Ann Dowd Career Retrospective | SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations

thank you thank you so much good evening so you've had such an amazing career let's start with current projects I'm sure a lot of people here have been watching The Handmaid's Tale my god really how did you get involved with that I was in North Carolina writing an old-fashioned bike I was just filming something and I didn't have a car and I wanted to go find sorry to say t.j.maxx so I was on a silly bike trying to keep my balance and the phone rang you know so I thought well I can do both because this is a big old bike and I thought no you cannot pull over which is what I did and I was my agent and my manager lovely people both and I said there's a project called The Handmaid's Tale are you familiar I said yes you know I read it when I was in school and it was an offer that's such a lovely phrase I always try to be calm when I hear they I'm sorry did you say laughs but so I read the script and it was beautifully beautifully done and I remembered the book because it leaves such an impression doesn't it so I thought wow they have really lined this up well and really it paid attention to what she was up to and had done it so beautifully so I had no questions there immediately in and that's how I heard and there was a film made of it previously - had you seen the film or did you like watch with her no and I didn't do that either yeah um no wasn't tempted as we're impressionable right so I to try a clean take at it did you really Booker just go straight edge grip I probably read immediately and was riveted for the second time and what did you take from that the you brought to the character once you started filming well you know I asked Bruce Miller Bruce Miller is our showrunner wonderful I said what do you imagine she did before and he said she was a public schoolteacher and that made so much sense to me because I would raised with Catholic sisters in my education and I have to on Sewer Catholic nuns Ursuline nuns and I did not have cruel nuns I always hesitate to mention because they get such a bad rap when in fact I'm sure there are those cruel nuns but I did not have them and and the nuns that I've been exposed to are the ones who are educated and the ones who get into the trenches you know and do the work and don't have the martini and the steak at the end of the day but it delivered to them by someone else do you know no there's not a bat going on so I just had to put that in but I did have sisters who and they were very strict no question and I had one in particular whose name was mother Claude don't dwell but that was and and she would hound me on a daily basis and I thought she is the worst creature on the earth she has something against me because it would be things like my job would be to clean sweep the floor at the end of the day so I kind of sort of sweep it and then go to basketball practice she would though right down to the gymnasium and say kid come here right now never raised your voice go back and do your job and didn't matter what you'd say to the coach she's not coming to practice today she was on me constantly and I'm grateful for aside from the fact that she talked important lesson of life which was you are no different from anyone else Missy you have a job to do so do it and your job is to do it to the best of your ability not you feel like it but every day how about that for a lesson so I was deeply and by the end she's also my math teacher and I struggled with fractions and things in those early days you know how things go easily for well and suddenly Oh reached the limit desperate I don't know how and she saw that kind of fear and instead of shaming me she said here's how we do it it's very logical with math it's always the quickest and most direct route you take so that was a person who influenced me tremendously so in playing of Lydia somehow she signed she's all in the Bible is a very close friend to her and I think she saw the world going to hell if she was teaching in an all-girls school let us say or perhaps a public school who knows and she saw the promiscuity the fact that pollution nobody cared the birthrate just sinking you know when somebody adheres so strictly to a very rigid take on life I always wonder ok what's the damage where's the fear because life surely is bigger isn't it it'd be nice if life fit into that category of it's either this or it's that you do it this way or no way but that isn't life we all know it it takes about 10 minutes to realize oh I see full of change full of what we don't expect and so somewhere I just occurred to me something happened did she lose a child did a man or many toss her to nothing did her parents say to her you are nothing and you read that Bible and that's your only chance in life whatever happened there what's clear is that she's a believer and she were the girls are everything to her so to me it was about love for the girls and she takes a firm hand I think of my the principal at my school the nun scared the Wits out of me she never took she never showed you any level of vulnerability she scared us she thought it was her job to do so she wanted us to know that this is not going to be an easy path here and you're not going to be held by the hand life will not do that but you would neither will I so that made sense to me and far as as far as Lydia goes you know she's going to commit until they get it it's this is what is required for you to survive in this world of gilead someone like poor sweet janine who says in my presence twice and Lydia realize oh no no I'm going to have to make an example here and then realizes she's not stable and she Shepherds her you notice I don't know if you've seen that where she realizes die am responsible for her and I'm going to do whatever I have to do to keep her on the path so she's not a heartless person that's a very long-winded answer I probably know please I really do I'll make it shorter no no please there's so many different directions like I go from this but since you mentioned nuns you played 950 times in your career and everything from house to Louie Louie like is there a reason for their pattern he just looked great in a wimple or you know what's up no I mean nothing sacred but there was no whimper there was a deal my best friend she's no longer my best friend we're not friends I think she divorced me at one point which makes me very sad I wouldn't say her name but she said you know when you're in your like early 30s or you're hoping to God to have a career like a job anything and she said to be my are you gonna play nun that's what you're gonna play I said what she's that I'm just telling you you're gonna play nuns and I was crushed I thought well not that I didn't like that I love nun I'm related to none but I don't know what what she meant I have to ask her if she loves reading of it I don't know what she meant but then suddenly nuns kept on okay yeah I don't know I don't know but I'm really flattered I'll be telling you there's a spiritual thread for your career to open the leftovers is a very spiritual I only is that something that you're attracted to or people tend to think of you because you've done before why do you think that has become kind of a recurring motif and your a great question I'll tell you a secret lower all there's only two of us here so I I read I read the script of the leftovers let me just start by saying HBO show shooting in New York City where I live and I have three children do you know what I'm saying how great would that be and so I read it when I think of those early days I said I don't Oh No what does this departure business ridiculous who's departing no one I mean I would take an idiot when I think of my narrow vision and so I actually said it out loud I thought I have patient manager agents and I said I don't I don't get it I don't know what they're talking about no one's going anywhere you die or you don't die and it took a long beat of silence and said well maybe you should read it again because it is an HBO show shooting in Manhattan I mean New York so then I read it and I thought that a little ping went off and I thought oh she's curious this woman is quite interesting I'd liked her and she's not talking what's that about can I just say it was one of the most remarkable experiences of my entire life and the thing about Damon Lindelof hold on for dear life in the most brilliant way and Tom Parata because you don't even know what's hitting you because it's not linear and it's not going to follow a conscious path the brilliance is that it follows an unconscious path and so at first when I'm thinking can I touch it can I smell it no don't want to and suddenly I'm all in took about one minute on the set then I find out well first of all the no talking totally and I thought oh you barely spoke in the first you know and who can do that so how do you well let me tell you try to try it in your relationship riot with your kids and by that I mean don't don't pretend you're not engaged just don't talk you have the power in the room it's quite remarkable so suddenly I was a all over this and I loved her you know that woman she moves me tremendously loved her almost immediately and Damon doesn't volunteer information ever but if you write because you will have questions you read anything I'm