Wednesday night at New York’s 92Y, comedy showrunners Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey got together for the release of Kaling’s latest memoir, Why Not Me?, inevitably creating a vortex of genius and hilarity. Naturally, the discussion turned to their favorite romantic comedies (The Princess Bride for Kaling, Annie Hall for Fey), and Fey jumped at the chance to inquire whether The Mindy Project creator and star would ever consider writing a romantic comedy for the big screen. “Yeah, I would love to,” Kaling responded quickly. “I would love to write it. And to direct it.”
Not only has Kaling been pondering potential rom-com ideas since she began her career as a writer for The Office in 2004, but one of them involved Fey paired with everyone’s favorite leading man: George Clooney. Fey, clearly amused by this potential onscreen dalliance, asked for more details. Kaling said:
I think this is a great idea. At that point in time [when 30 Rock was still on the air], all of the magazines were calling you a “sexy librarian.” My idea was that George Clooney was an Indiana Jones–like professor at a college, and he taught all of these classes and came into the library with all of these antiquities. All of the girls would love him and follow him on campus. You actually worked at the library, and you would have to take his antiquities and check them in and out. And then sparks would fly! Bang, bang, rawr.
The fun didn’t end there: The duo ended their discussion with an old-fashioned game of Fuck, Marry, Kill between Stephen Colbert, Michael Fassbender, and B.J. Novak. “I guess ‘boff’ Fassbender,” said Fey. “Marry Colbert. And then [makes gun sound] bye, B.J.” Kaling shared the mutual Colbert love. “I would say probably marry Stephen Colbert,” she said. “He’s such a good Catholic man. I guess I would kill Fassbender. And I would have sex with B.J. Yes, I’ve done that.”
