Jillian Bell on 'Brittany Runs a Marathon' and Chasing Down Roles

Then her agent sent her the screenplay for Paul Downs Colaizzo’s “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” with a caveat. “You might relate to the character to the point where it might be a hard decision to make, but keep reading,” Bell recalled being told. “It’s a beautiful script.”

So Bell read and laughed and cried. “I just thought, ‘I’m terrified, but I don’t want anyone else to play it, because I love her and I know her and I’ve been her,’ ” she said.

As Brittany, Bell is a hard-partying, erratically employed 28-year-old who feels as if she’s idling while everyone races ahead. A doctor’s diagnosis only confirms the brutal truth: She needs to eat better, exercise more and lose 55 pounds — the equivalent, Brittany quips, of pulling a Siberian husky off her body.

But slowly, if not so surely, a transformation begins. And then a goal: to run the New York City Marathon.

To play Brittany, Bell had her sister tape her first runs to get a sense of posture and breathing. Then she trained for the stamina required in even the early scenes, when a simple jog around the corner might be shot 20 times.

Bell and a skeleton crew eventually lined up with the masses for the 2017 New York City Marathon to shoot the movie’s final, grueling act. And though she ran only a portion of the race, the experience was every bit as exhilarating as if she’d crossed the finish line for real.

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Q: The movie required a serious physical commitment: miles of running and the willingness to show off your body in a vulnerable state. How daunting was that?

A: It was scary, because to me it symbolized, I’m really going to commit to doing this project and this is the beginning, and beginnings are rough. You doubt yourself constantly. But I had never been sent a script like this.

Q: When your agent said that you might relate to Brittany to the point of being uncomfortable, what did she mean?

A: There are certain things that Brittany says early on that I’ve said about myself. Being a woman is very difficult, and we have interesting relationships with our bodies. I have a complicated one. At times it’s great, and at times it’s not so great. And this was telling a transformation story without missing any of the big details that don’t usually get put in films.

Q: Brittany undergoes a dramatic transformation. Did you?

A: I actually lost 40 pounds doing the role. I wanted to experience what she goes through in her physical journey, and I thought it would connect me to the character more, which it really, truly did.

Q: This is your second film, right after “Sword of Trust,” with Michaela Watkins. How did that happen?

A: Michaela is one of my favorite people on the planet. I met her through Groundlings. I remember calling her to say: “There’s this thing I’m about to do, and I don’t want to pressure you, but please, please, please do it. It’s very special.” I really want to surround myself with talented people that have great hearts, and she’s got an A-plus in both columns. Then she recommended me for “Sword of Trust.” So now we just keep saying, “Let’s keep the train rolling.”

Q: You famously smoked weed for the first time a couple of years back while shooting “Rough Night.”

A: (Laughing) The thing my mom is the most proud of. It’s so funny because I’ve done so many projects with people who are very supportive of the marijuana movement, if you will. But, yeah, that was the first time that I just felt like I want to try it. And I got it from Ilana Glazer, which is the coolest story. I mean, I’ve done so many seasons of “Workaholics” and worked with Seth Rogen, and I was like, “Oh, it would be really cool to get it from Ilana.” And she was like, “I’m honored that you asked me.” She’s a good friend.

Q: So you’re a convert?

A: I don’t do it often, but now that people know that I finally tried it for the first time at, like, 32 years old, everyone gives it to me as gifts. So there’s a whole section in my closet that’s just pot.

Q: You’ve said that when you wrote for “SNL,” you saved your best material for yourself.

A: Yeah, which sounds very selfish. I just always thought that if there was a chance I would ever get to host, I would love to do some of my favorite stuff that I did at Groundlings. I was like, I think I might hold onto those.

Q: Was it worth holding out?

A: I don’t know, because I haven’t hosted. No one’s called. I have a lot of texts from my mother, but not from “SNL”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Jillian Bell on 'Brittany Runs a Marathon' and Chasing Down Roles

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