Barbarella Chats With IT TAKES THREE'S Aurora Perrineau

Hey friends, Barbarella here.  In IT TAKES THREE, the popular Chris Newton (David Gridley) proves unable to impress an attractive new girl, Roxy (Aurora Perrineau), and enlists the help of a nerd to boost his image in her eyes.  Also starring Jared Gilman (MOONRISE KINGDOM) and Mikey Madison (ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD), the film elicits far more laughter than I'd expected.  I had the opportunity to speak with Aurora about her character and the film, but I also pried a little into her dating experiences.  Check it out.

Roxy is such a great character.  In what ways are you similar to and different from her?

“It's probably the first time that I've ever felt not very dissimilar at all from the character.   I think all the sarcasm, all of her being very opinionated and being a bookworm and having an artistic streak, they’re all things that are very similar to myself.  I'm definitely not as good of a painter as she is, but I couldn't find many things that I didn't think were similar.” 

I love the part in the film where Roxy's talking about what she finds beautiful.  How do you define beauty?

“I think it's completely internal.  I think, the way that people respond to other people, the way that people treat people that are helping them, the tone in which people speak to people, all of those things, I think, are what make you a beautiful person.”

Which character in IT TAKES THREE were you most like in high school?

“I was probably most like Mikey Madison's character, Kat”

Would you share a story from set that would give us a sense of what it was like working with David and Jared?

“Yes, so David is one of my best friends now; he actually lives five minutes from me, so that's been super convenient.  David and I used to try to – and this might sound mean, but it's not – we used to try to force Jared to hug us, because Jared is not the biggest fan of hugs.  So, I would stand there and distract Jared while David would run up and try to give him a hug, and Jared would just put his arms out and sit there and make a very odd noise.  But by the end of the movie, we got our hugs from him; we didn't have to ask, and it was all in good fun.”

What did you guys do during downtime on set?

“To be fair, there wasn't a ton of downtime, but when there was, we all just would hang out and swap stories.  I had a lot of behind-the-scenes pictures that people had taken, because David would always be taking photos of us.  But other than that, it was just a lot of talking.”

Have you seen the finished film?  Was it what you expected?

“I have seen it.  It was way cooler than I had ever actually expected.  I knew it was going to be great because of Scott [Coffey].  I think he knows how to make a really cool movie, but I didn't expect it to be visually so pretty.  Also, I didn't get to see the other scenes that I wasn't in, so it was amazing to watch all of these actors just be so good.

In this movie, these guys try some interesting techniques to win Roxy over.  What's the craziest thing a guy's ever done to try to win your affection? 

“Ooh, I don't know.  I had a guy pick me up in New York City in a minivan, which was hilarious, and he was like, "I'm surprising you."  We had just started dating, and we drove an hour and a half away to this art museum, because he knows that I love art, and I thought, “Wow, this is such a great thing.”  And I got there, and it was the kind of art that's one stripe on the wall, and then the next room is a circle.  And that was just crazy to me because I was like, “Oh my God, now we're an hour away from the city, this museum is huge, and I don't know what to say.”  And he just kept talking about the art, and talking about what it meant, and I was like, "I don't understand."”

Okay, well this may tie into that question, but Roxy goes on a pretty awkward date.  What's the most awkward date you've been on?  Is it that one?

“No, no.”

Oh, there's more?  Good, what happened?

“(Sarcastically) Dating is so fun.  I went on a date, and he's a lovely guy, but he was supposed to fly out, and he's like, "I'm going to stay in town a couple extra days to go on this date with you," and I was like, "Oh, that's really nice of you."  We worked out this whole thing to go on this date, and we get there, and it was really awkward.  He’d already been drinking a lot, and I was like, “Oh my God, this is so strange.”  And the date was uncomfortable, and he was telling me stories that were kind of scary, and I was like, “This is weird, I don't know if I like this.”

“And by the end of the date, he just stared at the check for a while, and I was like, “Okay, am I paying for this?”  Mind you, he's had like seventeen cocktails.  So, I put my card down, and I just gave him the eye, so he threw his card down.  I was like, “Oh wow, he was going to try to make me pay for this whole dinner for this date that had gone horribly.  It was just uncomfortable.  We had nothing to say to each other, and then he walked me to my car and tried to kiss me, and I ducked, and it was so embarrassing, and just never again.”

What's the craziest thing you've ever done for love?

“I don't know.  I do a lot for love.  I love love.  I think love is amazing, and I will drop anything at a moment's notice to go somewhere with someone or surprise someone or anything like that.  But crazy?  I don't know.”

