Conversations with Holly Hunter

how are you guys today are you excited I'm super super excited welcome I am as Jesse says Stacy from New York Magazine and vulture very honored today to speak to a woman I greatly admire and whose work is consistently great which as we know is not always the case so let's welcome please holly hunter [Applause] welcome so nice to have you here well thank you it's really nice to be back I was just saying to Annette my publicist that the last someone was here I had a fever I remember I feel really good today we will obviously get to that a little bit but first I wanted to talk a little bit about your life growing up in Georgia what was that like what were you like as a kid um well like you know I was I had five brothers and one sister so it was a heavily male influenced a household but my mother was quite strong so um and my sister had a huge influence on me as well so we were outnumbered but the female thing was was potent she learned early on to stand your ground essentially well I think you know yeah I think I did although I was not a rebellious kid I was not a rebel I didn't really I wasn't a major rule breaker but I think it you know growing up in a really sexist environment where the boys worked on the farm and the girls were not allowed to I had my own kind of existence there on the property that I kind of made up my brothers didn't have that opportunity they had to do chores they had to do farm work they had to take care of the cattle they had to bail - hey and so my thing was more kind of moving invisibly around you know were you making up my own thing are you creative did you daydream did you you know were you a performer sort of early on um you know I just did the kind of a normal kind of regular thing I started doing plays in high school which I loved I mean I loved the whole idea of children engaging with high school actions I mean just that whole drama club thing it felt very free where you're playing you know where you're playing grandmothers and you're 13 or you're playing like our town yeah or you're playing the dog or whatever whatever I mean I I loved that that departure hmm and we're your parents encouraging of you to be creative despite the sort of labor-intensive nosov you know you're what your brothers were doing yeah very much so oddly very much so they I mean I was kind of in search of in a kind of an artistic expression definitely from a young age from around fifth grade I was looking for a way to express myself creatively singing pant playing the piano so I was it was musically in a musical search and then I found acting and I and and that was just the jackpot for me I mean it's kind of a personal jackpot you know I was like wow this this is so cool you know we're just so cool to to to get that major yes inside myself it was just fun and when was your first performance where you felt that where you were on stage and you thought wow I could really get used to this I want to keep doing it well you know probably when I was in fifth grade we just sing from Helen camp we did a scene from Miracle Worker round played Helen Keller and I was like oh that's it you know it was like a really dramatic scene where how I see the movie yeah I've seen the movie and you know where she's like it's a huge tantrum and she's tearing the room apart and it was just really fun it's a very physical very fiscal role yeah with a lot of rewards and and I read and again I have to always check this because you can't believe everything in the internet that you were in a poultry judging contest as a kid is this true yes oh wow you know that well you know um when I was growing up and it still is very much in existence but in rural communities is the 4-h club and it's kind of a it's an agricultural community program that you know was in the schools and so and I you know was in horse and pony and public speaking but I also did poultry judging laughs but I was very good are you judging it does he live animals not not would be would buy in the store you're lying oh yes live broilers fryers I X in the shell and broken the distinct skill to have early in one's life yes and when you were deciding where to go to college how largely did Theatre figure into your decision to go to Carnegie Mellon cuz obviously it was a you know very well-known for exclusively exclusively I remember I went to my high school counselor and I was just talking about like oh you know how could I possibly get into Carnegie my only university and he was like you can't you know you're you've got up you got to think of something else why did cuz because you know he unbeknownst to him you know Carnegie is a conservatory so you you don't have to have fabulous grades unless you're applying as an engineer and then you have to be a genius but if you're playing apply as an actor or an actress then all you have to do is audition but he didn't understand that you know a big piece of the puzzle he was thinking about SAT scores and stuff like that which I was only an average student so but I I went to Pittsburgh with my father and did a two-day audition process and and got in what did you prepare wow that's so distracting I can't I wish we could kill that could we kill that screen anyway I mean it's so like oh wow I have to look at myself too so nice thank you do you remember what you performed when you had to send out the school did you have to have a monologue um I did I did something from the death of Bessie Smith by Edward Albee and then I did Carson McCullers a member of the wedding which is a role that I I I so wish that I had done and then I never did that was you know a cool Oh such a beautiful play and what do you remember them saying to you in the room wasn't an immediate you're in or was it this you know we'll let you know type it oh no no you know that's that's a total formal you know environment where they've got hundreds of kids coming in and auditioning and no way would they do that you know it was very you know specific and you know in the box you know they procedurally so yeah and how did you feel when you got that letter or the call that told you you were accepted um well you know I of course I was thrilled and and really you know that was it was a very different thing then it was much more brutal that the the the conservatory system was a more brutal system than it is now at that time I mean you know they accepted 66 kids and they graduated 17 of us so it was it was like a really fear-based you know there was a lot of fear as to who was gonna make it who was going to get cut who was gonna ask him who was going to be asked to leave I mean that whole thing permeated the system whereas now I think it's far more conducive to encouraging actors you know to take chances and to I think then it was it was people were scared doesn't sound like a great environment for you know eliciting creativity from people well I think it was really really high intensity but there were there were great things about that too you know I mean I think stress is a beautifully creative state I mean to be highly stressed you can be extremely creative in in in within that you know I don't believe in eliminating stress altogether you can't first you know firstly you can't do that but secondly I do I think that it's really a powerful motivator it's it's great and how did that trainee and prepare you for moving to New York and pursuing acting there um wonderfully in many ways I I think that you know you go through a four year professional training school for acting and when I got to New York I was like I get to be here I I am entitled to walk in these rooms I'm entitled to sit in audition I'm entitled to ask for stuff I'm entitled to to to know what I want because I know what I want and you know I mean there were there were things that I knew about myself and I think self-knowledge as an actor is really necessary and that's very necessary I mean acting is I think a tremendously insecure making profession you know I always feel insecure and I always feel confident I mean they're they're both slammed up against each other and it is a