- 5 minutes ago
Carrie Coon ('The Gilded Age'), Chase Infiniti ('The Testaments'), Claire Danes ('The Beast in Me'), Kerry Washington ('Imperfect Women'), Rhea Seehorn ('Pluribus') and Sarah Pidgeon ('Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette') join THR in our Drama Actress Roundtable.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:00Every time you play a role, you want it to be kind of a human just up a tree with
00:00:07wolves barking at them, you know, like an everyday person in an extraordinary circumstance.
00:00:14And, you know, maybe anxiety is part of that, but, you know, there should be something magnified about it.
00:00:19I mean, you want it to be grounded, but yeah.
00:00:22There have to be stakes.
00:00:22Yeah.
00:01:03Welcome to the Hollywood Reporter Drama Actress Roundtable.
00:01:07I'm your host, Mikey O'Connell, and I am so excited for this crew.
00:01:11Yay!
00:01:13Chase.
00:01:14Oh, God.
00:01:14You're starting with me.
00:01:16Great.
00:01:17You very famously just endured a six-month audition for one battle after another.
00:01:22Oh, yes, yes, yes.
00:01:24Which got me thinking.
00:01:24It was a six-month audition?
00:01:26Yeah, it was.
00:01:27What is the longest and hardest anyone has ever worked to get a job, whether they booked it or not?
00:01:34Well, there's a Leo connection.
00:01:37I auditioned many times for Romeo and Juliet.
00:01:39You did?
00:01:40There was a pretty protracted waiting period before I heard that I didn't back up a job.
00:01:47And my mouth was full of canker sores.
00:01:50I still remember I had, like, ulcers.
00:01:52And my English husband calls them ulcers.
00:01:54But, yeah, like, I couldn't talk because I was so stressed from the anticipation.
00:01:58But, yeah.
00:01:59So I remember, that's the first thing that comes to mind.
00:02:01But it might be because of the Leo thing.
00:02:03Leo just has a hard time choosing.
00:02:05He needs his time.
00:02:06No, no.
00:02:07Yeah, I don't know.
00:02:08Anyway.
00:02:08Yeah, that was...
00:02:09Have you had more canker sores?
00:02:10Is that something that happens often?
00:02:11That was the most extreme.
00:02:13It's one of the worst.
00:02:14There is interesting.
00:02:16No, yes.
00:02:16When I run down, certain things happen.
00:02:18And that's one of the worst.
00:02:19Yeah, yeah.
00:02:19Okay.
00:02:19Let me speak to it.
00:02:20Anybody else?
00:02:20I mean, Better Call Saul was a long process.
00:02:23And it was multiple different sides, which is pretty normal now.
00:02:27But, like, the fake sides because they don't want to put the scripts out.
00:02:30But every time you had a callback, those were not the ones you had before and still not the real
00:02:34script.
00:02:34It was a new character.
00:02:36Oh, confusing.
00:02:37Which was actually kind of fun because it was Bialy Thomas casting and they're lovely about, like, really letting you
00:02:41perform.
00:02:42But I just thought of it.
00:02:43I'm sure there are other better examples.
00:02:45Were you actually in the room when you auditioned?
00:02:47Because now everybody's, you know...
00:02:49In the room with them.
00:02:50Yes.
00:02:51But Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould were already scouting locations.
00:02:55So it wasn't until the final rounds that I was in the room with them.
00:02:59But the reason I thought of it, there was a long period of time before I found out if I
00:03:04got it.
00:03:04And I actually thought, I guess I didn't.
00:03:06Right, right.
00:03:07And it had come down to five for the screen test.
00:03:09And I didn't get canker swords.
00:03:10But I had tried to do my best to let it go.
00:03:14But secretly, you have not let it go.
00:03:15And my agent had called me while I was walking in Venice going somewhere.
00:03:20And I lost it.
00:03:21Like, just started bawling, crying in public.
00:03:24I'm so excited.
00:03:25Were you by yourself?
00:03:26No, I was with my partner, Graham.
00:03:28And we were going to my birthday dinner.
00:03:31It was like the day after my birthday.
00:03:32Happy birthday to you.
00:03:34What a gift.
00:03:35What a gift.
00:03:36She was like really quickly.
00:03:37She goes, I just need to tell you something really fast.
00:03:38So she's like, it's not public yet.
00:03:40So you can't tell anyone.
00:03:41I was like, well, my husband's here.
00:03:43He can hear you.
00:03:43And she was like, no, no, that's fine.
00:03:44I just mean like, don't post it.
00:03:46They want to be the first people to post it.
00:03:48And also, when they post it, it's going to be a different name.
00:03:51And just go along with that.
00:03:53Obviously, she meant character name.
00:03:55I thought they meant, I needed to change my name.
00:03:58And I was like, oh, what's my name?
00:04:01And she was like, Beth.
00:04:02And I was like, okay, I'll be Beth.
00:04:05Graham was like, you're not changing your name.
00:04:07I was like, you don't understand show business.
00:04:09Shut up.
00:04:10I lost, but yeah.
00:04:12It took me a full 48 hours to find out that I didn't need to change my own name.
00:04:15Oh, my gosh.
00:04:17Wow.
00:04:18That's good.
00:04:18That's crazy.
00:04:19That's really good.
00:04:19Anybody else long audition?
00:04:20Well, I feel like if I'm not getting something, I usually find out pretty quickly.
00:04:25I haven't really had this protracted, like, you know, if it goes on for a long time.
00:04:29I feel like I've been lucky, actually.
00:04:31I haven't had a six-month audition process.
00:04:34What do you even do for six months?
00:04:36Other stuff.
00:04:36Other stuff.
00:04:37You stay busy.
00:04:38You have to.
00:04:39Because it kind of works.
00:04:40That's what you do.
00:04:42If you're a real actor.
00:04:43It was like, at first it was once a month, and then it kind of started to be like once
00:04:47a week, and I would go in for like movement auditions or like karate ones or just more
00:04:52chemistry reads with Leo and Regina or camera tests and just testing out to see like what
00:04:58he also wanted for the film, too.
00:05:00Like it was kind of like a...
00:05:01Were there other actresses in that part, like doing the six-month process as well, or do
00:05:05you know?
00:05:06I think so.
00:05:07I mean, I had my specific times that I was supposed to go in, so I assume that there
00:05:13was other people.
00:05:14I don't know how many other, but I know that there was other people.
00:05:18Wow, wow, wow.
00:05:19Yeah, I had a really long process for Scandal.
00:05:22Really?
00:05:22Yeah, and because it started out with a meeting, I was sort of at a place in my career where
00:05:26they thought it would be respectful if I met with Shonda first, and so we met, but then
00:05:31I had to read as well.
00:05:33And I mean, I think I had maybe four or five auditions until the screen test.
00:05:38Wow.
00:05:38Again, who was in the room when you were auditioning?
00:05:41Well, someone who you really know very well, Linda Lowy.
00:05:46Oh, yes, Linda!
00:05:47I mean, from the way...
00:05:49Who put you in my so-called life.
00:05:51She did all of Shonda's shows.
00:05:53She did Grey's and she did Scandal.
00:05:54So Linda Lowy was there, and Betsy, who's Shonda's producing partner, and Shonda.
00:05:58So in my final, I think it also came down to four or five of us for the final screen
00:06:03test.
00:06:03But I think part of why it took so long was because there's been a lot of talk about this,
00:06:08but when Scandal aired, it had been almost 40 years since a black woman had led a network
00:06:12drama, and so everybody wanted to audition, and God bless Shonda.
00:06:17She was like, then everyone will audition, and so she's like read everybody.
00:06:22So it was a really long process.
00:06:25And I was also with my partner, with my now husband, Nnamdi.
00:06:29We were in Manhattan Beach, sitting at a...
00:06:32It's not a Mexican restaurant anymore, but we were...
00:06:34I remember eating tortillas at the table, and my phone ringing, and being terrified to
00:06:38pick it up, and then getting the call, and being like, oh my God.
00:06:42Some of those roles where you're like, they live in you, and you want them so badly, because
00:06:46you'll be like, oh.
00:06:47But you know other girls feel that way, too.
00:06:50Exactly.
00:06:50You're like, there's somebody else out there who knows that this is hers, too.
00:06:53Yeah.
00:06:54Yep.
00:06:55All right.
00:06:55When I was auditioning for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in Chicago, it was not a long
00:06:59process, but I will say that all the women who were called back, we all went out to lunch.
00:07:03And that's just the kind of community it was, and that's what I love about the theatrical
00:07:08community, is it's super supportive.