What’s a relationship deal breaker for you?

“God, there's so many.  Cheating is obviously a big one.  I also don't like when people chew with their mouth open, staring you in the eye, that's a deal breaker.  If you don't have a sense of humor, it's not going to work, because I just throw sarcasm all day.” 

How funny do you think you are on a scale of one to ten?

“I don't know that I find myself that funny, but I find people around me laughing, so hopefully, they're laughing with me and not at me, but I definitely know I'm very quick.  I'm very sarcastic and very quick when it comes to that, but I can't tell a good joke, by any means.”

Your dad is an actor.  How has he helped you with your career? 

“My dad and my mom were both actors; they both have just been really supportive.  My mom helps me with a lot of my self-tapes, and they're always there for good advice and keeping me levelheaded about things, and reminding me that it's a business, and it's not personal, and all of these things that although I know, you forget when you're deep into it.”

When you were young, did you get into acting because of your parents?

“Yes, I thought that everybody was an actor.  I thought that firefighters did firefighting on the side, and that they were really actors.  Since I thought everybody was an actor, I just was like of course it's what I'm going to do, and then I acted for about a year when I was like six or seven, and then I quit and didn't start again until I was a teenager.”

If you started your own country, what would be the first rule you'd make?

“Oh my goodness.  That’s a really good one, because it's very hard.  I think just no assholes.  If you're going to be an asshole, please just don't come.”

I like that rule; everybody has to be nice to each other.

“Exactly.”

What chore do you hate doing the most, and what do you hate about it?

“I hate doing the dishes.  Even though they're only my and my boyfriend's dishes, something about looking at them when they've sat more than an hour, I suddenly just think they're germ-filled, and it just grosses me out to no end.”

So, do you make the boyfriend do the dishes?

“We go back and forth, but if I cook, he definitely does the dishes.  And sometimes he'll cook and still do the dishes; he's pretty good about it.”

Do you ever dream in character?

“I guess I do.  It's funny; I wouldn't have thought of it as dreaming in character, because I'll be dreaming about a scene, and I'll be in the scene doing it, but I guess I was dreaming about the character.”

Do you get stressed out before a project?

“It really depends on the project and on the character I'm playing, if it feels so far from myself.  I definitely always get butterflies and get nervous the first day, and then I'm in it.  But yeah, I definitely get the butterflies, which I think is a good thing.  If I didn't have those, I'd probably be doing the wrong job.”

What app on your phone do you use the most?

“Probably Twitter and Instagram.  I Google stuff all day, dumb things, so maybe Safari.”

What's the dumbest Google search you've done?

“What was I looking up the other day?  Oh, someone asked a question on set, and they were like, "Do you think beavers actually have a plan when they're building these dams, or do you think they're just like, “Oh my God, I have to build this dam, so I'm just going to build it,” and they don't have a purpose?"  And then I started looking up facts about if beavers knew what they're doing, or if beavers knew that dams were meant to be built for stopping water, or if it was just programmed in their brain.”

What's the last great book you've read?

“Well, I'm in the middle of a book right now, and it's pretty great, but I keep pausing because it's really depressing.  It’s called “A Little Life.”  Every time I talk about it, everyone's like, "Oh my God, stop now; you're going to be depressed for the rest of your life."  But so far, it's a really good read.  I had re-read “Between the World and Me” recently, which is a great book, as well.” 

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing, what would you change?

“Could I snap my fingers and just make everything okay in the world?  Is that fair?”

Yeah, I think that's a good one. What do you regret not doing last year?

“I was supposed to travel last year and go to Thailand and stuff, and so I really wanted to do that.  Obviously COVID had other plans for all of us.  I regretted that, but then it became something that I don't want to call regret, because I think I learned a lot about myself during that period of isolation, and I feel very lucky to learn things, so yeah.  I don't feel like I regret it anymore.”

What did you love most about working on IT TAKES THREE?

“I think the bonds that I created with the cast.  It was one of the only times that I left a job and stayed friends with them.  We shot it about four years ago, but Mikey Madison and David are two of my closest friends.  Jared probably would be, but he's always in New York; he went to school after.  I think, yeah, those bonds, and meeting and working with Scott.  Hopefully, Scott and I will work together in the future as we've talked about, because it was just such a cool, creative process with him.”

IT TAKES THREE, starring Aurora Perrineau, comes out tomorrow on VOD and Digital. You could also pre-order here.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/it-takes-three/id1581524102

Check out the trailer.