sorry what you ask him and he will clarify in two seconds beautiful and very clear and very whatever it takes you'll get what he's saying then I find out so we do were going along for a season and I get the email Patti is going to lovely email from Damon Patti is going to martyr herself and I started to cry immediately and I want him to my husband I had the computer I said am i reading this correctly and he said yeah yeah you are you're reading it I was distraught for three days wept walked around the city like I had lost a chunk of me I can't describe and I actually wrote to daemon and said does this mean no it's on the page you know and so here's the thing and I'll try to be sure about this but it was so immense that episode and which she and Justin Theroux I didn't know him you know after going through that experience and afterwards we both said this is a love story and the reason it's a love story is because he sees her fear where she hides how she runs from her life that she carries a burden and she sees the same in him and the result is intimacy and that's about as rare and experienced in life I've been married to my husband for 32 years I adore him there's plenty I keep from him I don't want him to know I don't mean active bla bla but I just mean I just need you know I'm saying so just the extraordinary experience of I get you and you get me and for some reason we're together I don't know why I'll never get over that experience with Justin he will be in my life forever I would throw myself in front of a train and I will call him any time for the rest of my life and then the things that had taught me also was to let go because I was holding on well couldn't we find a way for her to and then suddenly ding because Patti was doing the same thing let go of your life it's over let go of attachment keep the distraction out let go and so that's what happened next thing I know she's coming back imagine and then in season two I remember writing to him you know how she's I don't know if you've watched and how she says uh Kevin I told you not to tell Nora but she told her and she's gone don't tell the daughter cuz she I said to Damon so does she want to help the relationship I mean is that what's happening here and why is she there and he said oh no she doesn't believe in relationship doing brilliant I mean to say talk about putting you on the right track she's who she is she doesn't know why she's there as far as she knew she killed herself and the job was done now she's sitting next to him in a truck and people say she had ghosts and this is the thing when you work on a Damon Lindelof suit you stop questioning of the obvious because it suddenly doesn't matter whatever it was she was present in his life and that's all you needed to know you know that's all I need oh that was a remark and then the end of season two she lets go of that emotional burden her physical life is over but the emotional burden of I had a chance to leave and claim my life and say no you will not abuse me you will not treat me as if I do not matter I won jeopardy you accordingly so now I have the money but she never left and once she releases that burden it's done for her and then Kevin says here let me help you leave and the third season is returning the favor to him not going to hide anymore come on now I know you can't do it alone so I'm gonna help you we're going to blow this fantasy life up so when you want to run you're going to run smack into your life and you want to deal and that's the third super patty and I know you're lying about the short answer Wepa massachusetts originally and i read that one of the inspirations for your character patty was doing when Patriots coach Bill Belichick any Patriots fans of anyone want to admit I'm sorry we're in New York I get it I mean everyone seems to hate the every time I bring up Patriots a job well done yeah third episode and I thought who I was kind of I grew up in a family that deeply may say appreciated football to the annoyance of all the women in the family but they were most of us there were five girls two boys it's like why are you all what we haven't know we're not watching football oh but we are so I had a kind of resentment but then after a while I was obsessed uh and then suddenly I'd like playing the third server what I was she reminding me of it seems so physical and everything I thought oh my god it's still Belichick and a dentist's dear you don't search for who shall I baser on I mean definitely work that way government it's whatever presents you know and I remember thinking he doesn't care it's all about the game and winning it he's full in doesn't care one bit what other people say about him and it's all about team planes you're no more special than anybody else on this team and you want to try that get out of my so anyway yeah is the answer and both The Handmaid's Tale and leftover seem to be resonating with people right now given kind of our our current political climate how does that feel for you to be involved in projects that are so kind of current I feel incredibly fortunate you know how it goes right with our careers you never know what's going to happen we want a job you want a meaningful piece of work to put in to put our lives into some order and to just have that I'm just I wish it for everybody that you have a role that and then suddenly someone says yeah you know what given what we're going through me i watch that show you know so that's that's the only answer I could tell you it's just so grateful for it and what's the atmosphere like on the set of a man's tale I mean it's primarily female cast members and does that change the dynamic in any way or another no you know that's a really interesting question because suddenly you find yourself wait a minute how do I answer it when we work we first showed it Tribeca they had a screening of episode one by the pilot and I think it was full of reporters and regular you know people coming to see the movie the show and somebody asked you know they think we we talk easily because we're actors no you know when you're sitting as a cast and suddenly political questions are coming your way you realize someone's writing this down and I'm not sure I mean I know how I feel but I'm not sure I'm expressing myself clearly and the next thing you know someone's challenged she said Rina I was very tired that day hadn't slept so I didn't have that instinct not the favor but I remember Lizzy said some Lizzy Moss so wonderful someone asked the question is it a feminist piece I want to say hello well it's obviously of him I mean really is that your best question but but Lizzy went further she said it's a human story which of course is what it is you know the repressed and the repressor until you find some way to see one another the problem is not going away and it may take force and it will it will take push but it's not just for women I mean what but what was the other thing I was going to say oh yeah somebody asked me to show you have a lot of do you love the women directors and you're having a lot yes of course because the talented ones are the talented ones and the talented men are wonderful this is not about men against women in terms of our worth or who you want to work with on your set but the story take care of that to know what I mean not that women shouldn't have pay let's let's make it an equal playing field for goodness sake but it's not like where it comes as a big surprise right we grow I grew up on a very loving family family business doubt insurance there was no way any of the girls in the family and we were five we're going to inherit the business oh no it was a given we're going to go to the men remember thinking huh curious I know they love me I think but this notion of second-class citizen it comes early June I'm saying so we're not like what we just have to find our way anyway and yet I read that your family wasn't necessarily totally on board with you becoming an actor either as I correct I mean they wanted you to have a ball back plan you studied medicine free medicine I guess as well yeah all is right well I I My Beautiful father died when I was 18 which is the year before I went to college and I spent my adolescence worrying about him essentially and he went to Holy Cross as did my grandfather and he said I you'll go there you go to Holy Cross should wonderful Jesuit School in Worcester message I said not going why would I go you went that's your life my life's not there not doing it I was at knowing teenager of God and I'm being paid back let me just make [Laughter] anyway then I found out he was we thought he would live longer but my mother got word that in fact he would not and so I came home from school I had gotten Adelaide in Guys and Dolls I was over the moon I came flying into the house and my mother was crying and so was my sister my mother wasn't a crier and I said what is it and she said dad has between 2 and 5 years well he was gone in 3 months but what that allowed me that notice that he was not going to be with us as I got my act together and I went down to his office I had a rose this is so person I hope you don't mind and I I said can I see you for a minute and he was what happened because we were at odds a lot you know how it is you have strong southerner and I said that is good you got a minute so we went into his