Rose Matafeo of 'Starstruck' Wants to See More Brown People in Rom-Coms
“Hearst Magazines and Verizon Media may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.”
Ever dreamed of having a one-night stand with a celebrity? So has Rose Matafeo. Except she turned her fantasy into TV fan fiction.
An avid lover of rom-coms, the New Zealand comedian created, wrote, and stars in Starstruck, an HBO Max series that follows aimless millennial Jessie who unknowingly has a one-night stand and an on-and-off-again romance with movie star Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel). What follows is a very “will they, won’t they” scenario over the course of a year that draws allusions to Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary. And, joining shows like Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso, it brought viewers some much-needed, unadulterated joy when it premiered in June. (It was renewed for a second season the same day.) “I think it came at a very strange time where it was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s something that’s not depressing,’” Matafeo laughs over Zoom from her London home. “I got everyone at their lowest point, which is really, really good for me.”
Prior to Starstruck, Matafeo cut her teeth in the stand-up world for more than a decade. She also co-created and starred in New Zealand’s sketch comedy show Funny Girls for three years and played the role of Talia in the Australian comedy series Squinters. Last year, she garnered attention for her HBO Max stand-up special, Horndog, which flaunted her affinity for pop culture, millennial angst, and romance—and was a hilarious primer for her latest project.
While shooting Season 2 of Starstruck (which has yet to have a release date), Matafeo speaks to BAZAAR.com about its origin story, her dream guests, and the real-life weed experience that ended up on the show.
How did you come up with the concept for Starstruck?
That's a great question, and it's been a long time since I've had to answer that. I don't know. I was basically looking for the next project to write and something that I could potentially be in, and a lot of ideas were flitting about in my brain. And then [Starstruck] I thought of on a plane. I had three whiskeys and I was like, "Just put me in a rom-com." And then that's where it began.
I wrote the pilot, got my friend Alice [Snedden] on board, and got it commissioned as a series. But I think it's hard to know where ideas come from. I knew what genre I wanted to make something in, something that was nice and romantic. I'm a person who's obsessed with romance and love, and it was quite apparent in the stand-up shows I was doing, there was always a common theme of either tortured love, rom-coms, or being the sassy best friend in a rom-com. So I was gearing up to write a rom-com by the time Starstruck hit.
Is the main plot of the show based on personal experience?
No, I didn't have sex with a celebrity. Don't worry. That did not happen. Imagine how much of a bold move it would be if this was based on fact. It would be so incredible. I would love a lot of celebrities out there to be shaken, like, "Oh, my gosh, did I accidentally have sex with Rose Matafeo? And has she written that about me?" I want them quaking.
What parts of you are in Jessie or any of the characters on the show?
If I took a BuzzFeed quiz, I think I would be most like Jessie. But we differ in certain ways. I think she's a far more impulsive version of myself. I'm much more risk-averse and wary of things. But I think we possess the same level of confidence. The thing we share the most is stubbornness, I think.
Simultaneously, I really love celebrities, but I find them a novelty. I don't revere the concept of celebrities, necessarily, and I think that Jessie is a bit the same. We're both obsessed with movies, which is definitely a thing I just got in the script because I like to talk about movies. Her sense of humor, as well. I write Jessie to be a character that I think is funny. I don't want to say that I'm funny, because that's the worst thing.
In talking about the show, I've seen a lot of people say, "Oh, my God, she's so awkward. It's such an awkward show." And there must be something wrong with me, because I don't see that. That's the sign of a truly awkward person, I think. I'm like, "She's great. She's not awkward at all. None of these situations are awkward; this is just a reflection of my normal life." I'm like, "Come on. How smooth are other people being? It's ridiculous." I love characters who know that they're fucking up and still do it anyway. And I think that's Jessie's character to a T. It's not funny to see someone nail it all the time. It sounds incredibly boring. I want to see someone mess up their life.
Which rom-coms in particular inspired Starstruck?
Well, I'm just a fan of all of them. I love the naturalistic style of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy. I think there's a huge influence on dialogue, being a massive tool of character and plot in a natural way. I think Bridget Jones's Diary is the best. When Harry Met Sally. Any Nora Ephron [movies]. Yeah, tons. But there are references to things that aren't rom-coms, like The Graduate, Sweet Charity, or old films like His Girl Friday. There's more so that in series two, actually. I could go on forever if I was talking about the rom-coms that I love.
Let's talk about Jessie's post-sex dance scene to Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack." How did you land on that song? Did you have other tracks in mind that could have soundtracked the scene?
Originally, that was never supposed to happen next to a canal. It was supposed to happen on a random street. In my mind, it was the song, "Keep On Loving Me" by The Whispers, which is a great song, and I always thought about them in my mind. I'd walk around London to different songs in my ear and figure out what was the best one. So I made a Spotify playlist of all of the songs that I thought that could be. For a while, "Me & U" by Cassie was on that, which is a song I love. But "Return of the Mack" is just an iconic song that I've just listened to so many times. I think I listened to it probably 20 times walking home from writing the script. It's just the perfect pace and the perfect energy. Especially if you watch that music video. He's slightly in slo-mo, it's kind of a bragging song, but it's also kind of shy. It's the song inside everyone's heart, when you've just had sex with someone on a canal boat. It resonates with that very small niche of people. That'll be my magnum opus, that scene. Put it on my tombstone.
