♪
Hello, and welcome
to "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
I'm your host, Betty Boop, or better known as Yvonne Orji.
And I am here at the beautiful Georgian Hotel
in sunny Santa Monica, California.
Guys, today's roundtable is packing so much heat,
you are going to need that good SPF.
I'm talking about 50, not 30.
Between their numerous Oscars, Emmys, and decades in Hollywood,
this is undeniably an iconic panel.
You are about to hear from seven women
who lead today's hottest drama series.
I am talking about none other
than Jennifer Aniston of "The Morning Show,"
Jodie Foster of "True Detective: Night Country,"
Nicole Kidman of "Expats" and "Special Ops: Lioness,"
Brie Larson of "Lessons in Chemistry,"
Anna Sawai of "Shogun,"
Sofia Vergara of "Griselda,"
and Naomi Watts of "Feud: Capote vs. the Swans."
They are on the record,
but just a little "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
Take it away, Lacey.
Thanks, Yvonne, and thank you all for being here.
I'm going to start with a question for everybody.
With a show of hands, who's ever lied to land a job?
Well, yeah. Of course.
-I don't know for sure. -Probably.
We all lied that we knew how to ride a horse,
and we couldn't.
Oh, I would --I can ride a horse.
Okay, okay, you don't have to lie about that.
But I did lie about ice skating.
You can't? Yep.
Not a good one to lie about.
Ow, that's a painful one.I'm trying to remember.
Sofia: I didn't lie to get a job,
but I lied to my agent so that they would take me.
when I moved to L.A.
I said that I could sing and dance and everything.
Why not?
And then they sent me to an audition
for "Chicago" on Broadway.
And I said, I'm like, "No, I can't. I can't do it."
I mean, I never thought they were going to send me
for something like that, but I said, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
And I went, and I got the part.
-What? -Oh!
-And then what happened? -I played Mama Morton.
-[Gasps] -Oh, wow.
I might have not been fully --
I'm not full disclosure about --
I said I couldn't ride a horse
just because I didn't want to ride the horse.
[Laughter]
-There. Yeah. -That was...
I mean, I think I've, like,
definitely added special skills to resume.
What could you do?Multiple languages.
Perfect. Yep.
Definitely, probably lots of weird sports.
But I am quite sporty.
I can learn a sport.
I mean, I did learn to ride a tricycle for a movie
once on a pier, but I'd never do it again, obviously.
A tricycle? A tricycle?
A tricycle.Who can't ride a tricycle?
No, wait.
[All shouting]
[Laughter]
They're all, like, special skills.
What are the things you all sort of wish
somebody had called and told you,
whether it's sort of right now in your career
or at the beginning of your careers?
Naomi: Just allow yourself to be you
and not compare yourself to other people the whole time.
I remember I lived very much under the radar
for about 10 years and was auditioning, you know.
and you only get the scenes.
And so, you're trying to imagine who this character is,
and it's like, oh, they need a funny person.
I'll be funny, or I'll be intense.
I'll be sexy. I'll be...
But it's like, just bring some of you into the room.
That's what they're looking for.
And so, I was always doing that and then finding myself,
you know, in a waiting room with 10, 12 people
who are sitting there learning and I'm going,
"Oh, God, she looks sexy.
I should be sexier. I wore the wrong outfit.
Or she looks intelligent.
Oh, let me put some glasses on."
You know, you're always trying to sort of fabricate this person
that's so removed from --You.
Yeah.
"You can say no" was good,
was important for me for whatever reason.
I didn't know that when I was young,
that I could say no.
-Yes. -Yeah.
And maybe I think this new generation,
that's what's good about this new generation
is they're very comfortable with saying no.
They're very, very good at, like,
setting boundaries and going, like,
"I don't like that, and I want to do this."
And I didn't know that was possible when I was young.
And need the support from us.
Or you need the support when you do say no
from the others to go, "Yeah, that's fine.
Let's -- what do we do here?"
And that's the great thing, when you're in a position
of producing power or something,
where you go, "Well, no, we need to listen to this.
We need to honor it, and we need to change
the way we're doing something."
And that is an incredible position
to be able to operate from.
Yeah, because there's always a solution to that.Yes, yes.
It's just that they would rather not hear the no.
Lacey: Well, yeah.Honestly.
If I have to say no or yes on all those things,
maybe because I started so late in my life
to wanted to be in this career,
um, it's...
to me, it was more like a lucky thing.