office and I said listen I'm going to Holy Cross I don't know what my problem was while I was fighting you but I'm going you'd think I'd given him everything you know ha are you sure are you going I said I don't know why I was resisting I'm going of course I'm going can't wait and then I said and also I'm not going to go to summer theatre he wants the family to be together that was my house you know we all spent the summer together I said I'm not going I don't want to go and thinking and then I said in the third thing is I got Adelaide in Guys and Dolls well it was one of the loveliest five minutes of my life and then we walked to get the tickets for him to go to Antigua with my mother which is where he died a few months later but I had those five minutes so and my point here is and I told him I was going to be a doctor that was the plan so losing him I was all in I will come hell or high water and pre-med is is very tough as you know it the anxiety and you have to have AIDS or you're not going to be competitive you can't get into the med school so was that pressure pressure pressure and finally of course I was doing plays in college you know lucky me which was where the love was but it didn't occur to me that you could live a life based on what you love to do I didn't grow up with someone saying by the way you love that do it I mean I don't know I didn't so it wasn't until maybe senior year or my roommate who she lost her brother so we were like this we got it we kept saying come on get back to your life like don't speak you don't get it grief is hard that's nothing about leftovers learning to sit with grief anyway so I stayed in pre-med for four years and then in senior year my roommate said is this really what you want and well and then another friend said I have an audition for an acting school do you want to sign up yes I do and that was that my poor dear mother who accepted it not at first she said oh the one who is going to do well and go to medical fitting this haphazard life but it's all good chee-chee-chee I said to my grandmother I'm going to be an actress and she said she's quite conservative but beautiful I should say am beautiful and she said but you're not going to that's a hobby honey it's not it's not a life and I said but those are the gifts I was given and she said of course they were of course you're going to be an actress you know you have that kind of influence so you can turn and go ahead so you've got to play a doctor a few times yeah would be nice to do both you got to book it about it in that way you know mr. slow then I took you to Chicago correct DePaul University yes how much time did you spend there what did you learn in the Chicago theater scene oh that's a great place well acting school was kind it was great the first year because you know you're doing voice and speech and you're doing movement hello you know it's not physics and it's not high-end just like what this is really a class what but the problem was I applied the same mentality to the learning of acting which was commit study get a right work all day go home work all night and there's the character waiting for you know that's all about it's all about letting go isn't it it's a relationship hello I'm me and here's the character you're meeting that character you want to get to know she wants to know you before she says sure come on into my life do you know what I'm saying so that whole process was about changing my perspective and realizing honey you got her you know let go you can't you can't hold on for dear life here so that was a long learning curve that the way to get through is not to try to control like I have stage fright to this day and one time I went you know when anyone ever lived in LA okay you know how suddenly your mind I don't know your your your your reality shift and I was doing a play there and I had terrible stage fright I'm going off the track sighs well please globe and it used to take I swear to you I used to go out and roll around on the hills weeping to get the courage to go in and do the show I'm thinking you know what honey this is a problem because this is what you want your life you want to do this but you're a wreck so I went to the visit you know you know does healers and everything tons love it and I had a little my little girl was there she was three and my boy who at the time was maybe 10 who was as special needs now he's especially its adult on the autistic spectrum he was in New York so he wasn't with us and the cast mate said I said I got to deal with a stage fright I mean I can't he said I know who just were to go to oh my god so he shead name has a name number address that's all I need in Burbank she had never been to the theater in her life she was just your she had a job that she did you know and this is some a gift she had and she shared it she charged a very reasonable amount of money you know I walked in their house and she said whoa whoa what's the fear what's going on and then she said where's your other child he's a child with disabilities where is he you know I knew I wasn't looking for proof that the people have these gifts it was already clear there are wonderful gifts and they're distributed to certain people and so on so I said I'm here because I have a very bad stage fright and I don't know what to do because I don't want to go on like this and what she does is read your guide she said you know you all we all come in with guides in our lives who Shepherd us and make sure they're watching and I don't know if you're listening but they're always there I said okay she said so they are the ones I speak to I can tell you what yours look like I said no no that's okay so this is how it went I'm not kidding you're me and I saying I have this terrible okay can you wait a minute what I'm not even joking and it wasn't nothing about it she said can you use another word because she had no vocabulary in theatre so she didn't know what okay all right they're saying and I swear to god it was as real as rain she said they're saying that you are trying to control the audience and there and their response to your performance and because because you're trying so hard you are not receiving the help that is coming to you from the floors like of this what the stage or the dressing room okay the theatre that you're getting help from everywhere but you are blocking it because you want the audience to like your performance so you're holding on she wasn't even doing that folding on she was just saying the words that and of course all rang true she said and it's on the level are you sure she does it's on the level of trauma so what they're suggesting is you go back to life but which one to a class where there's much those stakes are much lower and it just tried to slowly work your way to a place where you can let go and not try to control them and then she said I said is there anything else you know still in that pre-med mode I've got the pad but not getting it here and not getting it and then she said was there anything else they'd recommend and she went and listened she said yes they said yoga yoga would be good and I said what every day or and so she'd worked like this and then she burst out laughing she said they asked me to tell you it's not a great I'm not sure what the heck I asked you that why I am so doubt but you know what I'm saying it's with that lesson of let go just take your hands off it take your hands off well you did a lot of stage work in Chicago right you also met your husband while you're there as I correct yes and you both are involved in acting and theater and then do decide to move to New York well we were lucky because first of all my husband the reason I draw breath let me say I I looked across he was an acting student my first year we were both Leisha students and he was in Antigone and he had the scruffy beard and I had never said two words to him and he was over at the bulletin board he was checking something I thought oh that's my husband I thought I don't look good look I swear I but I knew I said that is my husband wow that's interesting took a while to get him on the same track it was fully involved elsewhere but he grew up in Manhattan and his you know the ladies garment union workers bought land in Chelsea when it was a slum and they built ten buildings in spen south and there are ten buildings half of which are double buildings 21 floors and you buy the apartment but you don't profit so when you if you choose to leave you just get back what you put in so it's not profit understand and so there's a long waiting this one can imagine so his mother said to him put your name on that list when he was 8 days I know he paid the $25 and it came up 14 years later that's when we moved because we had a place to come luckiest and you started to do some TV work before that in Chicago a little bit yep um this is for the psych after foundation was your first job the one that got you your side car and I made a TV we called first steps appropriately enough that's gay Twitter's yes he was so good I'm trying to think what's that thing you do when you test hardly a part where you go I think I tried that because I couldn't pay the dues which I didn't have at the time you know I did that maybe one or two times easier to do then I think I'm not sure how it works now just now are quite quite you know