There is no doubt that Kristen Wiig is a great comedian: She entertained us for years on "Saturday Night Live," her film "Bridesmaids" was an instant comedic classic, and she can make even a routine talk show appearance hilarious. Now Wiig is expanding her reach beyond comedy, and we're hoping she'll wow us in a whole new sphere.
In her film "Girl Most Likely," which opens on July 19th, she takes on a much darker role. Wiig plays Imogene, a failed playwright who moves back in with her New Age mother (played by Annette Bening) after attempting suicide. "There are funny moments," Wiig said of the film at a July 15th screening, "But for the most part it’s just a real, touching story about someone trying to find her life and get over a bad breakup.”
Part of that soul-searching includes dating a younger man, portrayed by Darren Criss. In a July 18th interview with The Daily Beast, Wiig admitted that dating younger men is not something with which she's entirely unfamiliar. She said:
Personally, I just don’t ever really think about age when it comes to relationships, and you can’t really help who you fall in love with. I think every guy I’ve ever dated has been younger than me. None of them have been Darren’s age, but I just don’t really think about it, and I have no idea why! I’ll meet someone, find out how old they are later, and be like, ‘Really?’ I just don’t know why.
But, as the film's co-director Shari Springer Berman told U.S. News and World Report, beyond a semi-scandalous romantic relationship, "the heart of the movie" is the complex dynamic between Imogene and her mother. Kristen Wiig admitted in the Daily Beast interview that she knows what it's like to be embarrassed by one's mother -- especially when it comes to love. She recalled:
I remember in high school, it was one of the first times I had a boyfriend and we had been dating for about a year. I had him over to the house and I was upstairs, and I started hearing choir music. I realized she was playing him a tape of me singing in the junior choir of my church when I was 7! I remember being like, "Mom! What are you doing?!"
To read more of Wiig's thoughts on "Girl Most Likely" and how she's coping with the pressure to succeed in a dramatic role, check out the full interview on The Daily Beast.