Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams & more Actresses on THR's Roundtable l Oscars 2015

great actresses have the innate ability to create a performance that resonates with the audience long after we leave the theater join us as we sit down with some of the women who have triumphed on the screen this year on this episode we have Amy Adams big eyes Patricia Arquette boyhood Laura Dern wild Felicity Jones the theory of everything Julianne Moore still Alice Hilary Swank the homesman and Reese Witherspoon wild welcome to The Hollywood Reporter round tables the actresses welcome to The Hollywood Reporter round tables the actresses I'm Matt Bellamy of The Hollywood Reporter and today we've got Hilary Swank Amy Adams Julianne Moore Reese Witherspoon Felicity Jones Patricia Arquette and Laura Dern I'd like to start with a question for the group what has been your bravest or most challenging moment as an actress but I would say for me it would probably have been boys don't cry playing Brandon Teena or Teena Brandon however you know you want to say it just for the sake of passing as a boy and trying to be believable as a boy to tell this person's story and the most with the most integrity and I felt a huge responsibility because it was a tragic event that happened and I wanted to be able to tell it as honestly as possible so I agree I think well I was played to Cheryl Strayed and Wilde and that was a true story and she was standing there the whole time which was hard so I felt embarrassed for the first like three days because I sang her like doing her voice right is she gonna judge me and she was amazing and really lovely but I think that one of the hardest days on that shoot was I had to do sexy and like with two guys that I've never had to do a sex scene like any kind of like yeah yeah and it was I was so nervous and I called her and I was like I can't cut Cheryl and that night then I was like I can't believe I've did it and she was like sorry I was such a [ __ ] in the 90s reason and and then I said Laura was on the set because she has to be she sort of not what she's matching you an apparition sort of watching she hadn't literally watch me and she told me a great story that actually helped me get through that but I don't know if you want to tell us yes and thank God just made my story have an answer but I worked on this film citizen Ruth and it was the first day of the shoot and Alexander Payne it was his first feature film and so he came up and said okay we're gonna start with the opening which is this love scene and I want you to meet you know the guy you're gonna be doing the scene with sound like wait you know what actor is playing that part and he goes his name's Lance we just picked him up the bar down the street and he came in and he was like I am so excited to be here I just went down to the 7-eleven and I got some air of extra grind some breath mints let's go that was great very exciting keep it real yeah that's a pretty good one um well I paid a real person in this film theory of everything and like thank you guys it's um it's that thing of knowing they're going to be watching it at some point and you just think what if they just hate everything you've done you know and um and so it's just trying to yeah as you must have found just doing it with with truthfulness and and hopefully fingers crossed they like they like what you do it's an added responsibility isn't it just since its heart it the challenge of just acting in general and telling the story as honestly as possible but then when you have someone and they're still alive it's it's it's an added challenge for sure and how much will you interact that is yeah when you when you respect them you on your film Amy you she's still alive Margaret Keane and there's a nice photo of you guys together at the end of the film alright and did you consult with her did you how would you how did you act in this situation um she's very private very quiet person and so um I I wasn't sure she'd be open to me coming up and sort of taking her brain about her private life and him so just to spend the time with her and to sort of get her blessing was huge and to sort of warm into this idea of becoming her and there's not a lot of footage on her and there's just not a lot I had to really use use her as my resource but she's um just such a gentle woman and it was really um I think once you get the blessing is the thing like they they're open and gives you the freedom yeah it gives you the freedom to just as long as you understand their truth I guess I didn't how'd she seem to tell the truth I think she has yeah I think so I haven't I haven't heard from her but like I said she's not the kind of person that'll you know she's so overwhelmed that somebody would want to tell her story so well just yeah she's sweet you're taking credit for something that isn't yours I was just trying to close a deal these children are a part of my being I'm a sales one you know buyers pay more if they meet the painter they couldn't meet me because you told me to stay home look we're making money your pocket my pocket wizard different you're taking them so lightly not at all this is not about evil you want to say you did the street change right I don't care say a monkey paint up them well God that you can just dash away your work without any emotional connection but me I just want to share them with the wine would you rather have your children powder the closet or hanging in someone's living room I was joking that the most brave thing I've ever done on film was natural childbirth but you know my own actual natural childbirth but you can't have any of that footage