00:07:09In Chicago, nobody was getting famous, you know?
00:07:11And I feel like I haven't had that experience in TV and film, because I came to it so late,
00:07:15and I'm always just like getting called in at the last minute.
00:07:18You know what I mean?
00:07:19Sure.
00:07:19Because they need somebody to fill in something, and I wasn't actually in the first round of
00:07:23consideration, because I just, my career started later, that's all.
00:07:25What I was going to say is that I remember when I was like a kid, you know, literally rollerblading
00:07:31from audition to audition.
00:07:33And I would just, the only reason I still know my social security number is because I had
00:07:37to give it every time I went to an audition.
00:07:39But there was this same pool of actors, of girls, yes.
00:07:43And it was actually very comforting, like, we were kind of pals, we'd be like, hey, what's
00:07:48that, you know?
00:07:48There was something very, I don't know, it did not feel competitive, it actually felt
00:07:55kind of reassuring to see them.
00:07:57That was my experience, but, and it's real, I mean.
00:08:00Yes, yes.
00:08:00Yeah.
00:08:01I do think about that in this new era of not going into audition, because there was so
00:08:06much bonding that happened in those waiting rooms.
00:08:08There are relationships I have with actresses who I've never worked with, but just like
00:08:12Regina, both Reginas, where like, you know, you just see everybody through the years in
00:08:17those rooms.
00:08:18People used to bring their kids, they'd bring their kids to the castings of Chicago, we'd
00:08:21all watch people's kids when they went in, you know?
00:08:23That's beautiful.
00:08:24Love that.
00:08:24And I miss that, and also I miss the power of the casting director.
00:08:27Because now it's like a tape farm.
00:08:29I know.
00:08:29And these women, especially women, I mean, there were men too, but in my life it was all women.
00:08:33I never, I wouldn't have a career without casting directors advocating for me, watching
00:08:37my tape.
00:08:39My getting cast in Gone Girl was a tape I made in Chicago.
00:08:42I was like, no one's going to watch this tape.
00:08:44And she watched my tape.
00:08:45You're so good in Gone Girl.
00:08:47You're so good.
00:08:47I was not fishing, but I'll take it.
00:08:51But I was like, no one's going to see this tape, you know what I mean?
00:08:53And so like that, the power they have to like go see theater and discover young actors
00:08:57and bring them into that process, I just like, it breaks my heart that we don't have
00:09:01the same, and yet we're honoring them now too.
00:09:03Claire, a critic recently referred to you as, and this was in a very praising piece,
00:09:08as our cultural avatar for anxiety.
00:09:12Uh-huh.
00:09:13Given the through line of my so-called life and homeland and fleshmen and now the beast
00:09:18of me.
00:09:19What did you, what did you think of that take?
00:09:21Like, I mean, it feels like a pretty dominant feeling in general for humans.
00:09:27So, um, uh, uh, but yeah, I mean, um, I hope that I've, I've offered other feelings along
00:09:36the way.
00:09:37Um, uh.
00:09:39You have.
00:09:41I do think that we're living in a kind of acutely anxious time.
00:09:45Um, so maybe he was inclined to see it through that particular lens of this particular moment.
00:09:53Um, I mean, beyond that, I don't know.
00:09:57I mean, I want performances to feel alive.
00:09:59Um, and maybe that means a little stressful too.
00:10:03Has anyone else ever had a sort of like avatar or label hoisted on them?
00:10:08Um, I really like that one that, because I think there is something, as you mentioned,
00:10:16so human about anxiety.
00:10:18And I think it's really tapping into your ability to always bring so much humanity to
00:10:24the roles that you play.
00:10:25Thanks, Mom.
00:10:26Yeah.
00:10:26So it's really special.
00:10:27Your buddy.
00:10:28It's really special.
00:10:29My husband said that somebody told him that, but, um, every time you play a role, you want
00:10:34it to be kind of a human, just up a tree with wolves barking at them, you know, like an
00:10:42everyday person in an extraordinary circumstance.
00:10:46And, um, you know, maybe anxiety is part of that, but, you know, there should be something
00:10:50magnified about it.
00:10:52I mean, you want it to be grounded, but yeah.
00:10:54You have to be staying.
00:10:55Yeah.
00:10:55Yes.
00:10:56That's right.
00:10:56We're so lucky that we get to step into, once you're able to take on roles like these,
00:11:02you're stepping into someone's life at a moment that really matters to them.
00:11:06And so we get to play them, to be them in the most important moments in their lives when
00:11:12the world is transforming and they're transforming.
00:11:16And that's a privilege.
00:11:18It's almost, I sometimes feel like it's, it can be like living through reincarnation in
00:11:22this lifetime because we get to learn these lessons from people at their, when the stakes
00:11:26are highest in their life.
00:11:27And then we learn those lessons and we embody that journey and then we put them down and
00:11:31we take on another one.
00:11:32Like most people get that once in their lifetime, but we get to do that again and again.
00:11:36I have to say the few times, very few times where I have been in a role where you were
00:11:40asked to play, and it usually was where you're being asked to play the girlfriend of someone
00:11:45interesting, but you're not interesting.
00:11:48Playing just utter peace and contentment is super hard.
00:11:51It's like the worst.
00:11:53Just doing nothing, like it sucks.
00:11:55I was kind of like, yeah, I used to get a lot of notes from the director.
00:11:58I'm like, so there's this thing you're doing, which is making me wonder about the character.
00:12:01Can you not do that?
00:12:02And I was like, sorry, could you just sit?
00:12:05Can you just be an accessory?
00:12:07Yeah.
00:12:07Yeah.
00:12:08We're going to change your dress so it matches the drapes.
00:12:10Yeah, exactly.
00:12:11If you just blend in.
00:12:12Exactly.
00:12:13Yeah.
00:12:13Wow.
00:12:14I used to get annoyed at, they were not reviews about me, although I'm sure some of them
00:12:17were, but it's changed some, but I, it bugs me when there'll be a male and female
00:12:24actor in something and they're both brilliant and they will use qualitative, like subjective
00:12:29personality descriptions for the female's performance sometimes of like, she just has
00:12:33something.
00:12:34She's just effervescent.
00:12:35She's just quirky.
00:12:36And then the males will be craft-based compliments of their actual talent.
00:12:42And that used to bug me.
00:12:43That's a really powerful observation.
00:12:45I'm going to start looking for that.
00:12:47Yeah.
00:12:47Do you think it's changed?
00:12:48I think it has changed some.
00:12:50And there's also, and she's really attractive, don't worry.
00:12:53Yes.
00:12:54She's cute.
00:12:55She's really pretty.
00:12:56She's brilliant, but also, yeah.
00:12:58So you'll want to make out with that shit.
00:13:00So you'll want to watch.
00:13:00You'll want to watch.
00:13:02Pretty without knowing it.
00:13:03Yeah.
00:13:03That's been a lot of times.
00:13:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:13:05Effortless.
00:13:06Rae, you did sitcoms for a long time.
00:13:08I did, yeah.
00:13:08And I'm going to read this verbatim because it really tickled me.
00:13:11You were describing the kind of roles that you played and you likened it to being the
00:13:16tuba in an otherwise very high note symphony.
00:13:19I walk across the back of the stage going oompa-doompa, give a deadpan look, and exit.
00:13:26That's very vivid.
00:13:28When did you realize that that is how you'd been typecast?
00:13:33First of all, I just kept trying to base any role I could on Bea Arthur.
00:13:38Sure.
00:13:39Because she really was brilliant.
00:13:41But when I was doing theater, I did comedy and drama and a lot of different types of
00:13:49roles within that.
00:13:50But the first cast from a videotape, well, brought out for the screen test, but yes, it was from
00:13:54videotape that some casting director watched.
00:13:56Thank God.
00:13:58But the register of my voice, the fact that even in like when you just meet me in a room
00:14:04that I take up space and have some gravity to me made people constantly cast me as the
00:14:09sort of sarcastic, more cynical, negative person.
00:14:13And so I was constantly in these roles where there's a lot of, I also look at stuff a lot
00:14:20thinking about the music, what the rhythm is of the person I'm playing versus the rhythm
00:14:24of the thing they're in, and they'll do those match or not.
00:14:27And so, yeah, it would be a lot of like flutes and very funny, very funny pitter-patter.
00:14:31And my character would just have like, like Maude, like Bea Arthur.
00:14:35She would just have like a deadpan look, just take all the air out of the room, and like
00:14:39that would be the joke.
00:14:40And so, yeah, I was the tuba often, but I loved it.
00:14:43Carrie, earlier in your career, you adopted a persona called Red Carpet Carrie.
