01x07 - Gillian Jacobs & The Art of Directing

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JOE QUESADA (VOICEOVER): Marvel is the home of thousands

of different characters.

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I've gotten to know almost all of them.

In fact, the Marvel universe has a countless number of stories

just waiting to be told.

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And just like the real world, some Marvel heroes

are still relatively unsung.

While you may know Gillian Jacobs from her starring roles

on Community, Love, or Girls, you might not know she's

also a documentary filmmaker.

You see, Gillian tells stories about unsung Marvel heroes too.

So today I'm in LA chatting with her

about why it's important to tell these stories,

especially those that haven't been told.

We might even do a little digging.

I'm Joe Quesdada.

I tell stories for a living.

Welcome to Marvel Storyboards.

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JOE QUESADA (VOICEOVER): I'm meeting up

with Gillian in one of her favorite haunts

in all of Hollywood.

JOE QUESADA: Gillian?

Hey!

JOE QUESADA (VOICEOVER): I'm a huge fan

Gillian's character, Britta, on the show Community.

Of course, I had to start by asking her

how that came together.

What was it like when you got the part?

Oh, well, the final time when I went in to audition they

said, you have to go in again, but you're going to know today

if you got it or not because there's a table

read right after the audition.

So whoever gets the part is going to go to the table read.

I get there.

There's Joel, Danny Pudi, all these other people.

And they're like, I'm playing Abed.

I'm playing Jeff. Who are you?

Are you playing Britta?

I was like, maybe, I don't know.

And one of the producers of the show

was sort of introducing everyone.

And he goes, Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, and

the newest member of our cast--

Gillian Jacobs.

So I'd gotten the part in the drive to the table read.

And they didn't tell me-- JOE QUESADA: OK.

--until they told me in front of everybody.

And I started crying.

Aw.

That's awesome.

So the cast's first impression of me

was, like, crying that day.

Where you're a blubbering mess.

GILLIAN (LAUGHING): Yeah.

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So you've done comedy.

You've done drama.

You've-- you've been in front of the camera.

Is directing the next thing for you?

I'm kind of feeling that way at this moment.

JOE QUESADA: Yeah? - I'm really enjoying it.

JOE QUESADA: Yeah.

I feel like I'm using whole new parts of my brain.

Going from feeling like an important piece in a puzzle,

to feeling like I'm putting together the puzzle.

You've worked with, you know, a lot of great directors.

Yes.

You take anything from that?

Oh, absolutely.

You spend a lot of hours on set as an actor.

And you get to work with a lot of different directors.

So I've just tried to keep my eyes

and ears open and be curious--

not just about them, but everybody on set.

So I get a sense of the bigger picture.

What I loved about drawing and writing comics

is that you're sort of an auteur.

You're the director, cinematographer, and the actors

all at once, right?

Mm-hmm.

And so there's a certain level of control.

I try and think of it less about being in control,

and more about, like, leading a group of collaborators.

JOE QUESADA: Mm-hmm.

So I just try and stack my deck, as well as I can,

with really smart people.

You're doing something for Marvel now, aren't you?

Yes.

I am directing a one-hour documentary

about women who worked at Marvel over the years.

OK.

If we're going to get into this, we now have

to go to my type of bookstore.

All right. JOE QUESADA: You game?

Yeah JOE QUESADA: OK.

GILLIAN: Absolutely. JOE QUESADA: Let's go.

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GILLIAN: Thank you.

At Marvel, we tell the stories of these heroes

doing these incredible things, and very public.

But it's really the-- the heroes that we don't know about that--

that I find fascinating.

Yeah that's-- for me too.

I made a short documentary about this woman named Grace Hopper,

who was a computer pioneer.

In doing your research on her, what surprised--

or what shocked you?

A, I knew nothing about these secret computers

during World w*r II.

And what really surprised me was the number of women who were

working on these computers.

And so once I realized that Grace Hopper wasn't,

like, the only woman of that era who worked in computing--

and that, actually, there was a whole group of them,

that's when I got really excited.

There's this perception that it's, you know, a man's job.

But to realize that the very earliest days of computing,

there were women doing these jobs.

I thought it was a really exciting thing to discover.

Did you know you wanted to be an actress?

I did, yeah.

So my mom put me in an acting class

when I was eight years old.

And I just took to it immediately,

and I was obsessed with it, and that's all I wanted to do.

I'm going to venture--

you're in front of the mirror, you're performing something.

Who did you want to be?

I wanted to be Macaulay Culkin.

OK.

BOTH: (LAUGHING)

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So now I'm going to take you to one of my favorite places

in LA.

I always stop by Golden Apple Comics whenever I'm in town.

You ready for this? - I'm ready.

I'm going to take you to the mountaintop.

GILLIAN: OK.

JOE QUESADA: All right.

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Gillian.

Thank you.

[GASP]

Welcome to Golden Apple Comics.

GILLIAN: God, this is incredible.

Now you're in my neighborhood.

Been reading back-to-back Captain Marvels--

- Captain Marvels, right? - --for the last few weeks.

I've been reading them all on my iPad.

So it's really great to be around physical copies

of comics. With--

That's right, paper!

Yes, they have a touch and feel to them.

So you've started reading comics now,

for this documentary you're doing, right?

Yes, my documentary is about all the incredible women who

have worked at Marvel, starting, really,

with Marie Severine, Flo Steinberg,

and then going through to present day.

Where it feels like there's been this whole big push

for these exciting female characters

that are leading comics--

characters like Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl,

and writers like G. Willow Wilson,

and Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Sana Amanat.