I imagine on boyhood which was 12 years in the making there's probably a ton of stuff that didn't make it in the film no cuz there's all there's one beautiful scene that I I really hope it someday makes it somewhere other than that it's a scene where I'm sitting with LR and we're talking about his grandfather dying and our connection to people who have died and people in our family and how that really lasts with us but um other than that little scene nothing else was cut out I mean little line here there but we had such a small budget we only had $200,000 a year so we were already really lean on what we were shiney it was extraordinary it was great and that scene where I've seen her the scene where you're sitting and having dinner with your kids and the kids are so little and you're telling them you're gonna move and I was so struck by her authenticity and how how easy the scene was and how real and because they were little kids so they weren't really acting they were just behaving and you were basically you had commandeered the entire scene and it was so so good it was just remarkable and also kind of shot like in a loose you know in a loose master I was whoa I wonder what the emotional experience of watching that at the here was you were at you saw it for the first time at Sundance crack yeah and what what were you thinking as you watched it and afterward well kind of to all this when I first went there the first weekend I went there I met everybody and then Rick said so this lady's playing your mom and then I had them for the weekend Rick left his house Richards my daughter I think the kid slept over as I've drew their baths and we made me dinner and we did part projects and at first they really were just kids they and he intentionally chose a boy who had done some acting who had an agent who had chosen that as a path he was interested in but also who wasn't trying to please other adults he was like a artistic sensitive kid so it just kind of fell into place and during the filming it would be like I'm hungry okay mommy you sandwich across our hat come on camera bastard or I'd have a scene where I'd be crying cuz they're learning about acting while they're growing up so I would be getting myself ready for the scene and then they'd come over like how do you do that how do you make yourself okay sit next to me here's what I'm doing you still wouldn't have time to slow down or and you couldn't as a human being safe honey I got to do this right now so you had to do both at once you kind of had to mother and teach acting and move through things so when I watched it it was like wow because we didn't have a full script at the beginning and you had to have a different process of usually you can arc your character according to and make understand why your character makes certain choices along the way here we had these 12 mini scripts but I would only have the scenes I was in so I got to see when I saw the movie other scenes when Ethan was with the kids what a beautiful dad he was even though my character really resented him and understandably when she got to see him as a beautiful dad it was like god I wish we could all actually have that experience of seeing our other partner who they are without us goodbye yard goodbye crape myrtle goodbye mailbox goodbye box of stuff line let us take the piss but we don't want to Samantha once you say goodbye to that little horseshit attitude okay so we're not taking that in the park violate this is a rock music some rides a motorcycle Julian you've made some very bold choices in your career I'm curious what your most challenging moment has been hmm maybe going to the Golden Globes six weeks after my son was born don't even know how big you are ya know you know you just feels like pretty good okay this dress hon I put on a dress that had this low thing by the end of the night I was almost choking horrible hair dude they look like birds of paradise coming out on either side of my head it was always a tear it was terrible you flash that over and over in your head is every time I get ready to go somewhere never be that again that leads to a good question of a group the most embarrassing moment in Hollywood yeah oh god do we really have to be live auditions yeah we just totally just [ __ ] it up bad I remember I did this audition for um a director and I really wanted this part it was kind of different and he was like I got to the end of it I just thought I nailed it and he was like why are you playing it stoned and I decided I need a really big character choice to talk really slow and he just basically reduced me to this bag and I just like oh I'm never gonna take choice it's like chances again that I tell you feel bad because I I read you know if you ever saw the Unbearable Lightness of being you see Julie up in ocean that she's so vulnerable open and raw and sweet and vulnerable and I remember reading a review of her and it said why did they cast her she's so masculine and I just thought they don't see that as choices and actresses they see everything you do as your own essence and judge you as if it's you here's this actress clearly acting two parts and yet in some way that gets lost yeah and like you said it's in order to be vulnerable and to be open and try new things when someone pushes you down like that with just a couple of words like why did you do that instead of saying well that was an interesting choice let's try something else it makes you feel scared to take a risk and try something new if you never see whiplash I guess in romance before it's amazing but it's about being a young artist and what what can happen if one person just suppresses you