00:14:47Oh, God.
00:14:47Yeah.
00:14:48You may just start finishing with us today.
00:14:50Can you believe that?
00:14:52No, I feel like this is an important lesson.
00:14:54Well, it came about because there was a particular project that I was auditioning for that it
00:15:00was one of those like, oh, I want this so badly.
00:15:03It lives inside me.
00:15:04I love this character.
00:15:05And in the end, it wound up going to another actress.
00:15:08And when I was talking about it with my team and sort of other people that I respect in
00:15:12the business, there was this idea.
00:15:16I don't even want to reinforce this idea and put it out there.
00:15:18But there was an idea that like she was more of an it girl.
00:15:22She was like utilizing her personal marketing in a way that gave her more leverage in this
00:15:29moment for this project.
00:15:31And I started to ask myself if I didn't want to prioritize marketing over craft, but I started
00:15:41asking myself if I was hiding and if I needed to challenge myself to step forward into hair
00:15:48and makeup and fashion in a different way.
00:15:50If that could benefit me and if there's a way I could do it where I could still feel authentic
00:15:54and true to myself.
00:15:56And so I would be in these situations sometimes on a carpet and feel like, ah, like terrified
00:16:02of it.
00:16:03And I just thought like, okay, there has to be some other version of me that's not exactly
00:16:07me, but like an elevated me.
00:16:10I think it's like my daughter, how she wakes up in the morning.
00:16:12But like a confident version of me that I could just put on on a red carpet and not have
00:16:18to be so vulnerable.
00:16:21So like, still me, but I don't want to say elevated, but yeah, like to give myself a version
00:16:27of myself that wasn't entirely vulnerable and naked so that I could step into and show
00:16:32up in a different way.
00:16:33So that was kind of how I started thinking about it.
00:16:36You know what I do?
00:16:37And then I discovered that Robert De Niro does this too because I was saying, I hum.
00:16:43And he makes fun of me all the time because I go, because you naturally smile.
00:16:47And you smile.
00:16:48And it like, I hum.
00:16:51Yeah.
00:16:52But yes, but I think, but it's, but it's true.
00:16:56You go and you have to, I mean, I was going to say disassociate, but that's a different
00:17:00mindset.
00:17:00There's a nicer way.
00:17:01It's a different mindset.
00:17:02There is like, it's almost like a game day.
00:17:04Like I think my husband was a professional athlete for a very long time and I would watch
00:17:08him, he was a football player, an American football player.
00:17:10And I would watch him on Saturday nights, like start to transform into this different person
00:17:17who was like a gladiator on the field.
00:17:19And he would play in that game.
00:17:21And I remember when we were first dating, I would say like, do you get terrified when
00:17:25you're out there and these huge men are running toward you?
00:17:27And he was like, in those moments, I can't get scared.
00:17:29I have to get smart.
00:17:30First of all, I was like, I want to have your baby.
00:17:32But I was like, I was like, okay, how do I get smart about this battle?
00:17:38You know, because I want to, I want to show up and I don't want to hide.
00:17:42Cause also I thought there's something for me to learn in here as an actor as well.
00:17:45Like I don't want to hide.
00:17:47So much of this work where we do is about being willing to reveal ourselves.
00:17:51And I was like, if I'm scared to be pretty, if I'm scared of people looking at me, that
00:17:55could impact my work globally.
00:17:57And I don't mean like internationally, but I mean like the holistic version of me as
00:18:01an actor.
00:18:02So it just became an exercise of like, how do I play?
00:18:05I had a similar conversation with my agent when I was in my first junket.
00:18:10I was so nervous.
00:18:12And she, yeah, she told me, you know, you look at all of these amazing actors and they
00:18:15have this red carpet personality, you know, it's like an extension of themselves.
00:18:19But I think something that I am trying to wrap my head around is wanting to feel like
00:18:23that.
00:18:24But I struggle with this understanding that I'm perceived as like, you know, I want to
00:18:29be able to get lost in a role and transform.
00:18:32Yes.
00:18:33But part of this industry, especially in today is about, you know, presenting yourself.
00:18:40As a brand.
00:18:41As a brand and authenticity.
00:18:42Yeah.
00:18:43And I think trying, I'm still figuring out like what that line is that I want to walk
00:18:48where, you know, I don't want to be crippled with anxiousness or fear of, you know, having
00:18:53to be public in these, these settings, but, um, also not hiding, but also wanting to keep
00:18:58things for myself as well.
00:19:00Totally.
00:19:01Yeah.
00:19:01It's an interesting thought experiment.
00:19:04I guess.
00:19:04Glenn Close has this way of thinking about it that I love.
00:19:06I learned this when I was working with her last year.
00:19:09There's a way that she, um, she thinks about royalty.
00:19:13Like she thinks about being like a kind queen and sort of coming out on the carpet where you
00:19:19feel like all of these people are here.
00:19:21They're part of your court.
00:19:23So that they're like, they don't have the power.
00:19:25You have the power and you show up with like a, a sense of sort of elegance and generosity
00:19:30and graciousness.
00:19:31Um, but you still get to hold what's yours and individually yours.
00:19:35And I, I love that way of thinking about it.
00:19:38Yeah.
00:19:39She's such a goddess.
00:19:42Or you could hum.
00:19:43Or you could hum.
00:19:44All of the above.
00:19:45By the way, queens might hum.
00:19:47Yeah.
00:19:48I love the humming.
00:19:49I'm totally going to try to hum.
00:19:51Sarah, though, speaking to that, like, divide between reality and perception, like your
00:19:56role in love story, you're.
00:19:58I think that's why it's on my mind.
00:19:59Yeah.
00:19:59I mean, you are playing this enigmatic woman who the culture has fetishized, but little
00:20:07to nothing about.
00:20:08And you're filming it on set and the paparazzi is hounding you the way that they hounded her
00:20:15when she was like, like, how, when was that overwhelming and how did you cope with it?
00:20:20What was, what did you do?
00:20:22I mean, so much of this experience was new for me.
00:20:25I certainly haven't yet to be on a set before this where there was so much interest from
00:20:31the public and then the paparazzi and the press.
00:20:33But I think it was, you know, there wasn't a moment that was lost.
00:20:36I mean, if this was so similar to an experience that, that Carolyn would have felt and recognizing
00:20:41that I was playing, you know, in a TV show and she was trying to exist in her normal life.
00:20:47So I guess that was a way that helped me sort of feel a bit more control over it of
00:20:53understanding
00:20:54that I was having a physiological response that she would have had and there's a kinship
00:20:58in that.
00:21:00But I think once I got the role and even auditioning for it, when I got it, I thought, oh,
00:21:06now I
00:21:06like have to do it.
00:21:08And I recognize how big it is, you know, it's like, you know, it's a big deal to play a
00:21:12real
00:21:12person.
00:21:13And then there's so much interest and people hold her in such high regard.
00:21:17And throughout this process, she became so incredibly, you know, dear to me and meaningful
00:21:22to me and I think it's still sort of a constant sort of equation that I'm trying to balance.
00:21:31Like sometimes it makes me feel a little frozen and other times I have no worries about it.
00:21:38But I think the moments where I was able to recognize that there was a shared experience
00:21:43with Carolyn that felt me like it made me feel like I could sort of embody her a little bit
00:21:47more in those moments.
00:21:48And speaking of embodiment, you worked with the movement coach and I'm so interested to
00:21:52know what that process is like.
00:21:53So cool.
00:21:53I'm desperate to ask you about it because I love body work.
00:21:56I'm interested in what you did.
00:21:57Julia Crockett, I mean, she's just incredible.
00:22:00I want to work with her on everything I do.
00:22:02It reminded me of being back in theater school.
00:22:04If anyone saw what these sessions looked like, I mean, they'd think I was crazy.
00:22:10What was the raw material she used for Carolyn?
00:22:14Like was she filmed or like where was she getting her information from?
00:22:18Or was it specific to her?
00:22:19Well, it was, we all, we sort of like had the shared document back and forth.
00:22:22And obviously there's a lot of photographs of Carolyn, but so much of it is after she
00:22:26gained public recognition when she was outed for being in a relationship with JFK Jr.
00:22:33And you're photographed and you hold yourself in a very different way.
00:22:36As I'm sure you all know, when someone's taking your photo and you're trying to go to
00:22:40the grocery store and there were far less photos of when Carolyn was, yeah, just candid of like
00:22:47the photos that her friends take.
00:22:49And there was some videography, very little in terms of her vocal expression.
