- 8 hours ago
'Good American Family' star Ellen Pompeo sat down with THR's Jackie Strause for a discussion about the Hulu series in a THR Q&A powered by Vision Media.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hi, welcome to THR Presents. I'm Jackie Strauss here with Ellen Pompeo chatting about Good
00:10American Family. Hi, Ellen. How are you? Hi, Jackie. I'm well. It's nice to see you.
00:16You too. So, you know, you have been chatting about Good American Family for a while now
00:23because everyone wants to talk to you about this role and about this big change up for
00:27you. And I know you have said that if you were going to do something different from Grey's,
00:32you really wanted it to be different and something you could disappear into. And you also said
00:37that that opportunity didn't come along that often, which I think would surprise your fans
00:43and certainly people outside of the industry to hear that. What made Good American Family
00:49such an intriguing role to come to you, given that you had been kind of looking for something
00:54that would fit that bill? I was looking for a big swing. This is certainly it. It's a character
01:00so different from Meredith Grey and so different from me. So I thought, and you know, everybody says
01:07do things that scare you. And this was definitely scary. It's challenging subject matter. There's a lot
01:14of different ways you could mess this up producerially, you know, and tell the wrong story and tell the
01:21stories the wrong way. And so, um, you know, it's definitely on the more dangerous side of content as
01:29far as trying to make it. What really did scare you? And, and was it an exciting scare or just kind
01:37of a, Oh, I don't know if I should do this scare. Well, it's, you know, it's playing someone who's a
01:41child abuser. Um, and so, you know, I think the fact that I'm, I have children of my own and
01:49social media and media and the images we see being what they are. I think I was afraid for my kids
01:56to see any clips of that. Um, and then, and then also what does it take emotionally to have to find
02:06that? And, uh, and did I want to sort of feel that and live in that space? And I've been asked
02:14the question, like, you know, was this character hard to let go of when I finished? And I was, Oh,
02:19no, no. I was one foot out the door the last day of filming. I was so happy to let it go.
02:25That's really interesting. I, especially when you started to research her considering so much
02:33has been out there, there was a docu-series, of course, there's news headlines of what really
02:38happened. Did you find yourself over immersing yourself given the content and kind of some of
02:44the things you just said, did you have to like pull back in order to play her? I wouldn't say,
02:50I wouldn't say over immersion. I would say more, um, that in order for me to justify her behavior,
03:01I, she really needs to believe that she's the victim. She really, really has to believe that
03:08she has been wronged and that she's justified in everything she's doing. And the reason why she's
03:13justified is because she's actually the one who's been wronged. So that was the mindset for me to stay
03:21in. And as this, uh, it's a narcissistic mindset and we see a lot of that lately. So there's plenty of
03:29examples of it, um, to use for references. Uh, you know, it's, it's the, the narcissism really,
03:36there's this victim villain thing where they can be the biggest villain and they see themselves as a
03:41victim always. And I think that's a really good hook to play a narcissist is just to constantly
03:47focus on what everybody is doing to you. And that's how I navigated, uh, believing and justifying
03:57every choice that Christine Barnett made or my version of Christine Barnett made.
04:02Well, the big twist of the show is that we, there's a huge shift of perspective halfway through.
04:08And so in your early conversations, when you were talking about the role and first getting the
04:13scripts, did you understand, was that the format of the show from the start? Was that always going
04:18in as we're going to portray Christine's point of view, and then we're going to flip it on its head
04:22and everyone is going to have a very different story that they're watching.
04:27Yes. And that, I mean, I think that was the reason to make the show because, you know,
04:31the logical question is why make this show? Why tell this story again? We've seen it. It's been told.
04:39The interesting thing, and Katie Robbins says this often is the interesting thing about this story
04:44and the reason to make this show is no matter whose version of the events you watch or listen to or
04:50read, you sort of come away or Katie and I and Mark, we all had sort of a similar experience,
04:57which is we would read one thing and say, oh, this is definitely what happened. And then you read
05:02a conflicting story to that. And you're like, oh, wait, that sounds like that was what happened.
05:08And depending on what you read or heard or saw, you believe something different and everybody has
05:16their own opinion. So I think that's what's interesting about this story and the way Katie
05:21chose to tell it is how you and I can both watch the same thing happen and have a completely different
05:26takeaway of what we just watched. And that's a very interesting thing about human nature and how we
05:34see things, how we perceive things, what our own biases are, is another really strong thing that
05:42we wanted to hit, which is everybody sort of rushes to judgment. A lot of people rush to judgment
05:49about Natalia. And because she looks different and has different abilities
05:55and isn't, doesn't have a typical, what we consider to be a typical
06:02body size, then of course
06:07she's the other, she's the one who's different, so she must be the bad one.
