In February, “Admission” stars Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Nat Wolff (who plays Fey’s son Jeremiah) and director Paul Weitz sat down to talk about college, 30 Rock, and more. The giggly and buddy-buddy cast was often more interested in interviewing each other than the questions from the reporters. See how it all went down below.
Street: Did the details of the movie bring back any warm or stinging memories of the college admission process?
Tina Fey: This is how old I am: when we were reading the script, I was like, “There are three parts to the SAT now?” There were only two parts when I took it.
Paul Rudd: I never took the SAT.
TF: Really? No, you must have.
PR: No, I never did. I took the ACT, which I guess was for the Midwest. But I never went through this before. I didn’t apply to colleges.
TF: You just showed up.
PR: I just showed up. I thought that’s the next step!
TF: You had a sweatshirt.
Street: Do you have any advice about what to do after you graduate especially if you’re planning on going into film and TV?
TF: The only advice I feel qualified to give is for people who are interested in comedy and I usually tell them not to go to Los Angeles right away. Because I feel like if you go to Chicago or New York or even Boston, you can be on your feet more and do more stuff even if you’re a writer. You can write a non-equity play and get it up if you’re in Chicago, before you throw yourself into the really business end of the business. That’s the only advice I ever give people.
Street: Do any of you prefer TV or film?
TF (to Paul Rudd): You like to do SNL because it’s live sometimes.
PR: SNL is a blast. (To Tina) Have you ever done it?
Street: How do you, Tina, feel now that 30 Rock has ended?
TF: It was a very bittersweet ending. But the fact that we knew it was ending was such a great thing. We weren’t just cancelled, we were able to say to the network, “Can we just
do these last 13 and be done?” And they were like, “Yeah, ‘cause your show is frickin expensive.” So it was nice, everyone got to say goodbye in the most thorough way. We are still literally moving our junk out of our old offices and Girls is moving into our offices which feels like good karma.
Street: Did doing the film change your impression of what getting into college is like?
PR: I personally don’t think it matters where you go to college. It’s about who you come across while you’re there. Whether it be a community college or a top-ranked school. You can come out of a great school having been under-educated in the most important things in your life – in the decisions you’re going to make in life or what kind of person you’re going to be. Or you can go to community college and be really affected by somebody. My one bit of advice would be to be your own judge. The big pitfalls in life are giving over judgment to critics or box office or somebody who doesn’t know you and doesn’t give a damn about you. You know whether you worked hard or not.
