I think in the world of indie music there’s this sort of false modesty.
I had always thought my fantasy career would be making indie films and doing my own thing. But then ‘Superbad’ came along, and it totally changed everything. It was so hilarious and smart and extreme; you could probably do a psychoanalysis term paper on the male sexual psyche going on there.
It’s so funny because the roles that I’ve been offered in the indie film world have been similar to each other, and the roles that I’ve been offered in the TV world have been similar to each other, but the TV roles and the indie film roles have been completely different.
One of the best moments of any Liars show is hearing the crowd squawk ‘We’re doomed! We’re doomed!’ on cue during ‘We Fenced Other Houses with the Bones of Our Own.’ Maybe not the most uplifting audience sing-along in the indie rock world, but one of the most reliably entertaining.
They love putting me in the ‘indie queen’ box. I had some high standards in my 20s that I don’t have anymore.
Two actors that I had particularly fantastic experiences with include Chris Doubek, a notable indie journeyman who also happened to live in the trailer behind my house, and Violett Beane.
Somehow, even though you have less time and less money, the thing about making indie films is somehow you have another kind of resource: a human resource, where you can really look to your creative colleagues and actually ask questions that are honest.
It’s been awesome going indie. I don’t need to be on a major label. I love not having to walk into a specific radio person’s office to try to convince someone to play my songs. At the end of the day, it’s more work, but I’ve discovered that I like to get my hands dirty.
I really do listen to all types of music, not only rock, but everything from good pop music – which is usually older pop music – to R&B and indie rock. I love indie rock more than a lot of the commercial stuff that you’d expect.
The trouble with indie music in India is it continues to be overshadowed by Bollywood.
I was the female lead in a romantic comedy. It’s a little indie film that we shot in China called ‘America Town,’ starring Daniel Henney and Bill Paxton. I actually had to speak Chinese in the film. It was funny because I found out I was doing the film and then a week later, I was in Shanghai.
One indie film does well, for example a ‘Bheja Fry,’ that gets money for another 20 indie projects. But as soon as the first 8 projects release and flop, out of the 12 remaining ones, six will never take off, three will remain incomplete and the others will be shelved.
It’s a long process transitioning from indie to mainstream, and it’s not that easy because it’s a different environment when you are in the indie industry.
The most interesting indie titles always tend to come out of nowhere for me. That’s part of the fun for me.
When I was still doing indie, it was just purely art. I don’t think about how much I will get paid or how much the movie will earn.
As more people get into indie bands and alternative music, they’re also getting more into other genres that fit those categories, like jazz and classical. It’s becoming more rebellious to go to a classical concert. You’re getting the younger art house crowd and regular students as well as those who are just curious.
I’m into a lot of different types of music – pretty much everything from blue grass to jazz to dub step to metal to indie experimental and progressive.
The indie film scene was like a playground for me, which allowed me to try all sorts of things without being judged.
I would love to do a small indie comedy, like a Wes Anderson movie or, like, an ensemble comedy like ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ or ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ I like comedies like that, that have a lot of heart and are about family dynamics.
Indie music is picking up and artistes are more confident about putting out music with no big name attached to it.
I have so many indie bands on my iPod. What I don’t really understand is the attitude that if a band is unknown, they’re good, and if they get fans, then you move on to the next band.
You gain and lose different things in different mediums or different sectors of different mediums. There are liberties you get on tiny indie films in terms of not having to be designed toward a marketing demographic.
I love indie movies – I feel they can really allow you to develop a character.
A film that I love is ‘Raising Arizona’ and that’s funny but it’s quite indie and weird and odd and quirky. I’d love to do something like that. Who knows?
Publishing, legacy or indie, is a vehicle, and you can’t opine about whether someone has chosen the right vehicle if you don’t know where she intends to drive it.
Sometimes I feel indie directors are in the game so they can make a film to get hired to do a big film – that we’re all doing this person’s reel.
I was kind of going that route with my country music. Indie country. Which would work, if I was playing on Americana stages. Unless I had a television outlet like ‘Glee’.
I don’t know if i have a ‘take’ on L.A. The music community is enormous, from the studio musicians to the bands trying to ‘make it’ to the indie bands… so many bands… it can be overwhelming. But it seems healthy.
I just filmed a movie with my boyfriend, an indie film called ‘Conception.’ And it’s kind of like an R-rated version of ‘Valentine’s Day.’ So it’s like all about eight couples, and me and my boyfriend play one of them together. And that was a lot of fun.
I used to think of ‘alternative rock’ as a radio format, kind of the way ‘indie rock’ used to have more meaning. But it means different things depending on where you are or what country you’re in.
I’ve always found that whatever you say about indie rock, it is the most inclusive genre or title for anything. It doesn’t pin you down too much, like other labels would. It’s just newer, it has less baggage. I’m happy to be in that category.
There’s an indie movie I did called ‘Fat Kid Rules the World,’ which was based on a teen book, and it’s a fabulous story, and hopefully it’ll go to theaters because it is an amazing story.
It seems that for all of the artists signed to a major, there exists the same amount of artists that are struggling to break through to the surface within the label. I think, ideally, we’d end up with a very well connected competent indie team that will be along with us for the ride, however long that ride may be.
I have immense respect for Unity because they played a key role in establishing this indie revolution, empowering a huge number of people to get into game development.
Arcade Fire has kept their indie cred. They will sell out stadiums yet still have underdog status. But when you’re a band like Coldplay, people are waiting to knock you down.
