Those of you on Netflix have undoubtedly been soaking up as much Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as you can fit in this last week, and if you haven't, get on it already! The new comedy series, written by 30 Rock's Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, stars the absolutely charming Ellie Kemper in the title role, who you will know from The Office and Bridesmaids.
She plays Kimmy Schmidt, a young woman who finds herself bright eyed and bushy tailed in New York city after spending the last fifteen years part of a cult who lived in an underground bunker, believing that the world outside had come to an end. Bit of a dark setting for a comedy series though, no?
Well we got a chance to speak to the star herself recently and asked her just that; "Yeah I totally agree. When they told me the idea I wasn't sure if it was a test or something! It does not seem like the obvious premise for a comedy but I think that once I read the script you remember that of course a comedy can come from all sorts of starting points.
"You can't shy away from adapting tragedies and terrible things that happen, because you know, terrible things do happen and people need ways to more forward from them. If anybody can make something like this into a comedy, they can [Fey and Carlock]."
Ellie, like the rest of us, is a huge Tina Fey fan and really enjoyed getting to work with her; "I hadn't met her until I sat down with her and Robert, that's when they had the idea for Kimmy Schmidt and they were in the first stage of developing it.
"She was there every day when we were filming too, which was a real thrill. To be able to work with someone like her is just such an honour.
"If you wanted direction she would give it, but you know, she's very quiet, you wouldn't necessarily notice she was there watching unless she said something, that made for a very low key atmosphere on set which was nice."
Ellie Kemper would be a familiar face to many as Erin Hannon in The Office, a role which has some similarities to her character Kimmy, if only for her sunny disposition. Ellie told us though that while it was that role that initially got Tina Fey's attention, nobody wanted the same character again; "One of the big difference that I have found playing the role of Kimmy in the first season is that there is a fierceness in her that wasn't really there with Erin."
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The Office role was very much Ellie Kemper's big break, and it actually came about by accident - she had initially been auditioning for a role in Parks and Recreation at the time.
"I was reading for a part that didn't even exist in the show, it was just a scene. Obviously I didn't get that in the end but it was great that I got to meet them and then this part in The Office came up later, so it all worked out in the end!"
Following on from The Office, we also saw Ellie star in box office hit Bridesmaids, which many may not know, also starred Ellie's former eighth grade acting teacher, none other than Mr Jon Hamm himself.
"Isn't that insane?" she said. (She's just so damn charming.) "He went to my high school, and then went to college, graduated and came back to teach a theatre class for a year. It's so wild though, everyone in St Louis is so proud of him.
"He's so loyal to our high school, he's done a lot in terms of giving back and has developed different programs in the school."
Unfortunately they didn't have any scenes together in Bridesmaids, but Ellie did see him at the premiere, and many times since and can't help but sing his praises describing him as "just a good person."
"Other students from our high school have tried acting and gone into show business and he is just always so helpful and supportive, and I think that's probably pretty rare."
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Good to know that Mr Hamm is as much of a gent as we imagined, and even more so that Ellie Kemper is as sound and lovely a lady as you'd hope.
The entire first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is available to watch now on Netflix, and we will tell you that it does take a few episodes to get into, but trust us, it's worth it when you do.