it's hard for what after starting out but um soon after yeah after all and your first film was green card whatever it was thank you I love that what was that like I'm either air Coverdell must be quite a presence stuff happening I was a wreck he's fabulous yeah he is uh you know you get what he's like you know he's just like here it is life is here and we're here and we're good it was I love Peter Lee it was clear then and I say this with no disrespect that andie macdowell was not a trained actress though I see the film she's so good and I think she's really I don't know how you put it together when you have had no training she did and she was wonderful but I saw her trying to put the pieces together and I thought well you know if someone had explained this is how you approach it you know what I'm saying not that I knew I busy frantic about my own five lines or whatever it was but it was a huge learning curve and in a fairly gentle environment which is kind of great you know no one's saying what are you doing here to me which is the fear and very soon after that you make Philadelphia with Polly Jonathan dummy and you played Tom Hanks's sister yeah what do you remember about well I'll tell you what I remember I had my baby was when I got the job like five months old my first sweet boy and you know those days when you're going to audition and for the life of you you can't get out of your head it's like an affliction it was one of the hottest days of the year and it was humid and I was saying in in and I would shut down totally shut down I was talking to perfect strangers on the way to the audition try to get how are you oh I like your jacket and you were gonna come time to cuz you're not talking to me I don't know you you're weird but it was just trying to get out of my you know that terrible feeling and you just can't break out and get in the room and be so I tried everything and it was clear and my agent had worked very hard to get this appointment for me and it was one of the first meaning of a really wonderful director in the film it was very high profile so I just gave it up I thought you know what it's not going to happen today and just relax get in the room say the lines you learned be nice use your manners and then get the hell out of there so I walked in and Jonathan's a lovely lovely man God rest his soul and the producer was there and the casting director you know how it is with casting directors they're taking a chance your unknown they're like hello could you have a conversation and then do the scenes you don't saying there are expectations so I couldn't get it out and so the casting director jumped in and said Milan's just had a baby and okay that's a good jumping-off point you everyone can talk about babies right well here's what I said there are so many baby stories may I say and there are a lot of them are hilarious and sweet this is like yes and he stood up in the crib today and I died I was gonna going no no I didn't say that but the and then it was a silent little show Joel and I thought he's gotta be kidding so then and then he went he said why don't we be the same I was this you know sentence of jest like okay let this look give this up so we read the scene and I said thank you and I walked out and I walked straight to a pay phone for cell phone I called my manager my agent at the time she's now me and I said I know you worked hard I'm so sorry I did the best I could and I just it didn't happen I'm really grateful for the dinner I get home and I'm talking 20 minutes later there's the message I think you got it screaming you got it I said what what and I called Mesa was talking about she said yeah you're going to go in tomorrow you're gonna read the Tom Hanks you're gonna meet mother what are you talking about how come I couldn't believe it you know why I got it okay here's a lesson for all of us not that you need lessons forgive me at that sounded at Knossos ah my manager told me this later because the way I presented in the room I already explained the condition I was in which was as dull as it gets he didn't think she's a lawyer a scientist she's just a mother of kids who's tired and getting through the day which was the rule that's what cost so I remind I said to myself you know what don't ever forget this you do the best you can and you walk out and you hope for the best and you don't crucify yourself you just say you know what we'll see what happens it could work that was and of course we wept through the whole shooting of that film that was beautiful Tom Hanks Joanne Woodward imagine all these wonderful actors actually I can't believe I'm sitting next to them it was a great great experience and then you got to work with Jonathan again many years later on the major yeah yeah playing a congressperson l-shape try that was your relationship with him different at that point having established yourself more you know I mean you one always feels tremendously humble and grateful to be on a set but the director you respect every single time and that's how it was and and the thing about Meryl you know we all know her work my goodness what does one need to say here's the thing that shocked me and it shouldn't have she's as real as I get she is she talked that down and we chatted she's trying to remember her lines just like everybody else she's alert alert to what is happening in a scene that's jumps right out she doesn't forget because we did some improv it you know questions she was extraordinary but the humanity in her just just what you hope is the case is the case is the case yeah it was wonderful you've also worked the Steven Soderbergh a couple of times on the informants and side-effects very different movies yeah I don't remember the name you bro okay no word ok Soderbergh I don't want to hurt hyperbole I can't help it cuz you're saying all these like one of little first of all your day is seven hours can I just repeat that because I'm shooting a wonderful series now called good behavior which I love so much Michelle docked remember her okay Downton Abbey so British hi hi n she's playing white-trash former meth addict thief grifter she's off the charts great anyway the hours are 15 to them Soderberg this is how we stand I hope I get back over this chair that's what he does he's so smart you can't believe it so you know how it said is you're everyone scurrying you're trying to turn the clock the clock this is him perfectly peaceful because he knows what he wants his mind will allow him to see how he wants to shoot it he's economical in his shooting he knows how we want to tell the story visually and if you ask a question got the answer right there it's an extraordinary experience and the first one the informant was a bunch of comic comedians and they were hilarious all men and you know how they compete with one another I suppose we all do but comedians have that kind of special thing going on where were there one helping each other tutor I'm saying and it's all funny but it was so early and you know for me I was just desperately I think he just let me get through this remember my mind and the soda Brooke came in just before it went raunchy it was about to go there you know I mean went like this okay we're gonna wrap this up lady on the set thank you I'm you just cute like that I love him but you're so good and you've all done want a guest-starring work on television uh some very good shows on might be blue x-files Mikey what's the art of being a guest star coming on to a show like that that doesn't have a moving operation yeah and that's a tough wouldn't you say that's a rough place to be because you want to be in the family but you're not you're a distant cousin and you're just here for the day or two days and everyone's trying to be nice to you but you're not in the family you just say you know what I get it it's very hard but NYPD Blue is a wonderful example I was a huge fan of name Hill Street Blues sir no no I'll get my throne no no no the writer David Milch ostenbach another one David Nelson ond but you know then I can just say that it was like a men a boys club in a way and so the way it goes there and I thought the show was wonderful and I was so happy to get a chance so I was playing a the wife of a sergeant who was found dead in the backseat of his cruiser with a woman his mistress and they died because of carbon monoxide hello day one haha but the thing is I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the track was for her what did she want I couldn't put it together and I was desperate I knew it had to have a strong emotional content but that doesn't get you through it scene hello you need a path what do I want what's in my way the basics so the first several the first thing is you read it and that's all like a forest antennas front so lovely they've all done it for a billion years they get it and i get it fast then you do it again for camera but but David Milch is not there then we were going to shoot it after lunch and I went to the trailer and I wept and I called my husband I said I can't do it I don't even know what I'm doing and everyone it's so harsh like everyone's like this moving not mean but you know and I felt I just was lost and I just I don't think I can do it these will of course you can do it and you're going to do is just take a breath you know you thought you know you've