"Let's see if I can fool everyone," you know?
For example, as a comedic actress,
I'm not comfortable even saying that.
I did do 11 years of "Modern Family,"
but it was almost playing myself, in a way.
What you were saying at the beginning, it was like,
"How am I going to do this?"
I had never went to an acting class in my life.
I just went to an audition and this thing.Wow.
So, I'm like, oh, that's why I'm always it's like a gift.
It's like, oh, yes, okay, let's do it, you know?
I've learned that if I can understand what a no is
and be able to say it before I'm upset about it,
it's a much better conversation.
Um, some people are surprised, I think,
by how quick and concise I can be about things,
but I think it actually just avoids
a lot of drama in the end.Sure.
Because the thing I like to remind myself is
that no matter what, like,
you all can have what you want with me on set,
but I have to go home and live with myself.
And a lot of the time,
you learn what your noes are from saying yes to it,
or being in the heat of the moment,
and then you go home, and you're like,
"Why do I feel bad?"
And sometimes they're little sneaky things.
Sometimes it's clear, sometimes you're like,
"Oh, yeah, it was those little, tiny things
that actually added up and made me feel not good."
And I have a whole job to do, you know?
So, um,
I've just become very confident with that part of it,
about, like, that I'm in charge of myself,
which I know is, like, such a small thing, but it's tough.
If you haven't been on a set, it's hard to understand,
I think, like how quick the pace of everything
and that you feel like there's this pressure
and you're going to let people down,
and instead you learn that you're letting yourself down,
not to let everybody else down.
And that just doesn't work.
Not to say that I have a perfect track record.
Of course, there were times
where I was like, please, someone love me.
That's just, like, part of it, too.
But I will say that, yeah, I'm good with no.
No, I've got handled, I think.
And your team was very supportive of that?
Mm-hmm. Oh, nice.
Yeah, they were. They were.
Because I was working in Japan for a while,
and they were like,
"To say yes is the most mature thing that you can do.
Always say yes. Don't really tell us what you want.
We've been doing this for the longest time,
so just trust us."
And so it's only been recent years
that I've been starting to get used to saying what I want.
And it's so refreshing because my team will be like,
"What do you want to do?" And I'm like, "Me?
I'm allowed to say it?"
So, yeah, it's been a slow process,
but it was difficult in Japan.
I still have trouble with it.
I have to say, yeah I do.
Lacey: Which piece is still --
what aspects of no, and what --
Before the job or during the job?
No, because it's sometimes blurry for me
because sometimes I can bristle and be like, "No."
And then when I kind of feel it out and do something,
I'm like, "Oh, this wasn't so bad."
So, it's kind of trying to find my own inner voice
that I'm like, is this me just reacting?
Or is it me really needing to protect myself now?
Because part of what we do,
you dive into things that are deeply uncomfortable.
So, the idea of, like --
and I've had to teach myself
to not always go, [Gasps] "I can't do that."
Oh, yeah.
Like, my initial reaction can actually be that
instead of, okay, ease into it
because I sort of need to be coaxed sometimes.
So, it's finding that.
I'm still finding that compass.
There's times when you think, oh, I can't do that,
I can't do it, and then you need the support of you actually can.
You actually can, because it'll just be
more of a fear-based no than a --
Than a legitimate --...like, actual no.
This is dangerous or this is going to --
you're going to feel terrible about this,
which I've also had.Yes.
But there's times when I've gone,
gosh, I'm glad I didn't give in to that initially.
Naomi: And I feel like, as you get older,
I mean, I say yes more easily
because I just feel like I want to be open
to as many experiences as possible
and yes, go into the discomfort zone
as much as I can and grow.
And, I mean, I think you said it beautifully,
the Andy Warhol quote of, like,
"Just say yes, make art, and get what you can out of it,
fall into it, grow,
and let others decide what it is or not.
But you just keep going.
Now, personally, I have
a love-hate relationship with the word no.
You see, I love telling people no,
but I hate being told no.
Much more with our drama actress panel right after this.
♪♪
♪
Welcome back to "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
Hey, right back to you, Lacey.
What if we were sort of going to describe
the current era of your careers
in terms of what's coming at you,
projects that you're approached with,
are there some through lines?
I feel like the last time I sat with you, Jen,
it was a lot of really dark material
that was coming your way.
I don't know if it's still --
if you're still in that chapter or if we moved to a new one.
