Very funny and cheerful interview with Zazie Beetz, a German-American actress. She’s played Vanessa in “Atlanta”, appeared in the Netflix series Easy, and was filmed in “Deadpool 2”. She was also a Marvel Comics character Neena Thurman / Domino. In this interview, she talk about her family, her living in Germany, and her first childhood role.
– There was something really incredible, I guess it was maybe last week, where the episode “Helen” where you go to a German festival.
– Yeah.
– And you speak German in the episode, and it's wonderful. And I was talking to you backstage. I was like, "God, she's amazing – what an amazing actress that she learned German." But you know German.
– Yeah, I grew up speaking German. My dad is German, and I was born there, and grew up in New York for the most part. But, yeah, one of the producers on the show, also, I was just telling you, didn't realize that I was native, and he was like, "Wow, she worked a lot for it." And, um, I didn't.
– Yeah. It still counts, though. Now, you guys are at sort of a festival. Is this like festivals you would go to growing up?
– You know what? It's actually this very kind of specific to one town in Austria, and they really kind of picked out the weirdest one. But it's called Fastnacht. But in Germany there are – it's something similar, called Fasching, which is sort of like Halloween, similar. But I definitely grew up – as a kid, I'd wear, like, dirndls all the time and lederhosen.
– This is really just a young version of what we saw in the clip. This is you being the real deal right there.
[Shows a photo. Audience: Awws]
– Yeah.
– And your grandparents still live in Germany.
– Yeah, yeah. My dad's whole family is there. So my dad's in Jersey, but his – everybody else is in Germany.
– Do you go back often? Do you see your grandparents?
– I do, yeah. I was just there in November. My grandmother turned 85, and so we went for that. I don't go as often as I used to. I used to go for months at a time, for my summers, but now I don't have vacation like that anymore.
– When you go back to Germany, is it maybe that you get recognized a little bit less than at dance party in Atlanta?
– I'd say so, yeah, but “Deadpool” is opening there, which is, I guess, my first sort of international thing.
– Yeah.
– And so my family there have some cousins who were really excited, and my dad was like, "You should sign something for them." And I did, and they're all going to go to the premiere. And my grandpa, he always Googles stuff about me and sends me articles about me. And it's always stuff that's some blogger wrote, and it's definitely page 7 of Google, but he sends it.
– That's really great. I love how grandparents who engage with technology don't quite understand how younger people engage with it, that you also have Google and if you wanted to find it, you could. It's like, "This was on my computer. So I wanted to make sure it got on your computer." And then you have an 11-year-old brother, and I hear that he is your biggest fan. Is this accurate?
– Yeah. He's lovely. His name is Justin, and he just had a birthday in December when he turned 11, and he had me come to do, like, cake and stuff in class, and all the kids wanted my autograph 'cause I'm in “Deadpool”, which is kind of weird for me. 'Cause I'm like, “None of you have seen this. But sure”. And they were all very excited. Yeah, he's super happy, and I felt like I have to do something, I don't know, like maybe a more kid-friendly movie for him.
– Yeah, right? Between “Deadpool” and “Atlanta”, you're not quite at 11, yet.
– My mom lets him watch some of the “Atlanta” stuff. She picks and chooses what she thinks – maybe just my episodes, not they're all appropriate. Whatever.
– I want to ask, when you were younger, your first role that made you realize you wanted to be an actor. What was the first role you played?
-Oh, yeah. In elementary school, I played a role called “Half Chicken”, and it was the story of a weather vane. And I got it through a lottery. There were a bunch of kids in the class who wanted the role, and I picked it out the hat and I got it.
– There was no audition process.
– No audition. My first audition was “Deadpool”. But, no, then my dad and I, we sat down, and he sewed this elaborate costume together. It had, like, a – I don't know what you call this.
– A beak?
– Not the beak. On the rooster. The comb of the rooster, and, like, a half-wing and stuff like that. That was my introduction into theater, and I've loved it since. I've been trying to re-create that day.
– Chasing it? Not to brag, I played Wilbur in “Charlotte's Web”. That was my first one out.
– Seriously?
– Yeah. So, not to pull the Trump card on your chicken, but I was a straight-up pig.
– Well, we were both the leads. We were number ones.
– We were both number ones on the call sheet, yeah.
– Well, it is obviously so great to meet a fellow barnyard thespian.
[Laughter]
– Thank you.
– And I could tell. The minute I met you backstage, I'm like, “She's played livestock. We have something in common. I could see the same glint in my eye she has”.
[Laughs]
– It's taken us far.
– So, thanks so much for being here.