00:22:55So I took books and all the information and interviews that I could gather from other
00:23:01people talking about her and then all the photos and found the through line and worked
00:23:06with Julia and, you know, taking these still photos and imagining how that 32 year old
00:23:12version of Carolyn who's being hunted by the paparazzi, how would she move as a 26 year
00:23:17old when she was described by her friends as like a bowling ball down the streets of New York?
00:23:21And that was what was exciting about the role, I think, of finding, understanding her reality
00:23:28and what were these touchstones and then also having that freedom while it was also intimidating,
00:23:33you know, because there wasn't, I wish I would like curse, you know, why can't I just have
00:23:37two and a half minutes of like her candidly speaking?
00:23:40I remember her, I knew her.
00:23:42Yeah?
00:23:42I had no idea.
00:23:44Yeah, because Narcissa Rodriguez is a good friend of mine and I, you know, I met her through
00:23:50him a number of times, I remember her pretty vividly.
00:23:53You did a great job.
00:23:54Oh, thank you.
00:23:55Oh, thank you so much.
00:23:56Yeah.
00:23:57Yeah.
00:23:57That's so special.
00:23:59Chase, you've been on a rocket ship essentially since August.
00:24:04It's insane that like global press tour, this wild award season run.
00:24:10What do you wish you knew a year ago that you learned on your own throughout this?
00:24:18Um, probably to pace myself and it was something that, that I remember before starting the
00:24:27one battle press that like Paula told me and Leo had told me like, just so you know, this
00:24:33is a marathon.
00:24:34Like you've got to make sure that you, you energetically pace yourself and that was something
00:24:37that I was like, oh yeah, sure.
00:24:39Yeah, I get it.
00:24:40Makes sense.
00:24:40And then we actually started the junket days and we started all the traveling and I was
00:24:45like, oh, this is really, really exhausting in a way that I had never experienced before.
00:24:51And I think that, cause I also, right before we started that whole press tour, I was shooting
00:24:55the Testaments and I think I had like two weeks off to go home, move and then fly to
00:25:01start promoting the movie, which I was obviously so excited to do.
00:25:05But I think like pacing myself energetically was something that I wish I could instill in
00:25:11my mind while I was shooting the Testaments kind of, I guess, giving myself a moment to
00:25:16be like, okay, this is going to be chaotic for the next however long.
00:25:21Granted, I also had no idea what an awards season would look like.
00:25:25Yeah.
00:25:26Cause I had never done it before.
00:25:27I never promoted anything.
00:25:28So I was like, okay, yeah.
00:25:31And in some ways they're more enervating than, they're more exhausting than the actual work
00:25:38itself, you know, which kind of feeds you.
00:25:40This is just, it just feels like a one, it's just very, it's one direction.
00:25:46But it's also partially what Sarah's been talking about.
00:25:48It's the, it's figuring out who your authentic self is in it.
00:25:51But if your authentic self doesn't feel like doing the 53rd interview, your authentic self
00:25:55needs to get the F off.
00:25:57Like that's not an option right now, you know?
00:25:59That's for me is why there has to sometimes be this other character that I can click into.
00:26:05But I'm, I'm super curious to talk about process with more of you.
00:26:08Like if you'd like, do you all still work with coaches who have been the people who've
00:26:13supported you in unlocking characters?
00:26:16I am so, I still continue to work with coaches on everything that I do.
00:26:20Coaches plural?
00:26:21I have two that I work with.
00:26:23One of my best girlfriends from college, actually Colleen Berry, coached me for my Scandal audition.
00:26:29And she's somebody who I continue to work with.
00:26:32She's incredible.
00:26:34And then I work a lot with Kim Gillingham.
00:26:37Dreamwork, right?
00:26:37Yes.
00:26:38Who's really fantastic.
00:26:40And so there are a couple of different people.
00:26:41But I, I find it really helpful to have other people outside of the production that I'm in
00:26:50the lab.
00:26:51I, I would say I, my best friend is a therapist.
00:26:54I have another dear, dear friend who's a really great therapist.
00:26:58And I do tend to talk to them before I start projects.
00:27:02And it's not.
00:27:02And they're not your therapist.
00:27:04They're not my therapist.
00:27:04No, they're just my, my, my friends are our therapist.
00:27:07And do they, do they read the material?
00:27:11Sometimes, but usually, usually I just describe the character.
00:27:14And it's not formalized.
00:27:16But I have to say, I think with every single role, I've broken them down with Ariel and
00:27:24Ken.
00:27:24Interesting.
00:27:25Sometimes like a role, just there is more of an overt, like pathology that I have to
00:27:32wrap your head around.
00:27:33Get an understanding of.
00:27:34So, and then I'll, I'll get references through that.
00:27:38You know, I'll find people to talk to other therapists who specialize in that or people who
00:27:43have that condition or benefit of that particular affliction, life experience, you know.
00:27:50That's really important.
00:27:51And that's very, very helpful.
00:27:52Not every character requires it, but I'm playing a neurosurgeon right now.
00:27:59So, I, I spent a few months shadowing neurosurgeons.
00:28:06How do you get to do that?
00:28:07Like, how do you get into.
00:28:08You know what?
00:28:09It's more casual than you would.
00:28:11Really?
00:28:11People really want to help you.
00:28:13They do want to help.
00:28:14And they're excited.
00:28:15And it's like, you know, it's a little like exchange program.
00:28:18They'll come to set and they're really dazzled by.
00:28:20Really?
00:28:22But, but also the, the, the boundaries are pretty porous.
00:28:27It was surprisingly so.
00:28:28Like, I just get to be here.
00:28:30Like, I don't need the credential.
00:28:31Like, I just.
00:28:32Here I, it does.
00:28:33This person.
00:28:34No, no, no.
00:28:35They had no idea.
00:28:36They don't really.
00:28:37They're not, their, their permission is not like requested or, you know.
00:28:41Did you scrub in?
00:28:42Uh, no.
00:28:44I'm not allowed to touch anything.
00:28:46And I'm, I'm in scrubs, you know.
00:28:48But.
00:28:48She's like, I'm assisting my surgery.
00:28:50It's fine.
00:28:51In the room.
00:28:51I did my homework.
00:28:53But, but that's a different, that's a different kind of work from, than what you're talking about.
00:28:57But, but equally fascinating and important.
00:28:58But, you know, that it's, it is, it is helpful to have a hook if you have like a, a
00:29:05way to enter.
00:29:06You have to apply yourself, too, um, where you, you know, you have to make a concerted effort to, like,
00:29:12actively imagine the person and not just kind of casually drop in.
00:29:15Because the opportunities are missed when you do that, I think.
00:29:18I fall into a trap, though, at this point in my career that I used to think, like, you're not
00:29:23acting hard enough if, if anything the character does is like how I would do it in real life.
00:29:27But it's like, well, I can't just exclude this whole list of things just because I do them.
00:29:32You're also human.
00:29:32What if she laughs like that?
00:29:34What if she talks like that?
00:29:35I don't use a coach, but, um, so many of my favorite actresses do.
00:29:40So I'm very curious about it.
00:29:43I feel curious, too.
00:29:44I tend to, uh, when possible, have deep, deep conversations and collaboration with my director and or writer.
00:29:51Yes, yes.
00:29:52And now, uh, because Pluribus has a lot of the same people as Better Call Saul, I have a, you
00:29:57know, a 12-year working relationship with Vince.
00:29:59So that, that's where I'm collaborating.
00:30:00And then my scene partners, um, but Carolina Widra, my brilliant co-star in Pluribus,
00:30:04does dream, dream work and swears by us.
00:30:07I'm very, I'm very curious about these things.
00:30:09I feel like both you and Carrie have been, like, a part of our lives for a long time, but
00:30:15have recently gotten, like, a lot.
00:30:16And we can't believe we've never met.
00:30:17We have so many crossovers.
00:30:19He once talked about you crying in The Leftovers for, like, I think, like, five minutes.
00:30:23I talk about the leftovers incessantly on all red carpets.
00:30:26You know, I peeped so young.
00:30:26No, you didn't.
00:30:28Not at all.
00:30:29You've done great work since then.
00:30:30You're still peeping.
00:30:31But what I'm trying to say is that the White Lotus seems to have this effect on careers.
00:30:37Right.
00:30:37Where your profile, like, really elevates.
00:30:40So when that happens, is your reaction one of gratitude or, like, where the hell have you all been?
00:30:47I've been doing this.
00:30:49Yeah, I mean, it's so funny.
00:30:50I always feel like that part, which is the public discourse about you and your life, has always felt so
00:30:57far from me.
00:30:58I mean, don't get me wrong.
