STACK June 2017 Issue 152

14 / 93

14 JUNE 2017
visit CINEMA FEATURE
A s a child, Kristen Wiig couldn’t grow
up quick enough. Shunning traditional
children's’ TV programming for more
adult fare, she recalls today, “I am a sitcom
child because there weren’t many so-called
kid movies I really enjoyed, except for films
like Escape fromWitch Mountain, where the
kids were allowed to be adults. That and E.T, of
course.
“When you’re a kid and you see those first
comedies like Cannonball Run, or stuff you
shouldn’t really be watching, it's just so edgy
and surprising. I got into those kind of comedies
pretty early on.”
Perhaps making up for a missing chapter in
her youth, today Wiig has become the go-to
voice for the huge family franchises How to Train
Your Dragon and Despicable Me.
When STACK meets with her at Universal
Studios in Hollywood – home to Chris
Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment group
responsible for the billion dollar Minion madness
– she expresses unabashed joy at reclaiming
a lost childhood through the Despicable Me
movies, currently reprising her voice role as
Lucy Wilde.
“Lucy is a very exaggerated version of me in
the sense that I have to find broader and bigger
ways to do things or say things, like what sound
would she make when she does a karate chop?”
At the conclusion of Despicable Me 2, Wiig’s
Lucy went off into the sunset and married Steve
Carell’s Gru, today exploring married life in DM3
with the surprise arrival of Gru’s long-lost twin.
“There’s a lot of unhappiness in the world
right now, so I feel like it’s great to have movies
be unpredictable, and sometimes it’s nice to
have people drive off into the sunset. I think
these movies are really funny and it’s good to
be a part of something that you really actually
watch and enjoy – and being with Steve, it’s just
the greatest job.”
Wiig was one of the
most popular characters
during her time at
Saturday Night Live;
a long-time nursery
for US comedy talent
where John Belushi, Steve
Martin, Bill Murray, Will
Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon
and Adam Sandler all had their
first breaks.
US audiences have recently been riveted
by Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump and Melissa
McCarthy’s Sean Spicer, so when STACK asks
Wiig if she’d like to return to play any one
member of the Trump dictatorship, she laughs,
“Oh god, I did hear something where they were
putting old SNL cast members with people, and
they had me as Jared Kushner, which I thought
was kind of funny.”
One of SNL’s rare talents who can drop the
comedy to turn in fine dramatic performances,
Wiig will next be seen in
Darren Aronofsky’s horror
movie Mother! with Jennifer
Lawrence, and in Alexander
Payne’s dramedy Downsizing
with Matt Damon.
While working on a new
feature script with Bridesmaids
partner Annie Mumolo, she plans
to co-star with Jack Nicholson in a
remake of Germany’s 2016 festival darling,
Toni Erdmann.
“I just fell in love with that film. I loved that it
wasn’t trying to be a movie we have seen before
– and also the fact that there’s no music either.
It didn’t need it because it’s just a beautiful story
and the acting was incredible. It reminded me of
how much I loved the storytelling of film rather
than it being a business.”
KristenWiig is living vicariously through her Despicable Me 3 character, Lucy.
KristenWiig with
STACK's Gill Pringle
Despicable Me 3 is in cinemas June 15
Lucy is a very
exaggerated
version of me...
DESPICABLE SHE?
Words Gill Pringle