[Originally published at Film Inquiry] If you’ve seen a creative work of Judd Apatow‘s, chances are you’ve seen Carla Gallo. A graduate from the unofficial Apatow School of Comedy, Gallo grew up acting in Apatow shows and films. Beginning with with the series Undeclared, Gallo would go on to appear in Apatow-produced hits such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, I love You, Man, and Get Him To The Greek.

As such, she is extremely skilled in the art of improvisation and grounding levity in drama. After her successful show Bones came to a nine-year close in 2017, Gallo took a year off to spend time with her children before going back to the basics and reveling in the audition process again. It wasn’t before long until Room For Rent made its way into Gallo‘s hands.

Written and directed by Matthew Atkinson, Room For Rent tells the story of an ex-lottery winner and failed inventor named Mitch (Mark Little) who is forced to move in with his parents when he goes broke. After his parents face the tough decision of having to sell the house to make ends meet, Mitch convinces them to rent their spare room to a stranger (Brett Gelman) with ulterior motives. Gallo plays Lindsay, Mitch’s ex-girlfriend.

Recently, I caught with Gallo to discuss her latest film, its unconventional path to fruition, growing up on screen, her Apatowian roots, and more!

Alex Arabian for Film Inquiry: Word has it you were at an audition right before this. What was that like?

Carla Gallo: I showed up and there were 100 other girls going in for the same role. So I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna be here for a while [laughter].”

What was the audition for?

Carla Gallo: I think the “network” is Apple TV. It’s a whole new world out there. It’s a show. I guess it was called Magic Hour. Now it’s called Ink. And it’s based on a true story of some nine-year-old girl who wrote her own little newspaper on the side and she uncovered a murder. She solved some crime. I don’t know. That’s very exciting for that girl. I don’t know how they’re gonna sustain that for a TV show, but they’re gonna try. I ran into a very good friend of mine there. There are those auditions where they sort of bring in the whole city and this was one of them.

Good luck. Break a leg, as they say.

Carla Gallo: Thank you. [laughter].

Congratulations on a wonderful performance in Room For Rent.

Carla Gallo: Oh, thank you. That’s kind of you to say.

Of course. How did this script find itself in your hands?

Carla Gallo: In a very unconventional way. My husband knows the producer, Justin Rebelo, from their days back at MTV. They worked in MTV in Canada. And so, they stayed in touch for a really long time and Justin reached out to Mark [Satterthwaite], my husband, about possibly doing some script work. And then my husband being the loyal man that he is was like, “Hey, what about Carla for this role?” And Justin was like, “Would she wanna do it?” And of course, I think Mark played coy, like, “Yeah, I think so,” knowing full well that I’m always desperate and hungry for work. So, I was like, “Of course I would. I’m interested.” But I liked that there was a, “Would she do it? Would she even do it?”

And then I read it. And I talked to the director, Matt Atkinson, about it. And then it went through rewrites and things for quite a long time after that. It could have even taken almost a year for it to resurface. And then it resurfaced and it’s kind of impressive to say they made it happen. They got the funding. They got the actors. And made a great movie out of it. But that’s the story.

What did you like about the character of Lindsay?

Carla Gallo: Matt Atkinson was super open to me bringing myself to it. And, of course, that’s always super appealing. Just being able to make her really human and three-dimensional and kind of quirky, but she’s sarcastic and has strength. He really encouraged me. He admitted in the early draft that he hadn’t really, maybe made her as three-dimensional as he wanted her to be. And so, he really wanted me to talk to him about it and work with him on it. I find that’s kind of unusual.

It certainly was appealing to be allowed into the creative process because a lot of times you’re just handed something and you have to figure out how to make it work. Even in circumstances where the material is not very good or it’s illogical. And that’s really challenging. It was very generous of him. He actually valued my input. So, it ended up being a fun character who was allowed to be funny and quirky.

This is certainly one of the more down-to-earth characters you’ve played in your career.

Carla Gallo: That is true [laughter]. That is true. That is very true. And I think that, for me, is honestly super appealing. And now that you’re saying that, I do remember watching it and thinking, “Oh. Not only did I get to be a real person, but I feel like it was the crossover role for me in terms of being a mature character as well. As one casting director once asked my agent, “Can she play anything other than drunk [laughter]?” And I was like, “Uh, I can.”

Like on Bones, even though I was an intern eventually a doctor, it was a very young role, very immature. And Room for Rent was sort of a changeover of like, “No, she is this woman who has this career and is not gonna let this guy who dicked her over have the upper hand.” So, I remember watching it and being like, “Oh, I’m growing up. I’m actually growing up.” As a person and as an actress.

Yeah [laughter]. It must be interesting watching yourself almost grow up on screen, in a way.

