-Our next guest is a Tony Award-winning playwright
and performer who you know from her work on Broadway
in "Sell/Buy/Date" and "Bridge and Tunnel."
Her new film, "Sell/Buy/Date," inspired by her Broadway show,
is available now on demand.
Let's take a look.
-Okay. Look. I know everybody's upset.
I mean not just us.
Everybody on both sides of this debate.
Is sex work empowering?
Is it exploitation?
There's no way to win.
So, Sarah Jones, we've pooled our money,
which is really the last of your money.
And we're getting you off the grid.
-Wait, Narida, I really appreciate this.
I'm sorry I have been such a mess.
And now it seems like overnight, everything's a [bleep]-nado
even though I still don't understand
exactly what's going on.
-Have you seen the tweets?
What, do I need a bodyguard now?
-Please welcome back to the show
our friend Sarah Jones, everybody.
♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back. I'm so happy to have you here.
-I'm so happy to be here.
-So you were here in 2016 for your Broadway show.
This is the film adaptation of it, but it's a very novel way
to adapt it because it is a film about the reaction to the fact
that you were going to adapt your play into a film.
[ Laughter ] -Did everybody follow?
There's going to be a test. -Okay, good.
-So, yes.
You know, we -- I did this play, and you met some of the people.
Just now you saw the clip.
"I was here last time, Seth.
I don't remember if you remember me."
-I do. Now I do. -Hi there.
-You seem very familiar now.
-Listen, because it was the before times.
I don't know how any of us are still here.
Anyway, so Lorraine and the other characters from the play
migrated into this movie.
We had this announcement that was very splashy.
We were going to do a movie based on the --
you know, sort of inspired by the play.
And then all hell broke loose.
Basically, there was a backlash because the play talks about
women and sex and power and, you know, all the things that
are relevant that we all just -- I mean, one of the characters
in the movie actually, who was in the play -- Hi, Seth.
My name's Bella. Hi, everybody.
I'm just, like, super stoked to be here right now.
And also, like, as a member of Gen Z,
just, like, you're welcome for like --
[ Laughter ]
Saving, like, all of you collectively."
[ Laughter ] Anyway, so Bella and all of us,
as we start to do this movie,
there was a backlash on social media.
"You're not allowed to talk about this.
We're going to cancel you. We're going to shut you down."
And I and all my characters were like, "What, what now?"
It was just kind of like -- But I'm trying to talk about
an important topic, you know? -And then it strikes me that
maybe if there was an upside to the backlash,
it must have helped you take it as seriously as you do
when you went to make this film. -Yes.
I mean, first of all, the play tried to, you know, look at
different sides of a topic that, let's face it --
It's taboo, but it's everywhere, right?
People are like, "Oh, I don't want to talk about that."
Have you seen your kid's phone?
I'm sorry, but everybody's browsing history is like,
"Just a second. I'll be right back."
[ Laughter ] You know.
And we're human beings and sex is normal.
You know, we need to be ready to talk about all of this.
And so in the play, I presented a lot of different viewpoints.
But when it was time to do the movie, people were afraid that
I was an outsider, maybe I'm not allowed to talk about it.
And I sort of felt like they were like,
"Uh, you're going to -- Give me that mike!"
And I was like, "Wait, wait. I'm trying
to hold the mike up to your mouth.
Don't break my wrist.
It's going to ruin the whole thing.""
So I think really my goal was to do the topic justice, and I
think we don't realize how close this topic is to all of us.
I mean, like, the Barbie doll is actually based on
a German prostitute from World War II.
I promise you I did not know that.
[ Laughter ]
All through my Barbie experiences,
I wasn't kind of like, "This is -- Hmm."
You know, like -- Anyway, so I think it's interesting.
-And I feel like -- you know, correct me if I'm wrong,
but the way you build your characters,
the way you've always done it is by talking to people,
is by listening to people, whether it's to, you know, learn
the way they talk or learn their experiences.
And I know you talk to activists and advocates and lawyers,
and you build a breadth of people that
you can then bring to the experience.
So, yes, you're the only one talking, but there are, because
of the way you've always performed,
there are a litany of voices.
-That's what I wanted people to understand, is that I come from
this multicultural family in the first place
where all my characters come from.
One who's in the movie, Narida -- First of all,
hi, Seth. I'm sorry I haven't been here before,
but I'm half Dominican, half Puerto Rican, all proud.
Sarah Jones didn't want me to come out here because she knows
when I'm nervous, I start to talk really fast,
and nobody can understand anything I'm saying.
But I'm sorry, I just had to come in here
because I wanted to represent. Anyway, I'm going to stop,
but I just wanted to say that actually because the movie is
about women and sex and power and all of us,
you know, like, this is the kind of thing that hopefully people
will -- I mean maybe it will make your Thanksgiving
conversation a little bit more spicy.
But we really have to be able to talk about all of this stuff.
Anyway, so, yes, all of my characters,
the goal was to talk to activists,
to talk to people who are experienced, whether they are,
you know, kind of advocates, or lawyers, or people --
Listen, I learned so much about kind of the sex industry.
We don't think of it this way, but even a wholesome family who
goes to Hooters and takes their kids -- Yeah, you're having
your wings, but there's a side of sex industry
with those wings, you know?
So, for all of us, I think on the journey,
I got to learn from other people.
I didn't -- I don't want people to come to this thinking
it's only Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman."
We love the thigh-high boots.
But, you know, there's more to it than that.
And it's also not -- I don't want to stigmatize
and slut-shame women for the stuff that guys are like --
"Hey!" You know, it's like, alright,
let's actually have a bigger conversation.
-Your mom was in the film.
Was it tough to convince her to do it?
-Seth, speaking of Thanksgiving, uh, uh,
does anybody have an extra place this year?
[ Laughter ] No, no.
Actually, my mom's amazing.
She's an OB/GYN herself, so she cares about, you know, health
and women's health and all the stuff
that's happening in the country.
And so I remember just saying, "Mom, be yourself."
People think we scripted the stuff.
When you see this movie, my mom --
You'll understand why I'm in therapy.
[ Laughter ] But she's also amazing,
but there is one scene -- I won't give it away,
but let's just say you never want to turn and hear your mom
say, "Is that person wearing a strap-on?"
[ Laughter ]
[ Stammering ] It was not standard --
standard mother/daughter conversation.
-It's not about -- It's not like a mother/daughter bonding
journey a lot of people take. -It's a different one.
It's a little different. But I do believe people are,
you know, ready to have kind of more open, you know,
relationship to all of this stuff.
You know, we're all so polarized, and it can be so easy
to kind of feel like we just shouldn't talk about anything.
But that just makes it worse.
So hopefully this movie is a way
for people to enter into the conversation.
We joke that it's a wonderful holiday gift.
The holidays are coming. -Yes.
-Cheaper than socks
and hopefully more substantive.
-There you go. I think that's a great argument for that.
And thank you so much for being here and for making the film
and for doing everything you do onstage as well.
Sarah Jones. [ Cheers and applause ]
"Sell/Buy/Date" available on demand
on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."