been through things like this you know what you're doing so I walk in and I'm ready to just do what I can and there's David Milch and so we're gonna run it for him and then we're going to shoot so I ran aford we ran it and he said he loves actors what's better than that when I director loves actors and doesn't think of us as spoiled children who are just looking for a way to speak out it's a beautiful thing do you know what I mean and it's so important and he smiled he said do you know what she wants I said no and he said she's protecting the dignity of her husband as soon as he said it okay no more questions the path lit up for me I didn't care how he founded what I looked like what it felt like he put me on the path that is an actor's dream which is what are you doing what do you want that's the ticket to freedom isn't it nothing you don't go in your head no point you do what human beings do go after what you want I got in the car after that experience and I wept again but this time with gratitude because he taught me something and he showed me how to get there I haven't met him since I don't think but I'll never forget that anyway he also guest-starred on judging amy with amy brenneman who you later work we all had you bonded with her on that experience when you know came back together again no I loved initially wait I love talking or making fun of her kid not special no no no you know how that is when you're still such a distant cousin in that I felt like an a case you know you know you're not you're just trying to get in there but leftovers you know it's three or four in the morning and we're out in some town in upstate new ground we know where we are you give up asking after well where are we going and it's 3:00 in the morning and we don't really know who the guilty remnant is we haven't quite figured that out so think of this think of sweet lip Tyler the doll Liv Tyler who's you know gorgeous saying I'm on a goat milk lens like lit laughs girly something have a hamburger and so we got to know one another sitting on you know middle of the night in the middle of nowhere howling with laughter she's great that Amy and Liv just getting to know her and her sweetness the whole thing I mean it was yeah I love Amy lover and your first regular serious role was on nothing sacred which we mentioned earlier where you played a nun that was kind of a controversial show at the time there was some backlash I mean how did you deal with that just as an actor I was disappointed cuz we only went 13 was a beautiful series and controversial hello because a priest questions God do you don't say it was real it was by a Jesuit bill cane my love and it was a wonderful series and far to the right yet again trying to knock it down and should really get ABC to drop it and get rid of those you know you know then it was not cable it was all your network shows really hard to get a place I was beautiful in it and there was no reason for it wasn't controversial my god it was just real and I guess that wasn't especially welcome people are funny about religion you know they take serious ownership of it and they apply and give God all these attributes that have nothing to do with the God we're supposed to to them saying whether you believe in God or you don't you know knows that everything loves it's all about that and then suddenly his feelings are hurt because you who you're talking about you know anyway so well then God brought HBO into your life yes oh that is amazing run on HBO of the past several years yeah I saw you referred to as the prestige cable drama it girl in one article what did that mean well you just keep turning up all these cars I know I'm sorry I want to pay you or like could you just down and take your bother he hasn't dealt it if I want to talk about some of those project true detective comes to mind I love that so much I can barely see straight you know you know how we have those auditions I went on taste for that yeah and I thought to myself I don't get it there's gonna be a problem and I don't mean for them except they don't care for me I loved her and let me tell you on that set because of all the house it was like by the river in New Orleans outside of the moon and I saw this young kid and the father and a mother and they were walking around with sticks I said honey what are you doing he said we're he was a snake thingy will you go on and you make sure the house is cleared of snakes to understand the kids 13 is like okay the family business is this and they cleared the rap and there were they found moccasins you know we're not wearing Louisiana and so there's the atmosphere Jeremy walk into that house the art department so everything supported this desperate life of someone who is not capable who doesn't know that you don't make love with your brother who doesn't know the bizarre nature of this world I loved it and and woody harrelson doll this is completely what you hope you that's what he is the only thing I would say holy Harrelson life I don't know how he does it it said he doesn't believe in air conditioning so in other words the poor van you know for the environment if I turn them off when you're waiting imagine so these poor drivers sitting are going to have help but lovely lovely environment love the actor who played my brother you know when you're in the theater you have a certain level of trust like that because you know what it is to be in the trenches and go out on the stage you think god help me let me get this right so the whole I loved it and you were also part of the amazing ensemble olive kitteridge for HBO what was the experience like being with Frances McDormand she's great she's just like you think she is such a straight shooter to none I mean she's right there sharp oh good she's a minimalist in the sense that she just says and does what's necessary to be said and done I was very fond of her she's very generous Richard Jenkins just like you think he is as real as he can be love the director she was great and it's a beautiful story so that was and there it was on the coat in Massachusetts I'm messing sorry I'm from Massachusetts not that part by the ocean but it's so pretty and my family's there you know it's like a holiday extended I loved it loved it and all these products seem to come up after you did your role in compliance yeah which really got a lot of thank you thank you very much um it was a very small film to start thumbing did you expect it was going to have any kind of impact or that kind of impact when you were making it did you know this was going to be her to me never occurred to me I did this is funny I masala gong should be taken to him asylum but I in Chicago I was on the way to wait on tables my black pants my white shirt my black tie you know mom and I walked by and there there was a premiere of a film called about last night and Elizabeth Perkins a classmate of mine starring in it her career about to go into so she's getting out of a little and I'm going to wait on tables and I went home you know we've all had these moments and I wept I'm sitting on the porch going no I when is it going to happen I can't I can't do this and I was really distraught and my sweet husband who's an actor also who knows about patience was just saying you gotta get out gotta find something to interest you in the meantime like draw something do anything I'm whaling on the porch and I was alone and I heard some voice and I'm not joking whether it was a voice or something and it said it will all be fine it will be fine you will be in your fifties you will be 56 I swear to God compliance 56 and I remember saying at the time you know poor Bruce Kison alright let's let's wrap this our process and I remember saying on the porch no no I'm not waiting til I'm in my fifties oh no sorry and and then you know life continues doesn't it and compliance came along there was a conflict it's the first time I ever said in a room of an audition ever I got her I understood her because people would say young did you find that a hard roller wrap your head around was like no woman alive today will find this a hard role to wrap their head around God forgive me and I'm going to make great statements here but you know if you don't have the key if you're born into you don't matter your opinions not that important and certainly not interesting and you're overweight so you better marry him because no one else going to ask you she's working in a fast-food restaurant doesn't have the Constitution to say excuse me a detective then come down here and do your job because I'm running a restaurant I've got time to you never occurred to her why she has no agency she never was told in her life that you are valued and what you think and say and guess what no was a full sentence shouldn't have that right how did I get off on that so the point simply is shooting it we shot it in 14 days I believe and you just got down to business that was a great thing of it it was an independent picture you just did what you needed to do I love Craig's ovale who wrote it so well and directed it so well wonderful cast but never occurred to me there's my friend but at that same time who said you're gonna play nuns all your life that one I got to find her a little chat but she said that will be she had a very strong reaction to the fact to the abuse and everything as many