constant balancing act for me you know because I do operate from fear I am afraid oh but you know frequently you know when I'm when I'm performing when I'm when when I'm playing a character before when the camera rolls before I go out in front of an audience that's something that I'm always negotiating with no but yeah I mean fear I think is something you you you live with as a performer and at what point did you meet Frances McDormand you were friends in New York yes um friend and I my boyfriend and Fran's boyfriend were best friend so I met my boyfriend I'm doing a play hello and we were playing opposite each other and so I did this play in st. Louis ain't Louis Missouri the Repertory Theater st. Louis the little Loretto Hilton at the time and I came back to New York and then he said hey let's go up and - my best friend is going - yeah so he said so so we went up to Yale and his girlfriend was Fran and so the four of us like hit it off got together and Fran and I became friends and so then we all moved up to the to the North Bronx in New York we got two apartments they lived together and then we both broke up with our boyfriends and then we got rid of them one of the apartments and fran moved in with me and what was she like as a roommate fantastic I don't believe she's as magical as you are about it you know you know well in there no friends fabulous she's as fabulous as she seems um she is that I were quite a support for each other too yeah we had a blast and then we we stayed up there for a couple of years and then Fran did Blood Simple and then Joel kind of sort of moved in with us joel coen and you know we could senior friend and then that they moved out like out you know they eventually got married but yeah it was a great chapter and we hear your voice and Blood Simple but we don't see you right tell us a little bit about that moment in the movie well I mean um yeah that was 19 God that was 1982 maybe 1980 but I met them in 82 and then we I did that little brief recording in 83 I watched the movie again recently and I said I know that voice yeah we were we were friends so they just said will you you know do this this um answering machine message did you get paid no that's what they asked a friend to do it so they didn't have to pay you so I think it's safe to say that 1987 was a big year for you hard to believe thirty years has passed since Raising Arizona and broadcast news came out incredible so raising Arizona one of my favorite movies of all time it remains so sublimely ridiculous and lovely and sweet it's just as perfect as the day I've saw it and is it true that the Cohens wrote the part of Ed for you dad yeah it seems perfect perfect for you it's hard to imagine anyone else playing this part tell me a little bit about filming you actually did film in Arizona how long was the shoot and did you have a sense of what this movie was going to look like afterwards god this is the tonus I mean it's very indelibly Cohen tone but it's it's so hard to pin down I can't imagine what it was like to be shooting those scenes with the babies and it's like Nic Cage running through the grocery store with it was on its head like all this stuff like only they couldn't pull off right and also I mean I think that raising Arizona that they had done Blood Simple and blood simple and raising Arizona are they're they're of the same family but they're also very different right you know raising Arizona is really whacked out and very silly and funny yeah and I read the script and I thought the script was brilliant you know like brilliant you know there's not there's no there's no syllable that you want to change of the Coens writing I mean you want to memorize it verbatim absolutely as they've written it you want to change nothing so but nevertheless you know their stuff leaps off the page and then enters into another realm cinematically that I didn't know so seeing the movie was really different from having done it and I don't think that I really understood Raising Arizona until I saw it with an audience and then it's in a way it's like when I saw the big sick I saw the big sick by myself which actually I like to see movies that I'm in alone because the transitions difficult the transitions hard especially if I haven't seen anything of them if I haven't seen dailies then when I see the movie I need to I need for it to be a private thing because it's hard it's understandable it's it's it's intense and so the intensity I can weather better if I'm alone and then I can see it with people but nevertheless a comedy needs to you need to see a comedy with a crowd you know it has a different life with an audience and that alchemy between the audience and the movie is is it seals the deal and how difficult was it shooting with all those kids I I just cannot imagine I'm even just one baby you have to have twins playing one baby let alone you had a crib full of babies I mean I think we have like 18 babies you know and they were discouraging the babies from walking because you don't want them to seem to all cuz they had to be crawling right and you guys know I mean when when babies crawl they crawl for a very very very small window crawling takes up a really tiny window and a baby's right you know develop they want to get up they want to get out so that was it was crucial that all those babies still be in the crawling you guys member the scene where we're hi walks into the nursery and they're just babies everywhere it's almost like a scene from Jaws where it's like in the way it was shot was very low to the ground and it looked very scary I mean it's really so funny I I still can't believe that movie got made it's just so special and what was it like working with Nick who obviously was he was early in his career too but just kind of write right on the cusp as you know Nick you know is Nick is incredible I mean there is no actor like Nick is a true original and he continues to be amazing I mean I think Nick continues to like be a thoroughly surprising actor and he completely shocked me as hi I mean the way his interpretation of high defied whatever was on the page I mean he took it to a complete other stratospheric level you know yes he does as he continues to do I mean I saw you know speaking of manglehorn backstage David Gordon Green directed a movie that wasn't called Joe Nick was amazing anyway I was one of his best amazing um and it's an extra it's it's extraordinary you know people's windows because people do you do pass through your old life as a window but creatively you know people's windows are can be a certain size and Nick's just continues to defy um us any timeframe you know we especially with somebody who has worked walking a tight wire as Nick does with his choices for him to continue to pull stuff out of a hat that you haven't seen before hmm it's amazing it is and are the Cohens open to input from the actors I really of totally are okay I mean yes believe that they are but you know absolutely absolutely and at the same time you know what you want to do is you know the Cohens have such a specific idea of their movie that you want to fulfill that you know but at the same time you know in no way did they imagine how Nick would play hi you know I mean once again you that's that's a great you know example of their collaborative energy you know and their collaboration with somebody like John Goodman and Goodman is such an imaginative creature as well that you know that there's there's ways that you can't you can't know and so Joel and Ethan cast actors and and they know many things and then there's a percentage that they don't know that's why they got open passed those those people consistently brilliant casting in their movies so reason Arizona comes out in April were you already shooting and where you are you wrapped up broadcast news by the time that came out or what was the overlap when raising Arizona came out well I think god I can't remember I was wondering what the impact was of reason Arizona on like where people suddenly aware of you in this new way and then obviously broadcast he's open Christmas so was