Aubrey Plaza has revealed her true thoughts on streaming, saying the binge model of television makes her “really angry.” The actress, who’s well aware of the weekly-viewing model having starred in HBO’s The White Lotus, said she takes particular umbridge with the live streaming options of services like Hulu, since she can’t “figure out how to f***ing get Hulu + Live” when waitching reality television.
“I was trying to watch Top Chef Season 20,” Plaza told Vanity Fair. “I couldn’t figure out how to f***ing get Hulu + Live. I give up! I can’t. I just can’t.” In lieu of streaming, the Parks and Recreation alum opts for the most cost-ineffective option imaginable: purchasing her favourite titles on iTunes. “What I like to do is go on iTunes and buy movies that are old,” Plaza said.
This was responsible for Plaza buying the entire six-season run of The Sopranos, which elicited a hilariously matter-of-fact response from her husband. “‘You literally can watch that for free on HBO Max,’” Plaza’s husband said. While the actress’ opposition to streaming makes you wonder just how full her iTunes shopping cart might be, she’s nonethless thankful for having found The Sopranos, which stars her White Lotus castmate Michael Imperioli.
She now discusses the flagship HBO series with her friend and New Girl star Jake Johnson, but admits its “ridiculous that we’re going through Sopranos finale stuff” so long after it aired in 2007. Elsewhere in the interview, Plaza discussed her beloved role in Parks and Recreation, saying her performance as April Ludgate was often wrongly seen as an extension of herself.
“The deadpan thing wasn’t, like, my thing,” Plaza explained. “I could do it, but it wasn’t like, ‘There goes the deadpan girl.’ I like to think that I’m such a good actor that people just thought that was literally me.” Plaza is one of multiple celebrities to air their frustrations around streaming, with Steven Spielberg and Christopher Landon likewise criticising the model — though the two directors don’t share exactly the same gripes as Plaza.