were many were triggered Sundance was beyond someone screaming in the back violence is not violence against women is not entertainment really screaming so learnings early on that it was controversial in the sensor triggered people left and right yeah but it was a month yeah wonderful experience and why do you think it did kind of take you to the next level in some ways professionally what you think it was about that role in that project that really brought you I'm not exactly sure you know to me it was another day in in working on a role that I loved it didn't seem any different to me you know but somehow it got attention did the story and the the bizarreness of it and then it touched nerves I mean you know how that is you just lucky in that way you know how did you shoot them because it seemed like the way that the story unfolded is a very kind of slow reveal this woman's psyche but were you shooting out of sequence oh yeah yeah you know how that is you sure and not only that we jumped in because we used a fast-food restaurant a chicken place in New Jersey so we had to shoot at night so we didn't gradually go to splits and then I started and about 3:00 in the morning you're literally going to help me to care I mean so remind me this is being filmed because I am so tired so no it was out of sequence and I remember though the last thing the interview was a reporter for 2020 or whatever it was the first time I did it I just wept through it and that electric Craig it hits me if that's not right is it I said no it's definitely not right because that would have has mean that she had accepted that her life went way off the rails because when you participate in that way and then someone and then you realize what just happened either your life falls apart which it should do because that's a crisis or you say what this woman said you would have done the same thing you would have thought it was detective I don't know what the big deal is I did what I supposed to do I know what your problem is so I feel for her because I don't know where her life is now but I remember just knowing in that moment of shooting that episode wow this isn't going to go well for her after this you know yeah yeah you played a lot of mothers and various various qualities Busy Philipps mother on Freaks and Geeks lobby oh my god the apartments mother in Garden State yeah do you bring your own experiences as a mother to those kind of roles or you're sure you know but doesn't always begin with the writing you know what I'm saying exact Graf is hysterical and he also knew exactly what he wanted and he told us ahead of time you know I'm looking for this or I'm looking for being very familiar with your words that and again you you always feel like you're being tossed out of a plane don't you or at least I do or shot off a cannon you're just trying to look like you're not ready to faint and you know so you've drawn what's natural to you and I thought that world was well written you know and the other one though with Freaks and Geeks I just don't know why but I wanted that role bad because I thought she was so out of mind in the best way and you know a role I'd never played with someone like her you and that prese don't make me go up there you know that from our childhood don't make me come up there or whatever it is I just that's all I could think about with her she just you know I don't know love Busy Philipps she's tall doll and you've done a lot of comedy but not necessarily sitcoms not necessarily like the for camera at laugh track kind of know you think there's a reason for that do you think that your style doesn't necessarily soup no no but I'll be searching one out because you know I've listened to this I just started a film called a kid like Jake it's wonderful it's with Claire Danes I know what can you say she's so great and Jim Parsons mm-hmm so I know what that ours are in homeland because I know what the hours are with leftovers and the hours at home with that handmaids I said Jim how about your hours you can't imagine comes in on Wednesday I mean they're fully in they've been in several years they know what they're doing ten years or something you know they have a read-through and Wednesday and they go home and then Thursday maybe they rehearse and then Friday rehearse spent you can you imagine I mean then you go home you have a life you know and you see your kids and anyway so I'll be looking for one of those I'd love to another maternal role on masters of sex yeah Michael she knows Bob which is interesting because you're not how much hopefully Michael she kept saying someone do the map here then you don't say that because a lot of bit of everything really it's great I mean do you think that that's a strength in a way that you can play different ages convincingly uh well III I don't I mean yes sure absolutely you know you're on the set five minutes and suddenly you feel ancient and I feel like I'm gonna play this grandmother by the jorritsma guy thought it was a great experience there too you know he it was very good Michelle Ashford is the writer producer wonderful and again what captain fantastic I guess you are my god that were wrong no cover-up part of that amazing ensemble uh vocal Frank Langella and Viggo Mortensen well especially first of all you land okay have you ever but you land on the set and you know immediately that there's something special going on those children blew my mind every day their work ethic their kindness their attention to detail their behavior manners Viggo Mortensen is ah beyond like Justin in the sense of he's a captain of this ship uh totally devoted to the you know they went out and lived in the woods in prep for this dude I mean they weren't fooling around uh Matt Ross wrote it you just knew right away and when I when I saw the film mind you I did it and I read it I started to weep maybe ten minutes in I thought oh my god I don't know why I could have never seen anything more beautiful in the morning of that mother and the way they did it and unlike in the way they were brought up that they could those children got it enough were they the way they agreed I was blown away by that film and yeah loved it how about when she sang that song what he did Oh beautiful experience beautiful you were also in the next-to-last episode of girls oh we had done my job but she helped me didn't take but um and you were also next to us absolutely leftovers this is kind of a pattern here that you cut before the end of yeah shows but you were you were a fan of girls before yeah yeah well I always thought wow she kind of blew me away she's the real deal as you probably gathered she'll change the world in one fashion or another she's is completely available real generous generous generous if it's nerve-wracking I don't care how many times you do it you pop in for a family visit of one day and you're hoping just hoping you can she couldn't have been more lovely and and she doesn't take a second to get into that character and I mean not a second she can go there so that's another thing I felt like I dream that because it all happened so fast you go home you think wow I think I was in that I think I did that and she lets you play two with the words and that's so fun you know out of respect to the writer of course you say what is written and then sell you know we'll have fun we'll do you know just it's just it was lovely lovely it seems like you've worked so steadily for all these years doing such great work but there must have been lean times along the way how do you get through that I mean I take it your husband is a great source of support understanding he's also sensible not when everything whether that it's like you know how do we do that we are and we all do I could go five weeks and keep a steady course without work and then fall then I would just go off the deep end but I realized something I had my daughter I was 41 years old and my little baby girl and I was as thin as a rail I went on a you know I lived in Laurel Canyon so up those junior and I couldn't work to save my life I couldn't figure it out I was like what's going on here never looked better on Tiny Tim the hair and I'm ain't earning couldn't couldn't hot get hired and each time and in LA you go out quite a bit each time I wouldn't get a role I weep and I caught myself in the middle of a leap of longhand and then I was it I said to myself you're choosing this response you are choosing to fall apart after not getting all of these roles why are you doing it stop it now snap out of it right now you're in this for the long run you know this so you're really going to fall apart every time you don't get apart stop it you have a beautiful you have children you have a life you have there's a roof over your damn head and someone is sending you out just get a perspective and you know make the world bigger for yourself too and I'm saying I think you have to choose that perspective or and plus I have a very strong I'm an optimist by nature but also I don't I just can't go there what if it doesn't I just can't why you know I'm saying you just hope for the best do your work you know use your man there's good be good people and I don't know I felt like something I don't know what but it's just I don't know to stay to stay the course you know see the course change for you the left you know five or