there an overlap for time I remembered that broadcast I mean that when raising Arizona came up there were people who were offended by the movie because it dealt with kidnapping and such a heartfelt way there are very well-intentioned kidnappers they were hidden yeah met them no but there were people who did that was no laughing matter interesting child it's funny that never occurred to me until just now this was like you're not cool so right there there were people who who had a very difficult time with the movie and therefore a difficult time with me hmm and I was so like gobsmacked by that because it never occurred to me in a way that then I was even a kidnapper I mean because the movie tonally is so loving okay so lovable on it a baby yeah yeah so that kind of obliterated the criminal aspect I thought so too you know and being a cop and being a good cop right I thought even things out I agree then and tell me about how you got cast in broadcasting because I have read that you replace Debra Winger again making sure that that's true because I don't believe everything but is that is that the case well I mean what what I think happened was you know Jim Brooks went through this really tormented I mean he has a guy who he does go through kind of a self tormenting process that that has always been incredibly productive and magical and he did that with with broadcasters as he's done you know many many times in his career I think in terms of the script like just laboring over it forever I think he labored over casting so all I knew I didn't know the story about Debra Winger but I did know the story about that this movie was being cast for forever because I kept hearing about it I wasn't going up for it because they were looking for well-known establish a just worked with her in terms of endearment so it seemed like a natural him and I mean you know whatever Jim was going to do would seem natural except you know casting me I mean that didn't seem natural at the time but I mean I knew that he was looking for someone tall I he was looking for people who were statuesque he was looking for you know is it cuz William Hurt was tall they wanted someone that's always been a puzzle to me perhaps because I am small but I've never thought of like why would you catch someone small or large you know right the first off I mean because because size is such a nonentity on screen and when I meet people sometimes I'm so shocked by how tall or small they are because it's it's virtually meaningless on the dead inform their performance to you yes the camera and in the stage does the same thing in a way the stage can kind of it normalizes everyone to a degree so I always find that to be puzzling and meaningless right well I see the character you're playing she's not a supermodel I mean she's a news producer so naturally there wouldn't be a specific body type that would lend itself to that job right right I mean if if you want someone intimidating size still may not have much to do with it really but he was looking for an actress of with great experience and and he did what Jim Brooks does he he he obsessed over it and continued looking and then after six months of I was still hearing about this project and finally he just said let the floodgates open and so then I I came in and I rewatched the movie again recently and it's just I mean it feels more timely and relevant now than ever frankly but your chemistry with William and Albert just like what was it like working with them because it seemed so seamless and now it's hard to imagine anyone else in any of those parts I mean Albert specifically I mean he is just he's just so tragic and sad and funny and just everything all of this and in Williams part - that's a hard part but he's a you know an impossible part for anybody to be in Darien but also sort of loathsome and it's really tricky I mean you know Bill Hart is one of our great actors yes he's one of the great actors period you know I he was a mentor to me whether he knew it or not and I'm sure that he did because but I I did you know them before the production no are you didn't I mean it was an extremely extremely scary guy to be in the room with because of his talent because of his incredible searing intelligence he's his his his relentless common sense I mean bill has sense he sees things he he knows the truth you can't hide from Bill I can see that that comes across yeah he's incredible I mean really there is there is no one I've ever worked with before since who has so much clear-sightedness as bill you know when you are when you're when you're acting he knows so much and that was incredible it was it was a privilege a privilege to work with him and what did you learn about yourself as an actor making that movie that surprised you how scared I was that's the most scared I've ever been really and Bill knew it you know he knew that he knew how scared I was and and he took care of me in many ways many he really he understood the actors fear and and how and how delicate it is you know and how affordable it can be to be afraid you know and to and to use your fear no points aids to and similar background so he just went you are afraid you are afraid and you will never you know you will always be he was like the first actor who said you have to embrace that you have to treat it with the respect that you treat your approach to a character you have to you have to approach your fear side by side with that and I thought that was that you know I'll never forget that and you earned your first Oscar nomination for that performance which must have felt incredible and surreal how did you see yourself moving forward after that did you know was your phone ringing off the hook did you were you getting tons of offers I mean that was sort of a huge entree into Hollywood just remember like going to the Academy Awards and our limo broke down because because everybody's blend modes were breaking down because the that was like a year where they didn't have it all figured out as to how you made your entrance to the to the limo drop-off thing I was like it went bad that year so I can look that up but I remember like Glenn Close was was was presenting Best Supporting Actor and that's like the second category of the evening early so and I remember in Glenn was like eight and a half months pregnant and she ran by my limo this is so not good and and I didn't have my tickets because I don't have my tickets hey I'm gonna be able to get in and then I couldn't get in they they wouldn't let me in the door they were like you gotta have your ticket so I was like nominated that was pretty funny when you finally got into the show we're in Eunice Aaron's all sitting there was someone I still at the shrine was so happy yeah yeah how did it feel to see yourself mention with these other women and were you able to appreciate it I guess is my question well I just remember like that when share one she had to have like five people helping her up broad Mackworth a Bob Mackie gown and it was like she it was like she was in Vegas we had like showgirls number the head your head it was all so trippy if you had to lose you know yeah you got a loser to share he was like the only person there in a designer gown because Bob Mackie that was all there was right and Cher was the only one wearing it so that was what did you wear how do people decide what to wear back then things that are not things are certainly crazy on that front now I don't remember yes completely transformed is entirely different like a whole it's that cottage industry within the business it's just the dresses but it is fun now I mean the dresses are fun yeah a lot of options that's a really kind of exciting part of but you know it was nothing but we have a great story though that's way more interesting than I arrived at the Oscars and sat down so now you weigh more an interest and then another bang-up year on your resume was in 1993 in which the piano and the firm both came out and both earned Oscar nominations and one win for the piano so it's interesting I didn't know that you had played Helen Keller