00:00How do you feel like the meetings went today?
00:02Well, it's impossible to know.
00:04We've all done a lot of meetings in Hollywood too.
00:06You leave and you think, my God, they love me.
00:08They heard everything I said and they're going to give me a job tomorrow morning.
00:10So we went into rooms where they were receptive because we made great points
00:14about how the fiscal return on investment but also the kind of return for community
00:20and in every way how the arts benefit society in general and the individuals who take part.
00:25Whether that will translate to them voting to keep this organization that's been around
00:29and done such magnificent work, we don't know.
00:32It's a very tumultuous time in Hollywood, in Washington,
00:37and every organization and every institution is under threat.
00:41But this is such a minuscule budget and it has such a huge bang for its buck,
00:45it would seem to be insane to threaten it or do away with it,
00:49but there are more insane things going on.
00:51You've done this before coming here to Washington to advocate for funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
00:56How did your experience under this administration compare to past experiences you've had here?
01:01Well, I've been here when President Obama was in charge, when President Biden was in charge.
01:05I was here during the first Trump administration.
01:07And there's never been a time when so many people have lost their jobs,
01:10when even in the Republican rooms people were so uncertain about what their own party's policy and stand would be on things.
01:18So you can feel the insecurity and the uncertainty in the air,
01:22what people's mission has changed from room to room.
01:25We were told very clearly in one room the most important, the most effective way we could advocate
01:31by telling Republicans what it was the money was spent on,
01:34that it was for things that they would agree with and that was endorsing the values and traditions that they would support.
01:40But in the next room we were told, make sure that people understand that you raise $9 for every dollar of public subsidy.
01:47So they're not even clear on what it is that they stand for.
01:51It's a very different and scary time in the world and it's a very different and scary time inside the bubble that we're in
01:56where we're trying to keep arts funding going.
01:58What's your biggest takeaway from today?
02:00Well, the biggest takeaway is you do what you can do.
02:04We're all people who are using our privilege, I guess, and our access to advocate as best we can
02:10and then you have to let go of the results because otherwise you drive yourself mad.
02:13And why is now such an important time to advocate for funding for the National Endowment for the Arts?
02:18Well, now is not any more important time than previously, it's just that it's never been so under threat.
02:23Two years ago and a year ago there was an amendment proposed to zero out the budget entirely.
02:29It was massively defeated with the help of many Republicans, up to 90 Republicans, I think 89 Republicans.
02:34They were not under orders from the White House.
02:36There is a climate at the moment, whatever order comes from the White House,
02:39everybody falls in line because they're scared they're going to be primary down to their job.
02:42So the reason it's important now is it's never been as under threat.
02:47And I have to ask, we're here in Washington, D.C., but we are the Hollywood Reporter
02:50and the White Lotus was all anybody was talking about for the weeks that it was airing.
02:55What was the fan response to the finale like for you?
02:58Well, the fan response is still going on. People keep coming up to me saying,
03:00oh, I just saw the last episode yesterday.
03:02Of course, it was seen by an awful lot of people on HBO,
03:04but it's being seen by an awful lot more people on Macs in this country and around the world.
03:09So the response is still going on.
03:12I tell you what actually most people have said to me, they want to follow up.
03:16They want to follow the Ratliff family.
03:17I think they want to see Victoria get her first job, which she has to get her hands dirty.
03:20And they want to know whether I think I'm going to get a pardon from my friend the president.
03:24And for you, you're very busy right now. You also have another movie coming out next month, right?
03:30Two movies coming out in the next two weeks and one coming out in England, a different one.
03:33So I had three films coming out. I'm trying to be honorable and ethical and publicize them all
03:37and split my time like a good parent.
03:41You know, I like them all for very different reasons.
03:43There's two coming out in America. One's called Words of War.
03:45It's appropriate that it's the White House Correspondents' Dinner tomorrow night
03:48because it celebrates a spectacularly powerful woman, Anna Politzkovaia,
03:53who was a journalist who was the first and maybe the only person who spoke the truth to Putin,
03:57about Putin to the Russian people and told them that they had elected a gangster
04:01and that he'd made up the reasons to invade Chechnya,
04:03that she went there and she found mass graves and mass rape
04:06and that things were being done in their name and she lost her life for the privilege.
04:10And then there's a very different film called Juliet and Romeo,
04:13which is an original musical based on the source material for Romeo and Juliet,
04:16meaning the story is different with some spectacular singers in it and original songs.
04:20And the great news for the public is that I don't sing in it.
04:23And I also have to ask, because you brought it up, could we see you come back?
04:26in a future episode or a future season of The White Lotus?
04:29Could we get more of The Ratliff Family?
04:31You know, if you're asking me would I come back if Mike White wrote me a part,
04:35I would act Mike White's shopping list in dinner theater.
04:37So it's up to Mike and I think he's probably more original than revisiting The Ratliff Family,
04:42but if he wants to, I think it's a terrific idea.
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