Carla Gallo: Yeah. No, for sure. It’s an interesting thing because it is a new phase in my career. I suppose it’s a parallel with my life, but I’d like to think that I had matured in my life, but maybe I hadn’t. But now I really find that I’m allowed to have power in my role, which was something that I don’t think I had before. In a comedy one, that’s totally fine. Crazy, idiotic girls don’t have power. That was totally okay because they were just bizarre, out of control, wild women. But it’s been an interesting thing I’m finding. I’m like, “Oh, I am allowed to have some power in my characters,” which has been really nice.

You, Mark Little and Brett Gelman are such talented comic actors.

Carla Gallo: Thank you.

How important is it to have like-minded people to act alongside?

Carla Gallo: It’s probably [the] second most important [thing] after good material. The success of how this film turned out is script and Matt Atkinson and actors. Those three. That trifecta. If one of those is missing, you’re gonna have a tough time. Obviously, from my standpoint, I need that as much as any of the other things. If someone’s good, they’ll make you better. And Brett and Mark are both those actors. They’re so talented that not only are they throwing you the ball so you’re able to play, but also you wanna rise up to their level. They’re so funny. I’m like, “Okay, I’ve gotta work my brain 50 percent more than usual because I have to try to keep up.” Having a good cast who’s talented and and giving, that’s of utmost importance to me.

In Room For Rent, there’s a theme of stunted growth. How does this theme of being stuck in the past serve yours and Mitch’s character arcs?

Carla Gallo: There’s the opportunity for closure, in a way. Because certainly when they are around each other again, for her, more than anything, there’s just still so much resentment and anger at the way he behaved and changed and treated her. She’s definitely stuck in the past because she hasn’t moved on from it. They have closure and then obviously move forward. And then he’s obviously stuck in the past, very literally, and living in his parents’ home. Failure to launch.

So, you’re a Judd Apatow regular. How has working with him and the actors that he frequently works with helped shape your acting style, if at all?

Carla Gallo: It definitely has. It’s funny because I was in New York last week and I was working on an episode of Sneaky Pete, the Giovanni Ribisi show, and that’s pure drama. And I haven’t done drama in a while, but when I got to set, the director was like, “Um, hey, so, you’re gonna have to improvise.” They were having some script issues and they wanted to change stuff and I would come to find out they were majorly changing the scene. But I could tell when he asked me, he expected me to be concerned.

And then I didn’t really fully state what I was thinking, which is I kind of come from the Apatow school. I know that it’s drama versus comedy, but in the Apatow world, the comedy is always born out of drama. It’s always from a place of reality. Again, sometimes I’m playing some kind of crazy, drunk character, even then, it’s always born out of a real [place]. I was like, “Oh, I got this. I’m not worried in the slightest.” And I just thought how that’s thanks to Judd and my education. That’s from him. Just having to be able to do that. To use your brain in that way. It was an education in creating characters and almost writing for them through improvisation because he’s so into improvising so much of the material.

For some reason I flash to Get Him To The Greek, which was [made by], I would say, Apatow‘s disciples. Jason Segel, Nick Stoller, and Rodney Rothman, and obviously Jonah Hill and the whole gang. And I was, for some reason, thinking about the improv. I improvised a lot of the scene with Jonah where I’m essentially molesting him, taking his pants off. The majority is improvised, and I thought about it, and I just mentally clicked into the place of this girl and what she would say, and it wasn’t coming from a place of what is funny, per se. It was, “What would she say?” And then it works because you’re coming from a more natural place. Rather than “let me play the joke.” Which, for me, it doesn’t tend to end well because I’m pushing too hard for a joke.

Aside from Sneaky Pete, are there any exciting projects that you have lined up in the future?

Carla Gallo: Not really. I’m back pounding the pavement. When Bones ended– that was just a very dreamy nine-year job. It was a recurring, and as we’re shooting the finale, I was very, newly pregnant with my second child. So, I sort of have taken the time. And it’s been very lucky, the timing, because I’ve been able to just spend the last year really be totally focused on my kids. And now I’m like, “Now you’re over a year old. You’re much less breakable.” And so, now I can emerge back into my life and my career. And then Sneaky Pete was my reward for that. I was like, “I’m ready.”

There was a mental shift. I’m ready to hire a babysitter occasionally and allow myself the time to do what I love to do. And then it was like, “Okay. We’re getting a job. There you go. You booked a job.” So I’m just sort of in that head space right now and auditioning and just ready and happy to not be covered in baby food all day. So, that’s where I’m at right now [laughter].

Film Inquiry would like to thank Carla Gallo for her time and insight.

Room For Rent is available on VOD on November 2, 2018. Pre-order it on iTunes here. For more information on Room For Rent’s release, click here.