00:30:59I read reviews.
00:31:01I'll haunt Reddit.
00:31:02I always know how the work is landing in the world.
00:31:05I feel like it's important to take in the good and the bad because then you know that it's all
00:31:10subjective and actually has nothing to do with you.
00:31:11I think that's a good exercise, not just punishment.
00:31:15And so the slow and steady rise of Carrie Coon has happened entirely outside of my life.
00:31:22And even now, after the White Lotus, I was at a restaurant last night in Newport, and this sweet young
00:31:28thing who was serving me said,
00:31:29Do you play guitar?
00:31:31And I was like, I don't.
00:31:32And she said, You're giving off musician vibes.
00:31:35Maybe you just seem like a musician.
00:31:38I was like, No, I'm not.
00:31:39That's lovely.
00:31:39And she's like, Maybe in another life.
00:31:40I was like, Maybe.
00:31:41So I'm still moving through the world with this, like, people vaguely kind of maybe thinking they know me from
00:31:47their high school.
00:31:48And it's great.
00:31:49And I still don't want to change that.
00:31:51And as far as, like, what the White Lotus does for careers, there were a lot of think pieces written
00:31:55about the show and about the women,
00:31:57and maybe people started watching Gilded Age and brought some attention to that show,
00:32:00and we got more fans, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada.
00:32:02I haven't seen the material results of that yet.
00:32:06You always fly off the screen.
00:32:07Like, in Congo, we're like, Holy shit.
00:32:11No, no.
00:32:11I feel like it was, you know, yes.
00:32:13It happens every time you do a thing.
00:32:17And it's true.
00:32:17And I'm glad I'm still doing it, and I'll do it as long as they let me, and when they're
00:32:22done with me, I'll do something else.
00:32:24You did a great piece in the New York Times on an interview that I think was after your season
00:32:28of Fargo where they asked a similar question,
00:32:31and you said it's very helpful, you know, career-wise to have access to more material and material that you
00:32:37wish you could greenlight and earlier and all of that.
00:32:39And you said, but you're just on a new list.
00:32:42And you were like, I'm still on a list of many people that are ahead of me to get offers.
00:32:45I'm like, I think I'm, like, top of the B list now.
00:32:48And so I'm probably, like, instead of, like, the seventh person you come to, I'm like fourth.
00:32:52I'm like fourth.
00:32:53Okay.
00:32:53Because here's the thing.
00:32:55I still have to fight.
00:32:56Like, I'm going to have to fight for big movies and stuff still.
00:32:58I'm still getting, what am I getting?
00:33:00I'm getting unfinanced indie scripts.
00:33:02That's what I'm getting.
00:33:03And it's probable that if the Gilded Age were to go away, I would probably get another television job.
00:33:08That's probable because of my career, right?
00:33:10But, like, it's not like I've, for me, I haven't, like, leveled up in the way that you think of
00:33:14when you think of, like, what you're going through.
00:33:17Or I think what you're about to go through, honestly.
00:33:20Do you think anyone ever feels like they've, because I think that's also sort of part of our history.
00:33:25And this feeling.
00:33:26Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,
00:33:31very, very, very, very.
00:33:32We either know we're on a list.
00:33:34Yeah.
00:33:34Or we've got to be the ones creating the project.
00:33:37That's right.
00:33:37Like, for me, that's why producing has become such a huge part of what I do is because I was,
00:33:44like, I cannot spend my life sitting at home waiting to be invited to the party.
00:33:48I have got to start throwing these parties.
00:33:50And then there'll be the kind of parties I want to be at with the people I want to party
00:33:53with.
00:33:54And I'll get to do what I want to do with them.
00:33:56Absolutely.
00:33:56And not that that's easy still.
00:33:59It's still, then it's still a fight and scrappy and all that thing.
00:34:02But, I mean, we're all dealing with the list thing.
00:34:05Because as soon as you, by the way, because also the list, the list level up, right?
00:34:09Like, at first you're just happy that anybody.
00:34:12I'm on the list.
00:34:12Yes.
00:34:13You're happy.
00:34:14Well, and a lot of women are producing now.
00:34:16A lot of actresses are producing.
00:34:17And we have seen the fruits of that labor.
00:34:19There's more interesting work being made, not only for women, but for everyone.
00:34:23And I think we have to continue to get creative about how we finance those things.
00:34:26And it's the Wild West right now.
00:34:27People are coming up with new models of how to finance film.
00:34:30And we're going to have to keep getting really creative about how we get the work out there because it's
00:34:34really changing a lot.
00:34:35And in Europe, they have, you know, financial support from their governments.
00:34:38And you see these amazing films coming out of Europe about men and women and everybody you can imagine, everybody
00:34:42in between.
00:34:43And we just, we don't have that robust, you know, industry right now.
00:34:47And we're going to have to get really, really savvy about how we cobble together these projects and how we
00:34:51finance them and how we get paid.
00:34:53And it's just, it's a different time.
00:34:55So it'll be really, I'm excited to be in a transition time, like have a career.
00:34:59A, that I was in a time when women my age were still acting because here we all are now.
00:35:04And that the projects were interesting and that I could transition from TV to film, which was also an obstacle
00:35:09back in the day.
00:35:10And now, you know, I feel like we're in a new era of trying to figure out how we make
00:35:14things again.
00:35:15And I think there's going to be a lot of creativity around that.
00:35:17And I'm excited about what's possible.
00:35:20Claire, in, I believe it was 1994, you made Little Women.
00:35:25And you had to reshoot your character, Beth's death scene because you were told at the time that someone had
00:35:33spilled a Coca-Cola on the reel.
00:35:35Yes.
00:35:35And very recently you found out that was not the reason.
00:35:37That was not?
00:35:38What?
00:35:38Like last year.
00:35:39Wait, what?
00:35:40What happened?
00:35:41So I just believed, I believed, Jillian Anderson was the director.
00:35:45And, yes, she told me that Coke spilled on the negatives, which I was like, sure.
00:35:50I had no idea what any of that meant.
00:35:52Of course, now I realize, like, absolutely nothing.
00:35:56But, yes, so I was dying and was really excited about it.
00:36:01And I had a death rattle that I had researched.
00:36:07And it just got a little too guttural, I think.
00:36:10Like, I really committed.
00:36:12And it really was a little, yeah, maybe too authentic, let's call it that.
00:36:19Wow.
00:36:19As opposed to, you know, clownish.
00:36:22But, yeah, so we redid it and it was a slightly more muted expression.
00:36:29The Hollywood version of dying.
00:36:30But I told Matthew Rhys that story when we were filming, and then he started calling me Deathrattle Danes.
00:36:38Which is stuff.
00:36:39That's very Matthew.
00:36:40That's good.
00:36:41Yeah.
00:36:42How do you research a death rattle?
00:36:44Oh, I read Five Steps of Dying.
00:36:46Like, oh, and I forget now what she had.
00:36:50But it was some bronchial thing.
00:36:52Yeah, it was.
00:36:53And, yeah.
00:36:56Yeah, she was consumed.
00:36:57Yes, that's right.
00:36:58Yeah, thank you.
00:36:59And, yeah.
00:36:59And I, and there was, her lungs were full of fluid and, and I was excited about the sound that
00:37:06that would produce.
00:37:07You have my full support.
00:37:09I play.
00:37:09I mean, I'm in there.
00:37:10I'm in the brass part of the orchestra.
00:37:14There's, Deathrattle, the Deathrattle was fun.
00:37:17So fun.
00:37:17I love the Deathrattle.
00:37:18I played Emily Bronte on stage and that death, I looked forward to that death every night.
00:37:21So fun.
00:37:22And that Deathrattle was spot on.
00:37:24The play might have been terrible, but the Deathrattle was memorable.
00:37:27Yeah.
00:37:28Mine was a little too extra.
00:37:29I admire it.
00:37:30I love you being extra.
00:37:31I love it.
00:37:32Has anyone else ever found out in hindsight that a filmmaker, a showrunner, a collaborator wasn't really vibing with what
00:37:39you were putting out at the time in a scene?
00:37:42Did you get any, like, criticism before it was too late?
00:37:44No, but I did find out during, you know, Leftovers was my first television job.
00:37:47And when we got to the end, they were like, you never ask any questions.
00:37:51You never called us.
00:37:52You never wrote emails.
00:37:53You never questioned anything.
00:37:54You just did it.
00:37:55And I was like, what's everybody else doing?
00:37:58And they were getting, you know, reams of emails from actors and, like, late night phone calls.
00:38:02But I came from the theater.
00:38:03They hand you the text, and that is the text.