and now I think about you playing ADA it's very different than very different obviously it is not actually somebody who's handicapped right you know that's she she's anything but she chose not to write you know right which is a highly different totally different and she's obviously a grown woman what what were your first reactions when you read this is a lot of water let's go how did the script for the piano come to you first did Jane reach out to you did you know her how did this member that when I was at there was an agent who did not represent me who I liked a lot Tracy Jacobs was her Nazareth and Tracy just called me and know I was sitting next to her it like a at Sundance actually I was at Sundance with a movie and she just she was sitting next to me she just said listen I read the script Wow I read one of the greatest scripts I've ever read in my career and you should read it and so she sent it to me it was not a her client not being my act not being my agent you know she was just she had great taste I would you know occasionally call Tracy and say what do you got what do you what do you know and you had another agent - yeah who who was in the same firm oh okay they work they were buddies okay so and these replicas Johnny Depp and just July stars Yeah right but and she was absolutely Wow that is probably the greatest script I've ever read I mean just the way that Jane writes is so so visual so visceral that you can feel the movie I mean the atmosphere that Jane Campion's movies create she creates that on the page for the reader and you know and her movies are so dense there's such a density into how they how they how the world feels you know it's like gets under your skin did you know her work when you read the script um because she had done sweetie I think about wish I had seen sweetie and I'd seen an angel at my table you know I look I wanted to work with her so yeah I prepared I got together with a Scottish a dialect coach to teach me a Scottish dialect and that I memorized the the bookend monologues you know there's been that book in the movie and and then I put together a piano because I I could play the piano fairly well so I put together a tape playing the piano and and then you know met her Wow and had Michael Nyman scored anything at that point no okay no but you know he he he you know sent me the pieces as he wrote them well you know three months before we started shooting and then I could learn them as I went and what do you recall about casting the casting of Anna Paquin who's just so magical as your daughter well as Anna's sister was the one who her mother brought the sister in to audition for the role and Anna was there and Jane said why don't you audition - it would see an actor now she's never happened she was like 11 she was you know she was nine and living in New Zealand no neither one of them were actresses I mean you know they just responded to this kind of open call and Anna was a piece of magic as as she is that I don't know if you guys have seen the clip of her when she won the Oscar and her cute little hat I mean it really is one of the sweetest moments I've ever seen yeah the best acceptance speech at it was super quick but she's just she's so poised and so loving and you could see in the audience when they panned to you and Jane and just there was such a kind of connection among you you could sense it well that was just that was lucky for me that Anna was lucky for me you know she was she was magical you know and she is magical she's pretty wonderful and what were the most difficult elements of shooting the movie it's a very physical movie there's a lot of mud a lot of scene I mean imagine like remember the scene and like dragging the piano to the house and the water I mean it's so thinking back on it now I don't I don't think I fully grasped sort of like what a production that must have been for you well but all those things are you know those are all kind of fun things in fact I mean the money you could go you know but it was great you're getting money you know it was fun because it's all tools it's like you know they all inform the struggle of the character you don't have to make this stuff up you're living it you're you're in it I think you know for me once again it was the negotiation with my fear is that I don't do well performing I playing piano in front of people was like actually was paralyzing for me so unlike performing acting but I love to act in front of people I love to be onstage I love to perform for the camera that's fun there's there's there's an element a giant element of it being a lot of fun too but playing piano in front of people is not fun so I had to travel with that piano that was my biggest that was my biggest challenge was that the piano was a broken-down piece of it was a piano that really and truly was built in the year 1850 so it didn't work if there were many notes that didn't play it sounded terrible it sounded like you were hearing the notes played through wads and wads of cotton you know it was like muffled and barely you could barely hear it and that was that was almost a nightmare that was almost like tragic when I first arrived and Jane said here's the instrument so that I said okay this piano has to live with me it's it has to stay in my apartment and whenever we travel from one location to another when we traveled a lot I said the piano has to be moved from from one apartment that I'm into the next apartment and then it has to be on the set so this piano was moving all the time because I only wanted to play it because otherwise I was going to divorce from it I was gonna I was gonna you know Wow so going to a really nice Stein I didn't even I lived with that piano do we know where the piano is now which Jane has it she does yeah that's beautiful it's gorgeous instrument that you know has no real voice which was interesting because ADA didn't have a voice either you know but I wanted that piano to have an incredible voice and it did not but at the end of the movie in post-production I flew to Munich and replaced all of the sound I replaced all of the piano with the Munich Orchestra oh that was another nightmare now I have to play with an orchestra oh my god I'm so not a pianist it sounds like you are though it sounds like you are but I mean I took valium and they gave me you know a good German brew you know it sat on the buzzing door fur you know and then I played as best I could you know with the picture so that was I mean of all the things that I did playing the piano for the crew in front of the crew and then playing the piano in Munich that was by far and away the hardest thing that I did the movie was actually kind of you know easy not easy but but I had gone through the gauntlet of fear I walked I walked the through the fire of fear in broadcast news and I've never felt that kind of fear since it was like okay but but playing the piano that was that was tough well you did it beautifully and tell me what it was like to work with Harvey Keitel this is such a different role for him but it's a joy again but really he's he he created something so special and so unique I don't think any of us have ever seen anything like well you know I'm just kind of in love with Harvey you know I just have a huge crush on Harvard you know I love Harvey and whenever I see him it's just like I just can't even believe how much I love him you know it's a nice feeling to have about few more years later now I know so I and I think Harvey's also just like one of the most enticing great actors and and kind of like Bill hurt also you know you cannot tell a lie with Harvey you cannot tell a lie you have to be you have to be there you know and so that was another one of the great privileges my career to work with him and how did it feel to win Best Actress when you when you were selling yourself a movie yeah well that was a drag for Harvey not to be nominated I really hate her I thought that was I didn't like that hmm I have to say just being honest watch what I just thought Harvey was so brilliant he was and so he just gave so much we saw who Harvey