Rashida Jones on Channeling Pain in ‘Sunny’

RAshida Jones is the embodiment of what might once have been called a Renaissance man (wo), but these days is more often dubbed a multihyphenate. She is best known as an actress – as a straight woman in projects like Beloved Parks and recreation It is Angie Tribecaa recurring guest on comedy series Key and Peele for Kroll Show for Portlandiaa voice actor in Inside out It is The Simpsonsand roles in more dramatic projects such as Silo It is The social network. But she also made a career behind the camera, as a producer (The other black girl, claws), director (Quincythe Grammy-winning doc about his father, music producer Quincy Jones) and writer (Celeste and Jesse forever, black mirror).

In Sunny, Apple TV+’s new dark sci-fi dramedy that she produced and stars in, she can do some things she’s never done before. For one thing, she plays alongside a robot, the titular Sunny, who has, as the name suggests, the “Hey, girl!” vitality that Jones’ misanthropic Suzie can hardly tolerate. On the other hand, she is working in two languages, while the technological thriller mystery of Sunny’s genesis – the homebot appears as a consolation gift after Suzie’s family disappears in a mysterious aviation incident – unfolds in the bright nights of Kyoto neon.

While the series focuses on our relationships with technology, it also explores the human experience of grief itself, a topic that particularly appealed to Jones following the loss of her own mother, model and actress Peggy Lipton, in 2019. Playing against type, as writes TIME TV critic Judy Berman, Jones delivers “a performance worth watching on its own merits, as she locates the vulnerability in Suzie’s monotony and channels it Parks and recreation charm to make a grumpy heroine lovable.”

In preparation for SunnyFollowing the July 10 release, Jones spoke with TIME about channeling her own experiences with grief, how Sunny compared to Kermit the Frog as a scene partner, and whether she’d return for more Parks and recreation.

Instead Sunny, You play an American woman in Kyoto, reluctantly bonding with a “homebot” gifted to her by her husband’s company after he and his son go missing following a plane crash. What about grief did you hope to explore in this story?

Jones: When you grieve, there’s a feeling that there’s a lot that hasn’t been said. There’s regret and confusion, this lens looking back at your entire relationship. Even if it’s not your husband you’re worried about, he could be involved in some shady shit. There was something that felt really visceral and true to me because I lost my mother a few years ago and it was the most complex emotional experience I’ve ever had. I had a son and, seven months later, my mother passed away. I had this combination that is like in the series, this intense love for the family, and then the shock of the reality that your life has changed so much. There are Kübler-Ross stages of grief, but they are not cyclical. It’s not linear. It’s just chaotic.

Was the parallel cathartic or do you draw a line between your experience and the character you’re playing?

I’m not the kind of actor who thinks, “I want to go and leave everything on the field.” But I think there’s something I wanted to process, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen it. It’s not easy to show up every day and scream and cry and have to access that place in real time. Like, maybe today isn’t the day you want to feel that feeling. But there was probably something in me that wanted to stay a little longer.

What attracted you to this project?

I didn’t know the book. And this show kind of departs from the book. So my first exposure was an absolutely beautiful script, deck and playlist. The world was already so well imagined, this retro futuristic thing where a lot of the music was American style from the 50s and 60s, sung in Japanese. The look of the show, the primary colors, the bright lights of the night in Kyoto. I was drawn to the new challenge of playing someone who is immediately sad and in shock. I really liked the fact that Suzie was different from me in some ways. She feels a little isolated in her own life. Just having the opportunity to turn all that pathos into mystery was really appealing.

It’s a very human story, but the themes surrounding our relationship with technology are very current. Your character cannot trust the intentions of Sunny, his robot. What is your relationship with technology? Are robots trying to kill us?

With so many innovations in the past, there was a feeling of ownership, of a person using a tool. I don’t think anyone thought the press would become sentient. I’ve always had a somewhat nihilistic idea of ​​the world, ever since I was a child. For all of humanity, once our needs were met, we tried to figure out why we are here, why we are special. We can’t figure it out, so we’ve gone so far as to create something that’s so much like us it could kill us, to see if we can figure out what makes us human. It’s such a strange Greek tragedy.

You acted alongside the Muppets. What was it like acting alongside a robot?

It was definitely a challenge. Joanna Sotomura, who plays Sunny, is a wonderful actress, and she was in a tent out of place with a helmet and a super bright light shining in her eyes, and the camera was capturing her expressions and then translating them into the very lo-fi Sunny Face . It took so many people to make the robot move and have articulated digits. But when we actually acted with Joanna on screen in Sunny, it felt very real, very fast. I felt this way The Muppets movie – on the second day, I wasn’t even talking to Steve [Whitmire], who plays Kermit. I was having full conversations off camera with Kermit. It doesn’t take much.

Not only are you acting alongside a robot, but the show is in two languages. Suzie has this headset that can instantly facilitate communication, but is also a crutch as she doesn’t need to learn the language, which further alienates her.

It was very different from anything I’ve ever experienced. The actual headset is not functional. So I had that and another earphone in the other ear with the translation. So, both my ears were busy and sometimes the earpiece didn’t work. I don’t speak Japanese, so I would just have to listen to the rhythm of the scene and really watch the actor and respond in a language I didn’t understand. Suzie is isolated, a bit of a misanthrope, and moves to another country, in a way, so she doesn’t have to talk to people. So yeah, she’s an absolute crutch, and she’s been able to culturally check out, which is kind of lazy, and then she’s thrown into this thing where she has to interact with all these people. And so it’s a bit like her worst nightmare.

See more information: The best result of the streaming boom? America Finally Loves Foreign Language TV

You’ve directed, produced, written, acted in all genres, worked in podcasting and animation. Is there a place where you feel most at home creatively?

When can I write with [writing partner] Will McCormack, I immediately feel at home because we’ve been friends for 25 years. It’s like the coziest sofa ever. We just speak the same language and love each other and it’s really fun and funny. The last few things I did didn’t feel like home, and I purposefully struggled. I also feel very comfortable sitting in front of the monitor, whether writing, producing or directing, and watching it come to life. You know when something doesn’t work well. And when an actor really has a big moment, you’re there to see it.

In this age of reboots, are there any projects you’d like to revisit?

Actually, three. Parks and recreation It was the best job there ever was. We’re still very close and everyone would be very excited – it just has to be right and it has to come from Mike [Schur] and Amy [Poehler]. Any time, any day, you name it, I would be there. I love you man it was very funny. We talked a little about trying to imagine [coming back to it], but we may be very old now. People may not care.

I still say McGotes bags sometimes...

It was in the bags! There were so many classic lines that we spent a lot of time improving on that movie. And then, Celeste and Jesse forever. Will and I talked about some kind of spiritual sequel because it defined an era of relationships, and now we’re in a different era that we have a lot to say about – kids, marriage, looking back.

Sequels get a bad rap, but sometimes they actually justify their existence.

It’s a great joy. All you try to do as a writer is get to know the characters, and you never have enough time.