Speaker 1: Hi everyone, It's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hi friends,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Work in Progress. This week, we are
Speaker 1: joined by a true multi hyphenete powerhouse artist who I
Speaker 1: have been a fan of forever. I'm talking since the
Speaker 1: early days of her comedy on NBC Chuck to Dexter
Speaker 1: to twenty four. She is just an absolute icon and
Speaker 1: has certainly taken the world by storm in The Handmaid's Tale.
Speaker 1: Ivanstrotowski is here today to talk about what it feels
Speaker 1: like to be finishing such a seminal series that has
Speaker 1: had such an incredible impact on culture, potentially unfortunately has
Speaker 1: been a bit predictive. We're going to talk about what
Speaker 1: it's like to balance working on something that is so
Speaker 1: heavy while also seeing it reflected in the world where
Speaker 1: she finds her joy. How she balances motherhood with being
Speaker 1: a star of a show of this size and also
Speaker 1: adapting a best selling novel and starring in an executive
Speaker 1: producing another series, Peacock's newest horror show called Teacup, which
Speaker 1: I watched in advance of this interview, and I can
Speaker 1: confirm it is both incredible and terrifying. I truly just
Speaker 1: can't wait to ask von how she manages to do
Speaker 1: it all, and what's up next for her. Let's dive in. Hello,
Speaker 1: Oh hi, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm cool? How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm really well? Thanks? Where do I find you today?
Speaker 2: I'm in to our wolves look so similar, except I
Speaker 2: was just going to say classier than well mine is?
Speaker 2: My kids are I'm.
Speaker 1: Not so sweet? How are things in Toronto?
Speaker 2: They're good? Yeah, they're good. You know, it's a little
Speaker 2: weird being here right now post selection.
Speaker 1: I bet, yeah, I'm super complicated.
Speaker 2: That's a little weird. I remember this feeling. You know,
Speaker 2: I was here one other time when the same thing happened. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so its just I don't know, Yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 2: just a little weird. It's a little weird being here
Speaker 2: on the show and playing the role I know. So yeah,
Speaker 2: but are we're finishing up you know, season six of
Speaker 2: the show, and that's it?
Speaker 1: What a trip?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, let's instead of sitting where we are, let's rewind.
Speaker 1: I Actually we always really like to ask people because
Speaker 1: you know, I sit opposite someone like you who is
Speaker 1: just like, I don't even know what word I want
Speaker 1: to pick first. Incredible, accomplished, brilliant, you're such an amazing performer.
Speaker 1: You've done all of these incredible projects that we love,
Speaker 1: and we all know you now, but I always like
Speaker 1: to kind of understand or poke and see if you
Speaker 1: got to hang out with your childhood self, Like if
Speaker 1: we went, you know, into the space time continuum and
Speaker 1: you got to meet eight year old Yvonne on the playground,
Speaker 1: would you see yourself and your career, Like would you
Speaker 1: see the through line in her? Or did life just
Speaker 1: take a left turn and you can't believe this is
Speaker 1: where you are?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, no that I would definitely see the through line.
Speaker 2: You know. I'm experiencing this with my six year old
Speaker 2: right now. He's like starting to do these Like I
Speaker 2: was the kid that was like, look at me, I'm
Speaker 2: going to heads, I'm going to win a weagh everyone
Speaker 2: at the dinner party so that someone will like watch
Speaker 2: me do stuff. And I'm seeing that in my eldest son.
Speaker 2: And you know, he wanted to get he wanted not
Speaker 2: a real guitar, like a play guitar for his birthday,
Speaker 2: and he got one. And now he's like running around
Speaker 2: the house kind of doing all these like he's just
Speaker 2: making up songs and it's very loud and very funny,
Speaker 2: and I'm just I'm looking at him like what you're saying,
Speaker 2: like the kid in the park, Like would I recognize that.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at him and thinking, oh my god, like
Speaker 2: that was me. That was that was what I used
Speaker 2: to do. And anyway, I don't know, obviously there's no
Speaker 2: way to know, you know, whether he's going to end
Speaker 2: up in the same space, but certainly, certainly at that age,
Speaker 2: or I mean probably a little bit later when I
Speaker 2: was about twelve, I kind of that was kind of
Speaker 2: when I was like, yeah, I need to be an actress.
Speaker 2: I just kind of had it in my head. Wo
Speaker 2: that was what I wanted to do, and I had
Speaker 2: been doing it probably since then.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how did that begin for you back in Australia?
Speaker 1: Were there like was there a local theater company or
Speaker 1: were there shows you were watching where you saw other
Speaker 1: kids and you thought, oh, I'm I'm going to do that.
Speaker 2: I you know, we grew in Australia or you know,
Speaker 2: at that time, we were very saturated with American TV
Speaker 2: shows and programming, and so I think there was you know,
Speaker 2: there was just some you know, like the crappy community
Speaker 2: hall down the road, was doing you know, acting classes,
Speaker 2: and my best friend and I signed up. We would
Speaker 2: just like it was like, you know, you play charades,
Speaker 2: you do drama games, yeah, and you're a kid in
Speaker 2: and where I just remember we would take over the
Speaker 2: class because we had this whole charade ship that we knew, like,
Speaker 2: you know, we know the answer in one one second
Speaker 2: as soon as one of us would do the thing.
Speaker 2: And so that's kind of where it started. And then
Speaker 2: and then I just sort of ended up in every
Speaker 2: school play or musical imaginable that I could get my
Speaker 2: hands on, to the point where I was I just
Speaker 2: didn't have time to do anything else. I just kind
Speaker 2: of wanted to be in everything and do everything. So
Speaker 2: it was kind of, I guess it was a very
Speaker 2: saturated natural progression kind of going from high school into
Speaker 2: you know with all the plays and stuff, and then
Speaker 2: going into university where I did, you know, the drama
Speaker 2: degree was very practical and theater based and whatever. And
Speaker 2: then I ended up starting a you know, a little
Speaker 2: theater company with a friend of mine from from drama school.