is in that very for me yeah his soul but it was very special to see you on the stage and you think Jane and you think your producer Jan and and you really think even now with everything going on and you think about wow this very female heavy production was not very common back then to have a female producer and a female director and Jane will replay that night I mean this is like kind of a unicorn moment but at the killer's it's totally totally interesting and the other you know well a few months ago was the first time I've ever been on a set where there was a female director and a female DP Wow and that is that is so cool I mean that was so rich it was just a richness that I've never experienced before in my career I had it a few you know just doing this series that I'm doing right now and it was like such a pleasure and I know to be photographed by a woman too and be directed by a woman I don't know it's just really it's like we could use more of that you know it's about time and in the firm came out that that summer I remember seeing it multiple times in the theater and you think John Grisham book you know you think some kind of throwaway summer movie this movie is a fantastic piece of film Sydney directing Tom Cruise of course how about Tom Cruise I have to know what the Tom Cruise experiences really cool I mean Tom is is tom is a guy who he is a fighter for his character he will fight for he will fight for the downtrodden I mean there if anybody on a set is not being treated well tom is like he's he's so pro active then that way I so appreciated I mean he brings his heart to his work in a way that you might not that you might not expect I mean although he brings his heart to us his his characters I mean I think you know once again you really see Tom um and he's very revealing of who he is he brings it he puts it on the table for you and I actually found him a joy to work with and I kind of loved doing the firm I love that character well in that character too I think with another script with another actor with another director I think it could have been kind of a throwaway part but you brought so much I don't know what it was it was just so perfect and Gary Busey was so perfect I mean love to care short-lived and Gary was also gonna you know his trailer what the door was a swung wide it was like come in and hang out I mean Gary was incredibly generous with himself seemed like everyone had fun making them yeah and and I love the crew I mean it was a fantastic crew yes I mean I was kind of the cover girl so like whatever it rained they would have me come to Memphis you know because all my work was interiors so but yeah I love that career it's a great movie it really is and jumping ahead to 2003 another one of my favorites 13 just kind of a shift for you beautiful small little gem yeah but I love 13 yeah it's I love commune our wedding you know tell me about your relationship with her because she's you remind me a lot of her actually I could see you guys really uh you know we hit it on acting yeah none of a hard way I know you know that Catherine Hardwicke she directed the first installment of Twila you know the Twilight series and she's you know she it would have been great for her to continue on with that franchise you know that's was a huge deal that was it that was a huge deal was her first film after she was in her mid to late 40s I think when she made 30 in a long time unbelievably gifted and joyful brings her joy to the screen and when I met Catherine I was like it because the movie was such a an exotic the script was so exotic I mean it had been co-written by a 13 year old girl in Katherine and you could feel the 13 year old girl in the script it was like wow what is that I mean it felt foreign it's like it felt like water there's like that things moving around like thirteen-year-old girls did you know and it was in it was in the DNA and the script very broad kind of scary and exotic did they write this part with you in mind I think they well look I mean it was it was Nikki's mother so like they didn't write it it was Nikki's mom it was Cheryl right you know who I know and love so but Katherine came and then I met Katherine I was like oh she's exotic too because Katherine is like really a nervy like bold fierce creature like very adventurous and like a creature you know really fun so I just felt like she brought the sense of mischief to the movie I mean the movie is an embodiment of Katherine in a way the guerilla filmmaking yeah her rawness and her instincts and her intuitions and what she wants to see she like knows what she wants to see and then she sees it you know it's it's she's really got a great impulse to action thing as a director you know what she wants she gets and I thought that was exciting does that rare do you think not very very rare she's very impulsive hmm and I've talked to Katherine about some of the creative ways that you saved money when you were making this when making this movie what do you recall about the I guess the budget nature well I mean it was like you know the hair and makeup trailer was you know this big I mean it was and I remember like they said Hollywood you know Holly were ready for you and like I had one one like eyeliner done you know I mean we were on a serious and the characters were some Catherine's clothes and you drew it one of her cars I mean it was really stripped down but you know but it was great and because there was there was a it's like broadcast news and 13 have one thing in common and that was that both movies oddly enough were shot almost in sequence in broadcast news was and not enormous ly expensive endeavor because of that because if you think I mean if you've seen the movie there's these um the newsroom you know and all those extras in the newsroom and all these locations that they held for four months for the 16 week shift all those locations were held from beginning to end of the you know which is incredibly expensive this is downtown this is downtown Washington DC did you do the interiors in LA for broadcast news there was a tall there oh wow yeah there and and and so we shot the whole movie in sequence which was incredible I would love to do that every time and we shot virtually all of her in sequence because we were in that house we were in this house where my character and my daughter live and so we shot everything that another sequence the West Side in Venice no that was in the valley if you looked like it was in Venice but wow that was really fun what did it what was it like to work with Evan and Nicky who were so young and so green but so gifted crazy like nuts I was like wow because they were 14 and I didn't have kids at that point I was never around 14 year old girls it's like oh my god they're overwhelming or thank you same like you know what I like that I mean I didn't remember being like that right but I was I was like that because that's what 14 year old girl I mean they're what they had so much energy and I have a lot of energy but like I had nothing I was like dead compared to compared to dad well I've been dead for like six weeks in comparison to what those girls were like wow I'm sure they learned a lot from you wow that were that were incredible no and did your did your career shift at all after that did you start to want to do smaller scale productions did you find yourself wanting to have those connections again hello know as an actors like you know you take what you get man you take what you can just ground up from the gutter I mean you know like if you live to be if you live to be 59 or 60 you are no diva like if you're still an actor like you know you you um what is that song that Sondheim wrote I mean you're drinking champagne you're drinking beer and pretzels I mean it's like it's like O'Hair right yeah I mean that's your life I mean you know I've seen the good times I've seen the bad times you know I've seen the ebb and flow and any actress who's my age who's still working has seen some serious abs and flows it's it's the nature it's the nature of my life and and that's okay with me in a way maybe