ten years I mean I ran across several articles online that were like kind of just discovering you in compliance you know came out and then we're going back and saying oh but you didn't build it but she was also on this and this and this never really put it all together and now people are doing your face and knowing your name I mean does that change your day-to-day life in any way well it does I you know people are lovely people who love leftover say or handmaids what's nicer than someone saying are you in that you know it's lovely as I said I'm very close to Justin and of course though I've met Jen you know they don't have privacy of any kind of any kind and they're lovely down-to-earth people they can't go anywhere I have that freedom I don't you know what I mean the few who stop and say are you you just want to say thank you and thank you you know you know for our being is like yes I am that character it's the best but the nice thing too I think aging is underrated you know I really do because you have some perspective you just can't hold on so tight does life teach you to do the opposite if you just one listens I take a long time before I listen and I finally got it now of course it's easy to let go now because the work is there you know lucky me imagine I hope you're all getting the roles you want and deserve it's just lovely you know and so you can and even unset I'm playing a character in this is an FBI agent blast Chad Hodges the writer is so good this is good behavior you got to watch her Michelle and him one Bato that they're so good in Terry Kinney you know Terry Kinney she doesn't she thinks just fly out of her mouth she said some of the funniest things I've ever heard but you gotta let go you can't craft it like woah and so it's such a lesson every day and relax and I'm saying did you realize I use juggling we would say it's not brain surgery and you want to say no it isn't but if it were you would be dead that's how seriously you're not taking okay but still it is our work right and to me entertainment is is what touches the soul not what distracts us from life although that isn't bad kind of like that jeopardy I'm all over it I don't know any of the answers I'm glued but if I'm going to choose to watch a show I want to engage in what's happening in the lives of these people you know another notable achievement of yours is he played four different characters on law and order for the course of 12 years that's a great New York actor story joining those between 1991 and 2003 so that's quite a span in with your life and career do any of them kind of stand out in your mind as particularly memorable well they all have in their way you know that there's one where I take a baby steal a baby and I love that and so I went down to the hospital and not sort of the hospital on 7th Avenue the Children's you know they're terrible disabilities as poor beautiful children and they've kind of been abandoned so there's a lovely Hospital and these are adults who are eating out of you know what I'm saying real disabilities and that's where the characters took a baby from some reason so I found a way I got in there and I snuck upstairs you know you're not allowed I thought how would she have achieved that book chief done and somehow I got in I endure said what are you doing here you're not supposed to be here and I was like oh I'm so sorry I thought it's visiting hour and I left so it would sense that notion or put into action the plan take the character outdoors with you and see how the job gets done really try that in put the script down and go out and see what happens so I loved that and also I thought well how will I relate to this woman wants to give up this baby i I don't know about that these are still my days I'm holding on for dear life god forbid I should have an imagination do you know what I'm saying so I wandered to the library really desperate how will I play this and there was a book about someone who had to give up their baby answer right in front of me read it okay get it thank you so that sticks out and who's the wonderful actor is just because I'm tired of names go out on my head that when he was a schizophrenic the brother did such a great actor oh my god sorry it'll come that stuck out you broke my heart that kind of performance when you say you've got to be kidding me yeah you know who I mean but he's so wonderful and I'm so sorry Don his name so no sweetheart um you know I was so good you know him no no I'll say it it'll come but you know hope he's not of course he's not watching he's probably working but Bob and the other one murdering she was a pediatrician oncologist for children and so I went to that Hospital the great one sloan-kettering to that wing and here is every culture in the world Hasidic african-american and their children are all on intravenous dying of cancer you know and so they wanted us to come because you feel like suddenly you're thinking this is real life and they face this every day and I'm not to put down our work which is as noble as anything it keeps the noble ideas alive right but somehow you feel like you're intruding by saying can i watch you know they were generous we want you to see we want you to get it right and so I remember saying to the doctor who had a sweet pen with a kind of furry monkey or something on it to cheer up the kids you know imagine and I said well how do you how do you manage it because they lose a fair number of children and he said we celebrate the small victories got him home for Thanksgiving made it to her birthday with her family you know brilliant and the other thing about that one that just who's the wonderful who talks about grief the five stages of grieving the Cooper Roscoe oh my god she had a book about she dealt with children in trauma and she said so I started reading about her because someone said you know she's loosely based your character on kubler-ross what a genius she is she worked with children in the trauma center so that if there was an accident on the road say and there were so many kids in the one car they'd have to take two ambulances to get them and they'd go to separate hospitals because there wasn't i couldn't take them all to the same she said without exception the brothers and sisters always knew when one was going to go without exception she said they never ever were wrong children always knew and she also said you know you've got to let the one who is dying say it and let you know it's time and you can't say no no you're going to be fine no no honey we're going to what we're going to do is this please don't take that from them just get it all out on the table let them say it so that all you have to do when it's over is grieve and she said one time there was the child who was skin and bones and refused to let go and the parent nobody could figure it out so she went in to speak to the child and she said something she always went by their drawings also spoke volumes apparently and she said to the child what's the matter what is it and the child said well my priest came and he asked me if I loved God most in the world and I said yes but I don't I love my mom and dad the most and I'm afraid to see him because I lied so Judah Ross said don't you think God is proud of you and how you have managed we as I think years don't you think you've tried your very best I have I have do you think God is proud of you and she took a beach he said yes I I do think so and she was gone in an hour this was the experience sorry God long-winded tonight I mean so each experience is like what changed you know brought such meaning and all the while you've been doing this amazing TV and film work you've also continued to do stage work yeah been on Broadway three times yes uh most recently in the Figo checking yes why is it important to continue to do theater in addition to just film work what is it kind of satisfying it well it always reminds me of decades to me courage takes courage to do anything but I'm afraid of it and I continue to be afraid of it so I say there you go girl get up right now and I'm really hoping in my life to learn to let go and not be afraid because the times that I have like so amazing in it like we did a play at signature know if anyone thought night is a room and I've done a kind of like a thank you but oh but the point is what the fight I'd say maybe five times I let go five out of a lot doesn't look like being on a ticket to heaven so some to myself honey it's that easy you did your homework you're gonna let the audience do their job and you're gonna do yours and life is good can you can you remember that tomorrow when you go to do it try it on honey I'm not kidding you most the time I couldn't as well like love but those five times man this is about courage you know get up tell it now right now and let it go and I think that's pretty great are there certain types of roles or types of project aside from a sitcom with great hours that you still really want to do that you know are kind of dreams of yours videos yet to achieve I think I've always been drawn to um I don't know why but those who are disenfranchised and different and very much alone and they survive that draws me immediately I don't know if that's the one anyone wants them necessarily watch but I think I love those roles I just love them because they teach you so much you