THR FULL Drama Actress Roundtable: Oprah Winfrey, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Lange, & More!

[Music] hi and welcome to close up with Hollywood Reporter we're joined today by Reese Witherspoon Elisabeth Moss Nicole Kidman Jessica Lange Oprah Winfrey and Chrissy Metz let's dive right into this between the six of you you have tackled ageism sexism misogyny depression domestic abuse adultery rape I could go on here what was the last time on your shows you were genuinely scared to tell a story well I was genuinely nervous to take on the role of Deb relax and Henry relax because look at this table I come as the least experienced person at this table I come as a person who has great respect for the craft of acting but not really developing the craft so to take on something as I mean that was really I was really afraid to do that I really was a afraid of what exactly I was a very gonna follow myself and in color purple is okay you know I'm having trouble with you when was that that was like 30 years ago now so it also let me tell you what actually made me even more like intimidated I just finished doing a film with a Reese in Ava Duvernay and Mindy Kaling we were all there and I just happened to ask Reese remember the tree said means how many films have you done and you said oh hi child and I don't know yeah y'all know how many movies you done no but it was a big number you said I don't know 100 or so and I thought her name 'yes yes and so i was thinking oh god I hope she doesn't say that to me hmm because my number would be like and I think five baby you have to be I think I've done maybe one independent really yeah so yes it's a very intimidating thing and I don't take it lightly I mean I understand I remember when you did the hours remember I called you up and said girls yes members we had a premonition yes I had a premonition I said girl get ready put your dress on she did I did because I hide and now I have such regard for what it takes to dismantle yourself open yourself up vulnerably and let the energy and spirit of another character come through and and and what it means to to craft that so that's why they answer your question where your performance was wonderful yeah I love you something wonderful and important I think it's important that people know that story because I think people don't know about Henrietta Lacks know I did Gary because manic and depressive but yet hopeful and not you know obviously which is what you want is not all one thing but a whole range of craziness yeah I said a little range of crazy there's a greatness and many of these characters so what for the rest of you were there moments I mean you certainly have some pretty powerful dark scenes mean you do you you all do which one's making nervous then get your way you still did them I don't know if I was nervous about the scene it seems as themselves just the book itself is so prolific and so beloved so that was my only sort of Lula's I wanted to make sure that we were going to to do the book jackals and do it in the way that it should be done or we were going to get a home so that was my only fear and hesitation not telling the story because that's I have I love doing that I don't have any fear with scary stories that's what I wanted but be but the the book is so people hold it very highly as they should so my hesitation I took a while to say yes to it it took like six weeks to say yes because I wanted to make sure we were going to do a good job you know I spoke to Bruce or showrunner first and foremost and we ended up talking for about an hour and a half and I just asked him what he wanted to make you know how he thought what the visuals were the visuals were so important to me and the music casting everything we just went into everything what he thought it might be like as far as like is it like this show is it like that movie you know what I loved is he was like I don't want to do anything anyone's ever done before and I was like oh that's a good answer I asked for the second script because I know the second scripts can be a little bit of a highlight everyone spent ten years on the second script in your language third one he went yeah exactly so you know and then asking where the show was going to go and what was going to happen with my character all of that and yeah I just took it took some time and then one night I was going to say no to it I don't know if anyone else does this but if you're like thinking about taking a role I pretend that I haven't that I said no to see how that feels do you do that yeah I like put yourself through that experience a little bit and I got terrible yeah I couldn't sleep and was super jealous of whoever it is that range of subjects that I'd mentioned do you guys as actresses as producers in many cases do you feel any sort of responsibility to shed light on these topics it is that something you weigh in making your decisions absolutely I mean I think you're I think everyone at this tables mission-driven I mean you ale a mission to understand the greater humanity of women and and promote that I mean nobody said that manager Gilman - how do you feel - yeah just you know examining the human condition and also putting a bigger array of they're more dynamic idea what a woman is and what her her experiences and I think that it's been such a great year I look around the table about what are these shows and what are the topics that are coming up because of these shows it's incredible I've been talking about Hirsch fo ad infinitum at dinner parties because needs to be seen of it political sounds of goal I mean what that were you're doing logging and then you go in to buy a coffee in the credit card doesn't work anymore and she you know could be anyone and it feels ominous huh it's the reason why I read someplace or saw an interview with you saying that it's the one show that you don't think people should Bend watch yeah and I so agree to you half of is watching you too you can't die you won't be able to get out of bed as well yeah yeah no it needs to be digested and kind of thought about for a second yes watch something else I have to take the dogs out exactly is happening and you're talking about you I am so question why it's so ominous why it's so it would land so heavily right now would this and some of these other projects