or says the wrong thing to you and how you can be decimated or you can completely take it on as a check I mean it's a beautiful film but it reminded me of being a young actress trying to find your way or your voice or your any and and that's been that's not just in our art that's in life you know you think of the people who raised you and your role models and how those awards of confidence gave you made you feel better about yourself or or vice versa you know oh I just will share that I got my first professional job I was 11 and Scott Baio was a very beloved actor and I saw him from across the room and he was wearing a white Leisure Suit and he was just so stunning and I was so excited and I knew I was about to make the best first impression and he would love me forever and the director was there and the producer I was a big deal was my first opportunity to be a professional actor and my dog was with me and my dog got her period on his pantsuit Wow but he didn't forget you I read to gotten on my knees with a bottle of club soda and proceeded to clean Wow / really it went really well that's it I apparently never seen him again I'm very curious what you learned both good and bad from having a family in the business when you were coming up and for both of you actually well my dad was really a struggling actor you know to raise five kids he would do any job that he had to do so my parents groaned and we're miserable when I told my want to be an actress and because I did really get to see how difficult it was to survive and make a living as an actor but it was great too because my dad would talk about acting my mom was a therapist and she was interested in mythology so she would talk about undercurrents of human beings like passive aggressive narcissists all these different kind of underpinnings of humans while he was talking about acting so I don't think I really had a much of an option and I I mean my parents too had a very similar response in terms of their fear about me going into a business that had no real stability to it and I think the greatest gift for me was I was raised like you in a clear awareness that it's about following a path because there's no other option because it's something you love to do and you hopefully find healing in it not just that it's a creative path that you like and that it comes with a massive urban flow in terms of a lifetime career of doing things that you don't want to do and hopefully having time periods where there's a privilege to get to do you know to make choices for yourself as an artist and the compromises one makes when they become a parent and our creative person so I think it's it's placed me in a position of not having to judge where everything's at all the time so I feel really lucky to - also I'm curious how that then translates to when you have kids like Reese would have you thought about if your kids wanted to become actors what your response to that would be um yeah I mean it's a wonderful business I feel like I've I've seen the world I've met amazing people I used to have all these regrets I didn't finish college and about a year ago Wow why wait for grant not you I'm a wonderful life and I've been everywhere and I've gotten to work with creative people and Intel stories that's all I ever wanted to do so if they wanted to do I'd be very encouraging I think it's hard I definitely tell them you know I would you know try to be illuminate all the difficulties but again I think there's an irrepressible part of being an actor and I don't know I'm I don't think my kid my kids don't seem to gravitate towards it anyway so but it is that thing I imagine when you have children when they have a drive to do something you especially acting it's like you can't no one can stop you really thank you you have to be pretty determined to make it work and get through all the rejection and the difficulties of it believe me now are you going to talk about this or not you just go is that what you want yes it is what I want so please if you care about me at all then please just go I can't I have two years to live I need to work I love you you bet you've left her that's a false conclusion I want us to be together for as long as we've got and if that's not very long well then that's just how it is you didn't have to do don't know what's coming it'll affect everything who's an actress whose career you'd love to emulate um that pretty much Golson yeah I know that seems really cheesy me shade but it's I've actually been truthful um it is it would be all of these women thank you finish is there were detectives I hate protect no yeah no I've seen everyone's work I write literally it's but it is intimidating I've grown up watching the then you want some complexity it's um that's why I wanted to do it it's yeah phenomenal question for Reese you know you've had success as a producer this year now with gone girl and then with Wilde there are there are a lot of actors that have transitioned successfully into producers but far fewer actresses have done that I'm curious your thoughts on that and why that is and how you have made that a priority I was probably about three years ago I just started seeing this complete lack of interesting female leads in film first I got mad really mad and then I was like it's nobody's fault if you know if you're even not proactive about things and so I'd had a company before but it had a completely different sort of mandate and it was basically about trying to develop things that I would eventually be in so I I just kind of switched the idea I reframed the whole thing I you know if I can develop anything for any other women like and I don't I don't