(upbeat music)
- [Iris] The movies I did when I was a little girl,
I didn't have any interest in acting.
I definitely fell in love with acting
and decided I wanted to be an actress doing musical theater.
Hi, I'm Iris Apatow, and this is 'On The Rise'.
When I was 16,
I did a play at my high school called "Men on Boats."
It was very difficult.
It was like nine girls.
It was about bunch of men sailing through some rapids,
and it was very strange plot
but we all were in like little fake boats
and we all had to act like
we were really struggling to make it,
and like we're all playing guys,
and I played like a 19-year-old guy.
I remember all the parents, after the show,
saying to the director, like,
"It's so great that you worked with like
eight girls and one boy."
Like, "That's so wonderful that you guys incorporated that."
And it was me, so I did my job, I convinced them.
I think my name was like Bradley or something. (laughs)
That's, I feel like, when I really started to see it
as something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I miss high school theater. (laughs)
(gentle music)
My favorite musical is, I really like "The Spelling Bee".
What's the full name?
It's called "Spelling Bee" but there's a longer name for it.
And "Heathers", I was in "Heathers" in high school.
That's a very fun show, too.
Anything with Patti LuPone, so maybe "Company".
I have a lot of different views. (laughs)
I played in my community theater.
We did like a medley of different musical songs,
and I was Cosette and I sang "Castle On A Cloud",
and that was my first role.
But I guess if we're talking in terms of onscreen,
I played "Charlotte" and "Knocked Up" with,
I was three years old.
So yeah, that was my first role, I guess. (laughs)
- Fetch.
All right, bring it back.
- Playing fetch with my kids.
- Well, my movie, "The Bubble" is about a group of actors
who goes to London during lockdown to shoot a movie
that's basically kind of similar to Jurassic Park,
and kind of how they all are very self-centered
and kind of attention-seeking and lose their minds,
being in isolation and not getting their way,
and how everything kind of gets out of control.
My character, Krystal Kris, is a social media star
and she gets taken to London to be a new cast member
in this franchise,
and she is kind of met with a lot of jealousy and envy
from her other cast members,
'cause she's far more successful than them
and a lot younger than the rest of the cast,
and it causes a lot of drama.
- Krystal just did a (beep) TikTok with a dinosaur.
- Wow.
(slow funky dance music)
- It was very fun,
and I think it's like great exercise to like dance
and everybody was just having the best time on set.
And if it's not, you know, good technique,
then at least it's funny watching us try to dance.
I think that's all that matters. (laughs)
- [Interviewer] I was like, wow, they're kind of good.
- I'm glad you think so. (laughing)
(gentle music)
I think I was 11, I was in "Sausage Party".
I remember in middle school,
like I was really cool for being in that.
I think I had like one or two lines,
but like the boys in my grade,
that got me a lot of attention.
So maybe that's the high of my career so far.
I think, you know, male attention in middle school,
there's nothing more valuable. (laughs)
And I got that from "Sausage Party". (laughs)
(gentle funky music)
A lot of different role models, but my family,
everybody in my family.
I love Emma Stone.
Emma Stone is probably like my biggest role model.
I think she's a big inspiration in my life.
Just watching her act has really inspired me
to pursue this career.
I think she's so incredible.
Me and my sister have always been a little competitive
but that's just being sisters,
and I think we've come to a point in our lives
where like I'm old enough and she's old enough,
to where we can be just nothing but supportive
towards each other because she does such amazing work,
and I just am, you know, wowed by her,
and I think we both just enjoy working hard
and watching each other kind of flourish
into the people we are.
And you know, obviously there's been certain points
when we were both, maybe like 17 and 14,
where like if one had more Instagram followers,
it was definitely some tension but we've grown past that.
If I were weren't an actress,
I think I'd be a makeup artist.
I take a special effects makeup course in college right now
and I really like doing stuff like that.
I've always wanted to do that since I was very little.
Any like horror movies, 'cause that's all I know how to do.
That's my specialty,
and weirdly clown makeup, I guess.
So horror movie that has clowns in it,
which is, you know, everybody's favorite.
So I definitely do that or I'd own a coffee shop.
That's the dream.
'Cause I work at a bakery/coffee shop.
I'm a barista.
I am always jealous of the owner
'cause I'm like, she owns like a cute pink bakery
and she's having the time of her life.
Like, that sounds really fun.
But I'm happy just to work there and make coffee. (laughs)
Okay, it was two, why am I forgetting this?
This is a very big part of my life.
♪ Wake me up before you go ♪
What's his name?
George Michael. (laughing)
George Michael.
George Michael, I had a poster of George Michael
and John Travolta hanging on my wall
from when I was like three up until I was ten.
Very-young Iris had a really big crush
on John Travolta and George Michael.
I don't know why.
I think... (laughs)
I heard that song, the "Wake Me Up" (laughs),
and I was just like, that's the man for me.
I don't regret it.
I think I've good taste for young six-year-olds.
And I would say Robert Pattinson.
That would be a flat-out lie 'cause it was not.
It was George Michael and John Travolta.
I kind of just want to have an apartment or a house
or wherever I live with, you know, my cats,
and have like a garden and have a job,
and that's kind of all you need to make me happy
'cause I work towards that.
That's why I work.
I want to create my own positive space
to keep growing and have a nice steady job.
I think that's what anybody wants, you know.
Do things that make me happy and have people around me
who are kind and try to be productive.
That's the one thing I want, to be productive. (laughs)