there's I don't know but I will say that I did the series saving grace and it was a pleasure and a privilege to do saving grace because the character was so full-bodied and lived such a at such an incredible sexual life yesterday and a life kind of on the outskirts that an age was never even mentioned the entire time that I did the series I'm now I did 46 episodes and my age was never mentioned and not even in a single episode there was no reference to anything like that I was having sex with Busboys I was having sex with CEOs your colleague at the police station with you know with 19 year old 60 year olds I mean I didn't care my character didn't care um and that was really fun fun fun so she was acting like a man she was kind of she was kind of but she was also all woman - she's very soulful and written by a woman so watch the saving grace he's great was I was very excited but when button but it was a real it was real shock it was a real it was real diving into the deep end of the pool of cold water when saving grace ended because I went oh yeah welcome back to the real world of feature films right where the you know where this is now this is going to be tough right you know where there was no real use for me in a leading role in in the world of features and that still I mean that's it's a it's a dubious it's a dubious battle what's interesting you and Glenn Close both went to TV at the same time she talked about Glenn Close being like beyond brilliant and damages oh my god yeah she was unbelievable yeah what's unbelievable Shanklin stretch out like that well I think you know I thought the same about you too by the way well I mean Glennis you know she's unreal she's so talented and fun to watch so anyway yeah that that was that that was a hard transition that was one of my harder transitions that I've had because I was feasting you know in a banquet at a banquet with grace and I'd like to actually play a character for multiple years because you hadn't had that opportunity before in terms of well there's downsides to that I mean you know you know I think writing the writing for as I'm I'm working with Alan Ball right now and I'm having the privilege of working with Alan Ball because what Alan Ball can do is he he sets this unbelievable stage and Ben and then he develops it and he's like oh I mean he can just keep it coming the way that he keeps unfolding and digging and pulling back layers and like ripping and and unfolding and I mean he's got it all as a as a writer you know his gift he's got such depth as a episodic writer he knows how to to create the saga you know and have it just become more and more deeply involving as you go so that's you're in good hands with him yeah so now we come to the big thick which is the reason we're here today to celebrate your performance was just during an indie spirit nomination last week congratulate obviously Kumail and Emily have talked to probably ad nauseam probably never want to talk about it again with you the source of information for the resource of inspiration for this the script but how did you become attached to this did you get the script to judge because I know you jet had told a story a few weeks ago that or you told the story about how he came to an acting class that you were teaching he was bringing his daughter to campus and did you meet then or did what we met we met we met at carnegie where you know i went i so long ago he was talking about carnegie i'm glad you guys are still awake are they riveted no I went back to Carnegie to to teach an acting class ha and you know basically I was just like encouraging these incredibly gifted students but Judd Apatow was in he was touring the campus with his daughter and so he sat in on the acting class that I kind of moderated and I got to I've got to meet him then and then a few weeks later they offered me the big sick and I wanted to do it because you know it's so obvious I mean it's such an incredible story such a it's such an unusual opportunity it was really fun to to come to have a real close encounter with like straight up comedy again right because you hadn't done anything kind of light-hearted in a while well I mean it was saving grace had a tremendous amount of comedy in it but this was just you know with all of these stand-up you know guys how did you enjoy working with Ray he's so wonderful in the movie so much for me that was once again an incredible privilege to get to work with somebody who was raised so hard-working so within his characters he has such great ambition he he brings so much to the table so I felt like I had to really up my game to be with Ray and in no way when and at the same time I was intimidated about you know being with all these stand-up comics a lot of how many people yeah but you know they made it your own Holly you culture now did you meet or interact at all with Emily's mother never did you never did okay never I wasn't sure how much of what we saw in screening was reflective of what actually happened with her parents you know the infidelity and that kind of thing I couldn't tell if that was actually part of what happened in real life no I mean of of the big shake the one fictionalized part really was kind of the the the mother the parents don't okay the mother and father I mean it's interesting because we're 13 I hung out incessantly with Cheryl though I was playing and with the big sick I never even had a phone conversation with her because I want because it felt so fictionalized that I wanted to be fictional I wanted to and also like her what she did for a living her her professional life didn't come into play at all so I just wanted to make her up hmm which is what I normally do which is what actors normally do you're normally not playing a real a real-life person so I'm sure that's what Emily wanted to this was a reinvention of yeah and her parents have never had a you know an affair I mean all that stuff was made up so Ryan write it and Ray also didn't speak with the father and we didn't do that together we didn't make that decision just neither one of us did that hmm and what did you learn working with Judd who's obviously not only has a great eye for talent and comedy but he does have this way of infusing new stories with a lot of heart and ultimately about what family and relationships yeah and I saw this is 40 and I just thought this was 40 had elements to it that world that were so amazing because he was using his real family and the fact that he could that he that they all had the freedom to express themselves and their family dynamic on screen was of the big risk that was a huge risk that totally paid off I mean that was really that was exotic to see his wife's relationship with their kids on screen I mean I saw immediately that there was an intimacy that was real and I didn't even know that that had happened when I saw this was 40 I didn't realize that was his family but Judd is very discerning very discerning he watches with such a critical eye and and with such kindness I mean he's something he is a true collaborator the the big sick when they when Barry Mendel called me and offered me the job he just said look you know this is going to be a real collaboration and it was like he really meant it a more collaborative experience I've never had hmm that was the most collaboration you could ever have Michael Showalter obviously directed and he comes from obviously the zany improv comedy world he's this is his whole life is collaborating total it on that level yeah I mean I think part of it does come with from the fact that they're stand-ups right that they they their world happens very quickly they give and take did he let you guys improv much we did but I think you know a lot of that movie was discovered in rehearsal and there was a tremendous amount of rehearsal for for the film much more than normal we read and reread and talked and the scenes were thrown out and reshaped and redefined and rewritten but it was constantly in a in a kind of metamorphosis a metamorphosis metamorphosis take a toy shot so that when we shot the thing went really quickly