Exclusive: Molly Quinn Talks ‘Welcome To Happiness,’ ‘Castle’ and Rap

 

In a FilmFad.com exclusive, sensational talent Molly Quinn, aka Alexis Castle from the hit series ‘Castle’ and Lillian from ‘Welcome to Happiness,’ opens up about which character she likes most, what it’s like working with funny people, and try to sell us make-it-yourself humans. That’s right, we are pleased to share our fascinating, fun and “fantastical” conversation.

FilmFad (Pooya):

Hello Molly, how’re you doing?

Molly C. Quinn:

I’m good. How are you?

FilmFad (Pooya):

Doing fantastic. I hope you’re having a wonderful Monday [chuckling].

Molly C. Quinn:

Yeah, I was about to say, fantastic is bit of a big word for an early Monday morning [Laughing].

FilmFad (Pooya):

Yeah, I always tell myself that. And if I keep saying it will come true, kind of like something that may relate to ‘Welcome to Happiness.’

 

Molly C. Quinn:

[Chuckling] Sure, sure. Fantastical absolutely relates to welcome to happiness. Also Fantastic. I think it’s pretty great.

FilmFad (Pooya):

You said “fantastical.” In your own words, how would you describe ‘Welcome to Happiness?’

Molly C. Quinn:

It’s a journey of self discovery, absolutely. And more than that, self acceptance. I think it’s really important to be aware of. You don’t need to hide the things you are going through, there’s always that person that you can talk to that can help you out. It’s about helping each other. That’s what I think ‘Welcome to Happiness’ is about. That’s what I love about it.

 

 

FilmFad (Pooya):

On one hand you’re Alexis Castle, teenage daughter of best-selling crime and mystery author Rick Castle also known as ’The’ Nathan Fillion, while on the other hand you’re Lillian, nurturing assistant to the wildly eccentric Proctor played by Keegan-Michael Key. How is Lillian different than Alexis?

Molly C. Quinn:

What an interesting question, especially right now as ‘Castle’ has come to an end. I think in a lot of ways Lillian is so upbeat. She’s incredibly energetic and willing to please, but she just wants to be good, she just wants to help people. She’s very much a novice, figuring things out. I really love that about her, her newness. Where Alexis has always had a, not a “wise beyond her years” because I think that that phrase gets a little worn out, but a tiredness to her. a bit of an oldness because she’s had to deal with things that most young people don’t have to deal with, and chose to not to deal with. Alexis has a level of maturity and a level of intelligence that differs from Lillian. I think they’re both equally smart woman, but you can see the eagerness in Lillian that Alexis doesn’t really possess. She’s too old for that, even though, theoretically, she could be younger than Lillian.

FilmFad (Pooya):

Do you personally identify with one more or less than the other?

Molly C. Quinn:

I think there are bits in each. I am a happy go lucky person most of the time, so that definitley goes along with Lillian. And Alexis, she’s kind of the farthest from myself. I often describe her as a sister because at times were on the same page, and sometimes I’m thinking “What are you doing? What are these choices that you’re making?” I guess I would say more Lillian. I think that’s help solved this for me, I think I do identify with Lillian more than Alexis.

 

FilmFad (Pooya):

Speaking of the happy go lucky side that you share with Lillian, she shares her screen time often with funnyman Keegan-Michael Key. What was it like working with that exuberant gentleman?

Molly C. Quinn:

Keegan’s great. I’ve know Keegan for a few years through a show we did together called the Thrilling Adventure Hour. So when we were casting and getting ready, which was a huge thing I was involved with for the film from the very the beginning, I got Padget Brewster involved. As I was trying to get in touch with Keegan, because he’s such a busy guy., I finally called Padgett, who also did the live show with us, and was like “hey, can you just shoot Keegan a text and tell him to answer my email? Once he reads the script I know he’s gonna love it.” It’s always great working with him. He’s such a generous actor, he’s always in the moment. One of my favorite little bits is the club soda routine in-front of the fireplace. It wouldn’t have been the same without his delivery, and also without Brendan. That whole group. It is a rarity when people just click right off the bat. There’s a lot of familiarity that can come with rehearsal and come after take three, but to have that closeness and have everybody understand what we’re doing on the first take, or even at rehearsal, is really special.

FilmFad (Pooya):

You’ve been so privileged to work with so many people in your career so far. Between Jim Carrey, Nathan Fillion, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston and Keegan-Michael Key, the list can go on and on, who is the funniest person you’ve worked with?

Molly C. Quinn:

Oh wow. I feel like that one could get me in trouble [Laughing]. Let me think. Hmm… You know, It has to be Nathan [Fillion]. It really does. That might be the amount of time that I’ve spent with him, you know, because he’s been a huge part of my life. I know his humor has influenced mine, 100 percent. I always find him funny. He’s really awesome. I guess a second, I think, would be Keegan [Michael Key]. Yeah, he’s a very close second.

FilmFad (Pooya):

It would be very difficult for me too. That was kind of like a trick question. They’re all so funny in their own way that it’s difficult to choose.

Molly C. Quinn:

Yeah, everyone has their own brand of human [pauses]. Human? “Everyone has their own brand of human,” let me tell you that [laughing].

FilmFad (Pooya):

[Laughing].

Molly C. Quinn:

Everyone has their own brand of humor.