00:38:06And so you do the text.
00:38:07You go out there.
00:38:08You do the text.
00:38:09Every now and then I'd be like, why do I have a gun in my purse?
00:38:10They're like, we don't know.
00:38:11I'm like, okay, well, let's do it.
00:38:13Here we go.
00:38:13So I came to find out that all the other actors were always, like, making appeals and, like, advocating for
00:38:18changes and just didn't even know you could do that.
00:38:20Do you do more of that now?
00:38:21I do.
00:38:22I do do more of that now.
00:38:23Yeah.
00:38:23I got really lucky because I worked.
00:38:25Before doing Scandal, I worked with David Mamet, originating a Mamet role on Broadway with him that he directed.
00:38:31And so that commitment to text and just say the words and get out of the way.
00:38:36And then I went to Shondaland where she was like, I don't care how you say it.
00:38:41But this is what you say.
00:38:43Right.
00:38:43Interesting.
00:38:44Okay.
00:38:45So you got to sort of really take ownership of the language.
00:38:47And that's where I started to really experience the friction of, like, I don't want to say that.
00:38:51But what can I learn by saying that?
00:38:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:38:52What if that's the thing that needs to be said?
00:38:54What does that tell me about who I am?
00:38:55What if I'm working with, like, David Mamet and Shonda Rhimes?
00:38:58The words are great.
00:38:59Yeah, yeah.
00:38:59You know you can switch the text.
00:39:00We all know it's easier.
00:39:01Yeah, when it's better.
00:39:02That's right.
00:39:03That's right.
00:39:03And that was helpful, too, that after years on that show and working with Mamet, and then I can go
00:39:08to another project now and advocate for myself when I do feel like the words need to be different and
00:39:13try to follow that compass.
00:39:15And that's no shade to the, I've done projects where they want you to improv or they want you to,
00:39:20like, find the dialogue.
00:39:21And that's all fine.
00:39:22We're, you know, not talking about that.
00:39:24I'm just talking about, like, if you have a great script, try that script first.
00:39:26But there are shades.
00:39:27I remember saying, I actually told Rufus Sewell this because I was at a table with him.
00:39:31And I remember doing some read-through when I was, like, 13.
00:39:34And I was struggling.
00:39:36There was a break in the middle.
00:39:37And he said to me, you know, sometimes it is the writing's fault.
00:39:41Yeah.
00:39:41And it was a revelation.
00:39:44I was like, really?
00:39:45It's not true.
00:39:46But, you know, you're always negotiating that.
00:39:48That's right.
00:39:48Like, what's my, you know, what's laziness, what's hubris, or what's real?
00:39:55Curiosity and commitment to what's vast and true.
00:39:58But I do find that if you've tried your hardest and your damnedest to make what is their work,
00:40:04and you're not constantly appealing for a different line or a change,
00:40:07that then when you do have a question of, like, this, that, and that, you've respected their craft so much
00:40:14that you get the respect in return.
00:40:15And I had a speech recently, and it was at the end.
00:40:18I had two weeks of nights.
00:40:19I was just really exhausted.
00:40:20And I had this gnarly speech.
00:40:22It was really technical, and I was really struggling with it.
00:40:25And the next morning, I, like, realized there were two kinks in the writing.
00:40:29And I, like, fixed them, and then it was unlocked.
00:40:33Freedom.
00:40:33Yep.
00:40:34And I was like, I got it!
00:40:35I got it!
00:40:35Yes!
00:40:36Yes!
00:40:37And, um...
00:40:37Isn't that the best feeling when it's unlocked?
00:40:39Well, it's not the best feeling when, you know...
00:40:41No, but when you find it.
00:40:42When you find it.
00:40:43After the fact, which happens a lot.
00:40:44Oh, yeah.
00:40:45But, yeah.
00:40:45I was like, ugh.
00:40:46That's what's so great about theater.
00:40:48It's because in the theater, you're at home, like, brushing your teeth, and you're like,
00:40:51oh, that's what that line means?
00:40:53And you get to do it again.
00:40:54Right, right, right.
00:40:54Right, right, right.
00:40:55That's the day.
00:40:55Which, when I film, you're brushing your teeth, and you're like, oh.
00:40:58Yeah.
00:40:58I never did a single play that, like, closing night, you weren't so like, oh, that's what
00:41:01that line means.
00:41:02Right.
00:41:02Right.
00:41:03It's so true.
00:41:04It's so true.
00:41:05That's what that scene is.
00:41:05Okay.
00:41:06I'm so inspired by your story of the actresses in Chicago all going out to eat lunch, and
00:41:10I just, I think there's so much power in partnership, and I feel like some of the projects that have
00:41:17been the most rewarding for me in my most recent career have been kind of really strong
00:41:24partnerships with other women, and so I just, I really love you telling that story, and
00:41:28it makes me think about, like, how we expand that idea, but, like, partnering with Reese on
00:41:31Little Fires, or partnering now with Lizzie Moss on Imperfect, like, it is so powerful
00:41:37to not fall into the limited beliefs of a small pie, and if I eat, you don't eat, but,
00:41:45like, how do we create something together and be there for each other?
00:41:48And I have had that support throughout.
00:41:51I have to say, I haven't had a lot of negative experiences, particularly with other women,
00:41:56and it's thrilling, because I have to say, I grew up, I grew up in, I didn't have, I was
00:42:01wasn't, I wasn't a good friend, like, I wasn't a good girlfriend, I had to, that's something
00:42:04I had to learn, it was something I wasn't taught, and so I have found this incredible
00:42:09satisfaction in cultivating female friendship late in my life, and the careers we're having
00:42:14are now putting women together in a way it used to be just one of us, and now I go
00:42:18on
00:42:18the White Lotus, and it's, you know, three women my age, you know, it's, it's really thrilling
00:42:22to be exposed to other women now in such a way that we can have these conversations, and
00:42:26that wasn't always the case, and I feel so fortunate to come up in a time where that's true,
00:42:29and that is the lattice work we have to build under us to keep creating the things we want
00:42:33to make.
00:42:34Yeah.
00:42:34For those of you who watch your own work, what is that, like, brushing your teeth scene
00:42:41where you were like, oh, I really wish I could redo that?
00:42:44Well, I'm afraid I just shot it a couple days ago.
00:42:47I was like, it's time for me to quit the business, yeah?
00:42:49Everyone was like, probably.
00:42:52You got to watch something you shot just a few years ago?
00:42:54No, no, I was doing it.
00:42:55Oh, hopefully it won't make it.
00:42:56Did you, did you have a morning after, oh, I figured it out?
00:42:58Oh, no, it was happening in the moment.
00:43:00In the moment you knew you didn't have it?
00:43:01The director and I were just like, nope, that's not it.
00:43:04Did you ever, did you ever, no.
00:43:05No, I don't think so, I think they'll cut around it.
00:43:07Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:43:08I have, there's always at least one scene on a project, I come home and am devastated.
00:43:15I'm like, horrified by my limitations.
00:43:17Yeah, by your limitations, yes.
00:43:19No, oh, and I, and I, and I, I'm crippled by it.
00:43:22I mean, I, like, in tears, like, with my husband or, like, I call her, like, I really, it's,
00:43:27I, it's, it's predictable at this point.
00:43:31That it's going to happen at some point.
00:43:32At least once.
00:43:33When you watch it, do you ever feel like, oh, it actually should have been that?
00:43:39Or do you feel like it should have been the thing that you imagined in your head?
00:43:44Because sometimes I feel like I want it to be something and then it turns out to be something
00:43:47else and I'm like, oh, that actually works.
00:43:49I say both, but sometimes I.
00:43:50Actually both.
00:43:51You know, there are times where you're like, yeah, no, I fell short of what I wanted that
00:43:55to be.
00:43:55Yeah.
00:43:56Or for some, whatever reason, you know, the, the, the collaborate, you know, the stars weren't
00:44:02aligning or we were, we were, I don't know, failing collectively or maybe it was just
00:44:08my fault.
00:44:09It's all true.
00:44:10It's all true.
00:44:10That's right.
00:44:11But, you know, it's just, sometimes it flies out of you and, and it's exhilarating, you
00:44:19know, and that's why we're bobbing around in the ocean, just like begging for that wave
00:44:23to come.
00:44:24You know, there's something inherently mysterious about it.
00:44:26We all have craft, we all have technique, we all have experience, you know, that, and
00:44:30you know, we can rely on that to a certain extent.
00:44:34And then there's some ex-fact, there's some, some other element that we can never fully
00:44:40understand.
00:44:42And that's why it's remains thrilling and risky and terrifying.
