Aubrey Plaza is the star of many of the Sundance Film Festival’s most popular movies for a decade. Her streak started with 2012’s “Safety Not Guaranteed” and continued every couple years with 2014’s “Life After Beth,” 2017’s “Ingrid Goes West,” and 2020’s “Black Bear.”
Plaza will be present at the virtual 2022 fest “Emily the Criminal,”John Patton Ford’s debut feature film. Plaza, who is familiar with troubled characters such as in “Ingrid Goes West,”This film represents a bold leap into the thriller arena. She spoke about that along with her director, joined by the film’s co-stars Megalyn Echikunwoke andTheo Rossi, for a conversation in ’s Sundance studio.
Ford mentioned the plot of the movie. “It’s about a young woman who has a lot of student debt, who decides to become a criminal to pay her student loans,”He stated. “Or at least that’s how it begins. Then it escalates and then it goes further. Beneath that, it’s a coming of age story about someone figuring out what they would like to do and following it.”
After seven seasons “Parks and Recreation,”Plaza is often associated to comedies. Ford however stated that “Emily the Criminal”This is not the case. “Maybe it has a few moments of levity,”He said: “but it’s a thriller.”
Plaza spoke more about the character she plays. She is a Newark, New Jersey-born woman who falls into the world of credit card fraudming.
“Along with Liz, played byMegalyn, our characters find ourselves in Los Angeles. (Emily) is an aspiring artist but (she’s) saddled with debt and struggling because (she) has this criminal record that is preventing me from getting hired. (She’s) trying to navigate her way through Los Angeles, which can be very hard when you’re new and you’re struggling. (She) gets in over her head in this petty crime world. It snowballs and she kind of finds that she has a knack for crime,” Plaza said.
The actress added that she doesn’t look for comic potential when deciding to do a film.
“I don’t really think about things in that way,”She spoke. “I just want to be in movies that I hope are good. I read the script (of “Emily the Criminal”The script was fantastic. The character was a delight to me. I’m always looking to play different characters. That’s how I approach it. I don’t think about it comedy-wise or drama-wise or anything. It’s more about the character and the story. It was a no-brainer for me when I read it.”
’s Sundance Studio is presented by NFP and National Geographic Documentary Films.