have landed different in a different political climates had Hillary Clinton been our president would it be landing and having the same impact we feud is yeah I remember Ryan saying that you know I mean we started shooting September before the election and thinking Ryan said he was thinking you know well will will make this piece about misogyny will make this piece about sexism ageism all of this but come you know the beginning of the year it might just be ironic but of course it was just you know of course no we took a different turn and I think it's more relevant now than it could have possibly been you know at any other time well I don't want your help you've always been overrated I guess that explains my eleven Oscar nomination the Academy doesn't reward you for your tattling for Christ's sakes Betty they reward you because they see how hard you sweat they don't see the character they see me acting and they don't see you at all because of all your glamour makeup well let me give you a tip the answer to feeling unattractive isn't to make yourself even uglier I don't think in this political climate that we're in that we've ever seen this much massaging me this much sexism and I think you know the fact that we have this story that's set in a particular period but obviously Hollywood in the 1960s is just a microcosm of like this greater atmosphere that we are all that we're all living through now yeah so I I know from saying to you right Ryan pretty much was a trailblazer for this yeah as much as yeah you know he sent me a text after he saw big little lies and I was like Ryan you you helped create what's happening now I mean he is literally creating roles for women yes out women and that is his passion and we need that we now not be driven an idiot we need men doing it yeah and I mean the thing is you know what makes Ryan I think extremely unique is and I think he's done this even more so than other women leaders in the industry he has really made a huge effort with his half foundation that everything every writer every director every crew member everybody it has to be half and half yes oh yeah yeah I mean it's really a mess yeah it is it's really amazing I think Ava Duvernay has done an amazing job with that too particularly on clean sugar where we have all female directors we're not even half here's all hmm oh yeah I think we're making some some strides because what why do you think that your show has struck such a chord and what is its success say about our culture where we are now oh I think we all want to like love each other mm I got to grab this point where we're like hope where do we start from love we're made from love would love to love so and I think that the show is so relatable because we're all going through something doesn't matter how tall thin rich you know poor we are that we all want the same thing so we also inadequacies which is such a shame but it's terrible but that we can move through that and there's discussions to be had about them it's just just what I do now I watch the feelers and I watch them with my dad it sounds like a cool guy I'd like to meet him sometime yeah okay yeah okay and I know it's gonna be a little creepy ah this is your dad piggybacking on to what you said about being scared that first team was like hold you want to get house naked on the scale yeah I'm like what do you mean this is Network agenda yeah what is so important because everything is about the way we look um initially anyway so I think it's super important that people are kind of the fear is being removed and so when there's knowledge there's like oh the fear subsides and we're like oh we're just a regular person trying to figure it out how did you get to the point where you were comfortable in in doing that and standing on that scale wasn't it yeah I just got to the point where I was like this is so important for this character and for the journey that she's going on and for me and for all the women who are in hair and makeup who are like I'm like what why yeah like why are we so judged on the way we look when it's just the vehicle it's just like the package that we're in then it ebbs and flows and it changes and all that jazz um but I I just thought it was really important and when other women who were like oh my god I know what it meant to like take off the earrings like every ounce counts whatever you're doing the other day where I thought hands down extra yeah 50.5 hands up you lose that hold the breath I'm glad to know he was welcome to the trade um yeah I was it wasn't it was more about everyone else and not about me and I think of factors that's what we do we're like oh we're telling a story let me separate this from Who I am and then also know that whatever anybody thinks about me it's not my business yeah and it's their perception as their reality and I'm like I'm just going to do it and it's my job and it's important it needs to be seen and so many women are like I've never seen my body sheep on TV yeah I think it was really important in that kind of trumped you know my ego and my feelings someone I love that nicole shedding the light that you did big little lies with domestic abuse and what this sort of layers of that because it on its face it it was something much messier than we initially thought what was that preparation process for you and also what were the conversation between you and John Mark between you and Alexander Skarsgard between you and and wheat reached and I talked about everything else pretty much today and then we would dip in there for about I mean so much of when we were all working together nine and Irish yet I remember the first time you were shooting and I was so nervous I was like sitting in my trailer cat and she was and I like when in your trousers okay cuz I'm so worried about you and she was so vulnerable on her underwear and yeah I felt my way through the character that would be high I mean I sort of it was beautifully written initially in the novel and then it was written by David and then I was allowed to bring some things to it but as well there were certain things that I would call David and say it's important that you know that I gave up my career when I moved there for him when he says that I don't love him it's important that I say but I gave up this and this and this and the and there isn't