With Thor on the way, and few secret projects in her back pocket, Kat Dennings is rising to the top of a crowded under-25 actress scene – mostly due to her alternative and quirky style (check out her Twitter for confirmation). She’s also from Philadelphia, and really, you can’t go wrong there.
Her latest movie Defendor, a low-budget drama focusing on a mentally unbalanced construction worker (Woody Harrelson) who dons a mask and cape to fight crime, hits DVD Tuesday, and it’s not exactly your typical superhero flick…
Matt Patches: Was there something in particular that attracted you to Defendor? The movie is all sorts of crazy.
Kat Dennings: It is crazy. The movie had a lot of unexpected turns, and when I read it (not to give too much away), I cried quite a bit while reading it, and that’s something that doesn’t really happen much to me, because I’m kind of a hard-ass. Nothing really penetrates my shield of…unfeelingness. I’ve read a lot of scripts in my life, so I have to pay attention when something hits me like that.
MP: When I was reading up on the movie, a lot of people were describing the film as a “dark comedy”…but I thought…
KD: It’s not hilarious!
MP: Not, it’s not, it’s actually kind of upsetting at times, but it was engaging watching you and Woody [Harrelson] perform and bond over the course of the film. It has its funny moments, but was the set light or particularly serious?
KD: No, no, I’m glad you see that because some people are like, “oh, dark comedy” and I’m like “not really, man.”
MP: Ha, ha, it made me a little sad.
KD: Yeah, there are moments of levity and can be very funny, but it is not a comedy – to me. It wasn’t a funny set. Woody had a real character he had to transform into, and so did I. I may look like a prostitute, but I’m not a prostitute.
MP: I don’t know what prostitutes look like, so I can’t really judge.
KD: Yeah you do!
MP: [laughs] Well…
KD: We both had pretty intense characters to play, and they involved a lot of concentration. And in his case, getting what he was doing just right, and for me, holding the crack pipe right…it was challenging, it really was. And emotionally taxing.
MP: We’re all pretty big comic book nerds, but while Defendor revolves around a costumed do-gooder, it’s not your typical superhero movie. Was there ever talk about how to make the movie like the big budget action movies we’ve become so accustomed to?
KD: I don’t know, there have been a lot reactions to it. Some people say, “it’s a superhero movie!” And other people are like, “it’s a drama!” But I never saw it as a “superhero movie”, I saw it as the story of Arthur and Katarina, what happens when they’re together.
MP: Did you do any prep for this movie? I know you don’t look like a prostitute, but did you go and hang out with any?
KD: Actually, I did.
MP: Really. So what is it like hanging out with prostitutes? I want to reiterate: I don’t know.
KD: Just keep saying that. It was one of the most emotional work experiences I’ve ever had. It’s incredibly sad and heartbreaking, what those girls go through. And when you don’t know much about it, you’re kind of like, “oh, hookers, drug addicts, whatever,” but you can’t possibly understand a person and the things they do what they do. It’s terrible, but sometimes it’s the best option for some of them. Talking to them opened my eyes and made me a lot less judgmental.
MP: So now you’re filming a movie that couldn’t be any more gigantic than Defendor. Who do you play in Thor?
KD: I play Darcy, and she works with Jane Foster [Natalie Portman] and that’s about all I can say!
MP: And just to make sure you’re involved with every superhero movie out there, your buddy Peter Sollett might be directing his own comic book movie. Any chance you two might work together again?
KD: Pete is one of my closest friends still, I talked to him this morning! He’s a wonderful person. I’ve been begging him, asking him when we’re going to do another movie together and he’s like, “I don’t know!”
MP: Well, tell him to put you in The Runaways.
KD: [laughs] I’m very proud of him. I’m going to try, man. I’m going to…manipulate our friendship [laughs]. I want to work with him over and over and over again.
MP: Do having something specific that you’re a total geek about?
KD: Hmm, everything? [Asks her brother what she's geeky about] Japanese things? Japanese things. I’m a pretty big manga fan, and languages. And authors I like, like Murakami, Richard Brautigan.
MP: Do you have anything lined up next? Or maybe things you hope to do that you haven’t yet?
KD: Something that I’m working on right now that hopefully will pan out is directing. We’ll see, it’s the kind of thing that I’ll say more about and then it’ll be in print and it won’t pan out and I’ll be like, “oh God.” It’s something that my brother and I wrote, but nothing’s set in stone. We’ll see.
