Mindy Kaling talks Late Night, diversity hiring and her love of Emma Thompson

The star of Late Night, The Office and Ocean’s 8 admits that Hollywood talks the talk a lot, but she’s decided to actually “put her money where her mouth was”.

Mindy Kaling understands hard work.

Just turned 40, Kaling has already created three TV shows, written for more, starred in and voiced loads of TV shows and movies, and written two books. And she has a toddler.

This week, she’s releasing a new movie in Australia, Late Night, which she wrote and produced in addition to starring in one of two lead roles.

Co-starring Emma Thompson in a role Kaling wrote specifically for the British star, Late Night is the story of an ageing comedy legend, Katherine Newbury (Thompson) whose late night TV show has become stale and irrelevant, and she’s about to be replaced by a younger man.

Kaling plays Molly, a young and inexperienced writer recruited as a “diversity hire” in Katherine’s all-white, all-male writers’ room. They end up challenging each other’s world views.

Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson for Late Night

Both characters feel authentic and three-dimensional, and that’s partly due to Kaling’s writing because she drew on her own experiences.

“The movie was so satisfying to write because I feel uniquely qualified in my life to write for both of those characters,’ she told news.com.au.

“I remember, vividly, what it’s like to be the only woman or minority in a writer’s room when I was 24-years-old. But I also remember, more recently, the frustration of being an employer, having Katherine’s opposition, and being a little complacent, a little bit bored with your job.

“You employ all these people but you’re not always on your best behaviour and I know that feeling well.”

It only took Kaling 16 years to go from fresh ingenue (as a writer and cast member on The Office) to industry veteran and powerful producer.

The kind of producer with enough cache to insist that there are people working on her projects, from The Mindy Project to Late Night to the recently launched TV reboot of Four Weddings and a Funeral, who come from a diverse background.

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Kaling was an intern for Conan O’Brien when she was 19 years old Picture: Rich Fury/Getty

On Late Night, a movie that is about changing your perspective, that meant hiring first-time feature director Nisha Ganatra.

Ganatra had many TV credits to her name, including as an episodic director on The Mindy Project, but had never directed a theatrical release before. And directing movies is not an easy field to break into, especially when you’re a minority woman in Hollywood.

“A lot of people came in who wanted to direct the movie and Nisha worked on my TV show before,” Kaling said. “She was so passionate and she said, ‘I am Molly’. She really identified with the character and I felt like it was an opportunity as a producer and an employer (to hire her).

“We always talk the talk about hiring people who don’t look like everyone else you normally hire, and here I was presented with the actual opportunity to do it. I had to put my money where my mouth was and give her the opportunity. It was the right thing to do.”

Kaling with her Ocean’s 8 co-stars Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

Kaling admitted that championing other women from culturally diverse backgrounds hasn’t always been the easiest thing to do.

“For the longest time when I was on my own show, being a showrunner and the star was so time-consuming. At times it felt like being a mentor or taking the energy to look deeper than normal on what people were submitting for characters or writers is so time-consuming.

“But what I learnt recently is it’s the only way to change culture and it’s completely worth it, and the fact that I did take the extra time to try and find cast and writers on these two shows I’m writing now has really made a difference for the better on both of those projects.”

Mindy Kaling in a scene from the movie Late Night. Supplied by Roadshow Films.

When Kaling wrote the script for Late Night, she said it was a “pretty risky” thing to do because it was always supposed to be Thompson as Katherine.

“I was just doing this thing of writing a movie on complete spec for her with the hopes that maybe she would like it.

“Emma has long been my favourite actor and I think she can do anything. People know her for her drama roles, obviously, but she is so funny and she comes from comedy.

“I find that not everyone can do comedy, it’s a rare actor who can do both comedy and drama. People like Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman and Emma. It’s a pretty short list who can do both effortlessly.”

The gamble paid off — and it didn’t even take much cajoling. Kaling said she had met Thompson briefly in LA but they “didn’t have a relationship”. But she sent Thompson the script on a Friday and by Sunday, she had an answer.

“It was one of my most exciting moments,” Kaling said.

Ultimately, even though Late Night has something significant to say about inclusion, relevance and who gets to have a voice, Kaling said she doesn’t want audiences to think it’s a political movie.

“I just want them to enjoy it as a comedy movie and to relate to the characters because they’re going through things that are so universal, and not feel like they need to take away some political message from it. That’s not why I made it.”

But if people walk out from Late Night with a broadened perspective, we suspect Kaling wouldn’t mind.

Late Night is in cinemas from Thursday, August 8.

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