00:00I'm always so flattered and honored
00:02when people who are currently doing a Broadway show
00:03come to this show because you really only have
00:06the one day off a week,
00:07and yet you've chosen to spend your Monday here.
00:09Yeah, I think to be on Broadway,
00:11you just have to give up having any days off.
00:12Yeah. Just forget it.
00:14Has it been daunting?
00:16Because obviously you've done film and television.
00:17Not only is the work so different,
00:19but the schedule is so different.
00:20I think that being, you know,
00:24the lead of a Broadway play is hands down
00:26the hardest job in show business.
00:28I believe it. But incredibly satisfying.
00:30You are, the show, you play a socialite in D.C.
00:33This is a very topical show who is trying to get her husband
00:37a job as a judge in the Trump administration
00:39via blackmail. So...
00:41Via blackmail. Yeah.
00:43Of course. Of course. Why not?
00:44What else are you going to use?
00:45Guys, there's maybe some shady stuff happening in D.C.
00:48The egalitarian system, we're done with it.
00:51We're just pure nepotism, pure blackmail.
00:53So, but you and I had something similar,
00:55which is we obviously are both talking about the world
00:59in our jobs, so it's not really escapism.
01:01Are you finding it, is it cathartic to talk about Trump,
01:03or is it, do you find it overwhelming?
01:07Well, I would say overwhelming as an American
01:10and as a patriot.
01:11Yeah.
01:12But as an artist, it's a lot of fun.
01:18But, no, it's, I was involved with a play
01:21when it was written about a Washington couple
01:23and sort of with a bedroom mischief.
01:25She's a very naughty, liberated woman that I play.
01:28But, and then Trump was elected
01:30while we were developing the play.
01:32So, naturally, you know, the world changed,
01:34and it became this kind of, it's kind of like,
01:37one person described it as like a rock concert, almost,
01:41because the audience is getting such a sort of, like,
01:44a relief of laughter and sort of bitter irony,
01:48and, you know, they kind of let loose.
01:50You do have something that's...
01:52Like they do here. Yeah, exactly.
01:54Something is very risky, though,
01:55because plays, we can change,
01:59based on the news every day, what we write.
02:01You guys have a play that's written.
02:02John Kelly is mentioned a lot in the show.
02:0414 times. 14 times.
02:05Oh, yeah.
02:06And I just had a count done just a couple weeks ago.
02:10But 14 times a day, I feel as though we hear rumors
02:12that he's about to be fired.
02:14It's true. What would happen...
02:14Or possibly say enough is enough.
02:17Yeah, or leave, exactly.
02:18We should give him the power to make his own choices.
02:20Yeah. I mean, definitely.
02:22What have you guys discussed?
02:24What would happen if that changed?
02:27There was some e-mails went around the last few weeks
02:30where I was kind of like, contingency plan, please,
02:33because the play will have to pivot.
02:36Yeah, absolutely.
02:37I wrote a lengthy play about Anthony Scaramucci.
02:39And it just didn't work out.
02:41Actually, Bo Willeman said to me when we were in,
02:44before rehearsal, he was like,
02:45I was really looking forward to making you say,
02:47Scaramucci, Scaramucci, Scaramucci.
02:48Yeah, Scaramucci far more fun to say, but, yeah.
02:53So I wanted to ask about this.
02:55You grew up, you had a very interesting upbringing.
02:58And now I have a two-year-old, and we spent a lot of time,
03:01my wife and I, talking about the things you talk about
03:03in front of your child, intelligent conversation.
03:06Your father was a Buddhist scholar.
03:09So was the conversation around your dinner table growing up,
03:12was it incredibly, like, not just enlightened,
03:15but intellectually superior to the point...
03:17It was usually like, eat your dinner.
03:18Oh, wow.
03:19That does not seem in line with food and food.
03:21Have your vegetables.
03:22Yeah.
03:23No, but, well, you know,
03:26growing up in an academic environment,
03:29it's going to be challenging.
03:31It's good for you to be prepared
03:32for the hard-hitting brains of Hollywood.
03:35But, you know, all that hard work.
03:42But, no, it was a good, good debate skills.
03:47I think my dad had been, like,
03:49captain of the debate team when he went to school.
03:51I think that's very helpful.
03:52I think arguing is the one skill that's helpful.
03:55Follow the ball, yeah.
03:56It's helpful in all fields.
03:58You...
03:59Well, thinking in general, actually.
04:00Thinking in general is helpful, yeah.
04:02But now, did you have, like, sort of escapism things
04:05that you liked as a kid?
04:06I went to Hollywood.
04:07Yeah, there you go.
04:09You got to meet...
04:10I escaped all the way.
04:11You got to meet another scholar backstage,
04:13and this is a really exciting...
04:14Yes, a woman who I love.
04:15A woman you love. There's Dr. Ruth.
04:17That's very...
04:18Dr. Ruth, that's my favorite.
04:19And, uh...
04:19Not our first meeting, though.
04:21And I got to be honest,
04:22I had thought you were taller than her.
04:26Yeah, you know, she grew.
04:28Yeah, she grew.
04:30How is that?
04:31I mean, that must be one of the fun things
04:32of doing a Broadway show is the people that come backstage.
04:34Yes, really great.
04:35Seeing great people, including, like,
04:37distant family and relatives, like, that you wouldn't have met
04:41that, like, come and see your player.
04:43Oh, they're just lying to get backstage.
04:44I'm your cousin.
04:45No, it's been on a family level, actually.
04:48It's been really fun.
04:48That's great.
04:49Yeah, I've gotten to meet some relatives
04:51from down south that I never grew up with.
04:54But Dr. Ruth is a gem.
04:56And, I mean, my character is so sexually promiscuous and naughty.
05:00She really appreciated her.
05:02Oh, that's good.
05:03Does she have any notes, or did it all ring true to Dr. Ruth?
05:06I was doing really well with it.
05:08Oh, that's great.
05:09Well, that's the highest craze you can get.
05:10That really was good.
05:12Hey, congratulations so much on the show.
05:14It's wonderful for doing it.
05:15I also want to say you had a wonderful piece
05:17in the New York Times about your experiences
05:18with Harvey Weinstein on the set of Kill Bill.
05:22You know, I think it's been so wonderful
05:23how people are speaking out about their experiences
05:26in this moment we're having right now.
05:27And I just wanted to thank you for doing that as well.
05:29Well, you've got to be a citizen,
05:31and you can't leave people alone holding
05:32the bag of truth by themselves.
05:34Well, that's very...I'm glad.
05:38Um, but, uh...
05:42Yeah.
05:43There's no one I wish to get due process more than him.
05:47Yeah. Well, due process is a beautiful thing.
05:49Thank you so much for being here.
05:50Such a pleasure.
05:51We appreciate that.
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