Cristin Milioti is one of the stealthiest entrants into the “can do anything” category. She can do an Andy Samberg comedy (“Palm Springs”) as handily as a Martin Scorsese drama (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), or a legacy limited series (“Fargo”) with the same dexterity as a Broadway musical (“Once,” for which she received a Tony nomination). This season, Milioti returned to Charlie Brooker’s “Black Mirror” as the heroic Captain Nanette Cole in “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” a sequel to Netflix’s Emmy-winning 2017 original “USS Callister,” about a “Star Trek”-type space crew in crisis.
She also played the deliciously twisted Sofia Falcone, a tormented Arkham Asylum survivor, a crime-family scion and the main adversary of Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb in HBO’s “The Penguin,” for which she won a Critics Choice Award. TheWrap spoke to the chameleonic actor about both projects, why Farrell is “terrifyingly good at acting,” and what forms she would like to see Sofia return in.
Both of these roles fall into a sci-fi/fantasy realm, which you have worked in before (like HBO Max’s “Made for Love”). What was different this time?
I think of them as so different, actually, but I totally know what you mean. They both take place in really heightened worlds, maybe without even realizing it, which I do gravitate toward. I mean, I’m also very interested in doing a kitchen-sink drama or something. [Laughs]
These two roles kind of fall into another specific category—I guess the best way to put it would be “vulnerable badasses.” What was it like to play a role again in the “Black Mirror” follow-up, as revisiting is something you have not done much?
I felt such whiplash because of the differences between the two. I went right from “Penguin” into “Black Mirror.” I love Charlie’s brain so much and I love Toby [Haynes, the episode’s director]. The cast [including Jesse Plemons, Jimmi Simpson and Billy Magnussen] is absolutely stunning. The best way I can describe it is that sometimes it felt like being inside of déjà vu, because you would turn a corner in the spaceship or you would have a certain piece of clothing on, and your brain would be like, ‘wait, what?’ I feel like I’m a very different person than I was when I first did that show, and trying to remember what I had done with her and the ways that I’d found my way into that character also felt like having to travel back in time within my own self, if that makes sense.
In terms of Sofia in “The Penguin,” did you build her from the ground up because you knew you were not beholden to a lot of previous portrayals?
Yes, which was great. And I knew what an incredible opportunity that was, to be able to build a Gotham villain in this universe without any preconceived notions. It was so freeing, and I had such an incredible partner in that with [showrunner] Lauren LeFranc. There was a real feminine energy coursing through this show, for sure. Didi [O’Connell, who plays Farrell’s mother] is unbelievable. Helen Shaver [one of the directors]—what an incredible force of nature. Colin is not only so
terrifyingly good at acting, but he is a consummate professional and so kind and so game. We just also had a real instant chemistry. I’m such a huge Batman fan, and it’s always been truly like a top of my bucket list to play a villain in that world. I think what makes those villains so special and so terrifying is their vulnerability.
What is the most interesting thing you have heard about either project from fans or just random folks?
I’ve been stopped on the street a lot by women specifically, and that has been incredible. A lot of very respectful, very quiet women coming up to me and gently touching my arm and saying, “I love Sofia … or …”Black Mirror,” and I feel honored by that. Sofia is very brutal, but she’s a character who has resonated with people beyond just women. I have felt that character reached a wider group of people than maybe [the ones] who usually see those movies. It’s a role that I would jump back into with pleasure, because I just love that world.
Your work is so varied and you act with so many different people, but is there another bucket-list item?
I mean, I’d love to do a musical.
You have done it!
No, a movie musical.
Maybe Sofia could be the star of the movie musical.
Yeah, maybe. [Laughs] Maybe if Trent Reznor or somebody did the music.
This story first ran in the Limited Series & TV Movies issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine
Read more from the Limited Series & TV Movies issue here.
