Don’t take this the wrong way, but Aubrey Plaza is some kind of witch. Her ability to completely dominate her interviewers through aloof aloofness, diverse accents, and countless antics leaves her targets completely mesmerized, a little scared, and, well, charmed. And she’s always been like that. “I think that’s just how I move through the world, I always go for the joke,” Plaza says V via Zoom. “I get nervous about interviews and the way I deal with that is by enjoying myself.”

In a now-famous interview before the 2010 Emmy red carpet, reporter Michael Ausiello asked Plaza if he could see her ring. With a perfected mockumentary-esque look at the camera (honed over seven seasons of playing the sardonic April Ludgate on NBC’s Parks and recreation), and with a devilish grin she raised her middle finger.

“The fascination with Judy Garland started quite young for me. I was probably 12 when most of my friends got into grunge, and I was just really into old Hollywood.

—Aubrey Plaza for V151 Winter 2024 Problem

Ausiello became a little confused—it was clear that Plaza had taken control of his interview in just two seconds—and then said squeamishly, “That’s actually quite offensive.” To which Plaza responded with an added bimbo playfulness, smiling and chewing gum, “It’s just a finger, it’s the only one the ring fits on.” While Ausiello was still talking, she walked away, turned back to the camera and smiled.

It makes perfect sense, given her naturally evil ways, that Plaza has just been brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe via her portrayal of Rio Vidal, the Green Witch on Disney+’s. Agatha all the time. The show’s titular character, Agatha Harkness, played by Kathryn Hahn, is Vidal’s rival, and their dynamic is complicated – in a gay way. “Kathryn and I are both very intense in our approach to acting, so I knew it would be really charged,” Plaza reveals, adding that it was a “dream come true” to play Hahn’s romantic counterpart. At one point in the series, Vidal cuts Harkness’ hand open with a dagger and heals the open wound by licking it. Harkness calls her heartless. Vidal corrects her, noting that she does indeed have a heart, a black heart, and that it only beats for her.

If that doesn’t mass-enroll women into the Marvel fanbase, nothing will.

Agatha all the time also features Plaza’s ex-roommate, the one and only Patti LuPone. The pair paired up last winter for the entire series of Plaza’s Broadway debut Danny and the deep blue seaand have remained twin flames ever since. (Because of that status, the two appeared on Hotlast September’s racy web show, and their rapport was sickeningly entertaining.) Although they had shared a space — LuPone even washed and folded Plaza’s underwear —Agatha all the time It was the first time they had to behave like professionals towards each other. “She and I love doing stupid things and stupid characters,” Plaza says, with the slightest hint of unexpected shyness in her voice. “We’re both kind of troublemakers.”

At the time of our interview, Plaza is in the midst of a demanding press storm. In just ten days she was on the Today Toon twice: “Hoda said, ‘Are you back?’” Plaza jokes. She also appeared on the Daily show, Late Night with Seth Meyersand was interviewed by the Times And NPR. Later that week she did a six-hour shoot V and a top-secret performance at Joe’s Pub that same evening. On top Agatha all the timePlaza starred in the coming-of-age comedy My old ass and Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Megapolis; she attended all three premieres in this week and a half and no, they did not take place on the same coast.

Plaza is of course calling from her couch. “Honey, I always wanted to be in movies,” she says with that crazy transatlantic effect she carries in her back pocket. “That was always the plan. But a Marvel TV show? I never thought I would do that. Fashion campaigns? I never thought anyone would want me to do that. I mean, I’m surprised I’m in a Coppola movie.” But crossing off bucket list items is not done for Plaza. As we talk, she’s already working on her next project, the ultimate dream collaboration for anyone with a sense of morbid, campy humor: a John Waters film.

“The Puerto Rican women in my family are sarcastic and funny. But for years, the stereotypes of Latina actresses or characters have been so one-dimensional. Like there’s one kind of Latina woman, and that’s just not true.”

—Aubrey Plaza for V151 Winter 2024 issue

“I can’t think of anything crazier for myself than for that to happen,” Plaza says. “He’s in his mid-70s, but I actually think his films and his sensibility are so appropriate for this younger generation right now. I feel like they need a John Waters.” Gen Z definitely needs another John Waters movie. But we also need someone who is known to combine that irreverent old-fashioned humor with a more empathetic yet not serious humor je ne sais quoi. The perfect place for a witch of Plaza’s caliber to use her powers.

This story appears on the pages of V151: on sale now!

Photography Blair Getz Mezibov

Fashion Anna Trevelyan

V magazine Creative director/editor-in-chief Stefan Gan

Makeup Kathy Jeung (relay artists)

Her Rheanne White (Tracey Mattingly)

Manicure Pattie Yankee

Digital technician Chris White

Lighting director Corey Danieli

Fashion coordinator Liv Vitale

Styling assistants AJ Grove, Angelina Khachaturyan

Production assistant Jelena Moldvai

Location ETC Studios