Exclusive Interview: Miranda Cosgrove on Despicable Me 2

So, what have you got going on right now? I heard that you were going to school at USC.

Yeah, I just finished my first year at USC. I’m just on summer vacation now, but I go back in August.

 

That’s awesome, and are you at film school here?

I wanna major in film, so I’ve been taking a bunch of film classes. So yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do.

 

Okay. What do you want your focus to be? You wanna be a film critic? We need more of them.

I wanna take screenwriting classes. That’s really what I wanna do the most.

 

That’s really cool.

Yeah. Like, I love Kristen Wiig and Steve Carell, ’cause they write a lot of their own stuff. I just think it’s cool that they’re like, so involved in everything they’re in. And some of their best stuff, is stuff they wrote. I would like to do something like that some day if I could.

 

Do you have any favorite screenplays that you aspire to? I’m a Billy Wilder guy, myself.

I love Bridesmaids. [Laughs]

 

It’s a really good script.

I think it’s like, the funniest thing, ever. I just love that movie. I’ve seen it so many times, and it still makes me laugh. 

 

So you want to write comedies, do you think? 

I think that would be really fun. I want to take a comedy screenwriting class, for sure, but they have a million different options at USC, which is pretty cool. Like, you could do drama, or a sitcom or comedy movie writing, so I don’t know. I’m gonna try a bunch of different things, I guess.

 

I went to UCLA film school…

Oh cool!

 

So we’re supposed to fight. To the death, I think. Are they jamming a lot of classic films down your throat?

Yeah, like, I already took a classic film class. It’s like one of the main film classes there before you’re an actual film maker.

 

You have to get this base line… You’ve got to watch Citizen Kane.

Oh yeah, Citizen Kane!

 

Yeah! Great, right?

It was really good. I’d never seen it. And like, Sunset Blvd. Mainly, my entire final was on Citizen Kane

 

Wow. Was it like an essay, or just…?

Essay questions, really quickly. Like, I’m not good under pressure and I had to write really fast, I remember. I was freaking out, trying to get all the info on Citizen Kane

 

What have you discovered, that you were aware of? Obviously, Citizen Kane. But was there anything like Last Year at Marienbad, so now you’re just a huge Resnais fan? 

I don’t know. I feel like I hadn’t given that many classic films like, a really good chance. I watched Casablanca a really long time ago when I was like, 12. I didn’t like it that much, and then when I saw it again in class, I loved it. So, I guess the biggest thing the class did was open my eyes up to a bunch of really great movies so that was actually pretty cool.

 

But you’re going to keep acting during this whole time or is it just something you fit in when you can?

Yeah. I’m gonna try to act at the same time. So for like, the first semester I just focused on school and last semester, I don’t know, I auditioned and read scripts and stuff, but I still mainly focused on school. I don’t know, I’m probably gonna take a semester off somewhere, do a part and then go back. That’s what I’d like to do.

 

That’s nice. Are they treating you good over there? They’re not giving you any like, “Yeah, a celebrity’s here! Let’s make FUN of her!” or something? They’re not being jerks, right?

[Laughs] No, they’re actually really nice, which is pretty cool. I mean, I don’t know everyone in this school, but the people I’ve been to classes in have been really cool. Sometimes, there are like, 7th graders that walk around the campus there on student tours, and they’ll like, come over and stuff. 

 

You’re a regular stop. They just go by your dorm room.

[Laughs] It’s part of the tour.

 

So, what’s coming up next for you, movie-wise after this? What’s going on?

I don’t know. I mean, for a while I’ve just been looking for a part that’s really great. I don’t want to just do anything, so I feel like that’s important and plus, it’s really hard I guess, when you’re transitioning from being a younger actor, to…

 

It’s gotta be difficult because you have this sort of notoriety, celebrity, acclaim, whatever you wanna call it but you have that as a younger actress and now you have to be seen as an adult.

Right.

 

And everyone sort of has this association with you and like, there’s a potential you could over shoot it. You couldn’t do like… A Basic Instinct would be weird, you know? 

[Laughs] Right.

 

People would be like, “Oh God!” I guess everyone’s doing okay with Spring Breakers, right?

Yeah.

 

So, are you looking for anything in particular, like a really good dramatic role, where you’re like, an Assistant D.A.? What are you looking for?

I guess like, a dark comedy. If I could pick anything, I’d probably pick something along the lines of a Juno, or something cool like that. ‘Cause I still really like comedy and I feel like that’s where I’ve… I’ve never really done anything dramatic before, but just in general, I love comedy. I don’t know. If I could pick anything it would definitely be different than some of the stuff I’ve done in the past but it’d still be funny.

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