06:11Meanwhile, she's a child, you know, and so
06:14you'd think that people would say she was a child and she's been
06:19mistreated and that would cause you, if it were a typical child
06:22and she would mistreat and she was mistreated and behaved badly, people may have more empathy.
06:29But is it because of her physical disabilities or difference of abilities
06:34to give some diversity to those terms?
06:40You know, is it, is it, is it our perception of her that we assume that she's bad because she looks
06:45different than a typical child? And, and I think that's an interesting thing to do is ask the audience
06:51to question, why do we believe what we believe? Are we, are we biased?
06:56Do we have prejudices that we don't know exist? I mean,
06:59they call it unconscious bias for a reason. I think we all hold
07:03ideals and biases that we don't, maybe not
07:05so aware of.
07:09Because of everything you just said, finding the right Natalia
07:12was also very key to the show working. And I have seen
07:16when you talk about when you and Imogen Faith Reid first met, you were on Zoom for hours.
07:21Do you remember what really clicked between you two in terms of how you each viewed the characters
07:27and what you wanted to portray?
07:30I knew, well, well, hearing, first of all, Imogen's, you know, her demeanor, she was so easy to talk to.
07:38She wasn't nervous at all. And, you know, a girl, a young woman that age, you know, typically a lot of,
07:44if they've grown up with Grace and they've watched me a long time, they're sort of really excited to
07:49talk to me and get kind of nervous, which is completely understandable. And she was just so
07:54self-possessed and cool and could carry a conversation and wasn't distracted and knew exactly,
07:59you know, why she was there and to explain very succinctly what it was about this, her version
08:07of this story that why it was important for her to tell. You know, she doesn't have a lot of
08:11opportunities to play lead roles. And this was an amazing opportunity. And for her to get a real
08:20part that she could sink her teeth in. She's been on sets plenty. She's done a lot of background
08:25stand-in stuff, but doesn't have a lot of opportunities to get like lead speaking roles.
08:31And she was so excited to do this. So excited for the challenge and really was very,
08:36had a lot of conviction about telling a story for her community.
08:41This is such, as you mentioned, serious topic, serious material you guys are diving into
08:47that, I guess, particularly for her was probably more challenging in the beginning and maybe more
08:52challenging for you towards the end. But given your experience of years on Grey's as a producer
08:57and years of being able to advocate yourself and really show other women in the industry how to
09:02advocate for yourself, what did you, I guess, take from your Grey's producer hat that you kind of
09:08brought over to set when it came to also being an executive producer here in addition to starring?
09:14I think that, you know, the biggest thing I've learned is to listen.
09:23You know, I think when we, especially on Grey's and being on Grey's for so long and knowing it so
09:30well and knowing how it runs so well, there's a lot to say and there's a lot of opinions that I have
09:36and a lot of ideas and a lot of things. But I've learned over the years, I think I've become a much
09:42better listener. And, and I really just see my role as how can I help? And do you even want my help?
09:52Because I, I've had to learn that lesson too, that just because I want to help doesn't mean someone
09:58wants my help. So I think I've become a good listener. And I just sort of, I'm here if you need
10:06me and I'm gone, if you don't. But, you know, so I think that's, I try to be supportive, but not
10:15overstep in any way.
10:18When it came to the discussions you all were having about how to promote the show or how to market the
10:24show, I am interested to hear some of those behind the scenes conversations, because you could have
10:29gone a couple of ways. You could have really tipped the audience off, or you could have really held it
10:35back. And you guys did this dance of, you know, in pre interviews, you guys were saying there will
10:39be a shift, but we didn't know exactly what it was. Was that a difficult thing to figure out? And did
10:46you particularly push for anything in terms of how you wanted to present the show?