care who's in it I just want my daughter to grow up seeing complex interesting nuanced women and film it I was just you know befouled so I I started company with my own money and um I thought you know the first thing people tell you is don't put your own money into anything gonna be business so I was like this is really dumb but I got a great partner who wasn't sure if she wanted to work with me she like auditioned me for six months and read stuff that I said to her and the first two things I sent her were gone girl and wild and those are the first book so we optioned so it just ended up being um it's been a really good process and did you ever think about starring in gone girl um I mean I was always open to doing it but as soon as David came on it was like whenever David Fincher says he wants to do a project you just like sit back and say whatever you know but we had a long conversation where he was like you're not right for it and this is why I know I actually completely agreed with him and I can't imagine anybody better than Rosman and I'm so excited for her because I have known her for so many years and it's so great to see another side that she's never been able to show um just cuz there was sort of a lack of material for her and it's it's a great year for her you know so it's exciting to be part of that and and just change in conversation thanks Ron yeah you I'm happy happy people saying why are you happy we have nothing mom nothing well we're rich in love oh my god please don't don't even start with that we're both waitressing full-time / students and we're gonna have loans for the rest of our lives this house is falling apart you're all by yourself because you married some abusive alcoholic [ __ ] and then I come in when you're singing what power did it do not get there's nothing I don't get believe me but then what Cheryl if there's one thing I could teach you it's how to find your best self and when you do how to hold on to it for dear life and this is your best self I'm trying Reiss mentioned something interesting about how she's gotten to see the world who's the most interesting person that you've got to meet in this job everybody's interesting you know no everyone is not sure no I think I know where you're going yeah yeah because nobody in yeah and I think what's interesting is an actor and I'd like to say this like you know I had this I I wanted I wanted to say this so badly to Laura because we did a movie years ago years ago and I was desperate for female company absolutely desperate was working with a ton of children and another Ana leading Jan I was called the prize winner Defiance Ohio and I'm supposed to be kind of asked you know it's a bad marriage and you know all these little kids everywhere and I had nobody to talk to and then Laura came in for three days sue this story line is my as my characters friend and she did this thing it was so extraordinary where we were sitting on a couch I was so happy to see her she there all these women around and it was a master and she took my hand like this and went and winked so the camera didn't see it and I I was I'm gonna cry oh my god you know it was like it was like she gave me this huge it was like this huge infusion of herself like in a scene and I got to know her like right away and so that's experience you have as an actor and unfortunately you don't have it enough with actresses because they're never around we're always we don't have to know each other yeah you know so I have that exact yeah we working with Laura right I was on the master like sitting there like all by yourself all by myself and some pregnancy thing so yeah and like she came on and I immediately I feel bad I was like glommed yeah yeah I had the same thing with you too even though we haven't worked together and met each other in Italy and it was the same all roads lead back to Lourdes but see that experience that you can have as an actor it's it's interesting the way you get to know people you get to know them very very quickly and very intimately and sometimes those relationships last forever and even if they don't you you get this kind of palpable sense of who they are I think that's like a it's a little bit of an addiction that you you develop you're like oh what's this person gonna be like cuz you know you're gonna pick up on something and it's what's it like like what does it actually feel like well it's not always the same I have I have a good days bad days and on my good days I can you know almost pass through a normal person but on my bad days I feel like I can't find myself I've always been so defined by my intellect my language my articulation and now sometimes I can see the words hanging in front of me and I can't reach them and I don't know who I am and I don't know what I'm going to lose next it's like you're working with the actors in an intimate way but I always find the people that I'm really drawn to or like you end up with like the best sort of wardrobe mistress I'm like you find out all about her life and then like they're the most amazing interesting people and I think as an actress I never want to play actors or like big personalities and all of this so like getting to know people who choose to not be in front of the spotlight but are yet creative at the same time like the costume designers and hair and makeup and set designers having conversations with them is always the most fascinating because the energy and the work that they put into the film that you you are going to be the face of or a group of people who are the face of it it puts a different stamp on it for me I find also that the funniest person in the room is the prop guys