that enough to show you how much I love you so that you see the constant push-pull of the relationship and the desire for him to realize how much I love him which is to me an interesting motivation I mean that that is the motivation of her the whole time is to say look look what I will girls can I do to keep this relationship we get angry we and me within have this crazy angry sex and then we make up in turn and we have this dirty secret John Mark is the director that just shoots the rehearsal shoots everything keeps going and walks away and goes from good yeah and that's it you know there's not much I seem to cover a lot or anything it seems like he really just kind of sits and he moves the camera he shoots as well as royal heavy of shooting and he'll I mean Reese knows because she's worked Riven twice but it's a fantastic way to do a performance like this because you're just in it and particularly for this sort of sex scenes in terms of a lot of finding those we you know you you want an you want a director who just gets in there and allows it to play admin and things happen that are very surprising I know until Evangeline hold me like cutting room floor stop and then go to the close-up and then stop and go to the medium Charlotte and not as I definitely doesn't do that so is it than in your case I mean these are also these are not typical sex scene it's right yes for you how do you again how do you get into that headspace how do you feel comfortable what are those conversations you were having well I mean quite simply I just sort of thought what would one do in the situation you know it sounds sort of so over simple perhaps but I just was like if you were being assaulted sexually assaulted on a regular basis and you knew there was nothing you could do about it what would you do you know the UK there's no escape and you can't fight back and so I thought well she would probably try not to be there and when Rachel saw that she'd they're taking children Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob give me children or else I'd die [Music] she said hold my name be how else you deal with such a thing if you don't go somewhere else you can't be there you can't experience it that you you wouldn't make it you know so which happens to women in that world they don't make it so I just thought okay well I just have to go somewhere else and that's what I was trying to do was just show that she wasn't there and in the shooting of it we were really it was really important for us to have it be extremely clinical mechanical there's nothing sexual remotely about it you know and that was really important to show it exactly for for what it should be you know and that no one is enjoying this and all three parties are in a terrible place yeah oh yeah a man who can yeah it's like it's to one yet when they would yell cut what would happen I mean you know how these things are anyway you are there with a Jew exactly all right down there you good doing great you know I mean gala sorry yeah exactly you know everyone's in an awkward position you know there's usually like am i hurting you like that kind of thing and then you do it again and there's you know sixty five people watching and you know it's very it's not as I think dramatic as anyone sort of thinks it might be yes we do I remember lying on in the last episode when on the floor and I remember being in my underwear and having yet really sort of has sort of thrown away and I just lay on the fly couldn't get up yeah just didn't want to get up and I remember Jean Marc coming over and putting a towel over me in between the tape because I was just like I don't even too exposed I just felt completely humiliated yeah and devastated and I was just like I don't want and angry inside it was a very unrealistic went home and I threw a rock to a glass door no we were staying at a hotel especially for me and she goes just crazy things I've thrown again she's got her to work and you had one those horrible scenes and she get into my hotel employee threw a rock through the river go to the playground I know then I got another realizing and so again I saw I was obviously holding all that rage and saying that what had been done and that was I don't know how ways yeah that's always the amazing thing about being in actors and is that your body doesn't understand yeah yeah just make-believe yeah this is just so that everything is internalized in that way that rage that sorrow yes whatever and it's not like you just I mean it really is it gets seeps into the marrow of your bones and every molecule is actually believing that this is happening hmm and no matter what the mind is telling it it's yeah every tentacle II internalized our partners and all the time is very important I mean as I said I'm the least experienced you've done webisode is experience think about this happen everyone's when I was doing the butler where I had a scene where my son had died and I'd gotten myself to the point where you know I'm ready to just you know let it all go and director Utley Daniel said no I don't want to do that I don't want to throwing herself all over the caskets alright yes so I don't her doing all that I just wanted to hold it hold it just hold it and so I didn't release it I left I left that scene anyway got on a plane I'm going to interview somebody else and was holding up just as you were saying Jessica so when did it come holding all of that energy and in the middle of an interview I thought it was going to burst into tears in the middle of somebody you know talking about something that was not even related to me bursting into tears and I was like I thought I felt a little cuckoo and I realized it's because I didn't go through the process but even if I go through the process you're still a little yellow I think yeah because I think you carry this stuff around with you you know whatever it is whenever insult whatever assault whatever memory you know all these things that you have like been like delving into for your you know for your hair yes yeah and then it's all still there and it manifests itself in very odd times you know and yeah you can be just walking down the street and suddenly like this horrible grief will come over you or this yeah this kind of I don't know sorrow and you don't know what it is you know you look around you