because we were very familiar with each other very familiar with the dynamic the tone of each scene hmm what do you think this movie means to you for your career now how do you think it's emblematic of the type of work you want to do or maybe where you are in your life Wow um yeah I mean I it's hard to say you know because once again an actor's career is always in a state of metamorphosis you know there's no nothing is set in stone I I don't know what I'm gonna be doing in two months well where will I be in two months I don't even you know geographically I live in New York but maybe I won't be there because I mean there's always a there's always the lottery the lottery is always part of my life you know or you're always buying a ticket or you know no we can't go out to dinner tonight now let's save some money I mean it's either like yes or no so you're open that there's there's a part of that about my life dynamic that I love because it is uncertain and unknown and of course there's part of that that I resent but I've learned certainly to live with it in a way to thrive with it no matter what you know to thrive behind the scenes if I'm not thriving in front of the camera I mean my life I want it to be thriving all the time regardless of what's going on with my career but I think you know I want to keep it real and I mean I want to keep my face real you know I mean as as actresses get older particularly actresses I mean there's some times I want to be recognized and I want people to to understand my face do you know I don't want to do stuff to my face where people don't recognize me anymore I think that's Holly Hunter you know I think that that's always a negotiation that actresses have to have like you know because you want people you want to be photographable but you also want to get older you know because that's real so that's also a dynamic that I think that all actresses have to kind of politically skirt you know you got to be surfing the wave like you want to you want to look like where people want to look at you but at the same time but I but I I don't want people to wonder who I am right so I mean that's what that and that's something that's right why are you concerned by the way it's a total practical concern and but something that I've kind of feel at home with because I know I'm not interested in fooling people to too much and so I mean the big chick as I get older a movie like the big sick you know happens and I'm playing you know I'm playing someone like that in it and there's a connection with the audience what it is it's a validation that it's a continual validation of like as I as I go through a 30 and possibly you know 40 year career that that's good people still want to they want to make connections with their own humanity they want to make a connection with what would their with a recognition of themselves what they are going through what what I want to feel that well as an audience member I I connect with that desire with that loss with that need with that fear with that love with that with that rejection I mean all the things that characters go through on screen I want the audience connect to connect with mine because that's what I have to give so that's humanity you know the big sick it connects with an audience and I feel privileged and that's great man that's all you want as an actor and that's all you want as an audience member to is to is to have that hook up you know well whatever you're doing you keep doing it [Applause] we have a lot of great audience questions I want to make sure we get to them so the first ones from Hanna where is Hannah and I amazing penmanship I must say really quite extraordinary let me see really look at this it's like a greeting card I mean I normally need glasses okay but let me say I really respect how your performances seem to look okay seem to lack any self-consciousness do you have any tips for achieving that in our own performances and how do you get and stay out of your head wow that's right that's such that's a question that only an actor could ask great question we have Beto one no one would ever think to ask that except for an actress or an actor how do you stay out of your head Wow that's tough I mean you know it is it's a matter of relaxation and and you know it's it's very difficult you know sometimes I do this this crazy thing where I will well I always think of like of like if my character coming from the outside in like if I'm coming from outside I you know people are different when they come from outside into a room I think of stuff like that stuff like that absorbs me like oh you know I will just get my breath going I'll jump up and down if I'm if I've been running then I'll I will get out of breath for the scene so that my Center will feel different my breath will flow differently I mean I will just do things I'll watch myself in between tanks and sometimes in between takes I'll go what I'm doing right now is what I really should be doing in the scene now that I'm in between tanks and the focus is off of me this isn't what I really want to do when the camera rolls so I will I will observe myself all the time and go this is where it lives or sometimes I will go I will go second a lot of actors want to go first on their coverage and I will go second because because while the other actors being photographed I can observe myself unobserved for how I'm with us with more relaxation it's like it's so much about relaxation it's not funny that's why the fear thing is so enticing for me to find that balance because because you need both I think in a way as a performer but I mean these are just some of the crazy ways I should try to stay out of my head is it's just I try to keep the circumstances as real as possible like if I'm talking to somebody on the phone I will have the person on the phone I will I will say I really need the other actor to be on the phone so that I'm not faking it because we talk on the phone we know what that sounds like we you see when somebody's faking it you know so don't fake it have somebody really on the other other end of the line if the if they say can you look at the X on the mat box I don't know I need to look in a person's eyes because I I act differently if I'm looking at somebody really the just all these little things that are they're not about being smart they're about being authentic um I try to fulfill as many of the reality circumstances as I can and that keeps tends to keep me out of my head and it sounds simplistic but I work with a lot of actors and a lot of people don't do it and I go wow they can do that I can't I have to keep it I have to - I don't want to depend up for everything for my imagination on everything your you know I will cheat as much as I can with what's real that's great the next questions from Susan and I was going to ask this too but I saw the question so I held back Susan would like to know did you get any flack for your southern accent when you first started well um no I mean it's it's always so interesting when actors you know when I hit New York City in 1980 that was it was good I mean my timing the parts that were offered to me it it that was good that was okay I mean I mean I've done roles without a southern accent that have been really fun for me I mean and for this Alan Ball series I'm also working without an accent which is really a joy I mean it's really fun it was fun to play ADA and the piano without one and at the same time it's also fun to for people to be from somewhere which I think as the world goes on there is more of an and homogenous kind of look to things a feeling to things I love the visceral quality of being from a place and have a character the orientation be strong I think that there's there's something about that that that's that's that's great that's a that that feels good and it's also great to depart well it especially worked for the big sick because that's what the movies about is sort of being from a place assimilating but still maintaining your identity right right no but I thought I worked very well this is from Fiona also great penmanship