In her debut lead role in a feature film, for which she also penned the script, comedian Amy Schumer plays a heavy-drinking, pot-smoking writer.
The crux of the story follows Schumer’s belief that monogamy is an inherently unsustainable concept – an ideology she picked up at the age of nine when her father explained his reasoning for cheating on her mother multiple times, which led to their subsequent divorce. 23 years on, Schumer’s alter ego Amy Townsend is a commitment-phobe who lives in a world where casual sex is in abundance, but intimacy is non-existent.
Some literary circles carry the philosophy that everyone’s first novel will be, at no fault of their own, somewhat autobiographical. But is the Amy we see on the screen and stage a reflection of the Amy her friends and family experience in real life?
“I’d say it’s an older version of me,” Schumer says, nursing a bottle of mineral water. “Maybe from like ten years ago, in terms of sleeping around, drinking a lot and smoking that much pot. Now I’m 34 and I’m really busy. I don’t get drunk very often, but like, I drink. I probably drink, well, every night. I only smoke a little bit of pot these days. I don’t have very much sex at all, unfortunately. It’s more of a safety issue, really. When I was a sophomore at college, I was sleeping around a lot. I was in a bad place, but I didn’t know it.”
Directed by Judd Apatow (the first of his films that he himself has not written), Trainwreck features an all-star cast including Bill Hader (playing the role of Aaron Conners, a sports doctor who attempts to lull Amy out of her world of non-committal debauchery), Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Vanessa Bayer, Mike Birbiglia and NBA star LeBron James, who plays himself. The biggest surprise is how commendable and comical James’ performance turned out.
“He was hilarious,” laughs Schumer. “He just showed up like that. I’ve never actually ever seen him play basketball except in the movie. I was ready to help him get ready and coach him but he was just legitimately already hilarious.”
The reviews of James’ performance are indicative of how Trainwreck has been received as a whole. Having premiered at South By Southwest in March and been released in the US last month, the film has garnered widespread critical acclaim.
“I was so excited when it premiered,” Schumer says. “Everyone kind of just freaked out. I haven’t been reading that much about it now. It all gets a bit too overwhelming, but people have been super sweet about it.”
Leaping from the stage and the small screen to the cinema is no easy feat, and Schumer faced challenges along the way. “It was hard not having complete control,” she says. “When I do my stand-up, I’m allowed to say and do whatever I want. On my TV show [Inside Amy Schumer], I always have the final say. But to collaborate with someone – to know that Judd could say, ‘No, we’re not putting that in the movie, we’re putting this in instead’ – it was really hard to trust that. He’d say, ‘I’m going to film it this way,’ and then I’d feel scared about how it would turn out. [But] I love the movie, I love how it turned out and I learned to trust him.”
Schumer is often held up as a feminist icon within comedy, alongside the likes of Amy Poehler, Lena Dunham and Tina Fey. While 69 per cent of audience members on the opening US weekend of Trainwreck were female, she doesn’t experience any form of gender divide at her stand-up performances.
“When I’m doing stand-up and I’m on the road, the audiences are always 50/50 men and women of all different ages,” she says. “I mean, if I had to pick just one gender to be in the crowd – well, it’d be both women and gay men. But I’m not writing with any particular group in mind. I just write what I think is funny.”
Schumer’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years. On the eve of her visit to Australia, she announced a one-off stand-up performance at the Arts Centre Melbourne. When seats went on sale the following day, the ticketing website crashed due to unprecedented levels of traffic. This is news to Schumer.
“Oh man, really?” she laughs. “I read somewhere that the website might have been having problems. That’s awesome. That’s so badass.”
With her own love of Australia so obviously reciprocated, will Schumer be bringing her stand-up shows on a full national tour anytime soon?
“I hope to, I do! And, well, if Donald Trump wins the [US Presidential] election, I’ll be moving here no matter what.”
Trainwreck (dir. Judd Apatow) is in cinemas Thursday August 6.