don't know but it is it's the residue of all these emotions that you've been dealing with for yeah you told a is month years at them on our show because there were so many women on our show and I have never had this experience ever my life but remember we were shooting the finale and we're on our seventh day of night shoots and I was losing my mind make a shank before going to do a scene where you have a breakdown and you have seven let you cheat on your husband and they're like we're not going to do that we ran out of time we going oh lines right I was prepared and not ever you and then we came in and we had to do the titles yeah out of nowhere told us to do the title sequence I just couldn't do it and maybe they called us a semi said no no just one moment I start to scream mm-hmm and all the girls instead and I've never screamed like this like howling like I need to get this out and instead of having this feeling like oh my God why did I just do that all the way that my camel go girl you ready it's perfect she's ready when you stood right now I just have support and when I feel you violence is something that you have been a theme in your work dating back to color purple but but in this chariots what draws you to those types of stories does that keep trying to share with the world what it means not just to be sexually violated but what it means to have someone who's a predator in your own space in your own environment and to be preyed upon just as resource saying earlier I think we're all about sharing the story that is going to raise consciousness on any level and so all of us are about the work for the work sake but also what is underneath that and that resonates with people in a way that they can be moved or inspired I think you've said that it's something obviously you tackled on your talk show I tried to do it for many years I did a hundred and twenty seven interviews with either victims of molestation sexual abuse sexual violence or the molesters rapists themselves in one form or another and at the end of the show said it's the one thing one message I think I failed at allowing people to see the depth of the pain because everybody looks at the act itself particularly when it comes to sexual molestation and they want to know was there penetration or not penetration or and with girls you will find this even in the courts when I was trying to get a pill pass to change all of this one of the lawyers said to be you're a 13 year old girl who's raped is going to have a much harder time in trial than a 13 year old boy because there's something about the country that feels that being sodomized is unnatural but at some point if you're a 13 year old girl eventually you're going to have sex and so people the jury because there are always so many people in the jury who've also been through same things I think Oh she'll get over it but if it's a boy they you know generally feel differently Wow so you know I tried and tried and tried and tried and so now I'm doing it through our story line and Greenlee if I try to do it with the subjects that I choose the books that I choose always trying to let people see the light of that sometimes art is a way that sort of removes you in a certain capacity I thought Shay liens shailene Woodley's storyline where she also is seeing herself from a different perspective um in big lives I thought really help sort of understand what the emotional experience but then you see the fallout I mean she's become obsessed with finding her revenge and homicidal even and he self-harming in constantly trying to reckon it I do think sometimes art gives you an opportunity to and I think it's actually the best opportunity for people to see themselves yeah the over-and-under in this town at about 150,000 I work in community theater 20 hours a week so I'm definitely in under what do you do oh just bookkeeping so most definitely in under two when Accra massive label care plans now he's a little nervous relax he's walking in with Chloe that's like walking in with the golden ticket I'll never forget an interview I did with Rainn Wilson maybe five six years ago who said there really is no difference between art and prayer so I feel that when we offer ourselves through the process of our work it's like giving this prayer to the world mini driver recently said that women also often are a little bit nervous about playing unlikable characters in a way that men are not there are simply anti-heroes is that something when many at this table are playing what what could be seen at least on the paper as a likeable characters is that something that ever gives you pause I enjoy it now I yeah and how important is it to make them empathetic in that process what is likeable and on my floor I don't know am I good or bad I mean the thing I really enjoy about the evolution of a particularly television is that we have the opportunity to show that the entire spectrum of human emotion that women have we aren't just the wives from the girlfriends we are actually living breathing people who have our insecurities our great relationships with your brother in that show it's amazing and how you've given your life to your brother because you don't want to be vulnerable in a romantic relationship is just so vain he takes you for granted all the time and like that's a different relationship than I've ever seen on about that right no I've never seen that but in your case yeah you added something that wasn't in the book about your character that on the Facebook would make you that much more unlikable which is the adultery piece of your storyline right and that was something presumably as a producer on the show as well that was important to you so how a Y and B have you then turn that into something that is layered and is empathetic well I think a big theme of the show is shame and how what we feel shamed about and how do we resolve that and think about these women that are so connected and we're very best friends and we never tell each other our true shame and that not justice I do an era which is at the root of all the abuse you know everybody thinks that it's about the act itself but it's about the shame in Harry and what's how that shame then shapes you and that's what was so wonderful about big little lies is that you get to see how the shame is shaped everyone and then