RASHIDA JONES

INTERVIEW BY JACK BLACK

PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK W. OCKENFELS 3
STYLING BY JENNY RICKER @ THE WALL GROUP
HAIR BY AMBER KERNS @ SOLO ARTIST
MAKE-UP BY SAMMY MOURABIT @ MC2

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Jack Black is nervous. Sitting across from the Tenacious D warbler, who gave Hendrix a run for his money in School of Rock, captured a giant gorilla in King Kong and kicked some serious Kung Fu rump as an animated panda, is the incandescent Rashida Jones. Daughter of Hollywood royals Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton, Rashida has been fine-tuning her comedy chops on shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation while proving her big-screen appeal with supporting roles in Cop Out and I Love You, Man; she went to Harvard, she’s in David Fincher’s highly anticipated Facebook movie, she’s a goddess. Yes, Jack, you should be nervous. On a break from filming their feathery new chuckle-fest, The Big Year – it’s about a 365-day bird-watching contest – which also stars Steve Martin and Owen Wilson, the two funny people sat down for a catch-up. Nerves aside, Jack was ready to go all Woodward and Bernstein on Rashida with hard-hitting questions to unearth her geeky past, determine the quality of Ivy League weed and to establish, once and for all, whether nerds really make the best lovers. Be afraid, Rashida, be very afraid…

JACK BLACK—How are you?

RASHIDA JONES—I’m good, Jack, you?

JB—I’ve had a strange tightness in my left glute for weeks and I’m nervous, too, because I’m not a good interviewer. I have a little bit of the red light… what do you call that?

RJ—Red-light district?

JB—Red-light syndrome.

RJ—What’s that?

JB—It’s when you see a red light and you know the camera is rolling, so you… clench up.

RJ—Right. Your left glute tightens up.

JB—Your butt hole gets tight… Um… But, how’s it going?

RJ—It’s going pretty good. How’s it going with you?

JB—Good. Today’s a good day. Just looking at birds, and looking at Owen [Wilson], and looking at an ‘X’ that’s supposed to be you.

RJ—I know. I was looking at a camera that was supposed to be you. It’s like they’re trying to keep us apart.

JB—The thing is, they are shooting under a tight, tight schedule, otherwise I totally would’ve been there for you. You did some theater before film, yeah?

RJ—In college.

JB—Yeah. In the olden days. Where did you go to college again?

RJ—I went to Harvard.

JB—Yeah! Smar-tay pants! I couldn’t get in there. What plays did you do in college?

RJ—I did some bad plays. I did some good plays. I did For Colored Girls Considering Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Do you know that play? It’s like a bunch of monologues for black women talking about black women stuff.

JB—Wow. So it was just a monologue and then you were done for the night?

RJ—Yeah. But it was like a five-page monologue, to the audience, looking at the audience.

JB—Did you get laughs or was it pretty serious?

RJ—There were a couple of laugh moments, but it was pretty serious. I can’t remember what it was about but it was definitely a serious subject matter.

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