Jena Malone at the Vanity Fair Oscar party last monthJena Malone recently spoke with Cosmopolitan.com about The Hunger Games, her music career and much more. We loved the tiny tidbit she leaked about only working on Mockingjay two days a month. We were curious why she hadn't been seen on set!
From Cosmopolitan.com:
You know Jena Malone from her movies — Donnie Darko, Sucker Punch, Into the Wild, and of course, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. But when she's not dressed up as a tree and kicking ass as Johanna Mason, Jena has a second career as one half of improvisational pop act The Shoe. Their second album, I'm Okay, drops June 3, and is full of gorgeously melancholy tunes about love. Jena stopped by Cosmopolitan.com to talk about her new record, The Hunger Games, and the age-old Peeta vs. Gale debate.
You just finished shooting Inherent Vice, and you're still working on Mockingjay. How do you also find time to work on your music?
It's been a blessing, because with Hunger Games I have a lot of time off. I've only been working maybe like two days a month on that, so I've had all this time where I can't even really be looking for projects, and I have a lot of space to work on the music.
Read more after the jump!
Do you ever do any writing on set, in your downtime?
I'm constantly songwriting. I have singing Tourettes, which is not actually a thing. I've had it since I was 21, when I first started trying to sing. I didn't feel like I had a good voice, but I just wanted to sing, so I would make up songs on the subway and in taxicabs, or walking down the street. I have probably 15 million voice memos of song ideas and melodies. Even this morning, I was writing something up.
You're one of the few child actors who's managed to have a great career as an adult. How did you make that transition so well?
It’s a craps shoot. Hollywood is a microcosm of high school. The people that are successful when they're younger aren't always going to be successful adults. The prom queen's not always going to be the beauty queen when she gets older. The shy, really smart girl that never succeeded in high school is going to become president. I guess I was just lucky. I just kept doing what I loved, and never stopped that.
What do you think is the biggest difference between your two day jobs?
As an actor, you give up so many of your freedoms, in a way. You give so much on the shooting day, but then it's the editor who decides the look, and then it's the director who decides the take, and then it's the producer who decides the poster image. With music, I get to control everything, and I get to play any character I ever want. If I want to be an 80-year-old man in one song, I can do it, or I want to do a song from the POV of a leaf falling to the ground. I'd never get that kind of job in my acting life.
Have you and your Hunger Games cast mates ever gone out and done karaoke together?
No, I think we’ve done more stuff on set that’s like, for annoyance value. It's not necessarily for pleasure of singing. When we run out of ways to annoy each other, we start using music to up the ante. I mean, Jennifer Lawrence, you never know what's coming out of her mouth. Sometimes she's like, singing a song, and then we're all singing. It's kind of all over the place.
What do you think about all the comparisons between The Hunger Games and Divergent?
I have neither read nor seen Divergent. I basically take all of my pop-culture phenomenon recommendations from my sister, who's 16, and she didn't recommend it, so I stayed away. She pumps me full of popular knowledge, which is an incredible thing to have. I'm almost 30, so I'm like, "I don't know, is this popular?"
How does it feel to have an action figure of yourself?
There isn't one of Johanna! The one that's out there was made by a fan. [When I saw it] I called Lionsgate and I was like, "What?! You didn't tell me!" But they never made one. I was so mad. I feel like I'm the lonely kid in the corner that just wants to have an action figure.
They should do a Johanna Barbie to go with the Katniss one.
I know! That's what I'm saying. Trust me, I've tried. I feel like they could just make one, for me. I'd have to get some fan support.
So are you Team Peeta or Team Gale?
Oh, I'm Team Katniss.
If Johanna and Katniss got in a fight, who would win?
I mean, obviously Johanna would win. I'm not allowed to win. I would have to lose the fight, because I have to keep her alive. So Katniss would win, but only because I would let her.