Could they go -- They've kind of --
It falls in between
because living in that dark space,
I, as a comedian, you know,
ultimately when I started, it's not easy.
It's really hard.
And that's why, you know, going home,
I would listen to smart lists on my way to work
and home from work,
just to laugh and get out of that.
I don't go home and live in my character,
which I know some people do,
and that's really awesome for their --
that's how their -- their method is wonderful.
I choose to just get rid of it as fast as I can,
but I usually say, "I need a comedy right now.
I need to -- I need some levity."
So, that's usually --
I -- It's not -- yeah.
Lacey: What about you, Sofia?
Well, it's interesting
because I feel very awkward now here
because [Laughs] you know,
this is like my favorite group of actresses.
And I realize I don't know anything about acting.
All: Oh!
No, but it's not in a bad way.
It's like it's just a reality, you know?
And I created this character from more of, like, my family.
I knew this character. So I was like, I'm gonna do it.
And then when I started to decide
to do something different, it's hard
because this accent is beautiful.
And, you know, that's why, for example,
when I decided to do "Griselda,"
I was like -- it was never thinking,
"Oh, I want people not to think that I'm only,
you know, Gloria or this thing."
No, it was a character.
It's like, I know that character.
I lived there, I lived in Colombia in that era.
And I'm like, "Can I do it?
I think I can,"
because, I mean, my brother was a drug dealer,
and unfortunately he got killed at that era.
Like, I knew that person the same way I knew Gloria.
But I've never seen it as a woman.
I knew it as a man. Many, many --
I lived there in Colombia.
And then I said, "Maybe I cannot do it."
And I said, "I'm gonna find out who Jennifer Aniston work with."
I was just gonna say...
Oh, because, by the way, every time I go to work,
even in two months,
when I start the next season of "Morning Show,"
I'm like, "I don't know what -- I don't know how to do this.
I don't know what I'm doing."
Absolutely zero memory of how to be an actor
or any rules or anything.
-It's like starting again. -It starts all over every year.
Sofia: But I found a person.
I found a person that I'm like,
"Who did she go to sometimes to prepare?"
And I found Nancy Banks.[Whispering] Nancy Banks.
And I said, "Can you maybe help me with this thing?
I've never done this.
And I don't care if it's bad or good or something,
but I want to do it. Let me do it. Help me do it."
I'm so happy that happened.
Brie: You did incredible.
It was unbelievable.
I try not to think too much of yes or no or yes.
And because I started old --
I'm 52 years old, and I started when I was 37,
so I already knew how to say no.
[Laughter]
What does come your way?That's a good no.
No!
What is presented to you?
Comedy, which I love.
I don't want to be Gloria again.
Maybe because I don't know if I can --
I don't know yet if I can do more
different comedy that is not --
I cannot take this accent away, no matter what.
I tried. This, of course, limits you.
This limits you.
Yeah, but there you know how to do every accent in the world.
Oh, with help.
Oh, yeah.
And now, even with that operation,
they cannot help me
because it's, like, there is no -- I've tried.
It's like, no.
So, I think now I'm more into the --
what I want to create for me
and because "Griselda" did so well,
now a lot of people are like, "Yeah, what else do you have?
What else do you have?" So, I'm [Indistinct]
That's so exciting.
Is the tide changing now?
Will you be more interested in that kind of work?
Yes. Yeah. But you know what?
I don't know if I want to do something like that, exactly,
because what it is, the pleasure of going to a set
to laugh all day, the lines,
the people, the friend you crack out.
I mean, but drama is a complete crazy thing.
It's like I had never --
I had never acted -- and this sounds ridiculous,
but I had never acted in Spanish.
Only in this perfect English.
Oh, wow. No kidding?
Oh, you need to make a Spanish movie.
It was beautiful, though.
Like, do you find some --
if you play Australian, you have to get coached.
Lacey: Is that true?No!
[Laughter]
Okay, well, yeah, she's much more Aussie than me.
She's a proper Aussie.
I've got some British in there, and I --
Can you hear that?
"I've some British in there."
And I didn't move to Australia till --
Yes.
English, Australian, and changing my accent
in so many different shows, characters or whatever,
I forget where my own voice is sometimes
because you work so hard to be understood.
You know, like, in a restaurant, I don't ask for, um, water.
I ask for [American accent] water or butter,
[Normal voice] you know, because people are like, "What?