Speaker 2: So we would you know, she's her name's Anna, and
Speaker 2: she's finished, and she would have these finish plays that
Speaker 2: she liked from Finland, and we would adapt them to
Speaker 2: an Australian audience and them and produce them and cost
Speaker 2: them and do all this stuff. And then that didn't
Speaker 2: last very long because the next thing, you know, I
Speaker 2: ended up in the States. And that was when I
Speaker 2: was I was twenty four, and now it's been almost
Speaker 2: two decades wow, since that moment.
Speaker 1: So what was it that brought you to the US
Speaker 1: so quickly? I assume, you know, beginning of theater company
Speaker 1: is a pretty big undertaking. So was it something that
Speaker 1: you booked or was it someone who said you've got
Speaker 1: to come here and start getting on the scene and auditioning.
Speaker 1: What was the move like for you?
Speaker 2: It was it was totally random. I mean not totally random.
Speaker 2: I was you know, I was dating a guy at
Speaker 2: the time, and there was a bunch of Ossie actors
Speaker 2: who had this movie who had gotten into Tiff at
Speaker 2: the time, and they were all going and they were
Speaker 2: either we were at the pub one night and they
Speaker 2: were saying, you know, you should come with us, and
Speaker 2: you know, tried tried to get some meetings in America,
Speaker 2: and I remember, oh, you know, I had terrible skin
Speaker 2: at the time. I had really bad acne on my face,
Speaker 2: and I thought, oh, I don't know, like I probably,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know if anyone's gonna, you know,
Speaker 2: want me there, but you know, okay, I'll give it
Speaker 2: a go. And so I went with them, and I
Speaker 2: remember having my Australian agent at the time pushed me
Speaker 2: to go. She said, you should, you should do this,
Speaker 2: and she had set me up with these five meetings.
Speaker 2: I got rejected from four out of the five agents
Speaker 2: and managers whoever I met with at the time, and
Speaker 2: the only people who wanted to work with me were
Speaker 2: these two women managers who I still work with to
Speaker 2: this day, and the rest.
Speaker 1: Are kicking themselves.
Speaker 2: Maybe but anyway. So yeah, So I remember that was
Speaker 2: like a two week trip and then I remember it
Speaker 2: was the end of two thousand and six. I came
Speaker 2: back home for Christmas, I got my tonsils out, and
Speaker 2: then I finished a small guest job role in Australia
Speaker 2: and I got back on a plane to do you know,
Speaker 2: pilot season at the time in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2: Back then, we had you know that pilot season thing going. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but I was late to the pilot season because I
Speaker 2: was on this other job in Australia, and so I
Speaker 2: was auditioning like self taping before self taping was a thing,
Speaker 2: and I was sending over tapes, one of which was
Speaker 2: for the show Chuck on NBC. And so the day
Speaker 2: that I actually landed in the States was the day
Speaker 2: they saw my tape and the day they called and
Speaker 2: said we want her to test the next day at
Speaker 2: the network and the studio. And I didn't know what
Speaker 2: was going on. I had no clue how the business worked.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what a test was. I didn't know
Speaker 2: why I would be meeting all of the executives at
Speaker 2: NBC and Warner Brothers. And then literally I went and
Speaker 2: did this test and then I remember my you He's
Speaker 2: coming out shaking my hand at the network and saying,
Speaker 2: you know, congratulations, You've got the job, and I, you know,
Speaker 2: my head exploded, and then that was kind of it was.
Speaker 2: It was so quick, and so I just hadn't wrapped
Speaker 2: my head around any of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh my gosh, it's so it really is so crazy,
Speaker 1: and I think people don't know the swiftness with which
Speaker 1: your whole life changes, Like you landed and then you
Speaker 1: had to stay here. I remember doing the callback for
Speaker 1: my test for One Tree Hill and I was in
Speaker 1: college and then suddenly they were like, you're moving to
Speaker 1: North Carolina in twelve days. And I had to call
Speaker 1: my university and be like, I'm not coming and tell
Speaker 1: my roommate I wasn't coming and she had to find
Speaker 1: a new roommate, and I was so stressed out for her.
Speaker 1: I was like, who are you going to live with?
Speaker 1: Like all of these things that now they seem so
Speaker 1: funny to me, but you're just there, you go figure
Speaker 1: it out, pack your staff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's it's exactly that, and the sort of
Speaker 2: like unprepared, You're unprepared, You're you're you're young, like I
Speaker 2: was so young, and I yeah. I literally remember pulling
Speaker 2: over on Bob Hope Drive in Burbank in my like
Speaker 2: really crappy rental car. I don't know how they rented
Speaker 2: out cars back then. There was like these like one
Speaker 2: rental company that all the Australians used to go to
Speaker 2: in Losienaga and we would, you know, get the cars.
Speaker 2: And I called my parents in Australia and told them
Speaker 2: I wasn't coming home at the time that I thought
Speaker 2: I was going to come on just I got a
Speaker 2: job and like what and I know, and I never
Speaker 2: went home. I was supposed to go back two months later,
Speaker 2: and then it was a year. It was a year
Speaker 2: to the day before I went back to my original
Speaker 2: ticket had expired. But yeah, I didn't know. I mean
Speaker 2: it was like I didn't know what a grocery store
Speaker 2: was called. I didn't know what its like. I just
Speaker 2: didn't know anything or anyone. And it was it was intense.
Speaker 2: It was an intense first few years, several for first
Speaker 2: few years.
