The Fearless Ms. Brie – No Plan B!

PRESENTED by MINA BEVERLY HILLS
PHOTOGRAPHER CHRISTIAN HÖGSTEDT @christianhogstedt
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VIKTORIJA PASHUTA @viktorija_pashuta
PRODUCED BY JACKSON CHONG
WARDROBE STYLIST ERIN WALSH @erinwalshnyc
MAKEUP MOLLY GREENWALD@mollygreenwald AT SWA AGENCY
HAIR CLARISS RUBENSTEIN@clarissanya AT SWA AGENCY
VIDEOGRAPHER VICTOR ZARAGOZA
PHOTO ASSISTANT KRISTOFFER OHLSSON
STYLING ASSISTANT JENSEN EDMONDSON
INTERN GUADALUPE ZARAGOZA
LOCATION THE BRIDGE HOUSE@bridgehousela
THE HOUSE DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT DAN BRUNN@dbrunn009
SPECIAL THANK YOU ECLAT PR, HANANE ELMOUTII, LILY MURPHY

With a self-determined single minded purpose, Alison Brie has gone after her dreams. Seriously honing her craft at the California Institute for the Arts, a PLAN B never entered her thought process. It was succeed or succeed, period. Brie made a big name for herself in the widely acclaimed television show Mad Men and hasn’t looked back since. While still filming Mad Men, she joined the ensemble cast in the hit comedy “Community” shooting both shows simultaneously. She is a veteran voice actor with roles on Bojack Horseman and The Lego Movie. Her latest project is Weathering You, a Japanese animated feature from GKIDS. Here, she lends her voice to the newly dubbed English version which is out in theaters now. Her current television incarnation, Zoya the Destroyer, is a woman wrestler in Netflix’s series GLOW aka Glorious Ladies of Wrestling, which won her a Golden Globe nomination and millions of new fans. Her laser focus is set on the horizon—which happily looks like more control and input over her career and its direction. I would call that an actor’s dream. Brie co-wrote and stars in Horse Girl—her most recent Netfilx movie adventure. This fast–paced thrill ride painted against a backdrop of normalcy is highly disturbing because of its frightening underlying message of “It could happen to anyone”. In it, Brie shows off her intense ability to make us believe absolutely for an hour and forty-five minutes that she truly and utterly IS the character. The film drifts in out of reality, insanity and abduction—leaving the audience hanging on until the very end.

BASIC: You co-wrote Horse Girl. Brilliant dialogue. Have you ever written a full length film script, and how did you come across this project?
Brie: Thank you! This is my first foray into screenwriting. I’d been kicking an idea around in my head for a long time but hadn’t really found the courage or discipline to write it by myself. I was watching my husband write his first feature (The Rental) with Joe Swanberg and it was really inspiring to me. So I brought my idea to my good friend Jeff Baena and we worked on it together. It was such a gratifying experience and really fun to collaborate.

BASIC: The scene in Horse Girl where your character, Sarah, walks stark naked in harsh daylight through a craft store packed with customers adds so much to the character’s vulnerability. Was it difficult on a personal level to expose your entire self to the world?
Brie: It wasn’t that difficult! In Season 1 of GLOW I did my first fully nude scene and it turned out to be so freeing and empowering. Now I can’t keep my clothes on! But seriously, I think working on GLOW really reconnected me to my body and also to my truest self—who is very comfortable in my own skin and with the naked body. It felt very important for this character to be at her most vulnerable in that scene and the nudity really helps convey that.

BASIC: In Horse Girl your character Sarah is a young woman struggling with mental illness. She is also sweet, funny, likable, and sympathetic to the audience. Did you have any personal experience with mental illness to draw from? Brie: I’m not sure if it’s fair to say that Sarah is point blank “struggling with mental illness”. She is certainly on a journey trying to discern what is real and what might be in her mind— and that’s what we wanted to explore. I do have mental illness in my family and it was my main impetus for writing this story. My grandmother on my mother’s side suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and I’ve lived my whole life hearing stories about her and about how her mental illness impacted my mother and aunts and uncle. As I thought more about my fascination with my grandmother’s illness, it made me realize that what I was most worried about was my own mental health and how much of that genetic makeup might exist within me. I really wanted to make a thriller about a woman who, because of her family’s history with mental illness, cannot trust her own mind and how terrifying that can feel.