I think you should be an actor yeah I could do props let's switch off you're not like me I mean really you have an incredibly charismatic group of people yeah yeah and they they bring so much energy to you and humour and even if you're doing some really dark scene you know they lighten it and they work their asses off especially when you're working on these tiny budget movies to see people at 4:00 in the morning half being worked five 16-hour days with this beautiful attitude I mean you can't get spoiled they're just inspiring and their empathy for the people you're getting to play you know it I think there are moments where I've been fatigued with my own sort of protectiveness of a character and the characters choices and it's often your crew that's there to hold that character so dearly I did this show for HBO and the character was very complicated and not always liked and my cinematographer Javier Grob a who's amazing and hilarious loved this character so much everything she did the more horrible that choice she would make oh my god I am so Amy that is song I'm fine and it just gave me so much love but this person I was just about to be down on it's also Anissa well not everyone's interesting I have to say I think is just as I'm getting older and thinking about life in different ways I really believe that everyone actually is interesting and maybe maybe not in first upon first meeting but it's like working with Tommy Lee Jones in this last movie that we did together and I'm doing a lot of press and every press person says how I'm about to interview him and I'm really scared I heard he's really hard hurt he's famously tough interview everyone thinks of him as this like really tough intense man but you get him on the set and he's animated and he's outgoing and he comes alive in this element that he loves I understand why not everyone shows all of their colours in one meeting and I think that that's something they really remember to defy those stereotypes and to give people that opportunity to be fully realized I mean you could know somebody for 10 years and still not know a deep profound part of them that they have chosen not to show and I think that's what I'm learning as I'm growing up as a woman and in this business we get the opportunity like you said we travel the world and we meet so many different artists and we have these collaborations and we're really forced into a room to and get to know each other intimately quickly and it's it's really it's it's so it's hard to pick one person say the most interesting oh are you an angel you're not dead help me will you help me for God's sake suppose I do what we do from me anything anything God is my witness if I cut you down will you do what I tell you to oh yes I will swear to god swear to it I swear swear to that Almighty God you've been talking about ah vengeance is mine saith the Lord bringing in the sheaves and doing dollars and if you cut me down from this goddamn tree I'll do anything you tell me - I swear on God's holy name people cite you in particular as a connector in Hollywood people know you you introduce people realize I heard that from several people do you reach out to people you know cold call or email people whose work you like a cold call I tie tender other actors gender oh my god I decide you're in your movie and I'm within three miles of you swipe right guys at a restaurant in a bikini with the following 10 actors let me know they're within a 5-mile really cute um I'm curious for others to do you reach out to people whose work you enjoy and I do I remember in the old days I I had the privilege of having that my first time nominated for a film and I was just starting out and I was so touched cuz other actors sent me telegram oh I got a telegram saying congratulations I saw the movie and it is such a lovely beautiful thing but I don't you love I will favorite friends Amy wrote me a letter three years ago after our round table she wrote a letter is saying it was so lovely down maybe she was so worried it's such a lovely sweet it was the last letter I never sent it's like I just have these it was so lovely it really was touching and it's just I think us women we really need to support each other and to get that was just saw no God I was really pleasantly surprised and not that I not that you were not lovely in person and I am I'm I was very shy so I actually would rather write or sit and have coffee cuz when I get in large groups I get like weird um Lisa sent me something before yeah resent me a letter I've always admired your work no I just thought you were amazing last year in American house hanging on yes say so brave and bear and just fearless yeah yeah hangin you look like a think would a spray tan and a good guys who knew I like men to be tiny love though you know Adams great thank you I appreciated that very much how has Fame impacted your personal lives I got this award called the Trailblazer award legacy Awards at the out fest for my work in boys no cry which has been 15 years now the presenter got up and said when I was 19 years old and I was trying to I was questioning my sexual identity I was looking for things that helped me connect to myself and boys don't cry was a pivotal moment and it changed my life and in fact in a lot of ways it was my lifesaver and to hear people say that and to hear how a movie like that has can impact people I never became an actor for that but that but that became this side effect of it and it is so touching my sisters transgender and when I saw that movie because as a sister a sibling of a transgender person it's really scary when you're growing up especially in the world of the