DON GONYEA, HOST:
Natalie Morales usually plays characters that are full of life. From "Parks And Recreation" to "No Hard Feelings," she's often the fun, irreverent friend who injects a bit of energy to the plot. Now she's bringing that vibe to a very different role, the title character in the new movie "My Dead Friend Zoe." The film is about a veteran who keeps being visited by the spirit of her friend from the Army.
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NATALIE MORALES: It is about - these people happen to be veterans, but I think it's sort of universal because I think a lot of people have survivor's guilt.
GONYEA: Natalie Morales spoke to my colleague Rachel Martin on NPR's Wild Card. That's the pick-a-card podcast where life and death are often topics of conversation.
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RACHEL MARTIN: OK, first three cards - one, two or three?
MORALES: Let's go with two.
MARTIN: Two - what activity gave you a sense of freedom as a kid?
MORALES: I used to climb a lot of trees, which did give me a sense of freedom, and I grew up with a mango tree in my backyard. That is, like, a very Miami thing to say and a very Latin girl thing to say. I didn't have a lemonade stand. I had a mango stand, and I sold mangoes.
MARTIN: Did you?
MORALES: Yeah, I did.
MARTIN: Like, for how much?
MORALES: I had a little mango - I can't remember, but I do remember that other kids in my neighborhood were also selling mangoes, and that was not cool. So I combined, and I made a mango monopoly, and I was quite successful at it. But yeah, I climbed...
MARTIN: Wait. That's amazing.
MORALES: ...A lot of trees. And I would also - we had this little, like, shed in the back, and I would climb up there and just look at the highway behind my house and the sky and stuff. And that definitely made me feel - it made me feel freer. I think I felt...
MARTIN: Yeah.
MORALES: ...A little bit confined where I grew up. I don't know. My mom was very protective of me, so I think that made me feel like I had some sort of freedom just to be able to look out at the world.
MARTIN: Yeah, I think we all need that, that sense of perspective and just...
MORALES: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Reminding yourself, especially when you're young, like, it's not all here. The world is a big place, and it's bigger than the four walls that you're being...
MORALES: Yes.
MARTIN: ...Raised in, and...
MORALES: Yes.
MARTIN: ...You get to dream a little bit when you...
MORALES: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Have some perspective out a window.
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MARTIN: OK, one, two or three?
MORALES: I'll do two.
MARTIN: Two - does the idea of an infinite universe excite or scare you?
MORALES: Both. It's scary and exciting.
MARTIN: Do you...
MORALES: It's scary to feel small, and it's also liberating to feel small.
MARTIN: There are some people who think that the idea of forever is just - is fundamentally unmooring. Is that...
MORALES: I understand that. Yeah.
MARTIN: Yeah.
MORALES: I think there are so many things in life that are not explainable that you have to start to - if you want to keep going and you want to make sense of anything, you have to accept that you won't know everything.
MARTIN: Yeah.
MORALES: And you have to go, like - I always think about this. My dog, Taco...
MARTIN: (Laughter) Taco.
MORALES: He's the best. He flies with me sometimes. And he'll - one time. when he was - he's used to it now. But earlier, he would sit on my lap, and he would look out the window like he does in a car, right? And as the plane is taking off and it's taxing down the runway, he's looking at all the things as he would out a car window - other people walking around, other cars, things going. And then the plane takes off, and everything gets smaller and smaller.
And as - I can tell that it's not making sense to him that everything's getting smaller. He just goes, oh, well, and then, like, gives up and then sits down. And I think about that all the time 'cause I'm like, I feel like he just moved on with his life. He went, well, everything shrunk.
MARTIN: Oh, my God.
MORALES: And I'm just going to turn around cause I don't get that. And...
MARTIN: I want Taco to be my spiritual leader.
MORALES: Yeah.
MARTIN: Like, that kind of of acknowledgment...
MORALES: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...And just let it go.
MORALES: Yeah. I...
MARTIN: Just get over it.
MORALES: That's kind of what you got to do with a lot of stuff. Like, yeah, I'm not gonna understand that. That - I wasn't - my small brain is probably never going to get the idea of a completely infinite universe, but it's there. And so I have to kind of marvel at it and also then just, like, decide what I want for lunch.
MARTIN: That's right (laughter).
MORALES: Yeah. Yeah.
MARTIN: God bless Taco (laughter).
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MARTIN: We have one more. One, two or three?
MORALES: One.
MARTIN: One - what truth guides your life more than any other?
MORALES: Rachel, these are so deep.
MARTIN: I know.
MORALES: You know, uh, this is going to sound really super simple, but it was kind of life-changing for me. And it was something that I really came to believe in the last, like, five years, which is that no one is supposed to be anything other than what they are.
Like, you are not - there's no supposed to. There's no should. There's no - none of that. You just - there's no right way to be you other than what's already there. Like, I think that so much time is wasted and energy is spent, and there's so much strife in, like, trying to be something the right way - the right kind of mom, the right kind of daughter, the right kind of radio show host, the right kind of person. And it is already there.
And so, like, I really try to listen to my gut and my instinct and whatever the expression of me feels right and feels solid and doesn't feel like a betrayal to myself. And that's what I really try to let guide me in life in general. I always want to have, like, integrity with myself and, like, at the end of the day, go, like, oh, I didn't betray myself in that moment at all.
MARTIN: Was there a big should in your life? Was there...
MORALES: I think there were many big shoulds. There was a lot of pressure, especially, like, in the career that I had, there's so many examples of, you know, should - right? - like, of what you should look like. And then I realized that the most - the people that I really admired and the most successful people were the people that just did it the way they wanted to do it. They just were themselves. But also in life, you know, I think I wanted to do it right.
And then it kind of was like, oh, there is no right way. Just - there's no right way. There's just what you are. I mean, every - not to get too, like, I don't know, petty about it, but, like, a flower just blooms. It just does what it does. It doesn't look to the side to see how other flowers are looking and how they're doing it. It just does it. And it faces the sun. It faces the day. It just blooms the way it's meant to, and that's kind of what I try to think about all the time.
MARTIN: That is a lovely, lovely idea. Yeah.
MORALES: Thanks.
MARTIN: Natalie Morales, thank you so much for doing this. Her new movie is called "My Dead Friend Zoe." It has been such a pleasure to talk with you.
MORALES: Likewise, Rachel. So nice to meet you.
MARTIN: So nice to meet you.
GONYEA: To hear the rest of that conversation, follow NPR's Wild Card podcast. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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