While covering this year’s Sundance Film Festival for Hollywood Life magazine, I caught up with two of the stars of the quirky new Southern-fried comedy Waitress, Kerri Russell and Jeremy Sisto. The film has just been released nationwide.
Kerri, you play the title character. Why doesn’t the film’s advertising say, “Kerri Russell is Waitress”?
KR: (Laughs) I don’t know. I’ll take that note to Fox Searchlight.
Have either of you ever waited tables?
KR: I haven’t. All of my younger years were spent studying dance. But I loved doing it for the movie. I loved my outfit. I loved everything.
JS: I worked at Subway. That was the closest I got. I was horrible. They had these white marble chopping boards and the only thing you couldn’t get on it was meatball sauce. If you got it on there they had to bleach it--it was a whole process--and I just kept staining that board. The last time I did it my boss didn’t even have to fire me. We just both knew. I just walked out.
And you haven’t eaten at Subway since!
JS: No, I like going to Subway now because I know how the rundown of the ingredients goes. I just say, “Lettuce, tomato, onions, salt and pepper, oregano.”
Your film was written by, directed by and co-stars actress Adrienne Shelley who was tragically murdered last year just after the film was finished. Seeing it come out now and be so well received must be bittersweet to say the least.
KR: It’s a tragic, tragic situation. Every part of this movie is Adrienne. She knew exactly what she wanted. Hopefully, it’s a tribute to her and her work. It’s no accident that there’s been so much goodwill toward this movie. It’s in support of her.
JS: She also completed five other scripts so hopefully those will be made as well because she had a really unique, really specific voice. It’s sad that this is happening and she can’t be here. You want to be happy for the fact that it’s getting out there, but it’s just hard to feel anything other than ‘This sucks.’
What do you hope audiences get from Waitress?
JS: It’s very funny and kind of heartbreaking at times, but it’s also very hopeful. It’s about a person who is stuck in a really bad place and has no self-esteem and lets people treat them really badly and then finally finds the courage to say, “No, I’m going to make my life great and I deserve this.”
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