early 80s was like you're gonna get killed people are gonna beat you up do I protect you you know from these people in the world so to see and also will you be accepted will you find someone who loves you who accepts you as you are um so when I saw that maybe it just was so important to me as a sibling to see that money cue really beautiful work thank you and it's so grateful for that movie I am too for all of the reasons that you're talking about in other people point out it's it was an honor to be a part of telling us story I'm glad I didn't know at the time the social um impact of it I just saw it is a love story to me a transcended gender and became a love story which is everyone relates to but had I known I don't know if I would have been able to withstand that um responsibility somehow at that young age you know um but thanks isn't that why it's going to the cinema is that what everyone's grown up for love love doing and it's cuz it's when you get to see people being vulnerable and you get moved by something like oh thank God it's you know it's okay to be fallible and that like those kind of films I was thinking I'm Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine and Seema and it's that it's seeing that like that vulnerability and that's when you get that feeling of them I guess it's cathartic in some ways on the the fame question just to follow up what do you guys think when you see something like the photo hack that happened earlier this year who's responsible when something like that happens to someone like Jennifer Lawrence I think there's something different between being an actress and being famous and I'm not saying like I'm not trying to you know draw any line here and just saying like I think that everybody here the world was so different when we all made our choices to come into the industry so what's happening now it's the prolific ation of the internet and blogs and all this this is something that you know is completely new to everybody so I think everyone's just sort of learning what the boundaries are now I feel really really strongly that there's nothing deviant about two lovers sharing sexual intimacy that is normal it's been happening since the beginning of time that is not deviant what is deviant is when a community decides that they can break into your sexuality steal that from you insert themselves what really disturbed me because I ended up in a lot of Twitter battles with people about it is I feel like we're teaching our children also social values at this time and I had a lot of women get right back they were stupid to take those pictures to begin with that society thinks it's okay and it's their fault that's deviant that's the problem and that we're teaching our kids somebody messes up or does what they want in their private life they're stupid and you can basically communally molest them mmm well said yeah yeah and also you know it takes this conversation to sometimes set one standard for themselves it's by the privilege of having a community of friends who do deal with the internet celebrity and their intimacy being exposed or invaded that helped me define everything from this muddied oh my god I just came out of the mom they're like taking bears my kids that right should they be able to take pictures of my kids that I can call you guys and go what do we do about this and should we be doing something and how do we protect our child I don't know by myself so the gorgeous opportunity of being part of a roundtable uh is that I can ask your guidance on how I'm entitled to be protected or protect myself it's the privilege of getting to do press with Reese while being incredibly maternal toward her and a girlfriend because I can witness moments where I think an unfair question has been presented and it's not to me I just feel like there is a moment like you see what's going on especially with the whole with Renee Zellweger the attention that she got recently I feel like the scrutiny on people has just gone through the roof it's horrible and disrespectful and I go on and on these deals it bothers me immensely I just think the situation is disgusting and it's no you know I think not to not to let it inhibit who you are your behavior I think that's the thing is that people you know continue to share who you are and be personal that that's what's sad is when people start to self-censor and start not doing certain things because they're worried that what X or Y is gonna think about it that's that's a terrible situation why do they have to tear up ideas I know this is so Pollyanna me but why and it's particularly women why do they have to tear women down and why do we have to tear other women down to build another woman up yeah you know it drives me crazy like this one looks great without her makeup it's out what doesn't look good without her makeup and it's all just a judgment and assault that I don't look at men are privy to it as well I just don't read it with the same sort of ferocity yeah yeah but you fight I think if the fighted economic you know I remember when that with the proliferation of all the celebrity magazines and stuff that suddenly when I was growing up if you were in a supermarket it was a magazine like that you know my mother told me you don't look you nice people don't read those magazines that's just garbage and then suddenly there's this transition with all these magazines and you go onto a plane and people had stacks of them and that they were reading them like it was okay and I'm like that's not okay so I think the only way you can you can deal with it is by not involving yourself in it why not why not purchasing them by not you know by