Julia Stiles is in the middle of a pretty successful April. The New York-born actress has a new film, "It's a Disaster," arriving in limited release on April 12, the Oscar-winning "Silver Linings Playbook," in which Stiles played a supporting role, is out on Blu-ray on April 30, and her favorite baseball team, the New York Mets, has started the 2013 baseball season with an above .500 record.
"I like to reserve my judgement and excitement and don't even watch baseball until later in the season," Stiles, an avid Mets fan, told HuffPost Entertainment during a recent interview. "I know that sounds like me not being a true fan, but I've had so many years of getting really excited about Jenrry Mejia or the other new prospects at the beginning of the season, and then, by September, you can wind up disappointed with the Mets."
At least Mets fans can tell themselves there's always next year; not so much for the unlucky brunch goers in Stiles' new film, "It's A Disaster." The dark comedy, out on VOD now, written and directed by Todd Berger, focuses on a group of friends (David Cross and America Ferrera among them) whose dining plans coincide with the end of days. It's the first of 2013's apocalypse comedies, arriving in theaters before Seth Rogen's "This Is The End" and Edgar Wright's "The World's End."
"I think what makes 'It's a Disaster' comic is that everybody is totally in denial about the fact that it's the end of the world," Stiles said. "They are completely useless about technology and they focus in on the most mundane or seemingly meaningless aspects of their lives until the very end of the movie when reality finally sets in. So it's a little bit more light-hearted way of dealing with the idea of the end of the world."
Stiles rose to fame in the late '90s thanks to the well-received teen movies "10 Things I Hate About You" and "Save the Last Dance"; since, she's appeared in everything from the aforementioned "Silver Linings Playbook" to the "Bourne" franchise, often playing character's who don't suffer fools gladly.
"I always feel like I don't really choose the role, the role chooses me," Stiles said of her varied resume. "I think I look for the weakness in a character, and probably directors and producers look to me to bring strength to the role. It's much easier to be strong when you have lines that are written for you; when you have something scripted that you're supposed to say. The way you wish you could go back and tell somebody off. It's always better in your imagination, after the fact. It's easy to be strong when you're in a controlled environment."
That controlled environment doesn't extend to her fandom. Stiles, 32, has been a Mets fan for years (she cited the Bobby Valentine era as her favorite), but doesn't necessarily agree with some of the franchise's recent moves.
"I'm a little bit bitter with the R.A. Dickey trade, I'm not going to lie," Stiles said. The Mets traded Dickey, the 2012 National League Cy Young award winner, to Toronto in the off-season for a group of well-regarded prospects.
"He had a little bit of that underdog quality, too, which is why I'm a Mets fan to begin with."
Would Stiles ever consider dropping the Mets and baseball altogether? Not likely.
"For me, it's almost like taking a Valium," she said. "At the end of a long day, I like turning on the radio and listening to a baseball game."
For more on "It's a Disaster," check out the film's website.
