“Sex Is Not As Precious As It’s Been Treated In The Past”: Talking Sex And Romance With Alison Brie

“The sex scene was probably the main reason I wanted to do the movie,” Alison Brie says. She’s talking to me about her part in Sleeping With Other People, the latest from independent filmmaker Leslye Headland which opens in Australia this week.

Brie plays Lainey, a serial cheater, who runs into Jake (played by Jason Sudeikis) at a sex addicts anonymous meeting, years after they lost their V-cards to one another in a random hook-up during college. The reliable rom-com sparks fly, but there’s a contemporary twist: the promiscuous duo decide, chemistry aside, to form a strong celibate friendship instead.

As her first lead role in a film, playing Lainey is a strategic career move for Brie. Attaching herself to a romantic comedy that, as the title implies, involves discussion of sex as well as the act itself, Brie is actively stepping away from the good-girl image cultivated in her best-known role as Annie Edison on the past six seasons (and a movie?) of cult show Community. “It’s something I really wanted to do, to be seen as a more of a woman,” she acknowledges.

As the bond between Lainey and Jake grows in the film, the pair work on their respective psycho-sexual issues; Lainey is erotic fixation on a married man; Jake can’t seem to shake off his irrepressible persona as a smooth-talking womaniser. Romance and comedy ensue.

“I got the script late one night and read it straight through,” Brie explains. “I thought it was totally fantastic. I met with Leslye the next day and basically charmed her until she agree to give me the part.”

It might read like a line, but Brie is so utterly charismatic on the phone from the UK that it’s completely believable. A big fan of Headland’s previous film Bachelorette (2012) — a dark comedy with an all-female ensemble, including Rebel Wilson, Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher — Brie was excited to work with the playwright, director and screenwriter. The experience, she says, lived up to her expectations.

“Working with Leslye was just fantastic,” Brie gushes. “She is so emotionally connected. This script is especially personal to her. It didn’t exactly mirror real life but she put in a lot of personal experiences she’s had.”

The autobiographical leanings of the script add to what Brie deems the “very contemporary idea” at the heart of Sleeping With Other People: “People don’t wait as long to have sex as they once did – they have it often, with strangers, and they talk about it openly with their friends. It’s not something to be ashamed of – it’s not as precious as it’s been treated in the past. Whether that’s good or not, I’m not to say. I think it’s just a more realistic way to look at sex in a film.”

Reinventing The Rom-Com

Like the most classic romantic comedies, Sleeping With Other People is set in New York, features a cast of excellent character actors in supporting roles — Adam Scott, Jason Mantzoukas, Natasha Lyonne — and (it’s not a spoiler to say) the characters end up together; the convention is very much implied by the ‘rom-com’ label and come on, it’s 2015.

But by turning the snoozy adjective from Sleepless in Seattle (1993) into a verb, Sleeping With Other People injects a bit of raunchy life into the form.

“I think there are a lot of fresh new voices putting their spin on the genre,” Brie says. “And that’s what it’s needed for a long time, just a breath of fresh air, and to be modernised. I love romantic comedies but I think they were getting a little stale and a little chaste. I mean, you don’t see people having as much sex or talking about it [in older rom-coms] as you do in this film.”

After premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Sleeping With Other People is set for local release this month — a particularly prolific time for the romantic comedy genre. Much has been declared about how the spate of crass, dark and deeply funny TV incarnations are revolutionising the form too; the equally brilliant You’re The Worst and Catastrophe are gaining well-deserved praise.

Likening Sleeping With Other People to the classics, Headland reportedly pitched the project as “When Harry Met Sally, for assholes” – a tagline that, narrative flaws aside, stands up in some respects. But is this a truly revolutionary moment for the romantic comedy genre, like many claim it to be?

“I think that it’s something that’s been happening for a long time in independent film,” Brie notes. She could easily be referring to Save The Date (2012), an indie she featured in alongside Lizzy Caplan and Martin Starr. “At its heart, Sleeping With Other People is an independent film: it’s taking a more honest look at whatever it’s looking at, and independent film has always been that way. When I first read the script I didn’t think, ‘Oh, we’re revolutionising the genre of romantic comedy’; I thought ‘Oh this is great idea for an indie movie’.”

There is truth to her statement. The likes of “abortion comedy” Obvious Child (2014) have found strong international audiences by offering a rawer, more fluid take on the form. Dominant studios, meanwhile, are focused on churning out blockbuster superhero films, shying away from dual-leads in romantic comedies that explore sex head-on, like box office flops Friends With Benefits (2011) and No Strings Attached (2011). The big studio-based romantic comedies that do make it to cinemas are now sold as Judd Apatow ensemble flicks, or marketed based on the star talent; take Trainwreck for instance, which was directed and produced by Apatow, and had the internet’s favourite comedian Amy Schumer as writer and star. Due to the inherent low-cost of making a romantic comedy, Trainwreck raked in over a million dollars profit.

With low production costs that allow for more risk-taking, and the proven potential to make big bucks, it makes sense the indie sector is banking on the genre. “When you have a big budget for a movie, there’s an expectation to please a much larger audience, and a lot of different voices influencing the work,” Brie explains. In the case of Sleeping With Other People, and other smaller or independent films, the less people and money involved, the higher the chance for experimentation.

Going Deeper, Going Darker

Characters in these darker shows and movies tend to have more layers to their (very talkative) essence; the stories are denser too, and the romantic entanglements need an original hook, otherwise over-saturated audiences have nothing to cling to. “In this case we got to have a very singular vision which was Leslye’s,” Brie says. She describes the vision as emotional and complex, where the dramatic core of the characters meant as much – if not more – to the key players than the plot.

“Since Mad Men wrapped, I’ve sort of been missing that dramatic side to my work,” Brie explains. She played Pete Campbell’s long suffering, well-mannered wife for the duration of the acclaimed series. “I’m always on the lookout for material that is a little different and interesting and a little more complex. That was something I was drawn to with this movie: it wasn’t just comedy, it also had a lot of dramatic elements.”

The chemistry between Brie and Sudeikis is particularly strong — interesting given that Community creator and mutual friend Dan Harmon once tried to set them up. But, she says, she probably hasn’t had a Jake in her life: “I’ve had periods of time in my life where I’ve been involved with guys who weren’t good for me and that made me feel pretty awful, though.”

In real life, Brie is engaged to Dave Franco (brother of James), who offered an intense learning curve for Brie when they co-starred in a Funny or Die clip titled ‘Perfect Girlfriend’. In it, the boyfriend (Franco) tries to convince his partner (Brie) to give him a blumpkin. She had no idea what the word meant. “To find out that the things your boyfriend knows,” she laughs. “My advice to all women is: Never give a blumpkin!”

Take Brie’s advice on this one — and if you’re at work, best not to Google it either.

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Sleeping With Other People is in cinemas on Thursday.

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Stephanie Van Schilt is deputy editor of The Lifted Brow and a freelance writer. She’s been published in Crikey, Kill Your Darlings and Metro. Follow her on twitter: @steph_adele