party chat

Amy Poehler Knows Her Judy Blume From Her Beverly Cleary

Amy Poehler at Stella McCartney's Spring 2014 collection presentation, W 10th St, NYC, June 10, 2013.
Photo: Patrick McMullan/patrickmcmullan.com

Last night at a presentation for Stella McCartney’s Spring 2014 collection, we caught up with Amy Poehler, who seemed pretty excited that Hillary Clinton had joined Twitter. “Well, here’s a little secret: Hillary is hilarious,” Poehler told us. “So are the people who work with her.” But Hillary’s hardly the only person Poehler gets excited about. She also really knows her middle-reader authors.

Amy Poehler: I am excited to see Judy Blume’s new movie, because she is a very special lady, and more movies should be produced with her name. Or she should just sit and read her books aloud and we should just gather at her feet.
[a party guest with Poehler]
: Judy Blume is the best.
Poehler
: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is very special.
[the party guest]
: Ramona.
Poehler
: No. She wasn’t Ramona. That’s Beverly Cleary. You’re thinking of Super Fudge. [Judy Blume] was Deenie, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret? Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a really good one. Tiger Eyes. What’s the one that has the sex scene in it?

Oh, I don’t know.
Poehler
: Well, it’s kind of a sex scene.

Could you see working with her on a project?
Poehler
: Oh, anytime. I would love to work with her. She [wrote] the books of my generation, certainly. I learned a lot from her.

What one would you most like to see —
Poehler
: Made into a film? I don’t know. I’m a sucker for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I wonder if it’s ever been made into —
[the party guest]: It’s gotta be.

Or a TV something.
Poehler
: I’m sure Helen Hunt played Margaret in 1978 and did an amazing job.

Amy Poehler, Judy Blume Devotee