Oh, wait, where are you from?" You know, like,
[American accent] "Oh, forget it. Just my water."
That's my life.
My life.Naomi: Yeah.
Lacey: I love it.
Anna, I've heard you initially feared with "Shogun"
that it would be another sort of depiction
of Japanese women being sexualized by white men.Right.
I guess I'm curious how many other projects
had crossed your desk
where that was precisely what was happening.
Um, it wasn't just Japanese women being sexualized.
It was always that they were defined
by the relationship that they had with the male character
or they weren't...
we didn't really understand their story enough.
Like, they were always just, like, the sub-character.
And oftentimes, when you hear Japanese women,
you think, oh, they're obedient, they're sexy,
or they can do just, you know, action somehow.
And for me, it's like, that's not who we are.
We're so much more complex.
When I read the sides, it was my character
going into a bath with the white pilot,
and I was like, okay, this is going to be the same thing.
And I played it in that way, and they didn't call me back.
And then I had a conversation with our showrunner,
and he explained that it wasn't that kind of scene.
Like, he wanted it to be the connection that they have
with their background, their history,
and their just conversation.
And so, I taped again, and I played it
like she wasn't really taking off her kimono,
and like, it was just that --Equals.
Yeah, yeah.
And they liked me.
And so, once that happened, I was like,
okay, this is the type of women that we haven't been able to see
that I'm sure Japanese women, when they watch it,
will see themselves reflected in.
So, it was really important to me.
And in the end, with that bath scene,
we actually had Blackthorne in the bath, in the hot spring.
But my character just walking in and sitting down
and gazing outwards,
and it's even more intimate because you know
that there's nothing physical about it.
Oh, don't go anywhere.
More of our drama actress roundtable coming right up.
Like my food. Where is it? I'm hungry.
♪
We are back on "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
Take it away, Lacey.
What are the sort of roles,
or perhaps its terms,
triggering terms in character descriptions
that make you all say, like, "I'm not going to do this."
"Broken, but beautiful."
Or "beautiful, but she doesn't know it."
[Laughing] Oh.
That one came so easily to you.
Oh, yeah. I was ready. I've read that so many times.
I read that last week, probably.
"Beautiful, but doesn't know it."
I'm like how? But you're telling me.
It's in the script.Anna: I do know it.
I don't know that this is as true now as it was,
you know, for most of my career,
but I was always just shocked and amazed
that so many of the scripts that I read,
the entire motivation for the female character
was that she'd been traumatized by rape.
Mm.That it seemed to be the only motivation
that male screenwriters could come up with
for why women did things.That we're like --
It's like, well, she's kind of in a bad mood.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's definitely some rape in her past.
You know, rape or molestation seemed to be the one --
the one kind of lurid, big, emotional back story
that they could understand in women,
that they couldn't really find complexity
or they couldn't really understand that we have conflict
and that there's parts of us that are ambivalent.
And, you know, we may show one way, but it'd be lying.
And so, I don't -- I didn't take it personally.
I think once I was able to be old enough
to be able to say, like, let's look at this differently,
I think I did have a responsibility
to come in and say you're not always going to get
the most perfectly fleshed out female character,
but maybe there's an opportunity for us to work together
and create something that way.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
And which is why also, I think,
now we're all working hard to put women at the helm,
because that's a really, you know,
the viewpoint suddenly becomes very different.
And there's a conversation that happens off camera,
before camera, about the project that then you go,
"Oh, right. Okay, good."
So, you're going to help create the path for this,
which was, um, like when Lulu Wang came on
to do "Expats," she was like, "This is what's going to happen
because I know this,
and this is how it's going to happen,
because I know this."
And there's something incredibly freeing
when there's a woman going,
"These are the characters. This is how I'm going to --"
and incredible authority, you know.
And then you go, yeah, I'm going to step into line
with that because you've got my back.
There's another piece of outreach
that I think I've heard you say you do,
which is if you read someone's going to play
a superhero character, you'll reach out.
We need to know what the superhero tips are.
[Laughter]What are they?
I always do.You're a superhero mentor?
Always, always.
I am the first person to e-mail everybody.
Yeah, because it's very specific and very strange.
People are like, "I don't know how to do this."
I'm like, "Yeah, no one does. Why would you?"
And it can feel -- it's a lot of pressure.
And I think it's a strange thing,
especially when you're a newcomer
and you're tasked with being the most powerful
blah, blah, blah of blah, blah, blah.
