-For those who are missing out, you play an ex-FBI agent...
-Yes. -Current CIA agent, Black Ops.
-Ex-FBI agent, ex-CIA agent, current Black Ops.
So maybe FBI -- -So you can't keep a job.
You play a person who just cannot hold down a job.
-Yeah, she's a person of interest.
She can't hold a job at all. -You have --
-I'm constantly fired. I'm constantly framed.
-But I can't believe you keep getting rehired.
I feel like Black Ops should have looked at your resumé
and said, "I got to be honest.
FBI and CIA both kicked you out."
-Well, I don't know if they kicked her out.
Last time she -- the end of season two,
she gave up everything. -Okay, got you.
-She was like, "I always get framed because
I'm the brown girl." -Okay.
-FBI does not like me. -Yeah.
So I'm out. Peace. -Okay.
-So, but in season three -- -You know what?
I want a simple job where I just fight people on fire escapes.
-Which is what she does. -Yeah.
-She moves to Italy and she settles in beautiful Tuscany,
in Montepulciano for three years.
And we pick up this season three years later, which is amazing
'cause if you haven't seen the first two seasons,
it doesn't matter. You can just start season three.
-And the other thing that's amazing is you actually got
to go to Tuscany. Were you so happy when you saw
that in the scripts? -I did.
I was so excited, but I also felt terrible because I was
the only cast member that went. -Oh, right.
'Cause everybody else had to stay in the fake CIA.
Yeah, everybody has to be in fake Italy in New York.
-Yeah. -But I got to go because
I had to be really beautiful in the vineyards and everything,
which was amazing. And I felt super bad.
So I brought everyone wine from Montepulciano, where we were.
-That's very nice. -Yeah.
'Cause I was like, you know, you can experience --
-Did you really, or did you get home and go to a wine store
and say, "I need wine from Montepulciano"?
-It says Montepulciano.
Well, I could have done that in New York.
-Yeah, exactly. -But no, I didn't.
-Okay. That's very nice. -I got it with me.
May have got it with me for myself, and then felt guilty
when I arrived in New York. -And so you caved.
You were like, "I got a bottle for you guys to share."
-Yeah, and just -- no. -Yeah.
-Here's some Dixie cups, and do it up.
-No, no. -Now, obviously, there's a lot
of physical work on the show. A lot of fighting.
How was your fighting skills?
-Well, I always do my own stunts.
-Really? That's impressive.
-And now, I think -- this weird thing has started happening
to me, you guys. I think I've been doing --
being Alex Parrish for three seasons now,
I've started to believe that I have her fighting skills.
-Oh, yeah, that's bad.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah. I mean, if I get mugged
in New York, I'm going to be, like, all ready for it.
-Yeah. -And then someone's
just going to slap me, and I'll be out.
-Well say, that was actually -- I hate to say this,
as they're taking your purse, they'll be like,
"That was easier than most muggings."
-We should -- You should not have tried that.
-Like, as soon as you did that, I was like, "This is going
to be super easy." -I'll be like -- wah!
Or something. -You also got to go to Ireland.
-Yes, we shot in Ireland. Dublin, which was amazing.
-And your mom came. That's a picture of you
and your mom, in a pub it looks like.
-I think my mom just came for the beer.
-Yeah. She's a beer fan? -Yeah. She's a beer fan.
But also -- -You guys gotta learn,
you can get all these alcohols wherever you were.
You don't have to travel. -Yeah, but it's Ireland.
-It is. -And I think my mom just makes
excuses to come and visit me when I'm in, like,
really interesting places in the world.
So she just, like, uses me to actually visit this place.
-Yeah, but I mean, you still benefit.
You get to hang out with your mom.
-Yeah. And she's super cool.
-And it seems like you've chosen to hang out with your mom a lot,
because she is your producing partner.
-Yeah, we're business partners. That's a lot of fun.
-Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
How long -- -You can never yell at your mom.
-No. -Like, you know, when
it's a problem, or if you're having a disagreement,
she always just gives you the eyes.
Like, she always just gives me the eye.
[ Laughter ]
It's, like, disappointed. And then I'm just like,
"Fine, we'll do whatever you want."
-So obviously, you bring a lot of creativity
to this producer-ing partnership.
-Yes, that's the deal. -What does she bring?
-I am the creative, she's business.
-Okay, gotcha. -I don't understand money
and, like, taxes and all that complicated stuff.
So she does all of that, whereas I do all the creative stuff.
-And was that your whole life? Was she the one that was
locked in on money and business? -You know, it was amazing.
Like, my dad didn't know anything about money.
So -- and my mom was always financially, like, very acute.
So one day he was just like, "I don't understand this.
Here's my wallet. This is what we make."
And now my mom started putting credit cards and,
like, cash in his wallet.
I think I still get pocket money.
-She's a put-pocket? -I think so.
Yeah, she's a put-pocket.
-Oh, my God, $100. -I need to use that.
-How did this happen? -It's like, "Where did I get
this money from? I'm rich."
-You, as a producer, you produce films all over the world.
But you've done 50 movies in India.
-Give or take. -In Bollywood.
-In India. In Bollywood.
-In Bollywood. So --
[ Cheers and applause ]
So I want to ask about this, because obviously I --
and I'm guilty of this as well, I believe Bollywood to be
a genre of films, but that's not the case.
-No, and that's what annoys me so much.
I mean, I don't even think I realized that when I was
in India working in Hindi films that Bollywood has been reduced
to a genre, when it's not. It's actually an entire industry
of movies which is action, drama.
It's like Hollywood. But we're not even --
Bollywood's not even a place. -Yeah.
-Hollywood's a real place. -Right.
-At Trader Joe's, I saw Bollywood-flavored popcorn.
[ Laughter ]
How do you put a flavor to an entire industry?
-Yeah. -What would Hollywood's
flavor be? Like cheeseburger?
Yeah. No, it would be gluten free.
-Gluten free.
Soy latte. -Yeah, exactly.
-With no soy. -Exactly.
It would be latte popcorn. -Yeah.
-So it's like, what is annoying is that it gets reduced to such
a stereotype, which it's really not.
Not every Bollywood movie, though music is a very important
part of our movies, but they're not all,
break out into random, synchronized dancing.
Every industry has it's own stereotype.
Every country has it's own stereotype.
-So you work with, obviously, the Indian film industry
so much. What is the stereotype they have
about American films? -Well, I think like --
aliens only land in America. -Yeah, that's true.
[ Laughter ]
That's a really good point.
-I want an alien in India.
-Yeah. You know -- -I want E.T.
-Well, that's the thing.
You can't say you want an alien, 'cause very rarely are they E.T.
Like, one out of every 100 times, there is somebody
who just wants to get out of there.
-Yeah, they're usually trying to eat your brains.
But I'd like to see what, like, other parts of the world would
do when that happens. -Right.
-You know? -I'm just worried that you
will panic, and then you will break out into song.
-Hey, I'm Alex Parrish.
I'll break out into a song, and kick butt.
-Okay, well then... -How about that?
-...I will buy a ticket for that.
Thank you so much for being here.