FilmFad (Pooya):

I would love to see the product ad for that.”Everyone has their own brand of human.”

Molly C. Quinn:

Yeah, I will mock something up and send it to you [Laughing].

 

FilmFad (Pooya):

Wonderful! Just to switch gears a little bit, you’ve been doing some tremendous work both on the small screen and in the feature arena. Also, based on your ‘Princess Rap Battle,’ You aka Hermione can really drop some hots bars.

Molly C. Quinn:

[Laughing].

FilmFad (Pooya):

If you were to join the rap game, today, what would your name be?

Molly C. Quinn:

Ooh. Wow, if I was gonna join the rap game…

FilmFad (Pooya):

[Laughing].

 

Molly C. Quinn:

I do love rap. Which is kind of the funny thing when Whitney [Avalon] got in touch with me to do ‘Princess Rap Battle;’ I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed that. It was really encompassing another life. What about “Hot Ta’Molly.” Is that good?

FilmFad (Pooya):

Oh, that’s actually really good [laughing].

Molly C. Quinn:

It’s not bad right? It’s a food that we all like, it has that kind of classiness involved and it’s kind of arbitrary. And I only would exclusively rap about my favorite movies and books.

FilmFad (Pooya):

Oh? That’s even better.

Molly C. Quinn:

Yeah, that’s all it would be. So any rap battle, I think, would end up being very confusing [laughing].

FilmFad (Pooya):

It would be very high-brow.

Molly C. Quinn:

Very high-brow! I think it would have to be [laughing].

FilmFad (Pooya):

That’s great. And course you would sample the “Hot Tamale” song in your first single, your hit single. You would have a sample of it in the background to complete the image [chuckling].

Molly C. Quinn:

Oh yeah.

FilmFad (Pooya):

I could see that. Done deal. You have an album cover pressed and ready to go [laughing].

Molly C. Quinn:

[laughing].

 

FilmFad (Pooya):

Jumping back to ‘Welcome to Happiness,’ I notice that in one scene Key’s character revels in joy upon seeing a sketch of a cat. I can’t help but wonder if that was any level of a nod to Key and Peele’s current film ‘Keanu’ or not?

Molly C. Quinn:

Here’s the thing. I think that our cat must have inspired ‘Keanu.’ That’s all I can say, because we shot ‘Welcome to Happiness’ almost two years ago now…? It’s been a while, so we could have been the inspiring force. Another interesting thing about the cat drawing is that actually came from our costume designer. When Dave and I sat down and were meeting all these costume designers, trying to pick the right one for the movie, she immediately sat down all her stuff. And as we were going through her style sheets, there was this wonderful illustration of a cat. And we asked her what is it. And she said “I was just inspired about and script and the characters,” and we immediately knew she was on the same page.

FilmFad (Pooya):

That means, perhaps, Proctor and Key had something in common. And that the Cat transcended ‘Welcome to Happiness’ and made it into its own feature film. The costume designer should get a credit for that cat.

Molly C. Quinn:

While we’re on this train of thought, I think I’ll just take credit for Keegan-Michael Key. While we’re going this way, I think I’ll just take credit for his whole “human.”

FilmFad (Pooya):

[laughing].

Molly C. Quinn:

[laughing].

 

FilmFad (Pooya):

Awesome. [Laughing] So Molly, what’s next? In 2013 you voiced Krypton’s last daughter, Supergirl, in the animated feature ‘Superman Unbound.’ Given the recent boom in Superhero cinema, do you have any interest in taking super powers to the live action stage?

Molly C. Quinn:

Of course. Who doesn’t want to be Rogue, or Iron Man, or Storm. I think that those are incredible characters, I’m such a fan of those universes. Especially Supergirl, she’s really close to my heart. I would love to play her again in any format. I loved doing the animation for Warner Bros, it would be great to do a feature film. We’ll see. There’s a lot of really fun stuff on the horizon. I was doing a job that I was doing so long for ‘Castle,’ so I want to give it the respect and more it. But that’s hard to do when there’s so much excitement and so many coming out with great opportunities for me to be in. I think there will definitely be some more superhero stuff in the future, some more comedies. I’m excited for what’s next, but it’s even a mystery to me right now.

FilmFad (Pooya):

Until that last line, until you said it’s a mystery to you, I was gonna ask you “has anyone talked to you about being in a superhero film?” [Laughing]

Molly C. Quinn:

I said it was a mystery to me, because if I tell you anything I could get in trouble. So I have to keep things under wraps, I have to keep t secret for now.

FilmFad (Pooya):

It’s almost like you have to go to a place where you can erase a memory from your past [chuckling].

Molly C. Quinn:

Yeah. [Laughing]

FilmFad (Pooya):

Thank you so much for chatting with us today Molly. It’s been an awesome interview. I’m very intrigued now for some of your product ads about humans and also your upcoming rap album.

Molly C. Quinn:

Hot Ta’Molly!

FilmFad (Pooya):

Yeah. Hot Ta’Molly! [Laughing] Hitting the market hot. 2016. Summer.

Molly C. Quinn:

Woop Woop! [Laughing] Well thank you very much. This was very enjoyable.

 

See Molly Quinn in ‘Welcome to Happiness,’ in theatres on May 20th and watch Hermione drop hot bars on Katniss in their ‘Princess Rap Battle’ video below.