And you feel scared.
Like, it's so hard to be, like, the cool, confident one
when you're like, "Uh, do I know what I'm supposed to be doing?"
But more than anything,
it's just I remember feeling so petrified,
and I felt very lucky that I came into Marvel
at a time when it was this 10-year anniversary.
So, I was around everybody on "Avengers,"
and I was like, "Will you help me?
I'm the new superhero."
And they're like, "You got it, kid."
And, like, but people gave me, like,
actual tangible pieces of advice
and felt like they were an open sounding board.
And just having that made me feel
like it was okay that I was there.
Sure. Yeah.
Sofia, you referenced this idea of what it takes to do a drama.
I feel like you've talked about this idea of playing Griselda,
and you'd come home with her rage.
Mad as hell,
I think is how you've described it.
I'm curious of what that's looked like
for whoever has felt that.
How did it manifest itself?
Well, for me, it was very, very difficult and different.
And the first three weeks, mainly,
I didn't know what was happening to me.
This is hard when you have to cry and kill and choke
and do, snort cocaine and drink alcohol.
And, you know, I had never even in my life
touched a cigarette -- never.
And I had to learn, and to learn at 50 years old, to smoke.
And you're going to be in every single scene smoking.
I was like, huh?
But then the first three weeks, I would go home,
and I didn't know what was wrong with me.
What would it feel like? What would it look like?
It was like I couldn't fall asleep because I was screaming.
I was, like, mad.
I didn't -- I had never cried on anything.
I don't cry on "Modern Family."
So, then I was crying on a set.
Then you go home and I didn't know what was happening to me,
Then took it to Nancy and said,
"I don't know if I'm going to survive this."
It's like, "You're an actress now."
So interesting because the way she works
is, you know, you're unlocking some stuff
that you have been sort of put very wonderfully
down into the depths.
Well, for me, my whole life, I come from Colombia.
You know, I've had a lot of crazy stories.
Why I knew I could do Griselda. I had it all.
But those were the things that my whole life,
to keep my sanity...
You tucked away. Yeah.
And then here comes this woman and tells me, "Okay."
Like, I don't know how to cry.
She's like, "You're gonna do it."
And then you don't stop.
I don't know how you guys do it all the time, those dramas.
It's like comedy's so much.
You need to recover.
You have to shake it off.
Have you guys -- presumably you --
I've almost no comedies in my life.
And I -- Do you want to?
I do enjoy them.
I enjoy them for the first two weeks,
and then after two weeks, I'm like,
"I can't do this one more minute longer."
I think it's that, um, energy,
the sort of enforced energy that you have to find.
I find drama much easier.
Naomi: I do, too.
But is it because it's your wheelhouse,
like, you've been doing that?
Like, I feel nervous in that I'm gonna screw up the joke.
Like, "The joke is coming. Oh, God. Oh, God. Panic, panic."
I think it's an introvert thing.
I think I'm genuinely an introverted person.
So, I think in order to keep the energy on the set,
you need to be a more extroverted person.
It's just not natural to me at all.
So, after two weeks, I'm exhausted.
-Yeah. -Right, right.
And we're coming back with our drama actress roundtable
right after this.
♪♪
♪
Welcome back to "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
Now, when you take on a role, you have to be
one with the character, you know?
But what happens when you can't get out of character?
Let's see what Brie Larson has to say.
In "Lessons in Chemistry," you play a character
that men inherently distrust and dislike
for no reason other than the fact
that she is a woman.
Is that right? Uh-huh. Was that a question?
[Laughter]
I guess I couldn't help but see the correlation
between how -- Oh, okay.
Is this where you think it's going?
I'm scared. Let's keep going.Okay.
[Laughter]
Couldn't help but see the correlation between
what your character experiences
and what you, as you sort of navigate
the sort of superhero Marvel world, has experienced.
Well, I don't know if it's specific to Marvel.
I think that's just -- I only know my experience,
and my experience is being underestimated at times.
So, do you draw from that in a way?
Yeah, yeah, of course.
I think the best I've been able to find
with characters I play is that they're all me.
It's just like a mixing board.
It's like if you've ever watched, like, I don't know,
a musician, and they're mixing their music,
and it's like, oh, that's that lever.
And I'm just messing with those always.
And I think the hardest part for me
has not been committing to the characters.
It's getting out of them.
Do you have tricks? Like, do you have --
Do you have a -- Yeah.