Did any of the scenes or storylines in Season 1 actually happen to you?
Have I even had a one-night stand? No, I don't even think I've done that. It's all pure fantasy, really. The one thing that actually happened to me was when I ate a weed brownie and completely freaked out to my friend Alice, who is my co-writer. That wasn't actually a brownie, that was a vape pen from an American comedian, and I blame him and his strong weed oil. We took lines verbatim from that night and put it in the script. Stuff like when she asked, "Do you trust me?" And I said, "No." Telling her to ring an ambulance. Telling her that I could see words, colors, and shapes. I couldn't see. Obviously, my character didn't experience it, so I made Nikesh have to act that out. He came to me with all of his questions.
What were you looking for in casting the character Tom? Was there anyone else up for the role who you really envisioned for it?
I had the most important say. It was a hugely long process. I auditioned with many people. I think the role was written so that someone could come in and create their own sense of that character, their own sense of what they think a charming rom-com lead would be. It did take a while to find someone who nailed that charm that I think Tom has.
He's this shy character as well. He's not a dick. To nail playing a celebrity and not be a dick is a massive thing, which I think Nikesh basically nailed from the first time we read with him. So it was pretty special when he came in and, you know, when you start reading with them, you're like, "Oh, my God, I can see you in all of these other scenarios and these scripts that were written." Apologies to all of the men I rejected through the casting process, but I see it as revenge in some way.
What's the most interesting feedback from fans you've gotten since Starstruck came out?
The response to it has been so overwhelming. It's very cool to see people enjoy the same things that we enjoy about writing [and] making the show. I like how people connect to the fact that it's refreshing to see a female character who's written to be funnier than a man, and it's okay. It's not a big deal. It's so exciting seeing people watch it all in one go. To see anyone be like, "Jessie, why are you doing that?" on Twitter is great.
What I find really interesting is that a lot of people [are] messaging or tweeting at me, particularly in America, about how seemingly refreshing it is to see a person of my body type. It's really interesting, because I didn't think twice about that, and it's a bit of a shocking and sad thing that a person like me would be so remarkably different to the types of bodies you see onscreen all the time. I don't know if that's an American thing versus a British thing or a New Zealand thing, but I didn't even think twice about that. It was just like, "I am me, and I have the body I have." There's a flip side to that, that's really lovely that there's representation of something that people don't necessarily see all the time. But it's also sad, because you're like, "Damn, that should be the norm."
I definitely thought about that too. It was refreshing to not have the status-quo, thin, white woman as the lead.
It's quite shocking. And when it isn't a thin white woman, then the character or the person has to be a symbol of their body or what ethnicity they are a lot of the time. They have to wear their identity quite to the forefront, rather than just live it or be it.
Looking ahead to Season 2, what do you want for Jessie and Tom?
I can't really say much, and even if I could, I'm like, "I don't even know what I'd say." I think it is just what you would expect of a second season where we left off from the first season. The first season is this "will they/won't they," and the second season is basically more like, "How would this actually physically work?"
I think there's a lot of fantasy in the first season, like, "Oh, my God. Imagine if this happens," and it's got a fairy-tale aspect to it. I think the second season explores more a bit of like, "Okay, this is what actually happens, and these are the actual difficulties of what would happen." I think it's good. I really hope it's good.
Do you have any dream guest stars for the show?
Well, I can't believe we even got someone like Minnie Driver in the first season. Russell Tovey is going to be in the second season, which is really exciting. He's amazing. I've always had this fantasy that Melanie Lynskey would play my sister, but we never managed to write that character. I don't even think she would have been aware of that. But I was always like, "Melanie Lynskey. She's from New Zealand. She could play my half sister." So, that's my only dream casting—another New Zealander.
Has your dating life changed since the show came out?
A lot of offers. Not only for career things, but for dating as well. No, genuinely, no. Because I've literally been just so busy making the second season. The great irony of making a rom-com is that I've literally had no time to date. Obviously, it was a global pandemic as well. It's like living in a weird fantasy of what romance is, and then not really getting out there.
What are your career aspirations beyond Starstruck?
Look, I'm a simple man. All I want to do is make some things and write some more stuff. I'm getting more into writing and directing, which is exciting. I hope I'll get back into doing live shows sometime. I don't have time at the moment. I don't have career aspirations, necessarily. I'm such a hippie. I'm like, "Oh, I want to make this show," or, "I want to make this fucking crochet bag." And I treat each of those projects with as much importance as each other. So I'll write a feature film script, and I will make this banoffee pie, and I will put equal amounts of love into it.
How do you feel like you're propelling the rom-com genre forward?
I wouldn't say I'm propelling anything. I'm just making another one. I'm technically adding to the canon, the vaults of rom-coms. And I think I'm making something with a huge amount of love for the genre, characters and just the idea of romance. I think putting your heart and soul into that is what makes a good thing. I'm adding a New Zealand character with a funny accent. That's pretty rare. The biggest mention that New Zealand had in rom-com history beyond this was when Sally Phillips's character in Bridget Jones mentions Sheila from New Zealand in a scene. And I was like, "Oh, my God. She said 'New Zealand.'" Hopefully, that's what I'm adding. And just more Brown people—you've got to have more of that in romance films.
You Might Also Like