BASIC: You are partnering witha CBD oil company, Manitoba Harvest. What exactly is broad spectrum hemp extract?
Brie: Broad Spectrum Hemp extract CBD is an oil that is extracted from the cannabis plant that doesn’t contain any THC—so nothing that will get you “high”. I use it for general relaxation and muscle recovery. It’s a tincture that you can take directly by mouth or put into beverages—the one I use is mint flavored, so I like to put a few drops in mint tea at night or before a bath just to calm the mind and body. I’m a big supporter of all things CBD and cannabis–related!

BASIC: Are you channeling your inner Russian badass as Zoya the Destroyer? Is this character closer to Alison Brie’s real personality than we know?
Brie: Oh I LOVE playing Zoya! It is such a fun part of GLOW. I do feel very much myself in the role! When I’m Zoya I feel like I’m channeling the silliest part of myself where anything goes. There’s really nothing too broad or crazy that we can’t get away with in the ring. I love the strength and physical discipline that goes into the wrestling that we do on the show. But getting to prance around in the ring, slinging insults as Zoya and grabbing my crotch and butt—that’s really icing on the cake!

BASIC: You are super fit, super strong, yet feminine. What does your daily fitness workout look like? Are you on a strict low carb, high octane diet? Or just genetically blessed? Brie: Haha! I definitely take fitness very seriously and put a lot of work into my body, genetics be damned! I usually do strength training 3 times a week with my trainer Jason Walsh at Rise Movement. Then I do 3 days of cardio workouts—usually either climber classes at Rose Nation or classes on my Peloton bike. Sometimes during my non-strength training days I’ll mix it up with a boxing class at Rumble or a hike or yoga class. I try to listen to my body and see what it needs. And I try to take one day a week to rest. In terms of food, I don’t subscribe to any crazy specific diet. I don’t eat red meat or pork, and haven’t for about 10 years, but other than that I try to just eat healthy and “clean.” A lot of protein shakes and veggies, and I cook a lot of lean ground turkey meals when I’m doing heavy training for the show—but what I eat kind of ebbs and flows with how I’m feeling. I definitely try to stay on clean foods during the week and use the weekends to indulge.

BASIC: What is your favorite fragrance—natural or otherwise? Is perfume part of your world on a regular basis? Do you like fragrance on men?
Brie: I’m an all natural gal! I don’t wear perfume and I prefer men to smell natural as well. I do spray my face and décolleté with Caudalie beauty elixir every day and that smells nice—but it fades pretty quickly.

BASIC: Plan B? If you hadn’t have become an actress, what were you planning to do? Was there something else that excited you as life path or career?
Brie: There has never been a plan B! None whatsoever. I remember my high school guidance counselor being very frustrated with my lack of back–up plan but my parents have always been incredibly supportive. And I guess I’ve never had too much self–doubt in this department. I guess I used to feel like having a back–up plan was kind of like planning to fail. So I planned on success instead.

BASIC: What are three blessings that you are thankful for?
Brie: I’ve been blessed to be able to work on some amazing shows and help create some really memorable characters, including Sarah in Horse Girl, I hope. I’ve been blessed with great hair. I’ve been blessed with a great love in my life. I guess I’m thankful for and cherish all those things as well!

BASIC: What is your ultimate getaway? Where is a place you want to experience but haven’t yet? Brie: I really like a warm, relaxing, pool-side vacation where I can chill and eat great food. Greece has been on my list for a long time and it seems like the perfect place to get all those things!

THIS OR THAT:
—
BASIC: On the grid or off the grid?
Brie: Off the grid.
BASIC: 70s or 80s?
Brie: Definitely 80s!
BASIC: English or Western?
Brie: English.
BASIC: Just do it or just chill?
Brie: Just do it.
Ford or Ferrari?
Brie: Ferrari.
BASIC: Shake Shack or Sugarfish?
Brie: Sugarfish.
BASIC: Ice hockey or figure skating?
Brie: Figure skating.
BASIC: Solo or tandem?
Brie: Solo.
BASIC: Spaceship or airplane?
Brie: Spaceship.
BASIC: Thrift shop or Gilt shop?
Brie: Gilt shop.

BUY ISSUE 13 HERE