Lucia Aniello is a millennial! Proudly making the announcement after walking into the 9NEWS studio - where she posed for some fan photos, showed off her fidget spinner and knew exactly what to do for an Instagram story.
The writer, director, comedian made a stop in Denver - ready to answer our questions and empower the woman around her with real talk.
Fresh off of directing the movie 'Rough Nights', starring Scarlett Johansson, Aniello got candid about the issues facing women in Hollywood, the new season of Broad City, and what comedians should do if they take things too far.
Q: How did you get such a great cast (for Rough Nights) together?
Lucia: It came together so fast and so magically, it was just amazing. We always wanted Scarlet for the part because we always (watched) her on SNL being so funny. We were like 'how is she not in comedy movie?' She read the (Rough Night) script and she really liked it! We had lunch and then a few hours later, we got a call that she was in! It was amazing and then Kate (McKinnon) we’ve known for a really long time because we use to do comedy at CB's in New York together. She read the script and she really loved the Pippa character, who’s based on a real friend of mine.
I really feel like you’re able to feel that real comradery and love, which to me, makes it the kind of (movie) where you’re laughing, but you’re also rooting for them in a real way. That’s what makes the movie so special to me.
Q: They were fantastic, but we got to say, Demi Moore - she came out of nowhere.
Lucia: Demi Moore
Q: So we were also kind of wondering ...
Lucia: How does she look hotter than ever?
Q: I think she is a vampire, I think she and Pharrell and Gwen Stefani have this pact where they just reverse age.
Lucia: I was like what are you doing? Like what creams you using? Like how many hours are you sleeping a night? I was taking beauty tips from her.
Q: How do you get women to embrace their funny side? With Scarlet Johansson and Demi Moore, we don’t always see that side of them.
Lucia: I wanted to create a space for them to be able to show that they are also super funny because really good actors are naturally funny. Because what they do is 'in the moment'. They are in the character and they are listening and they are responding - so their timing is already fantastic.
When you put that in a comedy setting, they can be some of the funniest people but for whatever reason, its mostly guys who have been able to kind of cross over back and forth - from drama to comedy. There haven’t been too many opportunities for dramatic women to show how funny they are. And so that’s one of my favorite part of this movie, is getting to show women like Zoë (Kravitz) and Scarlet and Demi that they can go toe-to-toe with some of the best comedians.
Q: What do you think men get wrong about women when they write them in comedy?
Lucia: Not to drink too much haterade, but I think maybe, it's just the fact, that we are not only always talking about them - you know? I think that the truth is - we are talking about a lot of other stuff. We are talking about our families, we talking about our other friends, we are talking about juice cleanses, we are talking about why you shouldn’t go to that pilates place because it kinds of smells.
I feel like that kind of casual conversation isn’t always something that I see on screen, but it’s my life and I bet it’s your life.
Q: It’s not always about you boys, sorry.
Lucia: No offense, we love you all!
Q: Can you talk to us about Broad City?
Lucia: The girls grow up a little bit in the season. It will be a year and half since we last saw the show and we do a little bit of exploration - we don’t pick up right where we left off. That’s going to be really exciting for the audience - the girls are still just trying to make it in the big city and they do venture out of the town as well.
Q: Recently, Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher have gotten in trouble for things they have said or done. Should comedians apologize for the what the public may perceive as taking it too far?
Lucia: That’s a great question, I feel like we shouldn’t be following some kind of mob mentality of, like, moral outrage. I think that somebody who’s totally aware will know when they did go too far and genuinely should apologize if it’s something that just is truly tasteless.
But, I also feel like the job of comedy is to push boundaries and sometimes people do get hyper-sensitive. But I feel like it’s important for marginalize people to not be the butt of jokes. So in that way, I think it’s important to be careful of what you’re saying.
Q: What is your roughest night after a bachelorette party or a party in general?
Lucia: I went with a bunch of friends to a male strip club in New York City, I think it was called 'Meat Packing', in the Meat Packing district, which genius - but we there and we were getting pretty crazy. One of the dancers went up to my best friend and he said “d*amn b*tch I should be paying you” and we laugh about that. We say it all the time, so that was one of my craziest nights because I don’t think we got home until about noon the next day.
