Aubrey Plaza is known for her dead-pan humor and intense characters, like her Parks and Rec character April Ludgate and Ingrid Goes West’s Ingrid. As she has shifted away from network television and into more roles in film, she’s taking notes from Hollywood greats like Austin Butler and Jeremy Strong and tried method acting while on the set of 2016‘s Dirty Grandpa. However, she may have method acted too close to the sun as she acted “totally insane” around her co-star Robert De Niro. She explained that she was focused on playing Lenore, a young woman who wants to have sex with De Niro’s Dick Kelly, and staying in character. “By the time he’d show up, I’m in character. My character had one goal: To have sex with him. I was acting totally insane as the character because we were about to shoot,” explained Plaza to Variety. “I don’t think he understood that wasn’t me. You’d think he would because he’s an actor and an amazing one.” Plaza shared that she “didn’t really have a relationship with him off camera” which made her behavior more strange to him. While she didn’t specify what she did around him, she did reveal that one of her agents “heard Bob’s a little freaked out” by her.

However, De Niro discovered the normal, not-in-character Plaza while at a cast and crew luncheon where he finally met her out of character. “I showed up and he’s like, ‘Who are you sweetheart?’ and after that he was normal. At first, I think I came on really strong. I did some questionable things I wouldn’t do anymore.” If she wants to start method acting again, maybe an Italian vacation would be a good start.

Sources

Variety Aubrey Plaza Aubrey Plaza’d Too Hard Around Robert De Niro