when it's gone and the letter ganda always they are free and they will forever be connected because of this idea that they finally were able to let it go can we give a shout out to the set designers I just live in the house man I read in the houses I don't want a pretty good in the apartment I just like the house is really cute when you talk about likable or unlikable it's magis finding the humanity of the character because maybe there's doing terrible things with all behaved badly but finding the reasons for its what when I went to Jessica and I just thought before I said I want to talk to you about all of that because suddenly John is human where she hadn't really human in terms of the way she was depicted in the press a lot of times because she was dominated by basically the bad mother label right I mean I want to talk about it but that was sort of which is devastating from the amount of work that she did and but it's such a complicated life yeah so but the humanity of the character is what I responded to in a fedora as a working actress who's had the career that you've had how important was it when you were inhabiting this character to make her empathetic to make her someone that in many ways you are rooting for well I've never thought in those terms really to tell you the truth I didn't think I have to make Joan Crawford empathetic or I have not make her understandable or any of that stuff that was like that was great to intellectual to my simple approach to working no really what I did was go back to the source and it was through all of the biographies and all of her interviews everything and determine where this woman came from this just devastating poverty in San Antonio Texas a mother who'd never wanted her who didn't love her who abused her father who abandoned her so right away as a child you've got like huge issues and then at the age of 11 you know she enters into a sexual relationship with her stepfather but what became really interesting to me was how she perceived it you know this thing of like was the first time she ever felt loved so you know the distortion and the contradictions and all of that that became the basis for where I jumped in with this character and the fact that she struggled her whole life to rid herself of Lucy elasaur created Joan Crawford at great expense learned to walk to gesture to talk to act as a barrier to who she was and that to me became the emotional core of the character and everything that she did radiated from that so one of the things in watching the show is you're sort of horrified that this is the Hollywood system and this is how women are treated in that then there's another layer of horrifying because you realized how little has has changed yeah a as you're playing this were you thinking how little has changed and be did you reach a conclusion when we were doing it it was never again it was never with that thought of oh we're doing you know a story that's still relevant today in playing Crawford and I know Susan and playing Davis the idea that these women by their mid-50s we're done the the industry was finished with them and I think to a certain degree that still is the case and I think what's happened in the world of television television has kind of stepped into that void that's left when your film career begins to really spin out it's the great middle ground yeah it's the middle ground now and you can also reaches farming we both said that and I've I would turn down films to do television because I love the seven hours yeah yeah I cannot wait and Irene chisel or don't want don't want that deficit the audience wants to see these the film industry that's you know got rid of it already money to make the film certain market them to get them out of it you they do actually see Atlanta Georgia these are all cultures well I think the audience responded to this is us because like they were thinking about this is us yeah audience thought that you know I think you ask the question why do people respond that way because you watch that series and you can find yourself in it you're rooting for everybody in it and so first of all perfect title this is uh hey I like to say that I had a hand in it okay perfect title right well get a bit of a contest and Dan was like oh we'll give an iPad to whoever like names the show I tell I think my title was like this is me and you are so something along the lines I like to say that I you named it yes an amazing okay they say you did not see yourself and weight issues return to the ages all that stuff other reasons are there pieces of Link's everything I know sterling has said that he you know used some of his own personal experiences of being a black man as being a father to infuse into the character of his character what from your own experiences have you used in crafting this phone so much I think we use what we know and so that's why you most likely get cast in a role because you like oh this is a good fit um I mean I've had people give me all kinds of looks on airplanes when they know that I'm going to be coming to sit by them even to this day who I was like - sir sir we're in for like you got some issues is are dying do you want to move they'll just move aside like it's time can we switch and you know just discrimination because it's such a visual issue and even in the the second episode when we went to the Hollywood party Toby Kevin and Kate went to the party and you're like half of me is like yeah good I could go anywhere I love people great I'll get along with them and happens like Oh having me like you're looking at me should I not have worn this is my skirt too short like what's going on and I I don't know I think even just from a human perspective we all can relate to that but um you know always be like the bigger girl my friends or the bigger girl and auditions and um pretty much almost every scene I'm Michael I've experienced something to that effect so that's probably why it's working because it isn't laughs all right based on two experience speaking of this journey that you've been on in the last year I think you said that there was 81 she got any one your bank account who have said eighty-seven cents I don't give me that extra success what a view the confidence to keep going was was there Overson a an incident that said you know what this is worth it