I basically haven't done anything as dark
as "Room" since "Room"
because it took me like a year to get out of it.
I spent nine months creating that character
and living that character.
And then I was back at home,
and I didn't know how to exist in the world anymore.
And it was really scary.
After that, it was like five years
of purposely picking jobs where I felt like it was safe
for me to try out new techniques.
It was safe for me to try and figure out, okay,
how can I do things so that I go home
and feel just a little bit better.
And "Lessons in Chemistry," I didn't have that so much,
especially with a character
that, like, won't let anybody see her emotions.
So, I eventually just was like,
"You have to put a pop-up tent on set.
And that's, like, where I'm going to go cry."
So, you have to find ways to learn how to offload.
I played a lot of games on set.
We played a lot of board games.
You find things. You'll find things.
You have to find what works for you.
But to me, that's always been the biggest challenge --This one.
[Laughter]
Everyone's got their thing.
How do you decide what pieces of you,
the real you, to share?
I'm going to turn to you
because I feel like we're in this moment
where I hear as much of you talking about your acting career
as I do hearing you talk about your sort of struggles
with menopause, and you do it with grace and humor.
And I think I've heard you say that was something
that you were nervous about,
initially, talking about publicly.
How do you decide, when so much of you,
you want to keep private,
you want to keep guarded,
that you decide this is going to be the thing I share?
Yeah, I mean, you know, I started late also,
by Hollywood standards, I would say.
I didn't try to start late.
I just wasn't hired for a long time.
But I started, uh, getting work in my late --
well, "Mulholland Drive" was 29, and then it sat on a shelf,
and then it was like 31 when it finally launched, so...
And I was told also, it's going to be over by 40.
So, work, work, work.
And then, unfortunately for me,
when I was at the precipice of wanting to start a family,
I was 36.
I was told I was close to menopause.
And so, I went into this frantic panic.
A lot of shame and fear and, um...
Mercifully, for whatever reason --
I'm skipping through a lot --
I was able to have children,
but then went straight into menopause.
Hardcore symptoms in my early 40s after my second child,
and, um, still felt very ashamed
and felt like if I ever dared to mention that word,
I would be branded as, you know, redundant,
finished, off to pasture.
Go to the sidelines. You're not sexy.
There's no way you can act anymore.
That's it, you know.
It'd be career suicide to bring that into the room.
But then I was like, "This makes no sense.
We're half the population.
Everybody's going to go into menopause
at some point or another.
Why shouldn't we be talking about it?"
And when you learn about the symptoms
and how long they can go on for,
why can't we find the support? Why can't --
And it's not just the physiological support you need,
it's the emotional support.
Was just fascinating to me
that it wasn't an available discussion.
So, I just went, fuck this.
Like, let's just talk about it.
And in terms of my career, I felt like, well,
if it spooks everyone, that's a bummer.
Um, but, you know,
hopefully it actually does the opposite
and elongates the career
because, you know, someone's got to play the old lady.
And I think, you know, the longer the life,
the richer the stories, and there's lots to examine.
We need to, you know, do whatever we can
to expand the female story at every point.
That goes back to your earlier question,
what would you have loved, your earlier self,
for someone to prepare you for?
That would have been a nice bit of information.
Yeah, because it's like you go into it sort of blindly,
like, what, some alien's taking over your body.
-Yes. -Yeah.
And it doesn't make sense.
So, and it affects you in your life and in your work.
So, that would have been a good piece of information.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
So, for your generation --Just know.
It's gonna happen to you, too.
[Laughter]Oh, I know.
And we don't have to play just
the cranky, old, scary ladies anymore.
We can -- yeah.
I play all the cranky scary ladies.
[Laughter]
I'll play them, too, but, like,
I can also do other things, you know,
without that sort of ridiculous --Lacey: But it is.
I mean, you just sort of decide what it is
you're going to let people in on.
And in your case, it was --
there was something for all to gain from that.
But whether it is, you know, challenges
with fertility, whether it is, you know,
why you got a divorce.
I mean, these are things that I feel like
some of you are talking about in a way
that perhaps you weren't before.
Mm-hmm.
Because the older you get the more "fuck it" you get.
You care less.Exactly.
Yeah. That's true.
That's very true.
That's right, Hollywood.
A woman's life does not end at 40, okay?
It's just getting started.
That's when the fun begins.
We are so sexy. Hello!
