00:00I really want there to be a cultural shift in knowing that the arts are there.
00:05Just because you're not on Broadway doesn't mean you're not an artist.
00:08Laura Linney.
00:09Yes.
00:09Lovely to see you.
00:11Lovely to meet you.
00:12An absolute pleasure.
00:12I've got to, before we start off, I mean, The Truman Show, Love Actually is Squid and the Whale,
00:18John Adams, I love John Adams.
00:20Oh, thank you.
00:20You have entertained me in profound ways over the years.
00:23Oh, I'm so glad.
00:23So I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance.
00:26Same here.
00:27Let's, in fact, out of interest, what's the thing that hits the most?
00:30You know, when you're at a bus stop, if you're ever at a bus stop, train station, airports,
00:34what's the kind of thing that people want to come up and talk to you about?
00:36Well, the thing that's nice is that I never know what it's going to be.
00:38You know, it really depends.
00:41It's always surprising.
00:42It could be one of the things that you mentioned.
00:43It could be something else.
00:44It's always, it's never the same thing.
00:47And I'm proud of that.
00:48Yeah.
00:49I bet when you've got that many things, that kind of would mean a lot.
00:52I mean, in this country, Love Actually, people are obsessed with that movie.
00:55But I could talk about The Squid and the Whale for days.
00:57But let's talk about American classics, shall we?
01:00Watched it all.
01:01Oh, you did?
01:02Watched it all.
01:02Worth it for the freeze frame in episode 10.
01:04Which is a very satisfying, like, way to round up the series.
01:08Yes, yes.
01:08I won't give too much away.
01:10The show is a love letter about theatre, as well as how, well, Kevin Kline is ageing.
01:16Good God.
01:16Yeah.
01:17But you are a kind of multiple Tony Award nominee.
01:21I think your father was quite a prolific playwright as well.
01:24Yes.
01:24So I wondered what theatre has meant to you, why it's been important in your career and important
01:30in the kind of entertainment landscape.
01:31Well, for me, it's been everything.
01:33I mean, it's where I've learned every valuable lesson of life is in the theatre.
01:37You know, it's sort of taught me how to be a good human being.
01:39And it's taught me how to think.
01:41And it's taught me how to sit in discomfort and work my way through it.
01:45It's taught me about discipline and understanding and interpretation and problem solving and
01:51working with others.
01:52It's been the portal to everything for me.
01:54So I'm one of the really lucky people who got there early.
01:59But it is never too late.
02:02And the theatre and the arts are there for everyone.
02:05And it is a resource that is really untapped in people's daily lives.
02:09And I hope that in some small way, the show will point people towards the idea of, oh,
02:16maybe our community might need a theatre.
02:18I watched it and I did sit there and think, I'd love to do some local theatre.
02:22Good.
02:22You think of it as sort of like, oh, local theatre.
02:24Why would I want to do that?
02:25No, that's the greatest.
02:26This would be so fun.
02:27It's what the theatre is for.
02:28The theatre is not for an elitist experience.
02:31It's not.
02:32It's not to go pay way too much money to go watch people from television.
02:36I mean, that's fun and that's great.
02:38But the arts are for everyone.
02:41And the theatre is for everyone.
02:43I do remember watching some theatre, more local theatre and smaller theatre when I was younger.
02:47And you see some people in there, you're like, wow, this person's great.
02:49Yeah.
02:49It's not like it's going to be.
02:50And it could be your plumber.
02:51Yeah, exactly.
02:52You know?
02:53Exactly.
02:53Is it harder to, I always hear that, it's harder to act on stage in a way than on camera
02:58because of the extra pressures on you.
03:01I know they're kind of different things.
03:02But I wonder, is it harder to act on stage whilst on camera?
03:06That's a good question.
03:07The scenes in the last episode are quite long.
03:08I feel like I'm watching theatre.
03:09It's tricky.
03:10But there's a camera in front of your face.
03:11That's right.
03:12So it's tricky.
03:13So, you know, when you're on stage, there is an adjustment that happens physically, vocally
03:16so that you fill the space.
03:18And when you're filming, you have to, you don't alter it, you just turn it down a little bit.
03:24So if the intimacy is the same and the power is the same, but you can't overplay it or else
03:32it will just blast you on camera.
03:34So it was a little tricky.
03:35I think it came across really well because it did feel like I was watching theatre at the same time.
03:40It is very engrossing.
03:42And finally, your character, Kristen, she is somebody who's clearly got an awful lot of talent and a passion and
03:49a background in this thing,
03:50but has kind of taken another route and has been incredibly successful.
03:53being a mother is a mayor.
03:56But it made me wonder, in the making of this, did it make you look back through your career and
04:01think about what path not taken there may have been for you?
04:05If you were in a situation now where you were just doing a bit of local theatre and had taken
04:09a different route, what kind of other passions might have you chased?
04:12It made me just think how very fortunate I am.
04:15You know, I know a lot of people.
04:17I know many, many people who started in the arts and then for whatever reason, they either became disinterested
04:22or it didn't work out or they had to go make a living and they couldn't afford to continue it.
04:26You know, they sort of drifted away from the arts.
04:28And I think that's a very unfortunate thing to happen to anyone and there is a way to keep the
04:36arts in your life on a daily basis.
04:38And I think for particularly the people who have a pension and a love for the arts so much that
04:43then sort of gets beaten out of them for whatever reason, that's a part of them that never really recovers.
04:49And I really want there to be a cultural shift in knowing that the arts are there.
04:56Just because you're not on Broadway doesn't mean you're not an artist.
04:59Well, I think, especially in this country, if they've got some more public funding, I think they could revive that.
05:05It used to be a lot of that back in the day.
05:07People like Pete Postlethwaite would come through these very small companies.
05:09That's right.
05:09That's what, well, like Ian McKellen did that wonderful thing of going through 80, you know, on his 80th birthday,
05:14went through 80 theatres across this country.
05:16Yeah, yeah.
05:17I mean, that's spectacular.
05:19Well, let's keep fighting the good fight.
05:20And I'm very glad that you did take this path because now I get to re-watch John Adams every
05:25couple of years and it's always great.
05:27Lovely to meet you.
05:28Have a lovely time in London.
05:29And I'll catch you down the line.
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