10:50I, what I pushed for, with respect to marketing, and the press was, I just really wanted to be mindful
10:59of what the subject matter is. You know, talking about neurodivergent kids, we're talking about kids
11:06with disabilities, or that are atypical, we're talking about child abuse, we're talking about
11:12mental health. So I had said to the marketing team and the PR teams, like, we have to be really
11:17mindful, we're not going to do any silly press. You know, and, and, and there were a couple of there was a
11:23day when we had to do like some Hulu content, and, and the social media ladies were there. And,
11:29and I said, you know, we, we can't really do TikToks like that. I understand you girls are just trying to
11:34do your job. But you have to understand you haven't seen the show yet. We cannot do these fun, sort of
11:41poppy TikToks as much as you want to, we really need to be mindful. This content could be triggering for
11:47people, the subject matter. There's so many people who have difficult relationships with their
11:51mothers. There's so many reasons to be triggered by this. So I was, I was really, really involved in
12:01very particular about, you know, what kind of press we should do. And, and, and how we talk about the
12:08show, of course, we have to be careful, because, you know, it's, they're sort of, you know, there's real
12:14people involved here. So, um, and then the other thing that I think was important was just,
12:23you know, that I feel, you know, my fans have stuck with me for so long, and they've been so loyal. And
12:32I think that's a, literally a pot of gold to have loyal fans. I mean, people, you know, have the
12:38attention spans, myself included, uh, of, of a gnat. Like for people to stick with me for 21 years on a
12:45show, and we're playing the same character in the same show over and over and over, and to stick with
12:50all of us that are on that show, I just feel so dead into the fans, because they've given me an
12:55incredible run on Grey's. And so I wanted this show to really, I didn't want to disappoint them.
13:01And so the element of surprise for me, to not reveal what the show is about, and to not tell
13:08them that we were going to flip it, like, I wanted to entertain, you know, the socks off them. I owe
13:14them that they've been so loyal to me. And I really didn't want to disappoint. So I thought a nice twist
13:20would, you know, is kind of what I owe the fans.
13:25Coming from the twisty, turny show on television, of course, we should have expected it.
13:31They're Shauna Land's icon as a roller coaster.
13:34Right. We really should have expected it. But I think that a lot of fans were definitely, um,
13:40taken aback, enlightened, or, and certainly questioning themselves. And I have seen you
13:45talk about how you found yourself judging your character at one point and had to kind of step back.
13:51And I imagine that was particularly towards the end and maybe in the final episode. Um, I also want
13:57to quote you as summing up Christine in the end, she's either fully committed or fully full of shit.
14:03And I thought that was a great quote from you. And now that you've had some space from it,
14:08and I don't know if you've watched it yet. I don't know if you typically are always watching
14:12all the episodes that you do. I've seen you talk a little bit about that.
14:15I have not watched the first episode because we did a big, like at the premiere, we did a big,
14:23you know, screening with a whole audience. So I was sort of trapped there in between that I love.
14:30So I had to watch the first one, but I haven't seen any of the other episodes. It's just not,
14:34I don't know. It's just not, I don't need to hear myself more or see myself more. There's enough
14:41with me everywhere. Well, having filmed it and having thought about it, I'm curious
14:47where you've landed on her. And I guess what is some of the acting tricks that you went through
14:55in order to separate yourself? So you weren't judging her while you were playing her while
15:00the cameras were on. I think the answer to that is sort of how I started the conversation by saying
15:05like, just, I really think narcissists completely believe they're on bullshit. Like it's, it's,
15:12you can't even think about anyone else long enough to, to ask what your, the only way a narcissist can
15:20think of other people is how they're hurting them. You know, I did a deep dive on all the forms of
15:26narcissism. I read a lot about the different, the different fractions of narcissism. And I think that
15:33that's just, everything has to circle back to you. And so you can only relate to people in the way
15:41that they're affecting you in your life. So there, there isn't even any thought given to your own
15:47behavior because they're just so focused on, look, what you made me do. I didn't do this. You made me do
15:54it. So that mindset is, uh, was super helpful for me. I know for this show,
16:03you did not reach out to the people you were portraying. I'm curious, have you heard any
16:09sort of a response? This is, um, even Natalia, I was almost, I, you know, she was very vocal when
16:15the docuseries was airing, but we haven't really publicly heard from her, but have you gotten any
16:19murmurings on the backend? I haven't, I haven't heard anything. That's so interesting. Did you have
16:26any questions that if you did have Christine or Natalia in a room, you would have liked to ask or still
16:32thinking about? I don't, I don't think so really, because the truth is, is I, I do think that,
16:42you know, when things are happening in the moment and emotions are super high, again, I think
16:50people are, you know, also super reactive. And I think, I think recollections vary, you know,
16:58I've been watching this, um, Karen Reed trial on court TV. And, uh, it's interesting because it just
17:08is like, you say things in the moment, but then your recollection is different. And there's so much
17:16sort of trauma response when, when things are happening to make you react. It's like, how much
17:24is a trauma response, how much is how you would normally respond. You know, I think that we're
17:32all informed by our pasts, our past experiences, and we're all informed by our childhood, which is
17:39another, you know, really amazing piece about this show. What I love is that we touch on how everybody
17:46got there, you know, and, and, and everybody seems hell bent on doing better than their parents did
17:53with them. But yet somehow that doesn't happen. They are no better than their parents. And people
17:59have a tendency to judge their parents and criticize their parents for things they did, but it's, you
18:06know, it's, it's harder to walk a mile in their shoes. And, and I, and I liked that, you know, also the
18:13idea of that, that we're all very, very informed by our childhoods in our past experience, even if it
18:20isn't our childhood, if it's, if we go into a relationship and we've had a couple of bad
18:24relationships or abusive relationships, one thing that, you know, a new relationship does might
18:31trigger you and they didn't intend for you to receive it that way at all. But because of your past
18:37trauma, you receive it in a certain way and you react in a certain way. And then that person is going
18:42to get defensive and how could you think I did that? And it's just our past informs our present so
18:50much. And I think that's an interesting thing to play as an actor.