And while we're at it,
why not make our love interest like 25, as well?
You know, y'all do it for the men.
Why not for us?
More with our panel when we return.
I mean, how young is too young, right?
How old are you?
♪
Welcome back to "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
Right back to you, Lacey.
Who are the people in this industry
who have sort of helped you,
guide you in some of those lonelier moments of this life?
Toni Collette was, like, my first, like, hero mentor.
I did -- She was -- I was just completely obsessed with her
um, when I was in -- when I was homeschooling myself --
Wow....like, dreaming of being an actress.
And then, like, my first, like, I'd say true job,
I was 18, and it was to play her daughter,
and it felt like destiny.Uh-huh.
And so scary.
Like, the mix of all the good things,
like, oh, I'm going to be so challenged and I'm so scared.
And luckily I had auditioned for like 10 years at that point.
I was, like, a professional auditioner,
but, like, didn't really have a chance.
So, I was prepared.
I was as prepared as I could be,
and I got to have three years with her.
And so, that became, like, massively important.
And then over the years, like, going out of my way
to make friends with other women in the industry
because it started going, like,
wait, there's always usually just, like, one woman on a job.
I was always the only one.
And you go like, "Oh, yeah, I don't even know.
Like, there's things that make me uncomfortable
or things that I'd like to change
or things I'd like to laugh about. Yep.
And connecting with other women in the industry
has been, like, a game changer for me
because you get to swap stories and understand and connect,
and, oh, it's just the greatest.
It's the best. Yeah.Jennifer: It's so true.
Relying on your female co-stars
and being able to reach out and just say --
and not having to do with the work,
but just, like, life.
I mean, when we did that movie in Hawaii,
you helped me out on a lot of really hard things
I was going through, you know,
and just to have that community, it's very helpful.
Do you feel like you've found that yet?
Are there people who are guiding you along?
Or have we just found them?
Are these women about to be them?
Anna: You may have found them.
I've not had enough experience
to be like, "my journey"
and like, "this person has helped me so much."
It's like little bits of advice from a lot of my co-stars
and a lot of people behind the scenes.
But I actually have a question,
because now you do meet
so many female people on set.
But growing up in the industry,
like, how was that for you?
I never saw another female face,
except for the lady who played my mom
and possibly the makeup or hair.
But in the old days, those were also men.
And then little by little, as women came on to movie sets,
it was just this fantastic thing
that there would be one other female person on set,
and then there would be two, and then maybe three.
And I think that that kept growing,
except there were never female directors.
So, yeah.I met Jane Campion.
Yeah. You're lucky.
So, I was like, wow. She was the one.
You'd see her. Yeah.
Yeah, there would be, like, girls on story
and then and then going and auditioning for her.
And she was rigorous.
I mean, so it was a powerful woman, too.
It wasn't a wallflower woman.
It was a -- she was right there,
and everyone was would do what she said.
So, was a great role model.
And there is this sort of misconception
that somehow female actresses are like,
they're at each other,
they don't like each other or whatever.
I mean, I've -- even this year
of going to the various events and things,
it always just feels so nice because the women really feel
like they want each other to succeed.
I've never had one moment where I ever felt
that there was a woman who didn't want me to succeed.
And we all interfaced with each other.
So, Nicole, I took over from a movie that you had to leave.
Yeah. Thank you.
[Laughter]
I was in a really bad way.
I mean, I was like, "I'm having a breakdown."
We are all --And Jodie took over.
Thank the Lord.
But we all care about each other in a way.
And I almost feel like it's some guy had this idea
that women just want to break each other down
and, um, that just hasn't been my experience.
And you can feel jealous. You can feel these things.
That's normal.
We'll work through it together.
I grew up with sisters
and a very strong feminine energy in the house,
so it was always like, yeah,
there's a gamut of emotions here.
But you're allowed to feel them,
and we're going to work through them together.
But reach out because we're here to help.
That's a gift.
That is truly a gift, to be able to have that.
Definitely, Nic has been a guiding force.
And this is...
You, too, for me....sorry to age us, but a 40-year friendship.
Yeah. Yeah. Amazing.
You know, ups and downs.That did not start in acting.
Started...Um, no. Down at the park.
[Laughter]
Keep going, keep going.
Ah, women supporting women. You got to love it.
There is room for all of us at the top,
and I will see you there, ladies.
More with our actresses roundtable right after this.