Speaker 1: Well, and the show was so fun. What was it
Speaker 1: like for you? I imagine it's kind of a seesaw
Speaker 1: the culture shock and having to learn so quickly, but also,
Speaker 1: you know, in a way having your dream come true
Speaker 1: and being on you know, the show that's it's a
Speaker 1: big hit. It's hilarious, people love it. You know, could
Speaker 1: you enjoy it or was it just a total whirlwind
Speaker 1: the first season?
Speaker 2: I think it was everything it was, you know, it
Speaker 2: was a year without any any one that I was
Speaker 2: used to, you know, like you have all your best friends,
Speaker 2: and you have your parents or whoever like your loved ones,
Speaker 2: and then suddenly you're doing this thing and it's amazing
Speaker 2: and you get to you Yeah, you have you have
Speaker 2: this thing in front of you that you've always wanted.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, it's you know that there's
Speaker 2: a sacrifice that comes with that. Yeah, And I think
Speaker 2: just the culture shock also was a big thing for
Speaker 2: me at the time. You know, it's I know, you
Speaker 2: know obviously, I mean, I'm born in Australia. We speak
Speaker 2: the same English language here and there, but we don't
Speaker 2: because culturally things are really different. And it was just
Speaker 2: a matter of sort of getting used to that and
Speaker 2: trying to find friends and connect with people. And when
Speaker 2: you're young, or when you're that I mean, I'm not
Speaker 2: sure if there was any twenty four year old to
Speaker 2: like super and know who they are and you know
Speaker 2: you and you can you have good judgment of character
Speaker 2: or whatever, but you know, it's a process and when
Speaker 2: you're that young, so and it was a real process.
Speaker 2: I remember feeling like it was probably a good like
Speaker 2: for the whole run of the show. The show ran
Speaker 2: for five years, and I remember feeling like it took
Speaker 2: me the whole time and beyond to really like truly
Speaker 2: sort of start to find like my people and have
Speaker 2: true connections that felt like they were going to last
Speaker 2: for a while. And I think also primarily because back then,
Speaker 2: you know, when you're on a network show, you're working
Speaker 2: the craziest hours. And that was I think that was
Speaker 2: the biggest shock, is just how many hours we would
Speaker 2: spend there and work way into Saturday morning, yeah, and
Speaker 2: kind of get up on Monday at the same time
Speaker 2: that you had gone to bed on Saturday. Yeah, for
Speaker 2: nine months out of a year. And it was like,
Speaker 2: you know, it's just a lot. It was a lot,
Speaker 2: but there's just so many of the feelings. There's so
Speaker 2: many things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now a word from our sponsors who make
Speaker 1: this show possible. I talked about this with a friend
Speaker 1: of mine recently because I realized that, you know, from
Speaker 1: the time I didn't go to my senior year in
Speaker 1: college to the first time I'd come home for any
Speaker 1: real amount of time, it had been almost fifteen years
Speaker 1: of being on location.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: And I said, you know, in the one sense, I
Speaker 1: cherish being able to do this job that I love,
Speaker 1: and on the other it's really hard to constantly be
Speaker 1: the person who has to play catch up with everyone
Speaker 1: in your life because nobody's awake at four am when
Speaker 1: you're going to work and most people aren't awake at
Speaker 1: eleven pm. When you're going home and you do, you
Speaker 1: just sort of disappear and you're grateful, but there's a
Speaker 1: there's a loss, and there's a grieving that comes with
Speaker 1: it that I think nobody's really wanted to hear about,
Speaker 1: because there's this notion of like, well, you're so privileged
Speaker 1: and you're so lucky, and it's not that those things
Speaker 1: aren't true. It's just that there's this other side of
Speaker 1: the coin that has been unacknowledged for so long. And
Speaker 1: it isn't lost on me that you got settled here
Speaker 1: and you know, you worked on this job here having
Speaker 1: to move and then you know, I think about you
Speaker 1: having to go to Canada to do Handmaids and like, again,
Speaker 1: you had to move. Was it a weird readjust or
Speaker 1: did you did you sort of feel like you were
Speaker 1: more practiced as a person having to pick up and
Speaker 1: leave and get settled in a whole new place again.
Speaker 2: This feels like it's been my life the entire time
Speaker 2: that I've been here in the States. It's been like
Speaker 2: an ongoing moving around, you know, from you know, shooting
Speaker 2: something in New Orleans at one point to you know, Broadway,
Speaker 2: New York, shooting this other thing Vancouver, and you know,
Speaker 2: and it usually and if it's a show, you know
Speaker 2: you're in You're in the place for you know, five
Speaker 2: six months I think there. I mean, we used to
Speaker 2: shoot a lot more stuff in LA. That was when
Speaker 2: I did Chuck, my first gig. And then also I
Speaker 2: think did I did Dexter in l A. But other
Speaker 2: than that, I'm pretty sure just about everything else has
Speaker 2: been not in LA. So I'm well well adjusted to
Speaker 2: like doing this whole travel thing. The only difference now
Speaker 2: is that I have three kids. So I'm at this
Speaker 2: point i think in my life slash career where I'm
Speaker 2: trying to figure out how long this can go on
Speaker 2: for because because I'm getting into the into the age
Speaker 2: range with my eldest. He's in grade one here, so
Speaker 2: his first Grade one experience is Canada. Yeah, it's not
Speaker 2: home where we live. And and he because and because
Speaker 2: he and like my all my kids have been with
Speaker 2: me and we sort of travel as a family, you know,
Speaker 2: it all together. And all three of them as babies
Speaker 2: have come to work with me. They come to the trailer,
Speaker 2: you know, so I can be nursing were they're really
Speaker 2: used to the changing of locations, and they understand that
Speaker 2: our family is also spread apart, because you know, family
Speaker 2: in Australia, Poland, America, it's a whole thing, and so
Speaker 2: they kind of get get it. But I do know
Speaker 2: that there will come a point with my eldest first,
Speaker 2: I'm sure where you know, he's not going to want
Speaker 2: to do that anymore. He's gonna want to stay, gonna
Speaker 2: want to have his friends, and it's going to be
Speaker 2: a readjust. So it's very much on my on my mind.
