“Helen is a grump,” Kemper tells EW.
Ellie Kemperis roughing it.
TheBridesmaidsandThe Officestar is going camping inNetflix’sHappiness for Beginners,which EW can exclusively premiere the trailer for below.
Luke Grimes and Ellie Kemper in ‘Happiness for Beginners’.Barbara Nitke/Netflix
“I liked that Helen is a grump,” she tells EW.
“She’s a little pessimistic.
She’s going through a really tough time and she doesn’t really believe in the goodness of things.
Luke Grimes and Ellie Kemper in ‘Happiness for Beginners’.Barbara Nitke/Netflix
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Were you a big fan of the Katherine Center novel?
Or what brought you to the project?
ELLIE KEMPER:I actually had not read the book before meeting with Vicky.
She is a lovely human being.
I wanted to work with her on anything.
When she sent me the script, I gobbled it up.
It’s such a readable story.
And it was only after that that I read the book.
I started with the script.
The inciting incident of the plot is that you’re going on this Appalachian hike.
Is that something you have any grounding in?
Did you have to do any training or research to portray that?
We had some experts come in and show us what actual hiking and camping looked like.
That was very helpful.
But it was a really new experience for me.
The whole movie is outside on the trail.
I really enjoyed that.
It’s a romance, but it’s also very much a journey of self discovery for her.
No, I have not and I should.
It’s not because I don’t need to.
You hit the nail on the head because the romance is a subset [of the plot].
I’m certainly never enrolled in a hiking course for that purpose or something similar.
But I would jump at the chance.
I love the trope at play here, which is “brother’s best friend.”
Are you a romance fan?
What are some of your favorite tropes?
I don’t know how to write that up in a succinct way as a trope.
Even in the trailer, you and Luke have such lovely chemistry.
Were there camping lessons or things like that that helped you build that together?
Before the shoot, we did about two weeks of rehearsals beforehand.
It felt very organic.
Everybody’s still on the text chain.
Everybody goes out when together when we’re in the same city.
There’s that nice camaraderie there.
With Luke, we did all these chemistry read and he was great from the start.
But also, not too cool.
Did he bring any outdoors expertise from all his time onYellowstone?
He might bring more than me, but no.
In terms of like pitching tents and stuff, no.
He was a good sport.
What was the hardest thing you had to learn for the movie?
On a craft level, it’s falling.
I’m always injuring myself.
I had to do a few of those.
It was very cold and very wet, very damp, and there was no base camp.
Do you think you’ll become outdoorsy now?
Do you see you and your husband becoming big campers?
It inspired me to revisit that part of myself because I do think it’s such a special thing.
It’s so simple.
It doesn’t require that much.
I haven’t taken any action on that.
But it’s in my head that yes, we should embark on a family camping trip.
I may have to ease into it with some glamping, but then we’ll get there eventually.
But two weeks ago I found the first tick I’ve ever found.
It was so freaky.
What do you hope people take away from the movie?
It was really instructive to me because it’s about finding happiness and of satisfaction in the everyday things.
I don’t mean it to be, but the film can bring a lot of light.
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