PS: You are busy on the writing front lately. Tell me about working with Emma Thompson on Late Night. Was that just an insane dream come true?
MK: Oh my god. The Emma Thompson thing was incredible, because she really epitomizes what I would want to be, because she won an Oscar for both acting and writing — which, I don't know if there's been another woman who's done that. And she is really well-known for doing period dramas like Sense and Sensibility but is also so funny — one of the funniest people I've ever met. I don't think there are a lot of roles like this [one]. She plays a late-night talk-show host who is a pretty difficult person, and I play a writer on her staff. We're actually editing that movie right now.
PS: And then you're heading to London fairly soon to work on Four Weddings and a Funeral. Is there any casting news you can divulge yet?
MK: Oh, god, we have some really exciting . . . well, I think we'll have some news, probably in the next week or so. Obviously, I'm obsessed with the original Richard Curtis movie, as is the rest of the world. I love all his movies — Love Actually, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary. So when I was approached about adapting it into a miniseries, I thought, "OK. Well, if you were going to watch that, and you knew I was doing it, what would I be bringing to it?" And for me, it's really that the cast looks really unusual for this type of thing. The lead is an African-American woman, and the romantic lead is a British-Pakistani man. So that is really exciting to me, and I can't wait for people to see it.
PS: Being in the driver's seat as a creator, you're able to really make an impact when it comes to inclusion. What have you seen change as this conversation has really been renewed in recent years, and what still needs to get better?
MK: So much about trying to affect change is — you hear so much about it, you see so much about it on social media, and people giving speeches, and things like that — it just feels like such a drag. Unfortunately, there's sometimes this feeling of, "Ugh, I'm getting preached at." So the actual way to change it, if you're an employer, is just to set standards. "Okay, 50 percent of people who are going to director are going to be women. My cast is going to look a certain way." Because we're really the people who can make the changes, right? If you're an employer, you can do it. It's very hard if you're trying to get a job.
I know that I'm privileged and have that position, so that's what I'm going to do. I learned a lot from working with Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon, and Oprah. I aspire to be them. They're employers on a massive scale and they have just decided they want to tell female stories. Reese has always said, "I don't want to tell stories with my company that are about women being brutalized or anything like that. I want them to be really strong female leads and not secondary characters to men." It's been a really good past two years of just learning a lot.
![PS: You are busy on the writing front lately. Tell me about working with Emma Thompson on Late Night. Was that just an insane dream come true?
MK: Oh my god. The Emma Thompson thing was incredible, because she really epitomizes what I would want to be, because she won an Oscar for both acting and writing — which, I don't know if there's been another woman who's done that. And she is really well-known for doing period dramas like Sense and Sensibility but is also so funny — one of the funniest people I've ever met. I don't think there are a lot of roles like this [one]. She plays a late-night talk-show host who is a pretty difficult person, and I play a writer on her staff. We're actually editing that movie right now.
PS: And then you're heading to London fairly soon to work on Four Weddings and a Funeral. Is there any casting news you can divulge yet?
MK: Oh, god, we have some really exciting . . . well, I think we'll have some news, probably in the next week or so. Obviously, I'm obsessed with the original Richard Curtis movie, as is the rest of the world. I love all his movies — Love Actually, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary. So when I was approached about adapting it into a miniseries, I thought, "OK. Well, if you were going to watch that, and you knew I was doing it, what would I be bringing to it?" And for me, it's really that the cast looks really unusual for this type of thing. The lead is an African-American woman, and the romantic lead is a British-Pakistani man. So that is really exciting to me, and I can't wait for people to see it.
PS: Being in the driver's seat as a creator, you're able to really make an impact when it comes to inclusion. What have you seen change as this conversation has really been renewed in recent years, and what still needs to get better?
MK: So much about trying to affect change is — you hear so much about it, you see so much about it on social media, and people giving speeches, and things like that — it just feels like such a drag. Unfortunately, there's sometimes this feeling of, "Ugh, I'm getting preached at." So the actual way to change it, if you're an employer, is just to set standards. "Okay, 50 percent of people who are going to director are going to be women. My cast is going to look a certain way." Because we're really the people who can make the changes, right? If you're an employer, you can do it. It's very hard if you're trying to get a job.
I know that I'm privileged and have that position, so that's what I'm going to do. I learned a lot from working with Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon, and Oprah. I aspire to be them. They're employers on a massive scale and they have just decided they want to tell female stories. Reese has always said, "I don't want to tell stories with my company that are about women being brutalized or anything like that. I want them to be really strong female leads and not secondary characters to men." It's been a really good past two years of just learning a lot.](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/G330oJx15hfuCZD65xPh4U0-Jrc/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2018/10/01/979/n/1922398/ed3f074110e5c657_20180922-CP_A4484_MINDY_KALING/i/PS-You-busy-writing-front-lately.jpg "PS: You are busy on the writing front lately. Tell me about working with Emma Thompson on Late Night. Was that just an insane dream come true?
MK: Oh my god. The Emma Thompson thing was incredible, because she really epitomizes what I would want to be, because she won an Oscar for both acting and writing — which, I don't know if there's been another woman who's done that. And she is really well-known for doing period dramas like Sense and Sensibility but is also so funny — one of the funniest people I've ever met. I don't think there are a lot of roles like this [one]. She plays a late-night talk-show host who is a pretty difficult person, and I play a writer on her staff. We're actually editing that movie right now.
PS: And then you're heading to London fairly soon to work on Four Weddings and a Funeral. Is there any casting news you can divulge yet?
MK: Oh, god, we have some really exciting . . . well, I think we'll have some news, probably in the next week or so. Obviously, I'm obsessed with the original Richard Curtis movie, as is the rest of the world. I love all his movies — Love Actually, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary. So when I was approached about adapting it into a miniseries, I thought, \"OK. Well, if you were going to watch that, and you knew I was doing it, what would I be bringing to it?\" And for me, it's really that the cast looks really unusual for this type of thing. The lead is an African-American woman, and the romantic lead is a British-Pakistani man. So that is really exciting to me, and I can't wait for people to see it.
PS: Being in the driver's seat as a creator, you're able to really make an impact when it comes to inclusion. What have you seen change as this conversation has really been renewed in recent years, and what still needs to get better?
MK: So much about trying to affect change is — you hear so much about it, you see so much about it on social media, and people giving speeches, and things like that — it just feels like such a drag. Unfortunately, there's sometimes this feeling of, \"Ugh, I'm getting preached at.\" So the actual way to change it, if you're an employer, is just to set standards. \"Okay, 50 percent of people who are going to director are going to be women. My cast is going to look a certain way.\" Because we're really the people who can make the changes, right? If you're an employer, you can do it. It's very hard if you're trying to get a job.
I know that I'm privileged and have that position, so that's what I'm going to do. I learned a lot from working with Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon, and Oprah. I aspire to be them. They're employers on a massive scale and they have just decided they want to tell female stories. Reese has always said, \"I don't want to tell stories with my company that are about women being brutalized or anything like that. I want them to be really strong female leads and not secondary characters to men.\" It's been a really good past two years of just learning a lot.")