I love talking to somebody who's just sort

of getting into the hobby--

Yes.

--or, or the biz of comic books.

I think Squirrel Girl is a personal favorite of mine.

She's really into computers.

She studies computer science.

I have a whole interest in women in STEM.

So I feel a real connection to Squirrel Girl.

JOE QUESADA: [CHUCKLES]

GILLIAN: I love it!

The unsung hero-- we've been talking

about this a little bit.

Marie Severine was a really important part of Marvel.

It's just awesome, right?

This is awesome, awesome art.

The fact that this woman, in this era,

was able to do that, and have success, and have

a sustained career there--

that is a significant achievement.

And, also, women working behind the scenes,

like, kind of reframing people's notions

of what's an important contribution to a company.

And saying, like, a woman working in the sales

department, who started a cash register program for comic book

stores across the country.

That's an important part of comic book history.

And we should know that as well as we know

the artists and the writers.

Ann Nocenti, in a lot of ways, was instrumental to me

continuing to read comics. - Really?

You know what? I wanna show you.

D for my favorite character.

This is an Ann Nocenti book.

GILLIAN: Yes.

I read comics as a kid, right?

And then around the age of 12, I gave up comics.

And didn't rediscover them until I was 25.

So I went to a comic shop and I picked up a Daredevil.

And it was written by Frank Miller.

GILLIAN: Mm-hmm.

JOE QUESADA: And it was a story called "Born Again."

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It changed my life.

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When Frank was not doing Daredevil,

I was expecting it to be a let down, but it never did.

Ann's quality of writing was so darn good.

She was not afraid to deal with the politics of the time.

She was not afraid to deal with social issues

of the time-- the environment.

Everything was really in her work.

She was fearless, absolutely fearless.

Also, Marvel was pretty fearless, because they're

like, yeah, go--

Go.

--do your thing.

I realized, you know, I think I may want

to try to work in this field.

GILLIAN: Wow.

I thought that women in comics is another outlet

for storytelling.

Joe, can I see some of your work?

OK.

Oh, wow.

Look at you.

Look at me.

Do you remember doing this issue?

Or is it all just-- JOE QUESADA: It's a blur.

I look at these pages, and it's just like I'm looking

at them for the first time.

And I see the mistakes.

Yeah, that's how I feel watching myself act.

So what was Marvel Knights?

What was this imprint?

We came up with this plan from Marvel Knights.

And we launched four books.

We launched Daredevil, Black Panther,

Inhumans, and The Punisher.

That led to me become editor-in-chief,

and run all the books.

Wow.

We all have an origin story.

OK.

What is Gillian Jacob's origin story?

Mine would probably be, my character

was born out of solitude.

Um, being an only child, with not a lot of friends,

with a single mom.

Only child too.

Yes.

Reading a lot, kind of living in my imagination,

and then finding a place--

so I go to Professor Xavier's School, which is like my acting

class on Saturdays.

And we all find each other there.

And I have friends for the first time.

And I tap into my power of acting.

Were you a member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society?

- I wasn't-- - [GASP]

--no. No, I was not.

Did you ever sing the song?

I know the song by heart.

JOE QUESADA: (SINGING) You belong, you belong,

you belong, you belong--

BOTH: (SINGING) To the Merry Marvel Marching Society.

GILLIAN: (LAUGHING)

JOE QUESADA: (SINGING) And come along, come along,

come along, sing a song, with the Merry

Marvel Marching Society.

Hey, should we buy some comics?

Ooh, I see a Power Pack classic.

- My comic's-- - Yes, please, please.

--right there.

Oh I love Ms. Marvel.

Ann Nocenti, for your research.

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When I'm in LA, I not only gotta go to The Golden Apple,

I gotta go around the corner to Pink's--

Pink's Hot Dogs. - OK.

Let's go. Let's do this.

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Oh my god.

Look at this.

I've never seen a message in mustard before.

[LAUGHTER]

JOE QUESADA: Pink's loves Marvel.

How awesome is that?

Every great story, the hero, at some point--

they've got their back against a wall.

Mm-hmm.

They've got a decision to make.

And it's a make-or-break moment.

What's your third act moment, where you had

your back against the wall-- - Oh my gosh.

--and there was decision you had to make?

Before I got Community, and I really thought,

I don't know if I'll ever work as an actor.

Maybe I should just give this up and try and get a-- a real job.

Um, and I don't know if it was fear,

or determination, or a combination of both,

but I just sort of stuck it out.

Even though it didn't seem likely that I was ever going

to have any kind of success.

Who's a solitary superhero?

Who doesn't confide in anyone?

Wolverine.

I'm a Wolverine.

Many have said.

Yes.

So I'm not really great at, like,

talking it out with people.

So it's always a very, like, lonely, internal moment,

my top of the third act moment.

You've accomplished a great career up until

this young point in your life.

Directing is the next thing. - Mm-hmm.

Where do you want to take this?

I would like to direct a movie.

Uh-huh.

Um, I'd like to, also, be a producer of things--

not just that I'm in, but projects in general.

And spend as much time behind the camera as in front of it.

Yeah.

That's sort of where I see myself.

I want to thank you.

Oh thank you.

Because this has been, just, fantastic.

It was really a blast being with you,

and getting to know your story.

And I'm looking forward to the stories you're going

to be telling us in the future.

I want to eat that hot dog.

Eat it!

I'm gonna eat these French fries.

All right.

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JOE QUESADA (VOICEOVER): It's important to discover

untold stories.

But Gillian reminded me it's equally

important to champion fresh voices who

bring fresh perspectives, and make us rethink the stories

we thought we already knew.

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