Known for her roles in New Girl and The Afterparty, Ayden Mayeri’s latest movie Spin Me Round had its world premiere at the 2022 South by Southwest Festival. The comedy is directed by Jeff Baena and follows a restaurant manager Amber (played by Alison Brie) who goes on an all-expenses-paid trip to learn from spokespersons and chefs of the acclaimed Olive Garden-esque chain Tuscan Grove.
Amber strikes companionship with the other restaurant managers, including Mayeri’s ditzy but lovable Jen. Rocking a thrifted vintage pink dress on the SXSW red carpet, Mayeri described the movie as, “a wild ride of intriguing characters that are surprised when their reality isn’t what their expectation is.” The other characters are played by an all-star cast including Debby Ryan, Aubrey Plaza, and Molly Shannon.
Monsters & Critics had the opportunity to chat with Mayeri about her character’s journey throughout Spin Me Round and her favorite onset memory.
Mayeri plays a ‘happy person’ in Spin Me Round
Mayeri’s character is first introduced during an awkward shuttle ride that carries the restaurant managers to the Italian villa they think they’re staying at (illusions are shattered quickly). Jen is a happy ball of energy, giving the driver her passport without a second thought and engaging her car-mates in casual conversation.
“My character is a very optimistic, happy person who just thinks everything’s gonna go perfectly and great, which is refreshing since everything’s been kind of cynical lately. And then things go awry,” said the actor. “But it’s exciting to see how she deals with it. She’s a sheltered person on a big adventure. Everybody grows a lot.”
Mayeri was able to relate to her character in a very personal way. “When you first start out as an artist or in the industry, and you’re like, ‘it’s gonna be great, I’m gonna meet all these nice people.’ But then there’s a lot of obstacles, and there’s people, and there’s some crazy going on.”
Mayeri loved surprising pieing her costars
Reflecting on her favorite onset memory, Mayeri shared, “Well, when people were wrapping, we surprise pied everyone in the face.” She continued to say, “It would be someone’s last day, and then out of nowhere, someone will come running and pie their face.”
Unfortunately, the cast never grew to expect it. “I think everyone thought like, ‘okay, this time we’re done with it. It couldn’t possibly happen again’ because we’d be on a boat or whatever.”
However, the Jen actor managed to avoid it. “I didn’t get one because I was the one doing it most of the time. They keep threatening that it’s gonna happen someday.” But fear not, no pies were harmed in the making of this prank. Mayeri went on to tell us that it wasn’t a traditional pie, although the concept was still there. The cast tended to favor a pile of whipped cream, designed to look like a cream pie.
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Spin Me Round premiered at SXSW on March 12 and is currently seeking distribution.