banning them it sounds really silly but like they just shouldn't be around unfortunately all of that stuff makes a lot of money for people and yeah you know printing pictures of our children makes a lot of money so they're not going to not do it even though it's clearly wrong to follow my child around and take pictures at a playground that's clearly weird and crappy I had a big fight we born pardon a physical fight well he was following us I'm sometimes trolling me I know I was like that guy's following us I was like leave us alone he kept following us and I said okay leave us the [ __ ] alone and he goes nice mom good job I said this is a teachable moment I'm teaching my daughter if I managed following you and you tell him to go away and he doesn't you turn around say [ __ ] you as loud as you can because there's no difference I don't care if he has a camera if I show up at red carpet if I hope at a charity event if I'm promoting a movie take pictures I'm there for you to take pictures you're doing your job I'm doing my job I get it if I'm in my real life and you're following me I don't care if you have a camera [ __ ] you that's how I feel I wanted to talk a little bit about politics because you know George Clooney into slightly different extent Angelina Jolie have used their celebrity to further political causes and some of you have dabbled in that but I'm curious the extent to which you feel like it's okay to put yourself out there and sometimes might you not do as much as you think you should I sit myself an equal voice to any other voice and I will use it however I can when there's injustice or inequality and I'm sure we all feel that way and whether you have the opportunity because you're a celebrity to have it be heard on a different level and that benefits the cause awesome do you think that activism might help or hurt your career who cares probably be yourself yeah I mean hopefully and I really believe from the beautiful work everyone at this table has done that they're not calculated enough to even think you know I'm talking about more of the negative side being who you are has to be your priority and you you must have a sense of that to do beautiful raw work to be do work that's so deeply in touched so who cares people will always judge you and yeah it's nice if you can open people's minds I I do a lot of work in Haiti on sanitation nobody wants to talk about sanitation oh my god that's kind of the most punk rock thing I could do oh good I'll talk about that um but yes your name can sometimes really get people to listen to you and sit for half an hour and talk about pathogen death rate but to also feel the responsibility that you're supposed to do that that's not right either and I know there's been some celebrities who said oh to expand my whatever my brand I'm supposed to do some charity thing that's weird have any of the roles that you've played impacted your activism I mean I don't know any apathetic actor scientists don't know we're curious passionate people that's why we do what we do love people so everything sort as so many I have a hard time sometimes because there's so many things that I am interested in advocating for but yeah I mean I've played roles where I worked you know domestic violence issues so that became a big thing for me just domestic violence all around the world you know and also the reach that we have is global you know it's it's extraordinary that you go places sometimes it's like you're you can't believe that people show up at these events that you're there but it's an opportunity to put good into the world and in so many ways I think whatever it takes to bring attention to something is you know you can be sort of think it's cheesy or think that it's about self gain but if more people if it raises awareness then then it's not a bad thing is it is there a contemporary woman that you would each like to play I feel like characters don't exist without a narrative yeah you know that idea of like oh there's this character well that's great so you have the character but but but that you don't go anywhere with just an interesting personality story you need you know beginning a middle and an end the narrative matters the point of view all of that you know OBL it's big ok wanna be her okay do that Bob Dylan movie but with Beyonce we all get a narrative for do ya come out like why did you say yes to Sarah Palin it was a great story it was a great story and I think you know it was awesome she was charismatic very interesting kind of new political figure that we didn't know much about you know and Jay wrote you Laura and I have both worked with um and Danny strong kind of you know they've managed to create well was the true you know true story but they magicai to encapsulate this narrative and tell this tell the story of her rise and fall and the Republican Party or actually not fall she exited it's really what she did you know but but so it was kind of it was kind of amazing and I said yes before I even thought about it and then hung up the phone and went like that was bad no that was bad just because as everyone knew her voice or we knew her mannerisms are you and and she wouldn't go away you know she was very hurt yeah but you've done so many brave things I have a question for you like they can you even do movies where you're like I'm nothing I just imagine every part you've ever played I think of Boogie Nights I think so many roles I'd be so scared to do the things that you've done on dogs you know and like the day before do not panic you know I panic more I panic more onstage I have a hard time onstage I really have a lot of stage fright I mean I really get