00:44:47Do you guys watch your work?
00:44:48Yeah, I do.
00:44:49I find it to be fun.
00:44:51And like, I think the first time I watch it, I kind of am like, oh, I'm very aware that
00:44:55that's me on screen.
00:44:56But then after like the first 20 minutes, you have that like buffer of like, okay, no, I
00:45:01know that's me, let's actually like get into it, then I'll go back, start it again, and
00:45:04then I can kind of watch it without the, the idea of being like, oh, that's me on screen.
00:45:10And thinking back to like what I did and where I was on the day, and being like, I wish
00:45:14I
00:45:14did this, but like, I'm glad that I didn't do that.
00:45:18But I don't know, I like to watch my stuff.
00:45:20What about you?
00:45:21I don't think I particularly enjoy the experience of watching myself.
00:45:26And I remember, I feel like I remember each take that I do, and I know the takes that
00:45:33I have, and I think they better not use that.
00:45:35Yeah.
00:45:35I just really don't.
00:45:36Do you ever communicate with the script supervisor or the director about the takes you like or
00:45:40don't like?
00:45:42No, you can.
00:45:43I'll remember that.
00:45:44You can.
00:45:44You know, when all the ones, all the takes that I don't like, they always end up in the
00:45:49show.
00:45:49Oh, then maybe you shouldn't.
00:45:50Don't talk to them.
00:45:51Maybe you don't know.
00:45:53Because what's in the show is amazing.
00:45:55So maybe stay out of there.
00:45:56But I wonder if it is that friction of the line, you know, of what is, I've been trying
00:46:01to think about, is there something, did I go to a vulnerable place?
00:46:04Did I go somewhere where Sarah doesn't necessarily like to go?
00:46:07Yeah.
00:46:07And that's why it felt uncomfortable, and that's why I didn't like it.
00:46:09Out of your control.
00:46:10Yeah, something I wasn't, I wasn't wanting someone to see.
00:46:14But I also think that's what's so, what I like about, why I don't like watching myself
00:46:18all the time, but I think it's also very helpful.
00:46:20I've also watched scenes where that's not, I remember the takes I was doing, and that
00:46:25is not the take that I actually felt the most authentic and true and doing what I was trying
00:46:30to commit to.
00:46:32But I see why they chose it, and it works better in the arc of the story, because, you know,
00:46:37your showrunner, your director, whatever, it doesn't matter how truthful you're being
00:46:40in that moment.
00:46:41If it is the wrong plot point for the bigger pictures you're looking at, it might not be
00:46:46the right take to have there, you know, and you have to trust that, too.
00:46:50I excruciatingly watch my own work to learn from it, you know.
00:46:54You've got to know what your habits are.
00:46:55You've got to know your bad habits, or you can't make a choice.
00:46:57But I know people they can't stand to, and I get it.
00:46:59I do, too, and I respect it.
00:47:01I totally respect it.
00:47:01Also, get old and have kids, and then you won't remember your takes anymore.
00:47:04You know, okay.
00:47:06It's so fun to finally see what it is that you've been making, because, you know, it's being
00:47:12imagined by the director and the cinematographer.
00:47:14I mean, you're like, I'm always curious to know what it is in its totality, but what's
00:47:17fun about having kids now is that looping is more tolerable, because I see now my children
00:47:24in my face.
00:47:25Oh, my gosh.
00:47:26And so it mitigates the torture a little bit.
00:47:28Oh, that's cool.
00:47:29Oh, there's Ro.
00:47:31You know, I don't know.
00:47:32I hope they're my kids.
00:47:33I just, they just had a 25th year anniversary showing of my very first film, which I was
00:47:39like, how's that possible?
00:47:40Which was what?
00:47:41Aren't I 25?
00:47:42But they were, it was called Our Song, and it was a tiny little independent film that
00:47:47was nominated for the Cassavetes Award in the Spirit, and very, like, my first film with
00:47:51Sundance, it was like, changed my life.
00:47:53And I went to go to this screening 25 years later, and I just felt like I was watching
00:47:58my daughter the whole time.
00:48:00I was so, like, struck by even, like, the behavioral things that she does that I was like, I don't
00:48:10do that, it was, it just was such a trip.
00:48:13Right, and you can, and I, like, don't you experience a different kind of forgiveness?
00:48:17And, you know, grace and love.
00:48:17Yes, because I love her no matter what my kids, I always felt like there was nothing
00:48:21you can do that would make me not love you.
00:48:23And so to be able to see my performance a little bit through that lens, because it was, like,
00:48:27little Carrie, and it's so different.
00:48:31That's sweet, I'm going to look for that.
00:48:31Yeah.
00:48:32It's really, it's really sweet, they're there.
00:48:35I'm going to look for your kids' performance.
00:48:35Yeah, look for my kids' performance.
00:48:38Is that weird?
00:48:40We're going to get very close.
00:48:41One of the things I really love about producing is being part of the edit, is being part of
00:48:45post, because I actually, it's the final rewrite, and I have had moments where I have said, that
00:48:52is not the right take.
00:48:53I was in the room.
00:48:55My performance, and other people's performance, I was in the room.
00:48:58There is a stronger version of this.
00:49:01Like, go back.
00:49:02And it's shocking what people, like, don't see.
00:49:04It seems so obvious to you, and they, like, yeah, they missed it somehow.
00:49:08Or, they're, they're, the feeling makes them uncomfortable.
00:49:12Yeah.
00:49:13And that's what I have found.
00:49:14Oh, that's interesting.
00:49:15Sometimes there's a, yes, where there's a heightened level.
00:49:17There have been versions of my scenes where I've been more emotional, and they're like,
00:49:21it's just so emotional.
00:49:22Yeah.
00:49:22Let's try it.
00:49:24Let's try it.
00:49:24Right.
00:49:25It's really interesting.
00:49:26I've gotten pissier by seeing a cut that messed up my comic timing.
00:49:30Oh.
00:49:31Not all right.
00:49:31When an editor changes where the pauses are, and that was part of your timing.
00:49:36Right, right, right.
00:49:37And a lot of them were live.
00:49:38And shows, and I'm like, I know I got a laugh that night.
00:49:41Yeah.
00:49:41And you are messing with it up.
00:49:44Especially, like, if you do it off the line.
00:49:47I remember Andy Ackerman, a great comedy director, he came to me one time, and he said, you're
00:49:51often doing the joke that's the line, but the secondary joke that's also off the line.
00:49:56That's something happening right before the line, or something happening right after
00:49:59the line.
00:49:59Either it's silence, or pause, or a deadpan look.
00:50:01Uh-huh.
00:50:02And he said, just make sure your director knows what you're doing, because in an editing
00:50:08room, if they're just looking to cut time, they won't always pick up.
00:50:11I mean, great comedy editors, and I've worked with many, too.
00:50:13This is why the communication with director, and sometimes script supervisor, is crucial.
00:50:18Sometimes.
00:50:19You know, and again, like, they're going to do what they're going to do, but I've just
00:50:22learned that at times...
00:50:22Oh, yeah.
00:50:23And you don't even say, don't use that take, but you can say, I just wanted to make a notation
00:50:26of this one that I love, and I'm really upset about this one.
00:50:29Or I'll just say, like, circle that one.
00:50:31But I don't even know if I'm necessarily the best judge of my...
00:50:32Well, apparently not.
00:50:34Apparently not!
00:50:35That's what you've just went...
00:50:36But just know that that's a tool in your toolbox down the road at some point, if you feel
00:50:40that way.
00:50:41That at the end of the day, you can say, like, you know that third take?
00:50:44I noticed this about it, or...
00:50:46Well, hearing you all speak about it, I think something that I've been feeling is knowing that,
00:50:52right now, my limitations as an actor, my sense of taste and opinion ends when a director
00:50:57calls cut, and that, like you're all saying, you know, there's so much shaping that happens
00:51:02after everyone leaves the set, and I feel so lucky of all the people that I've worked
00:51:07with and to be proud of the projects that I've made, but knowing that there is that extra
00:51:12step that a performer can take in the edit and in these conversations that, you know,
00:51:17go beyond the set is fascinating to me.
00:51:20But it's also what makes returning to the theater so satisfying, because you are the
00:51:23arbiter of taste in the theater, and you are responsible for telling the story at the beginning,
00:51:28and that's where you have that power.
00:51:29If I'm not first seen up, if there's any way that I'm allowed to go to set, I watch
00:51:34the shooting before it's myself, because I want to see how many takes they do, I want
00:51:38to see if they're allowing questions.
00:51:40Right.