I'm going to I don't know if there was a particular incident but my mom did say I called her and I was like it was after Horror Story there's a whole year that nothing happened like I thought it was at the jumping-off point nobody's interested okay great what are you having to go back in teach preschool in Gainesville Florida and my mom's like you can either be miserable in Los Angeles pursuing your dream or you can be miserable in Gainesville Florida um so there was that whole year that I was on unemployment had one audition the whole year and when I auditioned for the show I literally had 81 cents in the bank account people like I don't believe you and I was a talent agent for nine years because I had to pay the bills and so my clients would text me and they're like Chrissy lying what I'm like ah they're like I can't believe I complained about not being able to get a pedicure I'm like woohoo hiding excess I couldn't get gas my life is completely changed to get gas now most importantly yeah multiplying in mobile yeah yeah so what is Hollywood likes to rock people into lanes and there's a certain thing that they want from you a role that they sort of expect from you what do you find the thing that that that role is for you the types of projects you are pursued for and conversely are the roles that you're not getting but you really feel like you'd be great at or at least you'd like to give it a shot I don't really have an experience where there's so many roles out there created created the show I the very old I started a production company five years ago because yeah I was looking at maybe the worst script I've ever read in my entire life and it had two parts for women and I was like I called my agent said this is such a terrible script they said well seven women want it so you're the only way of not buying four-part even I thought you feel like women actually want her to visit just a with nothing else just never working and they had anyone since yes even it's like they wanted to work we all want to work Maryana work we want to work we want to feel we want to do what we do and I thought God if this is what we've come to I have to get busy you can either complain about a problem they're gonna be part of the solution and I was like I got to do something so when you say things uh you know things have changed because we live in a world where we can create what we want if it isn't there it's like Toni Morrison said she wrote what she started writing books that she wanted to read herself yeah we can now create works that we want to participate in ourselves and either be in them ourselves or offer them to other women to be a part of and that's the good that's that's the great thing about what's change you don't like what's out there change it yeah and there's power in numbers I mean I always say if I'd gone in with the boss big little lies probably I don't think I would have gotten a maid but Reese and I went in and we went No this is what we want this is how we want to do it I think we just got it going faster but it was you women calling you constantly is what's going on come on make it work it is amazing that America that in joining the forces should get our annoying let's do it together and it was fast because we make decisions fast and we were like and then able to go call friends like rich is like oh ya know flora will do this we'll get Laura Laura is going to enlarge our heart saline she called Shea so we're like suddenly the opportunities were not just ours but therefore our friend made another yeah and that was amazing how would it be like an amazing feeling to be able as you've done so many times you we wouldn't give somebody an amazing piece of material and say would you want to do this and it was it was a fantastic experience wettable feeling to be able to go we did it still kind of go wow yeah we do it cuz that's and now you may be doing more of it and we had a little meeting we had already in our road preview an action without story hmm we about a story or and we're not an explorer that loved her to die at the end then you definitely sure that they want more yeah something that works you want more or less variable forever and really wait a minute yeah they're interesting storylines I said is erase the storylines yeah there's an end to that just on an end to their lives so you know you're looking at a women in the world and now I'll go where we didn't even tackle I love that each of the women as well is there's no villain there's no [ __ ] there's no like angel like each of them is so human and has good and bad sides and it's so complicated you know I just didn't feel like any of them were any sort of archetype at all they were all just really individual and interesting you know which is a testament to the writing also a testament to your guys's performances so how much when you were assessing what choices to make next after Mad Men how much would that characters were playing into the decision-making process I would say I'm not Precious about that kind of thing at all like I don't I don't know I wouldn't necessarily play like a cop writer in the 60s may be anything but as far as the carrot I don't try to allow this is too similar this I don't really try to do that I mean with like the top of the lake like that was something that came my way and I was so grateful to have it and I never thought I would get it I was like oh it's gonna be so good for whoever does it he's gonna do such a good job I didn't think I was going to get it like I wasn't seeking out something that was really different from Peggy or anything and then with him aids I mean it just it came my way and it was one of those things that like I said I couldn't not do in the end so I I don't I look for good writing I was a good writing and people that are better than me to work with nuisance so that I can try to be better and try to get better and you know that's it I don't try to you know find something that I don't plan it like that I get out I don't think about it like career playing yes exactly I don't know I want to know what do you do to check it I mean obviously filming you don't throw it all at the same time it's all put together which but do you have to do something to shake it off at the end of the day I I'm I'm pretty good at it I desk there's usually a cocktail please