really shaky and it's not fun for me and um but but in movies I don't don't you know I had a therapist say to me wants to know a feeling can't kill you and it can't you know it's just a feeling and we're just pretending and I really like it but I'm really afraid of his skiing and going and people knocking me down accidentally maybe breaking my teeth and those are the things that frighten me they really really frightened me but being on a movie set with a lot of really terrific actors and having some great language and director her until I got a rub on you because time I walk hard I'm like can I do this I don't want to mess it up and let everybody down but even if you do fail well I'll cut it out there's so much love and passion and commitment and as we know I was the small movies that we make you're pushing this boulder up a mountain and then all the sudden you you know you're a big stinker in it yeah that's already everybody I know you worked your asses off but anyway I did so I worry all what I was doing um the end of the affair with neil jordan we had shot the entire movie and it was the part in the middle of the movie worth where the big explosion happens and and we think that ray Fiennes is dead and I'm supposed to run down the steps run down the steps in my nice little tiny slip and throw myself on his body and burst into tears I run downstairs I run around and was like no I'm sorry I didn't yeah no I didn't get it one more time and and the third time I just stopped and Neil went ah I think it'd be cry in here and I was like I know but I can't cry and he said well you know you've done the whole movie we know the whole story so you know like don't get hung up on this thing and then finally I was able to to do it and I still think I could have been better but it didn't I got through it you know it felt really bad it you know it felt terrible but then I was like it didn't kill me so amazing about Sarah Palin and terrifying I think to play someone not only a real person but um SNL fodder will you play Katherine Harris yeah yeah exact same thing with the same people and writer-director where people had done them on MADtv and SNL and then Letterman's you know list of jokes every night yeah to try to kind of consider them an impression that's why how you write how you get their essence but you're not imitating them yeah yeah there's a priest said that beautifully in walk the line you don't know and and there was a scene that's my favorite scene is when you're sitting in that diner and you're talking to him and your voice is so rough it was just so great because she sounded so tired and her voice sounded exhausted so exhausted from singing from touring and from um and it was beautiful because how do you capture the essence of someone when you don't look like them you know none of us look like each other we kind of pretend and we could put makeup on and wigs and clothes and stuff but but you do it you know from hopefully from the inside out and that's what she did is June Carter Cash and it was just like that we're at weariness of tone you know not the kind of stuff you notice in performances now like ooh that's good if you could go back and give your 20 year old self advice on acting and Hollywood in your career what advice would you give yourself why she's gonna say that crying thing I spent my life growing up like trying to make myself cry yeah that's something I just have to do okay like pinching yourself like punching us over the face heavy and then and then realizing that moment that you like just cuz it says cry in the script doesn't mean you have to do it that's right doesn't come it's okay I only have to say I was thinking that when you were talking about but that button I heard you saying with your director was saying actually we need it to be like this but I find that if it's written a certain way and I don't of course I try everything to get there yeah but if it's not coming I think am i there's other ways to mourn yes right there's that shock and that moment of nothing comes out and maybe a week later you have that right concerning really so there are different creative ways but yes if mike nicole says no no I think you should then I get it that's why I didn't say anything I was like okay I can't fight with him any advice that you would offer Oh God let it go Amy yeah yeah in the end of the words of Elsa witch's you know just let it go I know that's why it was such a big deal to all those little girls is to all of us were all like yeah that's right so great he's just that I've said before but it is so true for me the best advice my third grade teacher mrs. Wyatt gave me which is keep your eyes on your own paper yeah on that note I think we'll wrap up I wanted to thank everyone for participating today in The Hollywood Reporter round tables the actresses with Hilary Swank Amy Adams Julianne Moore Reese Witherspoon Felicity Jones producer Arquette and Laura Dern thanks a lot thank you thank you you

Channel: The Hollywood Reporter

Views: 810,516

Rating: 4.9049616 out of 5

Keywords: The Hollywood Reporter, Roundtable, Julianne Moore, Still Alice, Laura Dern, Wild, Patricia Arquette, Boyhood, Hilary Swank, The Homesman, Felicity Jones, Theory of Everything, Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams, Big Eyes, Alexander Payne, Sundance, Richard Linklater, Golden Globes, Whiplash, Gone Girl, David Fincher, Rosamund Pike, Tommy Lee Jones, American Hustle, Jennifer Lawrence, Sarah Palin, Game Change, Walk the Line, Mike Nichols, Academy Awards (Award), celebrity, oscar

Id: 1jaWzNu8Buo

Length: 51min 26sec (3086 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 26 2014