Actress Olivia Munn (“The Newsroom,” “X-Men: Apocalypse”) was a guest judge on the current season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Munn had words of wisdom for drag queen Crystal Methyd who had the tendency to hide her lovable personality behind her quirky makeup.
“When I first came out to California, I would take on every audition and I would just have the attitude, ‘Whatever you want, tell me and I’ll be it. Whatever you want I can do it.’ And that got me nowhere. Until one day, I realized, what is the one thing I have that no one else has? And that’s me. You really have such a fun energy that nobody else has. That will make the difference for you, not how much makeup you put on.”
Four days after that episode aired, we were on the phone with Munn, not to talk about “Drag Race” but to discuss her movie “Love Wedding Repeat.”
In the movie, based on the French film “Plan de Table,” Munn plays Dina, a journalist who reconnects with Jack (Sam Claflin), a guy she almost had a thing with, at his sister’s wedding. “I really loved the script and I loved the idea of doing a comedy. I love that it’s a movie about the power of chance,” Munn told Super in an exclusive interview.
Jack sees the wedding as his chance to get the girl who got away but it wouldn’t be easy, not with the many things getting in the way including an uninvited guest, an angry ex and a sedative. The romantic-comedy explores luck and chance as we see multiple versions of the same wedding play out depending on who the characters end up sitting next to.
Like the narrator said in the film: “We live in a universe that’s ruled by chaos and chance, where all it takes is one moment of ill fortune for all our hopes and dreams to go right down the sh*tter.”
We were excited to ask Olivia if she believed in the power of chance but luck wasn’t on our side—our connection was so bad she could barely hear us and so we continued our Q&A over email.
Do you believe in chance and the role it can play in our lives and in love?
Yeah. I think it’s very hard to ignore luck and chance in life. You know, you turn left and one thing happens and you turn right and your entire life can be completely different.
Was it stifling for the cast to wear wedding outfits every day?
I loved the dress that was made for me. Our costume designer was amazing. I got a few of them to wear. I loved the dress so much and I loved getting to just wear one thing over and over. It’s great, you don’t have to think about anything, you just throw it on. Same thing with hair and makeup. I think it’s difficult for Eleanor (Tomlinson), the bride in the movie. She had to wear a full wedding dress every single day. Full wedding glam. She looked gorgeous but I can imagine after doing it for a month and a half… I don’t think anyone wants to get married every day for a month and a half.
That does sound crazy. Did you get to keep one of your dresses?
Interesting that you ask that ’cause a lot of people have been asking about the dress since the movie premiered and I’ve been saying I should have kept one. I wish I did. But I did not.
The movie’s setting is so beautiful—what was it like on set?
We were so lucky to be able to film in the heart of Rome and inside this amazing 17th-century castle in Frascati, which is about 13 miles from Rome. We were also really fortunate to work with an Italian crew, who were all so wonderful and helped to make the experience even more fun.
Your scenes with Tim Key were some of my favorites—how hard was it keeping a straight face while shooting with him?
That makes me so happy to hear! My scenes with Tim were my favorite to shoot as well, simply because he made me laugh every, single time we filmed together. If I could do every movie with Tim Key for the rest of my career, I would be so happy. What’s your favorite memory from the set?I’d say it was the first scene I filmed which was at the table with the whole cast and just laughing so much. It was so exciting to start the shoot off knowing that I was surrounded by so many brilliant, incredibly funny actors.
What was it like working with Sam Claflin?
Sam is a really great person and an incredibly giving scene partner. We collaborated a lot together and sometimes even had to come up with all new lines just moments before we began filming. Our director Dean Craig also wrote the script, so we would put our brains together and just play in the moment.
What would you say about Dean Craig as a director?
I love Dean. He encouraged all of us to improv as much as we wanted which was great because he trusted the actors to bring what we could. The script was really great so we would often get a take that was exactly the script and then he’d let us improv and riff.
Is it true a sequel is already in the works? “Love Honeymoon Repeat?”
I don’t know! (laughing) I heard that the movie did really well all around the world, so I think there’s been talks about a sequel, which would be fun to do.
Your film came out in the middle of the pandemic—is it weird doing all the press from your house?
Yeah, it has been a bit weird to do press from home. But it’s been a good excuse for me to get up and get dressed instead of just wearing pajamas all day.
Can you talk about the work you’ve been doing with Wag! and GreaterGood?
The COVID-19 (new coronavirus disease) pandemic has created an unprecedented animal sheltering crisis in the United States and homeless pets with nowhere to go are at risk of being euthanized. Many animal shelters are being forced to shut their doors to the public as stay-at-home orders are being put into effect. #StayHomeandFoster makes it easy by connecting potential pet foster parents with animal shelters in their local communities and Wag! has teamed up with GreaterGood.org to help facilitate low-contact pet delivery or pickup. Fostering a pet will not only save a life but it will also decrease the stress of both the pet and the family or individual who is self-isolating at home during this challenging time. I have two shelter pets, Chance and Frankie, and they are the loves of my life and have really helped create a normalcy for me during this time. Fostering or adopting a cat or dog right now is one of the best things you can do and there’s never been a better time in our country’s history to do it than right now.
Can you tell us about how you helped Henry Golding and his wife get a foster dog?
Henry and Liv are good friends and they reached out saying they signed up at StayHomeandFoster.org, so I helped facilitate the low-contact delivery of Stella, the beautiful Pitbull mix they fell in love with. Henry and Liv are truly amazing dog parents already. They are very thoughtful about her training and giving her exercise and lots of love. Stella is a very lucky pup.
What can people do to help?
Sign up at StayHomeandFoster.org and start looking for animals that you think would fit into your life and household.
Tell me about your dogs. Chance and Frankie are so adorable.
Thank you! They’re just the best. Before the pandemic, Chance was in school to become a certified therapy dog so he can go into nursing homes and children’s hospitals to try and lift up people’s spirits. Chance just loves to love and be loved so it would be the best thing for him to spend his days making people happy. Frankie is also in training, but he’s much more interested in other dogs and cats than people, so he is just learning good behavior.
We love that you’re a big animal lover. What else are you passionate about?
I work with No Kid Hungry to help feed children who don’t have guaranteed meals everyday, which is really important during this pandemic because kids are missing out on their school lunch, and for many of them they depend on that one meal every day.
Do you have a message for your fans in the Philippines?
I LOVE the Philippines! And actually my first real boyfriend was Filipino. No, I can’t speak Tagalog, but yes I can say the curse words (laughing). But serious question—how is it that everyone in the Philippines is an amazing singer? It’s a country full of Celine Dions.
“Love Wedding Repeat,” a Netflix Global Original, is now streaming on Netflix.