Mindy Kaling (
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So far, Kaling has resisted the charms of Dr. Danny Castellano (Chris Messina). (
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If you ever were to spot Mindy Kaling in a huddle with Tina Fey and Lena Dunham, here is what they’re talking about: sleep deprivation. Kaling, like Fey (“30 Rock”) and Dunham (“Girls”), writes, produces and stars in her own half-hour sitcom, Fox’s “The Mindy Project.” Debuting Tuesday night, it’s already garnering the kind of hit-in-the-making buzz that attended her fellow triple-threat sisters when their shows premiered.
The actress must like threes, because in the first episode, she can be found in successive scenes running (from a wedding where her character humiliated herself in front of the groom), bicycling, and — after drunkenly riding said vehicle into a pool — swimming.
“I was thinking about that today,” muses Kaling during an interview in the lounge of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. “I was doing a triathlon basically. There’s just so much in this pilot!”
It’s worth noting, though, that this is not the first time Kaling, 33, has written, produced and acted simultaneously, having recently been an on-camera/off-camera creative force on NBC’s long-running hit “The Office.” There’s a big difference, though, when you’re headlining your own show, as opposed to being an ensemble player in somebody else’s cubicle chorus.
“It’s kind of an obvious thing to say, and maybe small-minded, but it’s great to have tons of lines,” says Kaling, who is scheduled to return as Kelly Kapoor in the final season of “The Office.” “But even when I didn’t have any lines [‘The Office’] was such a fun environment to be in that I only hope to recreate that kind of fun on set here.”
Of course, a happy workplace is often generated by the leader’s mood, so it bodes well that Kaling’s already having a blast with her new character, a doctor named Mindy Lahiri, a hopeless romantic who keeps a cabinet at the hospital where she works filled with evening wear on the off-chance she can bolt for a date at the last minute.
“She’s very confident, and very flawed,” says Kaling. “She feels very entitled to romance and love . . . just because. Even though people are constantly telling her she’s unprofessional and kind of overweight, she doesn’t believe it.”
Dr. Mindy takes her cues from Hollywood romantic comedies, says executive producer Matt Warburton, perhaps to her own disservice. “She’s always thinking, ‘Every day when I walk out the door, this could be the meet-cute for a romantic comedy!’” he says. “Well, it’s a good way to also meet serial killers. So the learning curve for her is, ‘How do I integrate my romanticized world view and have it work in the real world?’”
It helps, he adds, that Kaling’s perfected this comic vein. “She likes the world of girly stuff, can play that, but can also call crap on everything.She has a hard-edged, relatable way of being girly, and those are two sides of her personality that really drive so much of the humor of the show.”
Kaling looked up to essayist-filmmaker Nora Ephron, who had a famously biting B.S. detector yet could make unabashed date-night confections, including Kaling’s favorite, “You’ve Got Mail.” (“It’s very uncynical, fun, a real homage to New York in a way that’s sweet and irresistible. I can watch it over and over.”) Ephron had read Kaling’s pilot script and best-selling book of humorous essays “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns),” and after getting Kaling’s e-mail address from mutual pal Dunham, wrote to her offering to meet the next time both were in New York.
“I always thought there was all the time in the world,” Kaling says of a powwow that never happened. “[Her death] was particularly devastating, because my mother passed away at the end of January from cancer. In one year, to lose those two people who were so inspirational to me, such strong, funny women — both of whom this show is for — was tough.”
It was in the spirit of her mother, who was an OB-GYN doctor, that Kaling — a childhood fixture at her mom’s private practice in Boston — gave TV Mindy the same medical discipline. It’s also a way to imbue what is essentially a workplace show with male and female characters, a distinctly female-centric vibe.
“So much of the people who want to hear what I have to say are women, girls — so to be a doctor for women feels organic,” she says. “And it’s a way for me to be able to cast actresses I like as guest stars.”
Dr. Mindy’s profession is also a hedge against her obsession with fashion, glamour and romance. “She feels like she has to look like someone who cares about current events, and that’s very funny, I think — pretending to be a serious person when your interests are kind of frivolous,” notes Kaling. “You can only do that because she’s a doctor. She has this inherently good job that she has to be very skilled to do.”
With “The Mindy Project” poised to showcase Kaling’s own considerable skills — and equally considerable workaholic tendencies — is there any room for real-life Mindy to indulge in romance?
“I’m single,” says Kaling, who in the world of social media, is eyeball-deep in suitors: 1.8 million followers hang on her every word on Twitter. “Like my character, I love romance, and every day I’ve developed a new passion for somebody. But I don’t know if anyone would really want to date someone who is never home,” she says wryly. “I don’t know how much fun that would be.”
THE MINDY PROJECT
Tuesday, 9:30 p.m., Fox