Cecily Strong has fast become one of the biggest stars among the current “Saturday Night Live” cast, and like so many of her colleagues and predecessors, she’s begun in earnest the process of expanding her creative talents to other mediums.
The 32-year-old takes a big step in that direction in “The Bronze,” a comedy starring Melissa Rauch as a former bronze medalist who finds her minor celebrity threatened by a newcomer.
The “SNL” all-star and host of the 2015 White House Correspondents Dinner, best known for her “Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With,” plays a small part in the picture.
amNewYork spoke with her about the differences between performing on a movie set and in front of a live audience, as she has on Saturday nights since 2012, as well as her future aspirations and more. “The Bronze” opens Friday.
When you’re doing comedy and it’s not live, does that require some sort of adjustment for you?
There are people around, so I enjoy it much more in front of a live audience, but always there are people on set that will give you a response, even though they can’t laugh, obviously, during takes. There’s still an element of that even when you’re filming.
What is there about film or scripted TV acting that’s maybe better or more rewarding than “SNL”?
Me, personally, I like having the options of close-ups and subtlety and things like that, that you could do on TV, but we can’t necessarily do on our show.
Do you spend your hiatuses working, taking vacations or some combination of the two? You guys work very hard each week.
It’s both; I really try to do both and I have been able to. I always try to make time for vacations. That’s really important and Lorne [Michaels] has always stressed the importance of that to us. This last hiatus, I wound up working. It was a really cool project, but I didn’t get much time off. I just, at the end of it, felt like I hadn’t slept for six weeks.
Have you given any thought to what sort of career you want to have after “Saturday Night Live”?
I have no idea. I really don’t. I’m so interested in so many things. I would love to do theater, I would love to do TV, I would love to have my own show. I don’t know what that show looks like. I would love to do movies. I would love to write movies. I’d love to produce, someday. I love Tina [Fey’s] career; I love Amy [Poehler’s] career; I love Kristen [Wiig’s] career. I love Ana Gasteyer’s career. … If I had my druthers, I’d be lucky enough to be working on all the cool things they’re doing.
How can you gauge the success of a sketch these days?
Oh my God, I have no idea. I don’t know. I never know. They tell me; whoever’s in charge. I never know.
What’s an example of a sketch where you feel like you’ve accomplished something special?
Every week, getting something on that you’ve written, it feels like a success. Getting through the week feels like a success. The Amy Adams Christmas special, the singing sisters, where we were raccoons, that one felt like it was so weird and special, and the fact that it played well was so incredible to us.