Speaker 2: Now you know, this whole gypsy life that I've been
Speaker 2: doing for almost two decades is you know, there's going
Speaker 2: to be a readjust And yeah, it's ever changing.
Speaker 1: It's wild, and there's that personal side of it. And
Speaker 1: then I guess I'm I'm so curious about the sort
Speaker 1: of individual personal to professional because not to you know,
Speaker 1: we're all exhausted by it. I don't want to get
Speaker 1: in the weeds of politics, but it's not lost on me. Also,
Speaker 1: what you had said that the bookend of Handmaids is
Speaker 1: the beginning and this last season are occurring at very
Speaker 1: odd times politically, what is sort of the most challenging
Speaker 1: part for you about playing a character like Serena Joy,
Speaker 1: which was going to be my question anyway. And then
Speaker 1: I guess I wonder how you're navigating the sort of
Speaker 1: intersection of your work as a performer as it relates
Speaker 1: to the larger landscape of the world. Does it make
Speaker 1: it harder in a way to leave work at work,
Speaker 1: or does it make the work feel more important than ever?
Speaker 1: Or maybe it's a little bit of both.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you know, back when I first started the job,
Speaker 2: I never imagined how significant the show would become in
Speaker 2: the political space, nor did I ever consider myself to
Speaker 2: be politically articulate in any way, shape or form. But
Speaker 2: you know, it's it goes hand in hand. I mean,
Speaker 2: the show and the and the politics and what it represents.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's unavoidable. I never imagined, you know, what
Speaker 2: I would I didn't understand the scope of the character
Speaker 2: either or what it would go, you know, beyond the book,
Speaker 2: what we've done with Serena, what the writers of Britain,
Speaker 2: what I've you know, the places I've gone to in
Speaker 2: these scenes. I remember feeling super uncomfortable with a lot
Speaker 2: of it at the beginning. Obviously, the ceremony scenes were
Speaker 2: probably the hardest, and I felt and it felt icky,
Speaker 2: and then you know, and then I got used to it,
Speaker 2: and we you know, we have you know, work is
Speaker 2: like any other kind of a fun workplace. We go,
Speaker 2: we tell jokes, it's light, it's not you know, it's
Speaker 2: not a serious set outside of what we're doing between
Speaker 2: action and cot and and then you know, and I
Speaker 2: started to really enjoy what this character and I mean,
Speaker 2: what was on offer in terms of the scenes and
Speaker 2: what I've been able to do just as a performer,
Speaker 2: and how amazing. You know, these scenes just push you
Speaker 2: to the limits of all the gray areas of humanity
Speaker 2: and sort of trying to justify how this woman operates
Speaker 2: and whatever. And obviously she's kind of like, you know,
Speaker 2: over here, like this weird best friend but not best
Speaker 2: friend in my life. And and then, you know, the
Speaker 2: other day, I just didn't want to be in her
Speaker 2: shoes anymore. I just remember thinking, God, it was such
Speaker 2: a hard day. I just didn't want to be the
Speaker 2: person representing her anymore, even though I am and I
Speaker 2: will and I do it proudly, I do it with
Speaker 2: you know, because she's in a way, she's kind of
Speaker 2: like you know, one of my creative babies, and I
Speaker 2: am excited to see this through to the end because
Speaker 2: of what you know it all represents and stuff. But
Speaker 2: it's I was like thrown back into that first season
Speaker 2: and then some kind of just like thinking, who it
Speaker 2: was a hard day to sort of get it together.
Speaker 2: It was probably the first and only time in the
Speaker 2: last twenty years that I've come to set and not
Speaker 2: been able to get through a rehearsal or a blocking
Speaker 2: and just was just going through all the things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's the thing. These containers are reflective of
Speaker 1: the human experience. And I think the most incredible thing
Speaker 1: about film or television is it can create a container
Speaker 1: for conversation or catharsis or learning, and it's a it's
Speaker 1: a big container to be in in the present moment.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I think about the the dystopian
Speaker 1: world that at would created in The Handmaid's Tale and
Speaker 1: this conversation about you know, women and our bodies being
Speaker 1: the property and objects of men, I think there was
Speaker 1: a time where we thought, oh, we've passed that, and
Speaker 1: then we've we've been dragged back, kicking and screaming, and
Speaker 1: suddenly this dystopian tail feels like a reality. And I
Speaker 1: don't know. I wish I could give you a hug, Like,
Speaker 1: how are you not supposed to have a terrible day
Speaker 1: when that? I don't know if the word is like
Speaker 1: comes to roost or what, But I can't imagine how
Speaker 1: you could not have at least a day like that
Speaker 1: at work dealing with this as a woman and a mother,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot, it's a lot to carry. How
Speaker 1: are you taking care of yourself in the midst of it?
Speaker 1: Like not to be a you know, to sound like
Speaker 1: a wellness girly, but I'm like, what is your self
Speaker 1: care routine? Are you okay? Can I send you cookies? Like?
Speaker 1: What's going on?
