Re-Cap Paleyfest 2014: The Mindy Project

The cast of "The Mindy Project" on-stage at the Dolby Theatre
for Paleyfest 2014.

On Tuesday, March 25th the cast of The Mindy Project arrived at the Dolby Theatre for their second Paleyfest event.  The event kicked off with scenes from the Paley Center archives featuring Mindy Kaling on Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

The fans in attendance were treated with an advanced screening of the 4/1 episode of The Mindy Project.  If you're reading this you're probably a fan and know that when we last left the characters a big moment happened between Mindy Lahiri and Danny Castellano on their flight back from Los Angeles.  You'll be seeing the consequences of that moment in the episode when it airs on April 1st (Sorry! No spoilers here!).

On Mindy Lahiri and Danny Castellano

Kaling describes how writers may be able to develop dialogue and scenes, but that you can't script the chemistry that occurs, referring specifically to the Mindy and Danny relationship:

"As writers we can write dialogue [and scenes] ...but you can't script chemistry." -@mindykaling on Mindy/Danny #TheMindyProject #Paleyfest
— experiencela (@experiencela) March 26, 2014

She also noted that Danny is her favorite character.

On Kaling Trying to Invite Her Dad to the Set

"There has not been a [...] shooting day where that has been appropriate!" @mindykaling on her dad visiting the #TheMindyProject set
— experiencela (@experiencela) March 26, 2014

On Tamra and Morgan's Possible Relationship

The cast hinted to developments in Tamra and Morgan's relationship.  Morgan has had a not-so-secret crush on Tamra, whose character has had a rocky relationship with her boyfriend over the season.  Xosha Roquemore, how portays Tamra on the show, explained humorously - and as nicely as possible - the developments between her character and a guy like Morgan:

"No shade [to anyone]...but Tamra's kind of into pale creeps." -@XoshaRockstar #themindyproject #PaleyFest
— experiencela (@experiencela) March 26, 2014

Chris Messina's Perspective on the Show

Regarding the pilot -

"...when I read the pilot, it was amazing writing, so I knew I was in for something great." -Chris Messina #themindyproject #PaleyFest
— experiencela (@experiencela) March 26, 2014

Regarding the different process between television and film -

"We rely on [fans] to let us know what's cooking." -Chris Messina on the TV vs. Film process #themindyproject #PaleyFest
— experiencela (@experiencela) March 26, 2014

On Chris Messina's Dancing in the Christmas Episode

Messina described how he wanted to take karate lessons when he was younger, but his mother - who taught dance - made him take dancing.  Lucky for us, this led to his now famous scene from the 2013 holiday episode of The Mindy Project where his character danced to Aaliyah's Try Again as a gift for Mindy.

The cast discussed how "giffed" that scene was and how Messina initially only wanted only a handful of people around during the shooting of the scene (and how this escalated to him freely dancing the routine for others).  Kaling describes of the scene

.@MindyKaling on #ChrisMessina's dance scene: "People were mad when they cut to me..." #themindyproject #Paleyfest
— experiencela (@experiencela) March 26, 2014

The Mindy Project returns April 1st with a great episode, the start of eight consecutive weeks of new episodes.  If you need any convincing to try and watch, Kaling describes these episodes as the best she's been party to (we'd like to add "so far").

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA Editor