Is Alison Brie Rooting For Jeff and Annie on Community?

From starring on the cult NBC show Community to landing a big role in Will Ferrell's upcoming comedy Get Hard, Alison Brie clearly has a lot going on. Despite her busy schedule, she added a new project to her ever-growing résumé by partnering with Adam Scott and Smirnoff for their new campaign, The Party. We got a chance to catch up with Alison about working with another NBC fan favorite in Scott; their upcoming movie, Sleeping With Other People; and how she and the rest of the Community family deal with the ever-looming threat of cancellation. Considering that the show's team is once again waiting to hear if they will get renewed for a sixth season, it was an unfortunately apropos time to be talking about the show's future.

Getty | Jon Kopaloff

POPSUGAR: You and Adam teamed up for this new campaign, The Party with Smirnoff. What was it like working with him on this project?
Alison Brie: It was so fun. I have sort of peripherally known Adam for a while, and I've wanted to work with him on something. I'm a huge Party Down fan and a Parks and Recreation fan. I think that Community and Parks and Rec have been in a similar boat in their role in the NBC family, so we've really known each other from NBC events and stuff like that. And we're going to work together soon in a movie this Summer, so this campaign was a nice little warmup. It was just so wonderful that this worked out. And we had a great time. Adam's sense of humor is so dry and hilarious.

PS: What's your new movie together?
AB: It's called Sleeping With Other People. Jason Sudeikis is doing it, and Leslie Hedlund, who directed Adam in Bachelorette, has written and will direct it. I'm pretty sure Adam's doing it. That's the last that they told me!

PS: You two have such great chemistry in the ads; what was the funniest scene to film?
AB: They all were a great time. It was fun to work with DC Pierson, the mixologist, because he was improv-ing a lot of his stuff, and it was hard not to laugh while he was "curating his herbs" and things like that. It was totally a fun, relaxed atmosphere. We would do the scripted stuff and then improv a little bit, and everything just felt easy and natural. When I read the script for these spots, I really liked the message and vibe that Smirnoff wanted to bring to the forefront. A good time is always more fun when everyone is included, and I think the playfulness of these videos brings this to life.

NBC

PS: You mentioned that Parks and Rec and Community are often in the same boat on NBC, and right now we aren't sure if Community will be renewed for a sixth season. It seems like we're at this point with Community every year. What is it like being an actress on a show whose fate is always up in the air?
AB: At this point, it's not very uncomfortable. I think that it's become the norm. We've all become used to Community being up in the air every year. To be honest, I feel more at ease about it than ever before. We love our fans, and we trust that they're going to rally. We've already been doing a tweet campaign where we've been tweeting every day with #sixseasonsandamovie and tweeting different fake Community movie posters. I'm really hoping that we get a sixth season, but you just never know.

PS: You mentioned the fan campaigns that always save the show. What's been your favorite of those?
AB: We look at a lot of that stuff. We are so grateful to our fans. They really are the best. They persevere against all odds with our show. I thought it was really sweet when they organized these little flash mobs, like people literally showing up outside of NBC wearing Abed's evil goatee and singing songs from the show. I mean, it was not a humongous group of people, but it made it even more endearing. They showed up, they organized it all on their own. It was very sweet. And it made a difference!

PS: Do you think the campaign will work again?
AB: We're hoping that it will. It's worked every other year, so we're kind of like, it's gotta work this year, right? We're all hoping that our hashtag can live to be a reality, and then we'll be good. Really it's only one more season and then a movie — come on! [Laughs.] How hard is that?

PS: The finale aired a couple of weeks ago; what was the atmosphere while filming the finale? Did you know that you guys were going to be in this position again? Because there were a lot of meta jokes about saving the show.
AB: No, we didn't know the status of the show. Those jokes are just so an old hat, because, like I said, we're just in this position every year, so it's easy for [creator Dan Harmon] to make jokes at our own expense and just laugh at the predicament that we're always in. The meta tone of our show always comes from him. And we had a lot of fun shooting the finale this year. Every year we shoot it as if it could be our last episode ever so, we kind of don't stress about that fact, and have fun when we're there shooting.

PS: I have to ask: what's the deal with all the Subway stuff?
AB: I believe that Subway is a sponsor of our show, and this is their creative way of integrating it. I think that's the case! It'd be sort of strange otherwise.

NBC

PS: Another hint at the end of the finale is that Jeff still has feelings for Annie. Do you think — if there is another season — that they will get together, and are you rooting for that?
AB: I mean, it's a weird thing. I love working with Joel McHale; I love the Jeff-and-Annie thing when it doesn't infringe on Annie being a grown-up person. I think it was really exciting this season to see Annie grow up in a lot of ways and kind of take that power back and not always be pining for Jeff, even though they had their moments. So I like to see Annie be a little more self-sufficient and strong. But at the same time . . . I'll always ship Jeff and Annie! I'm a fan of it.

PS: Do you feel that Annie has gotten more powerful since the beginning of the show?
AB: Yes. Definitely. Especially this year. This year I think we really got to see Annie shine and get back what she really does best, which is being a really active and proactive person in the group. She's great when she has a goal, like "save Greendale." That's really when she starts to shine.

PS: Now, if the show does get its six seasons and a movie, how would you like to see the show end?
AB: Oh gosh. I have no idea. I think that's what excites me most about doing a movie, even though it sounds crazy that we'd get to do six season and then a movie. I would just be so excited to see what Dan came up with to take it to a larger scale and take it to a different arena.