18:55The, all of this required that viewers stuck with the show to the end. They would have obviously had a
19:01very different opinion if they stopped at episode three or four and would seen, you know, everything
19:06you're describing in a very different light. As a producer, I'm sure you get feedback from Hulu.
19:12You know, we know it's a rating success. So maybe you have a little bit more data and you get to see
19:17that people really stuck with the show. But when you also see this social media conversation and like
19:22you described really surprising people who, as they hit that point in the show, how, I guess,
19:28how did that make you feel that people were not only watching, but really engaging with the story you
19:33guys were telling? Oh, it's just like, thank God. I mean, you know, if my first thing after Grey's
19:40was, you know, a total dump, it was, you know, it would have been pretty embarrassing.
19:48But, you know, listen, it happens. Like, it's really hard to make a show. It's really hard to
19:52make a, you know, content. And listen, this show is not perfect. You know, there's,
19:56if we had a drink over dinner, I'd tell you a million things that, you know, went wrong with it and
20:02shots I didn't like, or, you know, whatever. It's hard to make, it's hard to make a show.
20:07It's hard to make a streaming show on a network schedule. There's a lot of things about this,
20:12you know, it was interesting to me to work on a streaming show and see that it's the same pace
20:17and schedule as a network show, but yet it's meant to be much slower and more creative.
20:23So that was a whole piece. So, you know, and you, you just don't ever know in this business,
20:29what you're going to get, what the end result will be, how people will receive it. You can think
20:34it's great. The timing might be off. You don't know what's going on in the world. So anytime you
20:38have anything that's remotely successful in what we do, it's just a huge blessing and a win. And I
20:44was just so relieved. I was so relieved that, you know, that as many people watched it, I think even
20:50Hulu was surprised. I think they expected it to do well. I don't think they expected it to do as well
20:55as it did. Again, thank you to the fans. My fans are amazing. And Mark has great fans too. And Imogen
21:02is just such a lovely person. So, and she's done a great job with her Instagram and TikTok. She's
21:08really fantastic because she's of that age. So she gets it. And I think he's been so warm and gracious
21:15on that platform. So, you know, just super grateful because there's just no, you know, just because
21:23people love me as Meredith Gray and love me on Grays, it doesn't guarantee me anything moving
21:27forward. It doesn't, it doesn't guarantee that they'll follow me. It doesn't guarantee that they'll
21:31like me or believe me in any other character as anything else. And the fact that I was shown so
21:37much support, um, it's pretty meaningful for me. Typically when there's a rating success and there
21:44is runway to continue telling a story like here, they're coming to you, knocking down your door,
21:50asking about a season two, have any of those conversations started? I know Christine's story
21:55may be over, but Natalia's definitely has a lot of time left. Yeah. I mean, those conversations
22:02started happening weeks ago, like kind of, you know, a couple of days after episode eight dropped.
22:08Um, I couldn't actually believe how fast it happened, but yes. And we're, you know, there's
22:14two ideas. I think, you know, right now is yes. Christine Barnett story is over or my version
22:21of Christine Barnett story is, is over. And I think what we're trying to decipher is,
22:27is there a good enough reason to continue on with this story or do we pivot and do an anthology
22:32and do another story next season? And I'm not going to tell you the story that we're thinking about,
22:39but it's awesome. And I, that's what I really want to do. I want to do an anthology because I'm,
22:44I think that the story that we have lined up is so good, um, for specifically for the way we
22:52do this show and switch perspectives. Um, you know, so, so that's, that's my choice is to do an anthology.