Jana there's the Yuna how do you approach a new character what is your process for creating a new role well I mean well I'm it kind of changes from character to character but but like with this with Alan balls series I started with a dialect coach I really wanted a very I wanted to find a voice I didn't even know what the voice was he's a higher than mine or lower than mine I mean you know what is the tenor of the voice with the big sick I started with the rehearsal process it's like I wanted to get together with with Mike the director and Kumail in a room and talk to them about the script talk to them about the scenes talk to them about the conflict what is this conflict so you know with the big sick it was a totally different totally different process I mean we found that movie you know actors and characters I think in in rehearsal and that's almost never done you know I mean I've do plenty of movies where there's no rehearsal at all so that was unusual for that to be the revelation if I'm playing a professional role if I like for 13 I didn't do any buddies hair because I wouldn't want to ruin anybody's hair but it was it was fun to immerse like to have my hands covered with diet because I saw that Cheryl's hands were like permanently her nails were embedded with hair dye and I just those kinds of details I wanted to feel that reality I wanted to have one of the audience to feel that the visceral nature of her profession to manifest itself just even something that small if I look down at my own hands it just takes me so I text me someplace else I mean it's a very private thing sometimes I do things that don't show up on screen at all except for maybe just a wash because I do it only for my own self this is from Paul Paul is saying we come here for inspiration what moments have you witnessed on set in your career that have continued to inspire you what moment have I went where Paul where are you office I get what actors have you witnessed either right across from you or elsewhere I said those who were on set with me who have inspired me well you know we've talked about some of them today you know I mean with the kind of indelible imprint that Anna Paquin and Bill heard in Harvey Keitel but I'm working with an actor Daniel savato right now he's a young actor i Daniel may be 22 and he inspires me his he's doing the Alan Ball series as well and his approach to the work is very private and very personal and I so appreciate that you know I find that very special I mean it inspires me it makes me feel closer to myself to see an actor have a private connection with the scenes I mean I love that I mean you know makes me feel privileged to be an actor to be in it and it gives me more of a license to do that myself and it's so wonderful to be working with a young actor who I feel has that and so she bacon also is a young actress she Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick daughter and she just got this marvelous fluidity I mean a marvelous like liquid quality you know she's she's a moveable feast and so those two actors I'm working with them now and I just find them so enlivening to be on a set with such young energy that that feeds me right on question that's a great question this is from Asante where's the salt a hello and I was gonna ask this as well but I held back because I want to do it okay I Sante what is it well one of the first projects that I watched you was growing up watching Incredibles a movie that she did so me my sister loved it but one of my questions was what's the difference from voice acting and on-camera actors monsters monster silly different I mean it's so different I don't know if you got hurt but what's the difference between on-camera acting and doing it like a voiceover it's like so cool wild wildly different like for the we're doing The Incredibles part two right now and and I know it felt so funny it's so cool but I I'm in a room I don't know the story I still I mean we're almost done I still don't I mean I'm recording you know on Friday for one of my last recording sessions and I'm there by myself with Brad Bird I've never met mr. incredible until like two months ago we did the Incredibles like 12 years ago or whatever it was and I met him like two months ago from Craig - no just like my husband we met you know it kind of a comic-con type thing anyway I'm with Brad and I stand at the microphone and Brad you know Brad and and it's just you know and he's like he acts all the parts and and then I do mrs. incredible and and I've got my lines on big you know cardboard you know big cardboard things and and I have to practice the lines a little bit before we do it because I've never seen them before and then we record and he gives me direction he's kind of a genius Brad a bit of a genius hmm so he gives me different feedback you know different ways to do it his vocabulary is incredible you know so it's really fun really fun really like um can be real loosey-goosey kind of like just playing around like you're playing around like you're kidding around and you know you do and then you move on but what's it like to see the first movie when it was done I was shocked how kids enjoyed and seeing that I mean I had no idea was gonna be that good I mean because of the Incredibles I think is great it's just this phenomenal thing I think the movies kind of phenomenal it's so round such a round experience of like you know being a kid and being an adult and you know it's a it's such an immersive experience emotionally you know so satisfied so yeah I mean so and I think you know the incredible support to is gonna be great as large you know so great and final question we've touched a little bit on this but maybe you have a kind of final succinct thought from Katie where's Katie and then back Kitty Katie says her biggest challenge is trust and belief in herself do you have a mantra or an inner monologue that you say to yourself in times of weakness God another great question well I mean I um that's such a great question sometimes I had such a great question and like I like I said earlier and I think it was Hannah's question about relaxation or but there's two that makes me think of two things one is try your damnedest to not ever express displeasure when you're working take the displeasure and have it go underground into the character so if you're displeased or if you are annoyed or if you are enraged or if you are irritated or if you are any of these negative things don't give voice to them take it in and it will come out of your instrument in a creative way even if it's incredibly positive maybe it will fuel your glee you know maybe your Glee in the scene will have an underbelly to it I mean that's one thing and two I worked I had the pleasure of working with Billie Jean King when I was I did this movie years ago and Billy and I got to know Billy and Billy's mantra his champions adjust and and I was like you know and Billy so unbelievably positive you can't get over it I mean her positivity is fueled like jet fueled her life jet fueled her life so I kind of I started going when when things got bad I would go in myself I go I'm a champion I'm a champion when the chips are down for me I mean nobody maybe nobody else knows they're down but inside I'm like I am you know we've all felt that this is so I never I am never gonna get I'm that I'm never gonna climb out of this whatever I go and and and it it's it because I got that from because Billy's champions are just thing you know is is really powerful you know it's just another trick that I play on myself amazing advice thank you so much for coming today okay

Channel: SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Views: 21,568

Rating: 4.8777294 out of 5

Keywords: SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Acting, Actors, HOlly Hunter, The Big Sick, Stacey Wilson Hunt, The Incredibles, Thirteen, Broadcast News, The Firm, The Piano, Saving Grace, Top of the Lake, When Billie Beat Bobby, Home for the Holidays

Id: 6yEBZueHhUk

Length: 85min 12sec (5112 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 12 2018