Speaker 2: I don't think there is. I mean, I don't really
Speaker 2: have what self care routine? Oh my god, I have
Speaker 2: no time for that. But I know it was one
Speaker 2: of those days where I just thought, I mean, I
Speaker 2: just was like, I am going to give myself permission
Speaker 2: to just be messy today because I show up at
Speaker 2: work every day, you know, and I do my thing,
Speaker 2: and I've been doing this for so long. I'm going
Speaker 2: to have one one messy day out of the twenty
Speaker 2: years that I've been doing this. And I just sort of,
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that was the self care is
Speaker 2: just to allow for that to happen. And you know,
Speaker 2: we have women, a lot of women on set, and
Speaker 2: that was also part of it. I think everyone was
Speaker 2: deep deep funk. And I know we had a couple
Speaker 2: of people come to sit that weren't even working that
Speaker 2: day just because we had to. We just had to
Speaker 2: you know, sit around and chat and you know, cry
Speaker 2: and do all the things we needed to do. You know. Interestingly,
Speaker 2: I have my my whole family lives in Poland except
Speaker 2: for my parents, and they just had went through a
Speaker 2: similar kind of a thing about a year ago. It's
Speaker 2: my twenty two year old cousin is living with us
Speaker 2: right now, helping me with my kids, and she was
Speaker 2: she came to work with me, and they're they're living
Speaker 2: that right now, you know, the women's rights. Ah, they're
Speaker 2: living it and and and it's just it's kind of
Speaker 2: interesting having her here because you know, they're they're already
Speaker 2: in that space and we are sort of I think, well,
Speaker 2: God knows what's going to happen. We can all imagine,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it's yeah, it's just a bit, it's it
Speaker 2: feels icky and I don't know. I was sort of
Speaker 2: in a conversation also the other day about someone who
Speaker 2: was trying to sort of stay positive and have hope,
Speaker 2: and although I do have hope and for various reasons whatever,
Speaker 2: but I wasn't ready for that conversation either.
Speaker 3: No, yeah, you're like, give me a beat, okay, because
Speaker 3: I would imagine it was Again, I don't want to project,
Speaker 3: but I just empathetically, I imagine it was tough to
Speaker 3: do season five knowing it was coming out after the
Speaker 3: fall of.
Speaker 1: Row and now season six is your final season and
Speaker 1: we're we're back here. Does it does it feel sort
Speaker 1: of sad as a performer to say, oh, I wish
Speaker 1: this shadow wasn't over this last moment with this wonderful
Speaker 1: group of people I work with, or does it kind
Speaker 1: of make you feel relieved that you're almost done having
Speaker 1: to be in the world of this, you know, cinematic universe. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, to be honest, I do I feel relieved
Speaker 2: that we're almost done. But I'm also I'm also sort
Speaker 2: of in awe and just I cannot believe how aligned
Speaker 2: this show has been just over the course of its time.
Speaker 2: It's it's as if the writers have had a magical
Speaker 2: crystal ball, but they haven't obviously, but it is insane
Speaker 2: how they will write stuff and then that very thing
Speaker 2: will become very prominent in the news or something, you know,
Speaker 2: various things, and it's just been really wild to what
Speaker 2: it's it's I mean, it's kind of like it was
Speaker 2: meant to be if you believe in you know, based
Speaker 2: and destiny and the universe sort of providing a platform
Speaker 2: of sorts. But it does really feel that way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm like, if your writers have the crystal ball
Speaker 1: or their pen is weirdly predictive, can they write us
Speaker 1: a really heroic ending class and thank you? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: now a word from our sponsors. Well, aside from all
Speaker 1: of this, how do you feel like the show has
Speaker 1: you know, impacted the trajectory of your career? Has it
Speaker 1: been an incredible place just to learn and glean? I mean,
Speaker 1: I think about the folks you work with and the writers,
Speaker 1: and you know, even to be with Bradley Whitford and
Speaker 1: his you know, incredible sort of iconic career. It appears
Speaker 1: that in every direction there's amazing teammates for you and
Speaker 1: now you know you're starring in and executive producing Teacup
Speaker 1: on Peacock, which, by the way, it's terrifying. I watched
Speaker 1: the first episode. I was like, I don't do horror
Speaker 1: for a reason. And here I am, and I am
Speaker 1: a fan of yours, and We're gonna do this interview
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna watch the thing, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm have nightmares. The suspense in the show is so good,
Speaker 1: and the and the dynamics between these characters feel so
Speaker 1: rich and real. You know, has working on a show
Speaker 1: like Handmaids influenced the way you you run your sets?
Speaker 2: Now? Yeah? I definitely. You know, Handmaids was sort of
Speaker 2: I think where I was inspired you. So many of
Speaker 2: my costmates, if not all of them, do things other
Speaker 2: than just act, you know, like Ot did, made his
Speaker 2: you know, made a television show. He wrote it, he
Speaker 2: was in it, he directed it, sold it to Hulu.
Speaker 2: You know, Max is directing. I mean, there's just a
Speaker 2: bunch of we have such an amazing group, and I
Speaker 2: I remember thinking, Wow, this is really inspiring. And alongside
Speaker 2: sort of this movement, if we should call it that
Speaker 2: that has finally started to celebrate women in this space
Speaker 2: and female cinematographers and female directors and it feels like
Speaker 2: we're finally sort of going and exploring this area and
Speaker 2: seeing other actresses who I don't even know, but seeing
Speaker 2: them sort of go and do other things and direct
Speaker 2: and take charge of they're greater creative dreams. And so,
Speaker 2: you know, looking at all of that and what I
Speaker 2: used to do back in the day in Australia with
Speaker 2: my own little theater company, and you know how creative
Speaker 2: that was, I just thought, Wow, I really I need
Speaker 2: to do that too. And so it was during the
Speaker 2: pandemic really when we were here in Toronto shooting Handmaids,
Speaker 2: that I thought, you know, I'm going to start planning
Speaker 2: all these seas to to branch out and start getting
Speaker 2: into this creative process, which led me into you know,
Speaker 2: optioning a book called a Woman of Intelligence, which you know,
Speaker 2: that's going to be another project that I'm that I'll
Speaker 2: ep that I'm in development for right now, and teacup
Speaker 2: and even just last year waking up in the middle
Speaker 2: of the night and and sort of deciding I'm going
Speaker 2: to do a short film and I'm going to film
Speaker 2: in three weeks and just you know, writing that, directing it,
Speaker 2: and just getting into that space of creativity has been
Speaker 2: really rewarding, and it's it is really inspiring to see
Speaker 2: people doing that all around and being really good at it.