23:00Um, so, you know, I'll, I'll, we'll have, we have a couple, um, more meetings about it.
23:07And ultimately, I guess it's, it's up to Hulu who pays the bills. Um,
23:11And an anthology could give you room to play a new character, presumably, right?
23:16I don't think I would be the lead in that show because I don't think I'm right for that character.
23:24So it would be more as a producer. Katie and I, uh, who wrote Good American Family,
23:29we're also, uh, we, we, we sold another idea. So, uh, to Hulu. So we're, we're developing that as
23:37well. So we've got a few different things that were bubbling. That's very exciting. I remember
23:44at the very beginning, Katie talked about how your casting was so key because they needed someone as
23:50beloved as you. So I think when you think of Ellen Pompeo, you think of beloved. Now we think of
23:55villain, I'm beloved. So would you, you have succeeded in disappearing into your roles and
24:01that are more doors opening for you even since the show? Definitely. Um, yes. And I'm very grateful
24:08and we are gonna, I'm just going to take my time and, and really, you know, just see which of the
24:18development, the stuff in development comes to the surface first and which one I'm feeling
24:23the best about. What, what excites me the most about the character. It's really just gotta be
24:29about the character. So, so we'll see. And with Grey's, I understand each year you sit down with
24:35your showrunner, Meg Marinus, and you kind of go over schedules and you figure out when we'll be
24:41seeing Meredith Grey. It seems we'll be seeing more of her yet. You're talking about more developmental
24:46projects. And I know you wanted to spend more time with your family. So how are you looking at
24:50balancing your acting, your producing, your family time? And we'll, and will we still see you as much
24:56on Grey's? I'm, you won't see me as much. Of course. Um, I do. I'm so lucky, um, that I'm in
25:03the position that I am with Grey's that they let me do. I do seven episodes. Um, and I really just
25:10threw a few days. I do a few days an episode and I only do seven episodes. So it's, I give Grey's,
25:17like, I think it's probably, I don't know, maybe 20, 25 days or 30 days a season. Um, it's like,
25:30it's three days an episode. Well, it's three days an episode and I do seven episodes. So it's roughly
25:36three or four days an episode and I do seven episodes. So I guess like 20 days, 25 days.
25:41Um, and I, they, they, they typically, they do like me to do the beginning, the middle and the end
25:50so that I've never gone for too long. So that's the only challenging piece to navigate is, but again,
25:58it's not that challenging because I, I do, you know, a few days in the beginning and then a few days in the,
26:05you know, in November and then I do a few days, a few more days in March. So it's never really that,
26:13that bad. I feel like six days in September, you know, six days in November and
26:19six days in March for the finale. It's, it's, it's pretty easy.
26:25And make it all work. Well, this was quite a cliffhanger finale. So we'll be very excited. We
26:29know that we know Meredith is alive, so we know she's returning. We don't know who else is alive.
26:34That was a big cliffhanger, but before I let you go, you know, we are talking about the success of
26:39this show and it's also in contention for the Emmys. And I did want to ask you how it would feel
26:45to be recognized by the industry, by the peers, if the show were nominated and recognized.
26:50Well, you know, it would definitely feel great at this stage. You know, I I've said before, and I,
26:58and I, and I really meant it that, that on Grey's, you know, you really sort of only get an
27:04opportunity to be nominated for things in your first few seasons. And so that time had clearly
27:09passed and I, I didn't crave that kind of recognition. I craved the sort of financial and
27:16job security situation more than I did critical accolades. That's why I stayed on the show because,
27:24you know, you know, you're on a show season 10, you're never getting nominated for anything
27:28except the people's choice, which I've been so lucky to get a bunch of those. But so, so had I
27:35been a sort of critic, a critically acclaimed, you know, chasing that I wouldn't have stayed on Grey's
27:42for so long. So it wasn't always the most important thing to me, but now that I'm doing something new,
27:48I think that it would, it would definitely probably help me, um, sort of in this new chapter of, of
27:56this next chapter of my story, you know, moving on from Grey's doing other roles. I think it's okay
28:04to like want a little trophy now. I think so too. I think so too. Thank you so much. I hope you get
28:12that trophy and thank you for joining us with THR Presents. Goodbye. Bye.
Be the first to comment