Why Lauren Miller Should Be Hollywood’s Next Big Thing
Last week, I sang the praises of Lauren Miller, the phenomenal woman behind 2012 comedy For a Good Time, Call… and the super cool wife of Seth Rogen. I talked about how awesome she was for encouraging her husband to avoid the “nagging wife” cliche in his film Neighbors, and while that was wonderful news for young ladies like me who want more strong female characters in film, she’s done many great things before and I can’t wait to see what else she has to offer the entertainment industry. Hollywood has dozens of extraordinary, fearless women making headlines for doing interesting things these days, and here’s why Lauren Miller should be the next one to explode in show business.
8. She likes funny guys
Humor is important in relationships, and Lauren Miller certainly has that with comedian spouse Seth Rogen. He also respects her professional opinion and re-worked Neighbors to incorporate her creative ideas. It makes sense that the ceremony was reportedly hysterical as well. In 2011, Us Weekly reported a wedding goer as saying the event “was more laughs than anything else. Every other line was a joke and the crowd couldn’t contain their laughter. It was nonstop fun!” Now why didn’t we get any invitations?!
7. She went to film school
I have a lot of respect for performers like Jennifer Lawrence who possess raw talent and don’t need to attend school to learn the craft of acting, but the academic nerd inside me loves my fellow students, and I applaud Lauren Miller for graduating from Florida State University’s film school. In fact, it was at FSU that Miller met Katie Anne Naylon, and the former roommates would go on to pen For a Good Time, Call together. Here’s to college for inspiring events that give birth to authentic movies with sassy female leads.
6. She wrote For a Good Time, Call … based on her own experiences
It’s not easy living in New York City, but the film’s leading ladies have a unique solution for money problems: start a phone sex line for cash. It’s not a job for the faint of heart, but it helps Miller’s character forget about her shallow ex-boyfriend and feel confident about herself again. Miller said the project was based on her own experiences, which make the story even richer.
5. She has an adorable pup
You don’t need to be a dog person to appreciate that spunky face!
4. She has a hilarious proposal story
Most people dream of a cinematic proposal, but even movie stars have relatively normal experiences surrounding the big question. Seth Rogen told MTV News in 2011 that he asked for Lauren Miller’s hand in marriage while she was dressing and topless one day, “I didn’t picture it like this, and I know she didn’t picture it like this. No little girl is like ‘It’ll happen in a closet with my [chest] out.’” The union afterward is what matters most, and so far, it seems to be going well!
3. She’s had a tough time breaking into the entertainment industry
It’s easy to give up and pursue another field, but Miller knew For a Good Time, Call… was an amazing story she had to throw herself into, and to really make a name for herself, she needed to give the story her all. Speaking to Vulture in 2012, she said of her defining moment, “I was in a hotel room in Germany, accompanying Seth on one of his press tours, and I had this Lost in Translation moment, wondering about my life. I’d been spinning my wheels, going on like five auditions a year, and nothing was going to happen out of that. If I looked like a supermodel, maybe? We already had this script written, so I wrote Katie [Anne Naylon] a letter, ‘I’m tired of having no career. If I’m ever going to make it, we need to give this script an opportunity. Let’s make it on our own.’” And so they did!
2. She writes about difficult subjects
Though her wedding was reportedly a riot, she and Seth Rogen know all too well that life isn’t all about the funny. Last year, Lauren Miller wrote an essay for NBC News about the struggles of having a parent with Alzheimer’s. Though her grandparents suffered from the terrible condition, nothing could prepare her for her mother’s diagnosis when Miller was just 25 years old:
“Most of my friends who are still lucky enough to have their mothers spent their 20s becoming best friends with their moms, whereas I spent mine watching my mom slowly slip away from us and herself. Buying her clothes that fit over her diapers, instead of us going for lunch and shopping together is not something a daughter of any age wants to do. Especially when I so badly just want to talk to her about being a woman, a wife, and about one day perhaps starting a family of my own … My mom was diagnosed at 55 years old, but she’s far from the youngest. It can happen in one’s 30s. And there’s no treatment, and there will continue to be no treatment unless we do something about it.”
This has to be difficult to share with the world, but she wants to spread awareness about early cases of Alzheimer’s, and it’s that much more amazing that husband Seth Rogen discussed his mother-in-law’s illness before a Senate committee in February, “She forgot how to speak, feed herself, dress herself, all by age of 60 … [P]eople need more help.”
1. She co-founded a charity
Together, Lauren Miller and Seth Rogen started Hilarity For Charity, which produces charity fundraisers to get more younger people involved in Alzheimer’s awareness. They even launched a special program aimed at college students so people in that demographic will throw their own HFC events on campus and beyond. Some celebrities merely slap their name and a bunch of money on a cause for their image, but this one is close to home for Lauren Miller and Rogen, and it’s clear they’re trying to positively impact lives beyond the big and small screen with this venture.
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