Speaker 1: That's so cool. Can you tell the folks at home
Speaker 1: what Teacup is about?
Speaker 2: Well, Teacup is a horror, much more horror than I
Speaker 2: originally thought it was going to be a series about. Well.
Speaker 2: I play a woman called Maggie, Maggie channaw With and
Speaker 2: she has a husband and two kids, and they live
Speaker 2: on a farm in Georgia, and they are, you know,
Speaker 2: a regular ordinary family until weird stuff starts happening on
Speaker 2: the farm and they end up sort of getting contained
Speaker 2: to the farm by this. I guess you could call
Speaker 2: it a force of some kind that they cannot explain.
Speaker 2: And so the show sort of follows the characters trying
Speaker 2: to figure out what is going on, and it gets
Speaker 2: pretty gruesome at point at some points with a pretty
Speaker 2: banging ending. And my favorite element of the show, and
Speaker 2: what got me interested in the first place, is the
Speaker 2: sort of the family relationships and the character part of it,
Speaker 2: because I love the fact that you know, Scott Speedman
Speaker 2: plays my husband James, and straight in the pilot you
Speaker 2: understand that you know he's had an affair. He's done
Speaker 2: something bad, and they're already at odds with each other
Speaker 2: and they're hiding it from the kids, and there's a
Speaker 2: great amount of tension just kind of going into it
Speaker 2: already emotionally, which is really fun as a performer to
Speaker 2: sort of start there. Yeah, and then the rest of
Speaker 2: it unfolds.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's really exciting. In the pilot, that first
Speaker 1: scene with you and the actress who plays his mom,
Speaker 1: I just thought, God, this is so well written because
Speaker 1: the audience hasn't had it explained what he's done, but
Speaker 1: you have a hunch and you don't talk about it.
Speaker 1: You just say it's not you that I'm mad at,
Speaker 1: or whatever that version of the line is. And I
Speaker 1: was like, Oh, it's just so it's so good and
Speaker 1: smart because it lets us, it lets us begin solving
Speaker 1: a mystery right away before we even know what the
Speaker 1: mystery of the show is. You know, there's a mystery
Speaker 1: in the house, and it's just very, very exciting, and
Speaker 1: it's really fun to see your your touch on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it sets the scene for sure for this
Speaker 2: distrust that ends up occurring, like in spades because of
Speaker 2: the horror element, but we already have this emotional element.
Speaker 2: I mean, I just I really love the character act.
Speaker 2: I mean, all episodes are now up and available, but
Speaker 2: I still I'm not going to do any spoilers because
Speaker 2: that but certainly there the journey of the character at
Speaker 2: the end, just going back into like her relationship with
Speaker 2: her husband and what that means and what she has
Speaker 2: to do in the end, there's a lot of sort
Speaker 2: of tough decisions that she makes and she sort of
Speaker 2: ends up becoming this warrior woman. And it was and
Speaker 2: it was super fun, like the last two episodes, just
Speaker 2: in terms of an emotional challenge and what we had
Speaker 2: to do through was was really exciting for me. And
Speaker 2: certainly handmade sets of really high bar when it comes
Speaker 2: to emotional drama. So this was this was really really
Speaker 2: meeting the mark.
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, yeah, what feels really important to you?
Speaker 1: What's sort of the central force when you're choosing the
Speaker 1: projects that you want to work on. Do you gravitate
Speaker 1: towards certain types of stories and roles or is the
Speaker 1: goal to always have each feel completely different than the last.
Speaker 2: I do like everything to feel different, for sure, But
Speaker 2: I think if I had to pick one thing that
Speaker 2: was the main thing, it would be some kind of weird,
Speaker 2: complex emotional journey that is kind of left of center.
Speaker 2: I just I find it, really I find humanity fascinating.
Speaker 2: I find psychology fascinating. I find the gray area fascinating.
Speaker 2: Like all the things that like I'm I'm the girl
Speaker 2: that's there, the debrief that goes to four o'clock in
Speaker 2: the morning with you know whoever who is up for that,
Speaker 2: and just like touching on every aspect of whatever the
Speaker 2: conversation is about, and debriefing until you know there's nothing
Speaker 2: left a debrief about. I love that stuff. I just
Speaker 2: find it absolutely fascinating. And how we operate as humans
Speaker 2: and what influences us each individually to behave a certain
Speaker 2: way or to react in certain ways to others and
Speaker 2: circumstances that make us react in to I just think
Speaker 2: it's absolutely fascinating. So when you get a character, I
Speaker 2: mean someone like Serena Joy, I mean that's like intense
Speaker 2: and amazing or even you know, I did this thing
Speaker 2: once called Stateless about a woman who ended up in
Speaker 2: a detention center who it is just like fast, she
Speaker 2: was so fascinating and complex. And then or a character
Speaker 2: facing intensely complex decisions like Maggie and Teacup. I just
Speaker 2: that's sort of probably the biggest, the biggest thing that
Speaker 2: I look for. But having said that, I also would
Speaker 2: really love to do something funny me too, just because
Speaker 2: you know, maybe I need to be done a little
Speaker 2: bit with like that kind of stuff. So you know,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe the next thing is just something just totally
Speaker 2: random and bar fetched in the other direction.