usually we've in the more changes that I take it very literally the more that but no for me it's I'm pretty good at shedding it I think maybe because I have to to some of the material I do is it's so dark so I'm good at I'm good at shutting it I like to you know when you're working especially if you're working in something a lot it's quite lonely you sort of get up you go to work and you go home and shower and your little dinner by yourself and you watch the sauce and you know you try to be normal for a second and think about something else and you know just kind of have a two-three hours and then you go to bed and you get few hours sleep you get back up and do it again so for me it's not difficult to shake it but I suppose I have to do it in a very specific way am I paying you should get I have my routine the shaker this starts with the martini let's start off with the Moscow Mule I'm sorry how you are weighing decisions weighing what to do and when you do it for your network versus when you do this movie for HBO well I we had been working on this project with HBO for quite some time so it was clear that that was going to be for HBO and the audience for owned is a beautifully curated audience and I get a sense of what they will respond to so that therefore Greenleaf and when Ava and I sat down to think about what would be a great series I had just finished reading the book queen sugar and on my front porch we came up with this idea of doing that wonderful series when do you make a decision if I'm going to act in this one what are you weighing in that process I'm weighing how much time is it something I feel like I want to give myself over to I'm weighing what's it going to take require for me to do it and in the end what will the message ultimately be and you know I I at first thought that I had my ideas about two other actresses who should have played that role and HBO didn't agree with me and so instead of you incidentally they have to then convince you to see Linda mater came up to visit me and we haven't long talked and I said I'll pray on it and I eventually said yes because I wanted to work with George Woolf and it was worth the experience hmm anything else when we talked about the sort of being put in a lane and you said you created these opportunities for you but we didn't say is what are the things that you have wanted to do but you haven't yet been available you haven't been able to get done what what are the roles you love to do the types of projects you love to do that we have not yet seen well we need to find a little bit of comedy [Laughter] like a feeling to you is that something would you like yeah it's what I actually love to watch honestly yeah I mean I've seen I watch a lot of television i watch it everything so I've seen all the drama but I onion run them and you had a great comedic moments really funny sometimes I kidding you are thinking about of mine yeah yeah I got a son I was I love call me I love watching it and for me I love I think that sweet spot between comedy and drama where which isn't necessarily there's absolutely none of that would be weird but it's that sort of like ever going to be any comedy and I don't think there's a white man of no very one two very very very dark comedy choice a little yeah like a few things here and there but it's pretty dark but no I love things like you know actually like all of these projects where there is that sort of line between drama and comedy where which I find very just truthful of life you know it's not necessarily either one I I like that that's what I like to watch so let's find something yes but I mean there right there is sitting the I mean I've and I've always said this and I watched her on the set and to be able to mix that comedy and drama that is a high-wire act yes she and Laura together it was like yeah it was like I you know you watch TV I go cannot do that yes and how do I do it but I couldn't eyes right there yeah it's so different to I mean it was just I loved being able to watch it and and soak it up because then I would laugh so much of this I didn't know we have it just makes me I would love for this favor I had like Mary thing and I literally was just like see what will really make Nicole cranberry the assertion area like insane I said what's the role that the type of role the type of project that you love to be approached for but have not you know comedy was really kind of my thing and I guess I'm like oh it's a sad big girl like we've better put on some drama I'm kidding but I and I would love to do comedy but I'd also love to do a project that's not about weight right so it's like oh it's just a woman who happens to be going for a job interview or whatever you know slowly but surely it will happen but I do love comedy but I do love that that line that high wire accent you're like so the laugh or is this like what oh my oh my god is hilarious you know so um yeah big comedy huh yeah not anything different it's not nothing I don't I don't have any desire for myself but I'm on to creating the next great series for for my network and with more broker kill we're going to do a dramedy comedy drama with the Savannah and oh no I just meant to watch yeah and development good enough that all right we're going to end with some lighter questions here what did you want to be when you were 5 years old the first female president is America noticeable say another thing and I remember being in kindergarten in Nashville Tennessee and staying and I had a female teacher and some of the boys laughed and she said I'll be the first one to vote for you oh never anything like that what a great teacher you know at five years old I just want to be a teacher by the time I hit the fourth grade it was definitely a fourth grade teacher because the food is Duncan [Music] mm-hmm you always remember the PKI you yeah not much a teacher mr. Ola was mine I wanted to be a marine biologist because I thought you just swim with dolphins there's no other scientist I'll just be a dolphin trainer they're like what do they do to the animals I'm like I don't know I kill maybe I could pretend to like protect the dolphins in a movie and so process astronaut really yes cuz I'd lie on my back and look at the Stars and be like ah I want to go out there oh I still would love to be able to do that well you