‘Solos’ Star Constance Wu Introduces a ‘Very Drunk’ Jenny in ‘Powerhouse’ Performance

Amazon Prime Video’s new dramatic anthology Solos takes viewers on a thought-provoking and sometimes bizarre ride.

From Hunters‘ creator David Weil, the series puts an all-star cast under a microscope with seven engrossing installments, one of which centers on a woman named Jenny played by Crazy Rich Asians actress Constance Wu.

“Jenny is very, very drunk,” Wu teases of her character when viewers first encounter her in a waiting-room setting. “She doesn’t know where she is and how she got there. And that’s what she’s got to figure out.”

No two episodes are alike, and Wu’s performance is a particular stand-out as she brings the emotional level of the episode from easy breezy to a breakdown reaching epic heights. “Constance is… a powerhouse,” Weil praises.

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“She was different than anything I had done in recent history,” Wu further explains. Her character Jenny waits around for something neither she nor her audience know. Speaking directly to this invisible audience, there’s a level of intimacy that drew Wu to the project in the first place.

While Wu never would have seen one-on-one storytelling through a screen as a way to build intimacy with an audience, she admits this past year of social distancing has changed her mind. “In the past year, that’s proven to be very much the case. So, to take that from real-world to narrative storytelling via this show, I thought was an interesting and timely challenge.”

(Credit: Amazon Studios)

“Jenny really did sort of come alive in a way that really surprised me,” Wu continues. “I didn’t expect it. And for me, that’s the most fun thing about being an actor. It’s when a character surprises you, when it makes you stretch your heart in ways that you didn’t even know existed inside your body.”

Part of the role included Wu donning some 3-D printed angel wings which helped Wu get even further into character. And while she’s a chameleon onscreen, Weil notes that he’s just as much of a chameleon behind the camera in times of need.

(Credit: Amazon Prime Video)

“I think for me, the best thing that I could do as a filmmaker was to learn and understand how best to support them and their process,” Weil says of working with the show’s expansive talent roster among Wu includes Morgan Freeman, Uzo Aduba, Anne Hathaway, Anthony Mackie, and more. “I can be a chameleon, I can work with anyone in the way that they like to work. So it was certainly a dance with each of these wonderful artists and I’m just really proud of our time together.”

Together, Weil and Wu spin a moving and tragic tale in less than a half-hour span of time. Their ultimate goal? To build a connection. “[I hope] they don’t feel as alone with their feelings and their fears and their shames and their wishes,” Wu says of what she hopes viewers will take away from her episode. “It’s ironic that it’s called Solos and it’s meant to make people feel less alone.”

Solos, Series Premiere, Friday, May 21, Amazon Prime Video