♪
Welcome back to "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
Let's pick things back up
with our drama actress roundtable.
If I can gush a little bit, Jodie,
I mean, we're only a few years apart,
but just your career was obviously so underway
for such a long time.
And you changed my life, your performances.
Like, there's --
I still remember, like, "Accused."
Oh, I mean, I'm gonna --
-You remember how you started? -Yeah, how did you do that?
How? Who you are as a human being today,
again, having started as a child.And so well-adjusted.
The generation before us kept telling us
that things were just going to get worse for us,
and you hit 40 and it's over.
And I have to say, I have never been as happy
as an actor as when I turned 60.
There's just some kind of contentedness
about it not being all about me
and walking onto a set
and saying, "How may I serve you?
How can my experience or my whatever 'my wisdom' is,
you know, how can I serve you?"
And bringing that to the table,
not only is it more fun and more freeing,
but it's also easy.
It's super easy
because you're not filled with anxiety about the things
that maybe younger people are filled with anxiety about,
and you have a lot to learn from them.
Did I read that you were done with doing leads,
or, like, you just --No, I just got bored with it.
I think I got bored with --You went to college.
Didn't you stop for a while?
I never stopped when I went to school.
I did do -- I did six movies while I was in college.
Oh, my God.
Wow!
I think that I learned so much also from this --
from new voices, you know, from seeing
your character, for example, in "Shogun,"
but, you know, seeing new characters with different voices
that have now finally been given the freedom to air themselves.
And I want to hear them, and I want to support them,
and whatever wisdom I have about helping those voices,
then I feel like it's just so much more fun
than being the one person who's, you know,
number one on the call sheet from beginning to end
that has to carry the burden of the narrative,
but also meaning that there are rules
about how much you can give, in some ways.
And you can change their narrative, too.
Jen's career. Let's talk about it.
I wasn't a baby, baby.
No, but you have sustained an enormous, like, career --
I don't know how....and success.
It's talent. It's called talent.
So, every time I'd get to sit like I'm sitting here,
I was nervous.
I mean, these are -- I'll start to cry.
But, you know, I get -- I'm motivated.
I'm still here. We're still here.
Yeah. It's incredible.
That's why Sofia, too, you know,
don't be terrorized by the English language.
Who said the English language is the most important language?
There's so many stories to be told
that haven't been told.
It's a little bit more work, though.
You do have to go more after it and not be scared.
And, you know, you have to have a certain personality
for that not to affect you, though.
Because it can be, you know, ridiculous.
You know that I --Well, you have to make it your superpower.
Yeah, I made it my superpower.
I was like, I'm like, I sound like an idiot.
I don't care. I'm going to play an idiot.
This is going to sound silly, but I promise you,
it is actually going to be revealing
about sort of who you are.
[Laughter]
What is the most used emoji on your phone?
I can go first. Mine is an eye roll.
Heart.What color heart?
Red. Yeah, the red.
Oh!And not the little one.
The big one that's from the playing cards.
I'm the same!
[Laughter]
You know, it's shiny. It's -- yeah.
Nicole: I love we're the same.
What about the rest of you? What do you do?
I have... [Smooches]
You do the kiss one?
See? This is revealing.
The kiss with the heart?
I do -- I love the Bozo.
The Bozo?
Just like this crazy clown.
Oh! Bozo the Clown?
I don't really know what it means,
but I put it on things anyway.
I don't really know what --
I like the one where the eyes
are just, like, going, like...
They're just...That's yours?
Not the eye roll back.
It's just like I don't know what the fuck is happening right now.
Or I forgot -- and the other one, the "eek" one.
Oh, yeah. Yep.
I like the one with the bad words.
The bad words? [Laughs]
The one that has that thing with the bad words.
See? This is revealing.
What is that one?You're gonna like it.
Naomi: With a cross face.
It tells everything I want to say.
Brie: Crying and laughing.Like, the sideways guy?
Yeah. See?
Should we cheers?
And thank you for being here.
I wish it could go on much more.
Naomi: It seemed to go so quickly.
[Laughter]
You have to look at everybody's eyes
or it's seven years of bad sex!
[Laughter]
Crazy people!
I don't know about you, but I just love
seeing women give each other their flowers.
I mean, you get a rose, you get a rose, you --
everybody gets a rose!
I'm with you, Jen.
This has been a motivating and inspiring conversation.
Until next time, I am Yvonne Orji,
and this is "Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter."
♪