would you do it at space chocolates rings oh yeah he loves I mean I would love to yeah I almost like I can type myself out there now you had to get really real [ __ ] [ __ ] here what do you want to do when we were kids I don't think I wanted to do anything if it is was yeah I mean I was just getting through the day you know sure whatever that meant playing make-believe walking I don't know mm-hmm I had no aspirations hmm I you are so lame after all these cool I wanted to be an actor or a dancer in LA for many years as well so I wasn't sure which at five I hadn't been destroyed but yeah I think I wanted to be an actor I really liked pretending and I had a huge imagination so there was always something happening you know with costumes and I always I was planting gardens that didn't this was riding my horse it was invisible no no at that time that that translated into acting because I used to do that too where I mean for like like an entire day I would carry on like conversations and I play different characters and I'd create these things and I'd be so deep inside that but I had no idea at the time that's what it was yeah I didn't either I mean even though I wanted to be an actor I sort of didn't think that I didn't know that they were the same thing until many years later yeah and I was like oh yeah I guess I definitely always liked it what TV character film character book character do you most identify what do you most identify with we're looking inside were these are not funny they're tough but [Laughter] beyond that I wanted to put out there though because we'd never dealt with it when you say oh the idea of all the characters in it and I mean the other thing is being a woman and some of us who have children some of us don't but boy any relationship or children you have so much - there's so many things I would want to do but so much of my life is how do i balance that because we're in a position of I if I have my fantasy life there's so many roles and places and things I want to do I'm now at a point where so I guess that going to cost me yeah and what's that going to cost the people I love and it is that leaving set I want to do I want to leave now to do this better you know so much and men don't really I mean they have that but they don't have it in the same way whether we have an actor a hero yeah what am I going to Allah we abandoned we have we don't get essentially he knows much with how careers in our lives because a lot of it is we have to be there to take care of everything still oh I do and so a lot of my fantasy life is I can go and read a play and I've done it I just I then don't have to go and actually do it because I've I've done the place down it in my bedroom what I realized it stage in my life that's going to have to be enough as there's only limited time can you change that I mean you talk about what happens but is there a way to change that paradigm now I mean you're talking like I was talking to this very famous actor how did you prepare for this Royce well I went into the woods yeah three weeks and in high person have a lot of kids that is Mary Ann they were just have words for three weeks know it's been talked to anybody and I thought either you did the same thing for watch out right like oh no I went away for three weeks and no one to call me with that a mental breakdown yeah I am God on a plane within 24 hours I was shooting and I had no prep time I wish I'd more prep time look I love the preparation I love watching reading and then being very active social psychology aspect of it I love yeah yeah I wish I had more time to do hmm so a lot of the roles again and have to just be played in our heads or a table right left I'm there because once you weren't any yeah once you have responsibilities you start to realize but there's a limited amount of energy and time that we all have and so you choose based upon what's the most meaningful for you you learn to prioritize better I think but I find that I mean is if we're speaking about regrets which you know I well whatever [Laughter] you tried to give like that is like you know comedy I found I mean in relation to children that the parts that I turned down I never regretted because because the choice was do I want to leave home now do I want to and my kids were great because I mean you all know you pack them up like a little trooper fifties with the dogs and delighted you know and you find another school and you find classes and you do all that when you get to location and you don't have time to do any prep because you're trying to find them art class you find us on campus Road and you're offering oh yeah but the only thing that I ever have regretted is saying yes to a film huh and that time that has taken me away from my children Wow yeah yeah I've had that too I wish it'd have been I wish I had said no I didn't maybe every time I was pregnant and I wish I hadn't yeah I mean after that was about the movie but I wish I just let myself be yeah just be pregnant just be home those are the regrets not the ones that you said no to but the ones who said yes to your profile on that night say all for being a part hi I'm Oprah hey I'm Easter egg Kathryn Hahn Kevin Bacon Billy Bob Thornton Elizabeth moss Kris Jenner Minnie Driver and thanks for watching thanks thanks thanks for watching thanks for watching The Hollywood Reporter on YouTube on YouTube hold on be sure to hit subscribe for more videos [Music] cool

Channel: The Hollywood Reporter

Views: 1,873,813

Rating: 4.8660822 out of 5

Keywords: thr, the hollywood reporter, hollywood reporter, entertainment, hollywood, interview, Oprah Winfrey, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Jessica Lange, Feud: Bette and Joan, Chrissy Metz, This Is Us, Nicole Kidman, Big Little Lies, Reese Witherspoon, Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale, HBO, Netflix Original, drama, drama actress, drama series, emmy, emmys 2017, drama roundtable, actress, drama actress roundtable, emmy roundtable, roundtable 2017, roundtable, 2017

Id: -bUz9VXogPs

Length: 58min 34sec (3514 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 17 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/particles0]

Oprah is so annoying. I usually like these, but she immediately makes it all about herself.

[u/jamiedadon]

Why is Oprah in here lmao.