Our favorite lady of the week is Sas Goldberg, the star and co-writer of “Are You Joking,” a movie that tells the too-true story of a woman who follows her dreams of becoming a comedian as she nears 30.
Goldberg (I asked) doesn’t have much in common with her failed-to-launch character/creation Barb Schwartz. After studying theatre at the prestigious University of Michigan, her career has included stage, TV and the big screen. We chatted with Goldberg about “Are You Joking,” now available on iTunes.
YouBeauty: Tell me how the film came together! You’ve obviously had a huge hand in it as the writer and star.
Goldberg: Yeah! I co-wrote it with the director of the film, Jake Wilson, who I went to college with. Jake came to me and asked if I would ever want to write a movie. I was like, “I have no idea how to write a movie.” He said, “Me either but we’ll figure it out together.” So we came up with the story of a girl who is getting to her late 20s, kind of stuck, and is unhappy. I think a lot of my friends experienced that the ages between 26 and 30 go very quickly. You wake up one day and you’re an adult. You start thinking about the choices you’ve made and if you’re happy. We wrote it in six months, we raised the money completely through investors, and then we filmed for 15 days throughout NYC. It takes a lot of work but no one told us no. We were like “we’ll just do it!” Our naiveté worked for us.
Do you relate to Barb, since it sounds like you two are so different?
Yeah, we are definitely different. My parents are very supportive but we kind of made them not supportive in the film. The one thing is that it took me awhile to take control of my career. It’s important to not wait on the sidelines and be part of the story of our future.
I also wanted to ask about the hair and makeup—the character goes through a big transition. Did you make any hair and makeup decisions based on that?
Yeah, we made her mousey in the beginning so I actually got highlights to make my hair duller. The makeup was also really light in the beginning. I basically wore no makeup until she gets her juju back at the end of the film; when she starts to experiment a little more with hair and makeup you’ll see a very subtle evolution.
How about you personally?
I love hair and makeup. My #1 product is Hoola Benefit Bronzer, can’t leave home without it. I’ve been using it for literally 12 years.
READ MORE: Empire‘s Makeup Artist Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Beauty Secrets from the Hit TV Show