00:51:40You know, I did one where they literally only, because of financing, they only had time
00:51:44to do one or two takes, and it's that fast and very little coverage.
00:51:47Yeah, it's good to know that.
00:51:48So what I needed to know is, like, my experimentation needs to get condensed.
00:51:52Yes.
00:51:52Because there might not be.
00:51:54Take the risk back.
00:51:54Yeah, yeah.
00:51:55Whatever, yeah.
00:51:56Or maybe I need to do something that I know works for the story, but it's not my biggest
00:52:02risk, but it is a polished thing that services the story, and then one risk.
00:52:06Yeah.
00:52:06But I can't be fine in the character.
00:52:08Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:52:09Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:52:10No time for that.
00:52:11That's so smart.
00:52:12Did you find a difference between, like, how you were able to take up space on one battle
00:52:16versus the Testaments of, like, that's, I mean, you were working with such huge, huge,
00:52:21I mean, it was one battle after another, like, big, big names, and how did that, did it feel
00:52:28like a transition?
00:52:29Did it feel like, did you feel different in how you approached the work or how you felt
00:52:33on set?
00:52:34I think it was more how I felt on set as opposed to the work, because with one battle
00:52:39and then Presumed Innocent, both of those, I was always the youngest person on set, and
00:52:47so when I got to do the Testaments, I was kind of like the big kid, and I could be
00:52:52the
00:52:52one that, like, because there's a bunch of younger girls who are on that show, and since
00:52:58coming from one battle, I could, like, piecemeal stuff that, like, Leo taught me, Paula taught
00:53:02me, Regina, Tiana, like, everybody on that set taught me, even the whole crew, because
00:53:06I would always ask every single question that I could, and going from that to the Testaments,
00:53:14I was, like, the one thing that Paul and Leo and everybody across the board, just in general
00:53:18on that set, same with Presumed Innocent, taught me is to be there for everybody and kind
00:53:26of be a listening ear, and so I really wanted to make myself available to all of the other
00:53:31girls who were there, because some of them, like, this was, this is their biggest show
00:53:37that they've done, or this is the biggest part that they've had, or the most lines that
00:53:39they've had, and let alone, like, you're a part of, like, a Hulu TV show, and so I just
00:53:46wanted to make sure that I could be there to support them in the same ways that everybody
00:53:50before me had supported me on my past projects, and so a lot of it was, like, me being, like,
00:53:54if you ever need anything, I'm here to listen.
00:53:56If it's something in the scene, I'm here to help you, and kind of, like, if you need
00:54:00an ear to bounce things off of, I'll be there.
00:54:02If you need somebody to just confide in after a take, or if you just want to, like, have
00:54:06a laugh between, like, lunch, I was, like, I will be that for you, and I will also kind
00:54:12of teach you that you can take up space, because it's scary to take up space in something when
00:54:16you're new at it.
00:54:17Yes.
00:54:17And I just wanted to make sure that that's something that I was taught, so I wanted to
00:54:22kind of tell them that you can take up space, even though you're younger, even though you're
00:54:2719, 20, in this big show, you can take up the space, because you shouldn't have to ask
00:54:34to do so, I guess.
00:54:37Right, right.
00:54:37Like, you deserve to be here.
00:54:38You deserve it, yeah.
00:54:39You got the job, you did the work, and now you can fly while performing, and I think that
00:54:44was something that I wanted to kind of, I guess, teach them.
00:54:46Did they take you up on that?
00:54:47Did anybody?
00:54:48Yeah, they did, and I, like, it was something that I found to be so special, and I think
00:54:52it honestly made, like, our bond closer, too, because the days where I was, like, I really,
00:54:57I just need somebody there, like, the girls were immediately, would kind of shower me with
00:55:03love in the same way that we all did.
00:55:05It was amazing, and I was, like, I love this.
00:55:09I never worked with a group of girls before, and it was amazing.
00:55:12That's very impressive that that's what you took away from your experience.
00:55:16And not all young people would take that lesson from that experience.
00:55:20I think that's very impressive.
00:55:21Thanks.
00:55:22Before we part, I have a couple.
00:55:24We're done?
00:55:25I have a couple.
00:55:25Not yet.
00:55:26We could do this for hours.
00:55:27I have so many things.
00:55:28I have some questions I've labeled fun stuff.
00:55:31Tell me about the wildest interaction you've ever had with a fan.
00:55:34I play on Whitney on the sitcom, Roxanne.
00:55:40There were constant jokes that she was drinking, but, like, in her Sprite can was vodka and all
00:55:44of this, because it's a sitcom.
00:55:45It didn't go, like, super dark about it, but definitely a thing.
00:55:48And I had been given fan mail that was sent to my agent, and I was like, I'll just read
00:55:55one or two for fun.
00:55:57So a woman had sent me multiple pamphlets from AA, legitimately believed that this character
00:56:05is real and is an alcoholic and needed help.
00:56:08But it also came with pictures of her.
00:56:09She's a soccer mom and her kids.
00:56:11She has a job.
00:56:12And I was like, how is this person functioning in the real world if she believes people in
00:56:16the TV are real characters?
00:56:19Yeah, that was a long, long letter about how she wanted to help me.
00:56:24God bless her.
00:56:26Claire, anything surprising over the years?
00:56:27No, it's funny.
00:56:28Like, most of the time, people are really nice.
00:56:32I remember my son, who was, like, four, he said, why do people always say, I like your
00:56:38work?
00:56:40But that's, like, that's mostly what people say.
00:56:43And I played some extra characters, right?
00:56:46And I thought it might attract some colorful, you know, comments and attachments.
00:56:52I have met people who are bipolar, and they were, they found some company in what I was
00:57:04doing as Carrie Matheson.
00:57:06That's very moving.
00:57:08Like, that kind of thing is really, really meaningful.
00:57:11And, yeah, I mean, I would say mostly people are just appreciative and respectful.
00:57:20Looking at the body of your work and also your public appearances, what is your favorite
00:57:24meme of yourself?
00:57:27Well, me sprinting away from the gunshots in White Lotus became, I'm deeply gratified when
00:57:33my physical life is lauded because I was an athlete.
00:57:37You get it.
00:57:38And so I love physical stuff on set.
00:57:40I love hanging out of a window.
00:57:41I love running.
00:57:42And I also just felt like, yeah, that's a very American response.
00:57:45You hear a gunshot, you're out of there.
00:57:47You know?
00:57:47That felt very real to me.
00:57:48So that's a fun one.
00:57:49There's also one from the Leftovers where I'm hosing off the guilty remnant, and that's
00:57:53a good one, too.
00:57:54Or just my really ugly cry face, which I know you and I both share that.
00:57:57I have that, too.
00:57:58Ugly cry faces, we have that.
00:57:59And I will say, too, as for fans, because it's always Leftovers fans that recognize me,
00:58:03I always hear about people's grief, and it's the same thing.
00:58:05It's very moving.
00:58:06Yes.
00:58:06And it's quite, and there's, like, such deep sharing that happens, and it's not trite,
00:58:10and I'm very grateful for it.
00:58:12There's some from the Wilds.
00:58:13I'm covered in blood and dirt and, like, kind of losing it and pacing back and forth on
00:58:18this to each one.
00:58:20It's just a few frames of me looking pretty run down and crazy.
00:58:27That comes up on my feelings in a while.
00:58:30Those are fun for your family.
00:58:31Yeah.
00:58:31Sometimes your family.
00:58:32Yeah, good for the group chat.
00:58:33Yeah.
00:58:34I think I make a face of, like, disgust during the DNA test in one battle, and my friends
00:58:40love to use that one.
00:58:46Usually, my character from Little Fires, there's a scene where I'm smoking a joint, and people
00:58:51love to send me that up on 420.
00:58:53Yeah, of course.
00:58:54Oh, really?
00:58:55Yeah.
00:58:55Of course.
00:58:56I'm so deeply terrified about what is going to be said about me online that even though
00:59:00I can't escape it, I have read certain things, but I don't know a bunch of them, and then
00:59:05my friends, yes, will send them to me if they're particularly unattractive.
00:59:09Apparently, my listening face, when I believe the other person is an idiot, is very useful
00:59:14to a lot of people, and so there's quite a few of those.
00:59:17Yes, that's true.
00:59:18Well, I can't thank you enough for being here.
00:59:21Thank you for having us.
00:59:22Oh, thanks for having us.
00:59:24Cheers.
00:59:25Cheers.
00:59:25Cheers.
00:59:27Cheers.
00:59:27What a pleasure.
00:59:28I love to see you guys.
00:59:29Cheers.
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