Natalie Morales loves Emma Stone and free stuff
The “Battle of the Sexes” star also talks about meeting her name twin
Actress and director Natalie Morales is best known for two things: playing Lucy, Tom Haverford’s girlfriend in “Parks and Recreation,” and her Instagram, which is more transparent than any other celebrity account out there.
These days, she’s making headlines for her role in “Battle of the Sexes,” the buzzy new movie featuring Emma Stone as tennis legend Billie Jean King. Morales plays King’s doubles partner Rosie Casals, who had an amazing career herself.
Morales chatted with us about meeting the other famous Natalie Morales, working with Emma Stone and Steve Carell, and her decision to come out publicly this year.
The conversation has been edited for clarity.
Carol Shih: I love your Instagram handle, @nataliemoraleslovesfreestuff. Do people actually send you stuff?
Natalie Morales: They do.
CS: What do they send you?
NM: I started it because I kept seeing all these famous people having Instagram accounts where they were just flaunting stuff that people gave them without really saying that it was free, and pretending to live these very exquisite lives that weren’t actually real.
I thought, why not just blatantly do what it is, you know? At the same time, a lot of my friends were starting small businesses so I thought it’d be a good opportunity to give them a platform. So then I opened that platform up to people I don’t know. There’s an email on there that anyone can contact me at, and they can send me whatever it is they want. Although, I do draw the line at food because I don’t want to be poisoned. There are a few other things that I don’t take, but — in general — people send me books they’ve written and albums they’ve made. Someone sent me a game they created, which was really fun. It’s really cool to highlight small businesses doing small stuff, and every now and then getting something like a Dyson. That’s really nice! But you know when I’m doing all these red carpets and stuff, all the clothes and jewelry — it’s all lent to me. It’s not given to me. And I just wanted it to be clear that that was the case.
CS: You’re very transparent about what you’re doing.
NM: I try to be, yeah.
CS: You said you got a Dyson? As in, a vacuum cleaner?
NM: Yeah, they gave me a Dyson, which was nice.
CS: That’s actually a very practical gift.
NM: It’s very practical. I know it seems very non-progressive to be super excited about a vacuum as a woman, but I am because I really like instant change. I really like pressure-washing because you can see the difference really quickly, so I enjoy vacuuming as well. It seems old-fashioned for me to be excited about it.
CS: Do you have time to look at every single thing that people give you?
NM: I look through every single one. I’ve read the books and listened to the albums. Someone created a TV show that I watched, which was really important to me because it was a female filmmaker that had made a pilot from scratch on her own, by herself. She’s a young girl who’s very talented, so I do pay attention to those things. It’s important to me.
CS: Speaking of being a female filmmaker, I saw the new video you directed on gun violence. It was beautiful.
NM: I’ve been directing for a while, I’ve been doing music videos and other small things, like on [the comedy website] Funny or Die. I just did a few episodes of this thing called “Mr. Student Body President.” It’s a great, great series on go90 that just got nominated for a ton of Streamys, so I’m excited for them to win them. I just did three episodes of that for next season. Directing is something I really love doing. I really love writing, so I plan on continuing that.
CS: I should probably talk about the movie now. What was it like to work with Emma Stone and Steve Carell in “Battle of the Sexes”?
NM: It was really awesome. I’m sure everybody says that about co-stars, but Emma Stone is just awesome. She works so hard and she’s so good, and she’s just a good person. She’s one of those people. She’s naturally magnetic on-screen because she’s like that in life. She’s just really warm and wonderful, and I really looked forward to — it totally sounds like I have a huge crush on her, which I do — I really looked forward to hanging out with her every day. And Steve is the same. Steve has this really amazing quality that he brings to a lot of his characters, which is this deep honesty and this deep soulfulness. And that’s him. That’s why you want to watch [his characters] and root for them, even though they might be total dicks because he’s just so cool. There’s this deep well of a person that’s really interesting to watch. He is just larger than life. Really, the whole cast was. Imagine getting to hang out with Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming and Emma Stone all day. I had the time of my life.
CS: You got to play Rosie Casals in “Battle of the Sexes.” Did you actually meet her in real life?
NM: I just got to meet her this weekend. I had not met her before I shot the film.
CS: What was it like to meet her?
NM: She was like, “This is really weird!” And I was like, “Yeah, this is weird!” She’s really sweet and funny and cool. Just a total pioneer for women, women in sports, Latina women, and women in general. She’s a really amazing person, and I’m glad at least a little of her story got included in this movie.
CS: I heard you also met the other Natalie Morales, the NBC journalist, this week.
NM: Yes, I actually just did the “Access Hollywood” show with her.
CS: Was that the first time you met her, in person?
No, I met her a few years ago at an after party, I think? Or a Golden Globes party? And then I saw her again while we were doing the junket for the movie. I was waiting for the elevator and the doors opened. She was just there. It’s very weird. There’s nothing you can do with someone who has your same name. You know, on “Friends,” when Joey has a hand twin? You’re just like, “Hey! You have my same name. That’s weird. Is your life totally the same as mine? Were your experiences the same as mine? How does having your name shape you?”
It’s a funny thing that we both exist in the world — that this is our professional name.
CS: And you’re both really well-known people, which is even more interesting. That makes it even crazier.
NM: I do get confused for her all the time. At the wrap party for “Battle of the Sexes,” one of the waiters was like, “Hey, are you on the ‘Today’ show?” And I was like, “No…”
Then she said, “Well, this table is for Natalie Morales on the ‘Today’ show.”
So sometimes it gets confusing. But it’s funny all the time.
CS: I read your essay on Amy Poehler’s site. What compelled you to come out A) the way you did and B) at that particular time?
NM: I was out with all of my friends and some of my family, but I never really talked about my dating life in public. But it started to dawn on me that visibility and normalization were part of my job. If I was going to be somebody that even some people would recognize, it is my duty to be visible as a queer person and help in normalizing that. It’s worth sacrificing a little bit of my privacy if somebody’s life is a little easier and they feel a little less weird.
It was [National] Pride Month and I thought I would do it then. Amy Poehler is a huge inspiration to me, and her website is great. I wanted to gear it to young girls and young people in general, and I thought that was a good medium to do it. I wanted to say it in a way that was like, “Hey, if you’ve never heard of a person like me before, this is what it’s like, and it’s not that crazy, it’s not that weird. I’m fine, I’m normal.”
If there’s a parent out there who had a kid like me or even somebody who doesn’t know anybody like me, well, now they do. They see me on the background of their TV all the time — on “Parks and Rec” on their Netflix — and [I sort of become their] friend. Now you have a LGBTQ friend, whereas you might have not before. That’s what I wanted to share.
