Halley Feiffer Talks About the ‘Delusional, Alcoholic’ Version of Herself in the New Comedy He’s Way More Famous Than You

Halley Feiffer has shown off her comic flair on stage in The House of Blue Leaves and Tigers Be Still and on screen in Bored to Death. Now, Feiffer has gathered an impressive list of young stage vets to co-star in the film comedy He’s Way More Famous Than You, set for limited release on May 10. Directed by Michael Urie and co-written by Feiffer and Urie’s real-life partner Ryan Spahn, the movie features Feiffer as an exaggerated version of herself.

“People have said to me, ‘When I heard about your film, I expected it to be like a vanity piece, but you don’t come across very well,” Feiffer laughingly tells Broadway.com. “And it’s true. I am a delusional, alcoholic actress named Halley who is hell-bent on achieving fame at any price. My friend Ryan Spahn is a naive drama student named Ryan who’s willing to enable my behavior because he wants to succeed in showbiz, too. They do about two billion stupid things that are also—we hope—quite funny.”

He’s Way More Famous Than You features a Who’s Who of NYC theater, many of whom are also playing comedic versions of themselves, including Mamie Gummer, Jesse Eisenberg, Vanessa Williams, Natasha Lyonne, Ralph Macchio, Tracee Chimo and director Urie, with cameos from Daryl Roth, Austin Pendleton, Ben Stiller and more. (Click below to see the film’s trailer.)

The daughter of playwright/cartoonist Jules Feiffer and actress/playwright Jenny Allen (I Got Sick and Then I Got Better), Halley has been writing since she was a teen. She clearly had fun crafting “meta” roles to suit pals like Eisenberg, who played her boyfriend in the The Squid and the Whale, the 2005 indie that becomes a running joke in He’s Way More Famous Than You.

“I love exploring parts of myself that are less than savory,” Feiffer says, “because in a way it can help me see myself in a clearer light and illuminate the person I want to avoid becoming. The less seriously I take myself, the more fun I can have, and the better writer and actor I can be. Oh, and person! I want to be a good person, too.”