But honestly, Gilda has been the greatest guide and teacher into understanding American comedy.
I was in a fat suit.
And I have such a vivid memory of making people laugh and how good it felt.
Ella HuntDeadline
So, I loved that as a kid.
So I have played all of these miserable women.
But thank god this came around, and my agent dared me to try it.
(L-R) Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Jane Curtain (Kim Matula), Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Alan Zweibel (Josh Brener) and Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) in‘Saturday Night’Sony
But I just was like, Im not an American.
Im not a comedian.
This is so out of my wheelhouse.
DEADLINE:Have you been doing that your whole life?
HUNT: Kind of.
And it was my party trick as a kid.
And then, I think thats why I live in the States is because I love doing accent work.
Id much rather be in somebody elses voice than my own.
DEADLINE:What was your party trick impression as a kid?
HUNT:Legally Blonde, American woman in the nail salon.
But then there were others, and I got so excited.
But pre-Gilda, Id never got to do an actual persons voice.
And I loved it.
And I think on top of that, Gilda and I think are actually very similar in our goofiness.
And that felt just very quickly like something I could understand.
Who did you talk to that was close with her?
HUNT: I talked to Alan Zweibel, who was one of Gildas closest friends and key collaborators.
So it was fun to play her just beginning to maybe think about those things.
So maybe no one will notice that thats what Im doing, but that backstory was in my head.
That happens later on that season.
DEADLINE:Thats interesting.
Tell me about meeting Jason Reitman and the process of coming on board the film in the beginning?
HUNT: I did a tape.
I wore a little orange knit my mum made for me.
She embroidered a cat onto the front.
Im a massive cat person.
DEADLINE:How did you feel when you got that?
HUNT: Elated and really surprised and then really relieved because Id had the best time doing the tape.
DEADLINE:Your mums an actress too, right?
HUNT: Yes, and honestly, I think she should have been a director.
Shes a really phenomenal director and a lot of my early career lessons were around…
I think that thats the case with most screen actors certainly.
And so, I moved a lot in the tape.
I used to sit very still, but I moved a lot, and it was kind of chaotic.
The tape started, and I was slapping my cheeks.
DEADLINE:How was meeting Jason and the producers?
HUNT: Jason was such a hero of mine.
So it felt very special to me that he even wanted to meet.
Music is just often my way into things.
DEADLINE:Youre a musician too.
One of my best friends was also there and we hadnt talked to each other about it.
I think that you should cast her.
DEADLINE:Did he laugh at you?
HUNT: He did laugh at me.
He was like, You have to stop doing that.
DEADLINE:Did he tell you that was why?
And when I got the role, I was flying home for Christmas.
I got the call in a Hudsons bookstore and wept.
DEADLINE:At the airport?
She is so much a U.S. household name and not a British one.
And they were all a bit like, Who?
Finally, you get to be goofy.
I think they see a very different side of me.
Im a lot sillier than I think.
Living in New Yorks been great for that.
DEADLINE:Why did you move to New York and not L.A.?
HUNT:Dickinson.I really hadnt found my people in London nor had I really found my career in London.
All of the jobs that I was doing were up north, and I was doing northern accents.
I met fabulous people right away, and it was kind of my university.
DEADLINE:Tell me about the hair and make-up and how that helped you?
Because obviously the hair is what you mentioned before.
HUNT: Yeah, the hair was a huge deal.
But what if I put the hair on, and it wasnt right?
It was just such a relief to put that hair on.
And the collaboration with Danny Glicker, the costume designer on this, was something really special.
I need to take notes.
DEADLINE:You were staying in the pre-fame Gilda.
And I think that is such a fascinating period of her life.
DEADLINE:Like most women.
HUNT: Like most women, yeah.
HUNT: I had really prepared myself for people being pretty critical.
Shes so beloved, and no ones going to Gilda the way Gilda Gildas.
It really is a collaborative thing.
So to get to do that and for that to translate for people is a real honor.