know about humility and you know my son my son is on the autistic spectrum and he lives on a working farm for adults with disabilities and there are all kinds of disabilities and the beauty of those lives and that they have found a way to have meaning I don't know you know yeah we have some questions from the audience were running a little short on time here but are you guys know please really let's see so in the first season of The Handmaid's Tale Oh your stuff run all right I won't read a pretty I see you we got backstory episodes on Nick Luke and other supporting characters as aunt Lydia's backstory already something that's been discussed with you for this or next season you talked a little bit about those yeah all I heard was that she was probably a teacher I hope that I don't know where this series will go I've note they don't tell us I wonder what they think we'll do if we know okay but uh kidding but no I know nothing but I think that would be a great what was her past yeah pretty great a question from Leo what's your approach to playing a character whose goals you don't respect well did you latch on to what you do respect let's say Lydia I respect her devotion her duty-bound nature that she commits and never looks up from that commitment I admire that I don't share her message but that's not my job I don't judge her which is my job not to judge and I found things about it I quite admired and I go back to those experiences for my youth where I thought they were they Antichrist some of those people in my life were just kept saying nope it's here it's here and I just concentrate on that rather than worry that I don't share her views question from Nadia how long was the lapse between the leftovers and Handmaid's Tale and how did you prepare for aunt Lydia differently yeah uh I kind of clicked into Lydia I kind of got her because so much of Julis went right to my past deny had so many examples to draw from of who she might be plus I played Aloysius and doubt you no doubt great play oh my god love her she taught me a tremendous amount that woman I started a diet the day I started rehearsing that play a really tough one and I stuck it out which is not my strength and it just taught me what her life was you you keep it sparse keep it centered on work keep it centered on what you've been asked to do step into it if she had been given a choice she would have been a gardener alone all day not take care of a school so it's in my point as Lydia patty it was an internal thing and I just you know leaned on the material on the questions and Justin and I let it take shape and trusted that whatever came out was going to be what it was doesn't know I answer the question no it does absolutely uh question from Lisa Rothman do you think your Massachusetts background distinguishes your work I don't know such a good question I don't know what that is so funny I'm actually from Holyoke sweetheart but but but but what but but my whole family yeah I get it isn't that so funny I mean I love math I love New England you know what I mean try not to you know be like that but I mean there's nothing like a Patriots fan oh my god the Red Sox like you better hide if you're not a Red Sox fan and you're in the area that's true that's interest question from Gloria young or John did you worry about being dropped by your agent in your very early days oh yes well you know what I'll tell you something this is a truth I when I came to New York I was 32 years old I did not have an agent we had a few connections from Chicago but by no means any guarantees of any kind it wasn't that kind of networking necessarily being 32 you're not exactly I mean I don't know that's a pretty saturated I suppose but I never thought about that I would walk in front of Broadway houses and I'm not joking and say arms out I will be working there I just had to get out you know because I could not get through an audition I was terrified I could not have a conversation my remember my agent is my manager now I love her so much she would say on pain of death you must be funny because I go in the room and I couldn't speak remember who who directed Sophie's Choice that girl go yes amazing nana-chan having an audition with him I'm playing Saint Joan in a play I'm bald I'd shake in that shade no no but cut very close I have an audition with him again an agent works so hard to get me in the room I go in and I am dead silent and I don't mean even that's not even a baby story to say even if it's boring and dull I could not think of a thing to say so uh it was dead silence deadly and the cast were just kind of looking at me and she had got the deal up in the waiting room because she saw that I was so nervous she said you know you're playing a Chicago cop you do get that that's you're playing I said yeah and she said I'm not sure I could bear to be hurt she said and they're tough and I said yeah yeah I know and so then I go in the room and then I am ready I literally it was so bad and I didn't say anything so he said he jumped in and I had overheard him in the office his mother was ill he was talking and then she came back into the room to her and all I could think to say is how was your mother I'll be all stupid things you cannot say June I'm saying I couldn't get so then he said so there was that silence and I know it was deadly and then he said so your plane shown and I said yes that's it and then he said oh your hair I said yes but I was aware to God so those were my early auditions where the feedback I could get it together for the audition the scene but you know if you're doing film and television they want to know like what do you like I mean who are you naturally what's the deal and she kept saying you know you kind of just can you talk a little in the room that took a long time so I was worried always to kind of I mean she's gonna drop me gonna have to but she's lovely and some very practical questions here yeah Anna Hendrix how do you keep up your sinister cadence in Handmaid's Tale do you do a lot of script highlighting no you know what's great The Handmaid's that come in the extras those wonderful extras that make such a difference in a film or anything we do the ones that get no credit and have those ridiculous hours and hope to get the last train home no I'm saying it was brilliant because they didn't quite know what they signed up for and so I knew they had maybe hadn't read the novel and they're not given the script so what I loved was torturing them I mean loving them too because I made that really clear because Lydia does love them but I remember being in that classroom and someone would start to look away and I take my cattle prod I would land it on the desk and they would jump straight out of their skin and now we wouldn't be shooting that but I was trying to get the ambience correct like say things to them that think I'd say yeah when they yellow and the cue is we wearing a yellow sweater should be like come here come here are you looking away look at me it was just keeping that and that poor things we like this is a nightmare and I'm only being paid a hundred bucks for this game and this witch but but but it was brilliant and then of course they got the drill that I wasn't going to hurt them necessarily but so it was more keeping the world alive do you know what I mean yeah that's what it was and some of them were you know the bold ones I'd say don't don't try it what's your name where you come from I asked you a question and it got you know anyway is black my question is it could be a hard one I don't know how they managed to have such longevity in your career keep your eye on on the work because you decide I'm an actor I'm a writer I'm a director and I there will be work for me that's it I will find it I will keep it positive I know there's a reason I'm here these are the gifts I've been given and I will just find away I believe that is true I hope there's a job for everybody and ten of them per month for everybody in this room I mean you know I don't know maybe that sounds like Pollyanna but that's really how I thought about it so say well be bit older in the world for and stop talking that's not the road I'm going to I'm just not I will find the story we will write the story we will do it we will find a way because that's what what what else could be true well that's such a dumb thing to say because there are actors who are out of work and I my heart goes out to every one of them because I know that feeling of come on give me a shot well yes let me do what I can do you know well I think you shared a lot of great wisdom with thought well thank you for listening oh my god is it a voice so and oh thank you thank you I feel play like in moment over Laurie thank you so much

Channel: SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Views: 60,128

Keywords: SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Acting, Actors, Ann Dowd, Conversations, COMPLIANCE, CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, COLLATERAL BEAUTY, OUR BRAND IN CRISIS, BACHELORETTE, THE DROP, SIDE EFFECTS, THE INFORMANT, MARLEY & ME, GARDEN STATE, The Leftovers, Quarry, Masters of Sex, Olive Kitteridge, The Divide, Freaks and Geeks, Nothing Sacred, Q&A, Interview, Retrospective, Career

Id: KWasOXKKIX4

Length: 84min 56sec (5096 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 26 2017