Speaker 1: Sign me up. I think we all could use a
Speaker 1: little bit of humor at the moment. Yes, for sure,
Speaker 1: What where does a woman of intelligence fall? Is it
Speaker 1: also quite serious? Can you give us a little overview
Speaker 1: of what it's like to adapt a novel and dig
Speaker 1: into something like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's definitely a drama for sure. But
Speaker 2: having said that, the woman, I mean, it's about this
Speaker 2: amazing woman who's a mother of two young children and
Speaker 2: she loves being she loves her kids, but she's not
Speaker 2: the best at being a mom. And it's set in
Speaker 2: I mean, this is interesting because it's set in fifties
Speaker 2: New York when it was rare that women worked. But
Speaker 2: our main character actually is she speaks many languages and
Speaker 2: she works for the United Nations, and so she has
Speaker 2: this job, and she meets this guy, and the guy
Speaker 2: wants to celebrate her for everything she has and tells
Speaker 2: her that if we have kids, sure you're going to
Speaker 2: keep working and you can have your life and you know,
Speaker 2: be fabulous and whatever. And then that doesn't happen, and
Speaker 2: so and so she feels changed to this home with
Speaker 2: these two young children. He's a pediatric surgeon, so he
Speaker 2: insists that she stay home and nurse them untill they're
Speaker 2: seventy five and all the things, and she ends up
Speaker 2: getting approached by the FBI to work for them and
Speaker 2: spy on her old flame from college who is our KGB.
Speaker 2: So there's all these sort of tie ins. I feel like,
Speaker 2: just in terms of what I loved about it, aside
Speaker 2: from the fact that it's an incredibly dense, rich novel
Speaker 2: filled with amazing storylines and characters, but it's the themes
Speaker 2: about women and what it meant back then to be
Speaker 2: a woman, and how you had to present yourself as
Speaker 2: a mother, you know, as a daughter in law, a
Speaker 2: working woman, which was where at the time, you know,
Speaker 2: all the things. I love all of that in the
Speaker 2: parallels to now, as well as the political landscape of
Speaker 2: that time period and how it reflects back to us
Speaker 2: in the now. So, yeah, that's sort of where that
Speaker 2: that is or I guess I just told you the
Speaker 2: whole storyline of that, not that you asked.
Speaker 1: It's really exciting. And when do we get to see it?
Speaker 2: As early days we're very much like sort of in
Speaker 2: development right now writing scripts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't wait. Yeah, that sounds like an absolute dream.
Speaker 1: And you know so many of these women, regardless of timeline,
Speaker 1: are not only dealing with their individual identities, but as
Speaker 1: you've said, they're shaped by motherhood in one way or another.
Speaker 1: What is it sort of like for you? I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got three young boys. All their work is you know,
Speaker 1: behind you on the wall right now we're seeing obviously
Speaker 1: cars is big in your house too. How you mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier that you understand, you know, you're sort of prepping
Speaker 1: for when being mobile in the way our jobs require
Speaker 1: is not necessarily going to be as easy. How do
Speaker 1: you navigate it? And yes, I know the irony that
Speaker 1: the men never get asked this question, but I am
Speaker 1: always quite fascinated by the women that I know who
Speaker 1: do all of it. You know you're wearing every hat.
Speaker 1: How how have you integrated this into your career at large.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the million dollar question, isn't it?
Speaker 1: No pressure?
Speaker 2: I mean, you know if I'm I mean, I'm super honest.
Speaker 2: There's not a day that goes by where I'm not
Speaker 2: really actively wondering how on earth am I going to
Speaker 2: do this? And somehow I'm doing it. But I'm also
Speaker 2: every day wandering, gosh, what are we going to I'm
Speaker 2: already you know. The other yesterday, I me and my
Speaker 2: husband were having a conversation of like, well, what are
Speaker 2: we doing after Canada? Are we going home? Are we
Speaker 2: We don't know yet what where we're going based on
Speaker 2: my work, and so it's just kind of I don't
Speaker 2: it's a massive it's a massive juggle. I don't know
Speaker 2: that I have it figured out sort of in theory.
Speaker 2: I don't know that I've ever to explain it. I
Speaker 2: just know that it's working. I don't think it for
Speaker 2: sure wouldn't be possible without my extraordinary husband, who is
Speaker 2: at home with the kids when I'm at work. And
Speaker 2: so that's I mean, we kind of have a traditional
Speaker 2: role of all Darren, you know, so I'm the one
Speaker 2: that goes to work and he stays but I you know,
Speaker 2: if I if I could be one hundred percent stay
Speaker 2: at home mom, that's that's sort of my goal. I
Speaker 2: want to feel like I'm one hundred percent a stay
Speaker 2: at home mom, so I'm present with my kids because
Speaker 2: it's so important to me to create the time. But
Speaker 2: I also I also love what I do, and I
Speaker 2: and I want to do what I do, and I
Speaker 2: support my family, and so I have to balance it.
Speaker 2: I think the only way that right now, and how
Speaker 2: I've been justifying that is that it's sort of fifty fifty.
Speaker 2: So for the times where I'm intensely at work, there's
Speaker 2: an equal amount of time where I haven't been at work,
Speaker 2: and I have been that version of the stay at
Speaker 2: home mom one hundred percent of the time that I
Speaker 2: want to be as well. And it's just it's one
Speaker 2: of those things that you can't map out. It's because
Speaker 2: of how crazy actors' schedules are and how crazy it
Speaker 2: is that you know you're supposed to be here, there, everywhere,
Speaker 2: and there's only one of you. How we balance it
Speaker 2: is it's just kind of a case by case on
Speaker 2: a day to day thing, you know, and a lot
Speaker 2: of it comes down to just my partner and I
Speaker 2: how we juggle it together and how we sort of
Speaker 2: hand you know, past the baton on each time and
Speaker 2: givvy it up. So yeah, it's I remember being fascinated
Speaker 2: by this too with other actresses before I had kids.
