Live” where she broke out with her spot-on celebrity impressions.
“Mr. Roosevelt” will premiere at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival on March 12.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
NW: It’s a coming-of-age comedy about a struggling comedian coming to terms with her failing ambitions while dealing with the guilt of leaving a community that supported her behind.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
NW: It’s a reflection of how I feel about the plight of what many would call Millennials. So many of us are feeling unmoored and lost in the landscape of a post 9/11, tech-heavy, social media-centric world. We’re good kids, we did the right things, we got educated, we want things to be better, and we burst into our young adulthood with all our ambitions, ready to roll and yet we find we don’t really fit into the world the way we imagined we should and we’re not embraced the way we expect. Maybe we’re a little spoiled, and maybe we’re a little self-centered — in a lot of ways, we’re actually just a bit naive.
Ultimately, I think the solution is coming back together, in smaller ways, into community and finding validation in the way you give to each other. I wanted to write and play a character that reflected this, and show some of her faults but also show that at the end of the day, she isn’t that bad and we can all grow.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
NW: My biggest desire is for people leaving theater to say, “That was an entertaining movie!”
On a more personal level, I hope people identify with one or all of the characters, I hope some people can laugh at themselves, and maybe just a teeny bit I want people to feel sort of hopeful about where our world is going.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
NW: Believing in myself along the way and trusting my instincts — any time I did, though, everything magically worked out fine.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
NW: I wrote the script with only one goal in mind: I was going to make it no matter what. So I didn’t think about the hows while I was writing the script, I just wanted it to be as good as I could craft it and I knew I would pull it off even if it was just me and my friends with a DSLR.
At the end of the day, a wonderful indie production company Beachside got sent the script, and over several meetings and showing them my ideas and my vision for the movie, they decided to come on board and produce it. But I don’t think any of that would have happened if I hadn’t decided to embark on this journey with as much certitude as I did.
W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at SXSW?
NW: The Austin community is really such a magical place. I keep coming back to it again and again to explore how I fit here and I really adore all the characters that bring Austin to life.
To be able to share my movie with the city, which in many ways is my clumsy love-letter to it, feels like a vulnerable thing to do, but also, exactly what should be happening. I think Austin will understand the movie in a way other places probably wouldn’t.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
NW: The best, by far, is “Don’t strive for perfection: Strive for excellence.” I was an overachiever as a kid, and at a certain point, it became crippling when I tried to jump into things I didn’t know how to do as well. I was caught up in trying to do things right, and now I try and do things the best I can. We’re all moving at different speeds and it’s really stifling to compare yourself to other people when you can just hold yourself to your own standards.
Worst advice: “You should really only do one thing.” The reason I could do my movie is I’ve followed a lot of different interests in my life and they now inform my capacity to juggle lots of different jobs. I think some people could look at the things I pursued in the past as a waste of time, but these skills become useful as you embark on other projects. So why are we telling people to just do one thing? We should be doing whatever we feel like doing and see where that takes us. But also, if you only want to do one thing, that’s really okay too.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
NW: It’s important to see how prejudice holds you back, and to recognize when it’s happening so you can stand up for yourself and course correct. My whole life has led me through a journey of seeing all these ways I’ve been restricted, but here comes the advice: Once you see it, process those emotions, and then let it all go.
It’s not worth being mad at the dummies who don’t see your talent and worth and potential, and so many people get stuck in that loop. Take the lesson and the frustration and let it fuel you and catapult you to the next level. If you keep showing up again and again and again and growing and breaking down the boxes people try and trap you in, pretty soon people will learn you can’t be contained. And when you get to that point, always be sure to turn back and give someone who is where you used to be a helpful hand.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
NW: Amy Heckerling’s “Clueless”! It’s so wickedly funny, and stands the test of time and does this razor-sharp balancing act of having these broad female characters who never stagnate into obvious stereotypes and, instead, elevates them into these people we all see ourselves in and ultimately love, forever.
W&H: There have been significant conversations over the last couple of years about increasing the amount of opportunities for women directors yet the numbers have not increased. Are you optimistic about the possibilities for change? Share any thoughts you might have on this topic.
NW: Yes! I’m so optimistic. But here’s my secret opinion about it all: I think smart people and women should abandon the toxic movie-making system that is still struggling to validate us, and we should shift toward supporting each other and alternate versions of how movies get made.
There’s this tremendous community bursting forth, if we really nurtured that, we could grow and evolve and create a system that’s entirely new, incredibly artistic and way more sustainable. It’s scarier, because it’s not as established, but the establishment is a dinosaur and I think we’re all itching to make rock’n’roll.
