Rose Byrne, queen of comedy in Platonic season 2: “I love making myself ridiculous”

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne put the cover back in the hilarious season 2 of Platonic, still managed by the couple Nicholas Stoller/Francesca Delbanco. We caught a few minutes in Byrne to cause his stunning donation for comedy.

First: it’s always a bit of a miracle when a comedy works as well as Platonic. Can you explain why this series is so twisted?
Rose Byrne: I admit that I was a little afraid before reading the scenario of this season 2: what was going to be able to do without? Did Nicholas Stoller and Francesca Delbanco succeed in creating new conflicts, relaunching the machine? Thank God, the result has surpassed all my expectations. They invented a narrative arc on the marriage of Will and another on the crisis of the forties of my husband, with in mind to examine the consequences on my character and that of Seth. It is a breath of fresh air for the series. And then Nicholas and Francesca write according to the strengths of their actors, and it is always an excellent starting point for a good comedy.

Many things are played in writing and your alchemy with Seth Rogen, but the series also has the intelligence to leave a lot of room for physical comedy. And in the genre, you are a queen: your scene under ketamine was a great moment of season 1, and the moment you take a cannabis candy in season 2 is a little masterpiece. Your eyes that are gradually closing, your Stone smile of the one who wants to make believe that she is not …
I think they like to be played with smashed girls (laughs.). It is surely because I love to make myself ridiculous for a role. I worship physical comedy. I recently reviewed Annie, and Carol Burnett’s performance is just crazy. It inspired me a lot, just like what Kristen Wiig does.

I had spoken to Nicholas Stoller for the first season of Platonic, and he had told me that he was so funny that you should play the Clouseau inspector in the pink panther.
(She explodes with laughs) Nice from her!

The discussion was part of your character’s clip, a parody of ultra sexualized pop-star in American Trip. I allow myself an aside: it is one of the funniest things in the world. I take the video when I have a depression and it never fails to make me laugh.
Thank you, thank you (laughs.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

How is it that people seem to forget how funny? We should constantly offer you comedies.
It’s been a few years now that I do it, and I still have as much respect for comic actors. It is much more difficult than you think to make people laugh. And yet, I have the impression that it starts from the same place as the drama, that the border is fine. So even if I play in a drama, I always try to find comedy spaces. And Platonic is super cool for that because the characters have a lot of nuances, which gives us very ambivalent feelings to play. We are not constantly fully in laughter, and comedy sometimes takes you by surprise. To answer your first question again, it is also this syncopated rhythm which makes it ultimately so funny.

You have gone through several comedy eras. How do you perceive the evolution of public expectations today in this area?
Good question. Trends are changing and what was very funny yesterday is no longer necessarily today. (She thinks) I realize that I am unable to quote the last big comedy in the cinema … There are above all series, like The Studio. It is now on a small screen that it is played out. And maybe that’s it, more than the way of making people laugh, which has changed drastically in recent years.

Platonic season 2, on Apple TV+. One episode per week.