Speaker 2: I remember when I did Stateless with Kate Blanchett, and
Speaker 2: I know she has a bunch of kids, and I
Speaker 2: remember asking her like, how on earth do you do this?
Speaker 2: Because I didn't understand it either, And lo and behold,
Speaker 2: I found myself in a similar with three. I mean,
Speaker 2: she has four, I think kids by three, and I
Speaker 2: never thought I would have that many kids even, you know,
Speaker 2: And it's this struggle, but yeah, it's an ongoing thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now a word from our wonderful sponsors. But
Speaker 1: I think what's really amazing is that people are talking
Speaker 1: to each other about it. And you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's taboo to say I love my job and
Speaker 1: I don't want to give it up, and I love
Speaker 1: my family and I want to be with them as
Speaker 1: much as I can. And that requires sacrifice in both directions,
Speaker 1: and it requires a full village. Like that's reality. And
Speaker 1: I think the more we can kind of let each
Speaker 1: other in on it instead of like keep it a
Speaker 1: secret like inside Baseball, the better, you know. A friend
Speaker 1: of mine said to me, She was like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: can have it all, you just can't have it all
Speaker 1: at the same time. Yeah, and I thought, you know what,
Speaker 1: it's the simplest way I've ever heard anybody talk about it.
Speaker 1: And then you just made me feel a lot better.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, kind of amazing. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's
Speaker 2: it's about prioritizing and really kind of I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't even know. I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 2: how to answer that. What is the best I'm just
Speaker 2: trying to make it work. I'm like everybody else. I'm
Speaker 2: just trying to make it work. I don't have the answers.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: It's like you guys got to do it.
Speaker 1: You just have to do what he's just doing the
Speaker 1: best way I can.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, you're on this precipice of so many exciting things,
Speaker 1: you know, the bittersweetness of a project that's about to
Speaker 1: wrap after six seasons, the new show is out, You're
Speaker 1: developing this book that sounds absolutely amazing. You know, the
Speaker 1: kiddos are flourishing. It's a I would imagine it can
Speaker 1: feel really exciting to look forward, despite who knows what
Speaker 1: it means. Where do you go, where do you move?
Speaker 1: What feels like the work in progress for you as
Speaker 1: you kind of look out at what's to come over
Speaker 1: the next year, the work in progress.
Speaker 2: I think it's really allowing myself the thoughtful time and
Speaker 2: space to create, like the next two decades, you know,
Speaker 2: create it whatever, like make it so that it's how
Speaker 2: I truly really want to to be. So it's not
Speaker 2: it's not like other people telling me I should do something,
Speaker 2: or you know, being heavily influenced whatever. I just feel
Speaker 2: like there's I've come to a point in my life,
Speaker 2: probably when I turned forty, where I realized I probably
Speaker 2: sort of got to know myself the most that I've
Speaker 2: ever gotten to know myself in a really huge way.
Speaker 2: And I think kind of looking back at the last
Speaker 2: twenty years and realizing that perhaps some of those career
Speaker 2: decisions or even life decisions on a personal level, weren't
Speaker 2: my own own, that they were navigated maybe not necessarily
Speaker 2: by me and solely me. I think the next two
Speaker 2: decades I would like for it to be a different
Speaker 2: kind of a journey where I'm really focusing on what
Speaker 2: I want, what I prioritize, and also what brings me joy.
Speaker 2: I've just kind of like worked my ass off, which
Speaker 2: is great. Here I am in this amazing moment, ending
Speaker 2: an amazing TV show and starting all this other stuff.
Speaker 2: I don't think I would have got here without working
Speaker 2: my ass off. But I also I don't want to
Speaker 2: work my ass off anymore. In that same way, I
Speaker 2: want to do it for things that I don't know
Speaker 2: that are that are really special and meaningful that kind
Speaker 2: of take me back to my roots. I just feel
Speaker 2: like I'm sort of entering this space where I want
Speaker 2: to honor honor where I came from in a weird way.
Speaker 2: And I'm not even sure if I'm articulating this in
Speaker 2: the best way, but just that old version of me
Speaker 2: that used to create and had the theater company and
Speaker 2: made all the things, and kind of get back into
Speaker 2: that version of myself married to the discoveries that I've
Speaker 2: made where I've landed now in my forties and kind
Speaker 2: of go from there and create that space.
Speaker 1: I love that. I think it's wonderful and I I
Speaker 1: don't know every woman that I speak to lately who's
Speaker 1: kind of in our you know, peer group who's at
Speaker 1: this stage feels that like, oh, I want it's like
Speaker 1: a sharper focus that's deeper and yeah, and and more
Speaker 1: more in one's own control. And I think that's really beautiful. Yes,
Speaker 1: definitely more, really exciting. Yes, And I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see what's next. I can't wait just to watch everything.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to keep watching this show now because
Speaker 1: it's very good. Even the horror and I don't get along,
Speaker 1: so I agree with you have to talk about it,
Speaker 1: and hopefully we'll find a comedy to do so.
Speaker 2: Hopefully. I'm not I'm in a groom with I'm not
Speaker 2: a horror person anymore. I used to be, but I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not a horror person and I've ended up in
Speaker 2: a horror show. Yeh. But yeah, it's yeah, it's it's
Speaker 2: a fun one.
Speaker 1: It's definitely really it's really very good. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on today.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks for having me. This was really fun.
Speaker 1: It's lovely