WEBVTT - Melanie Lynskey is Done Apologizing 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:08.399 I'm Katie Kuric and this is Next Question. We've been 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.200 through a lot over the past few years, and with 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.800 all the bad stuff happening, it can be hard to 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.640 figure out how to bounce back, regroup and live better. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:22.000 That's why this season of Next Question is all about resilience. 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.000 Think of it as a kind of survival guide to 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.880 navigating this crazy world we're living in. And by the way, 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:30.920 if you want to get smarter every morning with a 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.360 breakdown of the top news stories and fascinating takes on 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:37.479 health and wellness and pop culture, sign up for our 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:45.440 daily newsletter, wake Up Call by going to Katiecurik dot com. 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.479 Melanie Lensky is having a moment, and she's making it 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.800 her own. She's been appearing on film and TV for 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.920 almost thirty years, capturing the dark side of some very 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:04.959 complicated characters. I know what to do about Mother. We 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.840 don't want to go to too much trouble, some sort 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:16.080 of accident. That's Melanie at sixteen, playing opposite Kate Winslet 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:19.680 in Heavenly Creatures. It was the film debut for both 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.080 of them, and it was obvious that this schoolgirl from 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:27.199 New Zealand had a knack for something, and almost thirty 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:31.120 years later she was the merciless warlord and the last 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:36.520 of us. It has to stop. It has to stop now, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:41.520 you mean now that you're in the cell, But before 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:46.000 people dying was okay, when you were safe and protected 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.320 and ratting on your neighbors. To Pedra, they put a 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:54.760 gun to my head. Here have I satisfied the necessary 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.559 conditions for you to talk? See what I mean? Hey, 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.240 wouldn't you want her in charge during a zombie apocalypse? 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.640 And now Melanie is getting tons of buzz as Shawna 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:11.120 in the runaway showtime hit Yellowjackets. Please state your name 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:16.680 for the record, Shawna, Shawna Sadeki, miss A DECKI do 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.680 you understand your rights as I have explained them to you? Yes? 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:27.200 I do. Why did you kill Adam Martin? What I 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:35.960 didn't didn't? What I didn't murder Adam? Whoever? I didn't 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.720 murder anyone. But the ride hasn't always been a smooth one. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:44.000 She doesn't fit into a neat package of conventional Hollywood 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:48.480 beauty standards, and now well she's done apologizing for it. 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.520 In fact, if there's one thing she's learned after all 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.840 these years, it's that light's too short to worry about 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.560 unachievable goals. It just feels like such a waste of 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:03.400 time to me. Clearly, the perspective she's gained has only 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.519 made her stronger. Her skyrocketing career as a testament to that. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.040 And if there's one thing we can all learn from Melanie, 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:15.120 it's that it's time to embrace our power, love the 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:23.600 bodies we're in, and stop apologizing. Are you battling cancer? 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:28.400 I'm passionate about raising awareness about early detection, and it's 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:33.600 also critical to understand all treatment options, especially their impact 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:38.119 on survival and quality of life. View Ray has reinvented 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:43.080 cancer treatment with Meridian MRI guided radiation therapy. We're nearly 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.760 eighty percent of patient's complete treatment and as few as 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:51.600 five sessions, often with little or no side effects. Innovation 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.480 like Meridian gives hope to millions of people around the world. 0:03:55.880 --> 0:04:01.320 Locate a Meridian at feway dot com. Now let's get 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.560 to it, Melanie Lynskey, I'm so excited to talk to you. 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:08.720 I'm such a huge fan. I'm such a fan of yours. 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.400 I can't believe you even know who I am. It's 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:15.840 astonishing to me. So thank you so much for having me. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.160 You know, I marvel at the ability of actors from 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:25.640 all over the world to perfect accents, and particularly when 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:30.080 they sound so American. Was it hard for you initially? Oh, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.360 thank you so much. Well, I mean, in New Zealand, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.200 we grew up with a lot of British television and 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.720 American television, so I was used to the accent. I think, 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:42.240 when it's something you grow up hearing. You know, it's 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.920 hard to be an American and do a New Zealand 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.960 accent because it's not familiar, right, But I was so 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.120 used to it. And then I just studied. I watched 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.360 movies and talked back to the movies and yeah, so 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.800 that's how I learned. And did you know from a 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.520 very early age you wanted to be an actor, because 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.720 I know you're a little girl growing up in New Plymouth, 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:11.360 New Zealand. Yes, And how did this spark your imagination 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:17.080 and the idea that this was a possible career for you? 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.720 You know, I was so shy as a child. I 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:24.400 was like painfully, painfully shy, and at some point, I 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.200 don't know what compelled me. I auditioned for a play 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:31.680 and I felt this enormous freedom and having lines to 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.760 say and getting to be on a stage kind of 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.800 inhabiting someone else's body. All my self consciousness went away. 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.640 I wasn't worried about what am I doing with my hands, 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.080 or what do I look like? Or how's everyone responding 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.800 to me? And I was about sex. And then I 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.080 just got addicted, like truly addicted. I was doing plays 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.359 at church, doing plays at school like whenever I could, 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:57.200 So you knew this was something that you were going 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:01.160 to pursue. Yeah, and then at sixty you got your 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.440 first big role in a movie that I remember and 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:09.000 I loved, called Heavenly Creatures. Yeah. I had been saying 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.080 that I wanted to be an actor, and everybody around 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.200 me said, that's not a real job. You got to 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.960 think about what you really want to do. But it 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.760 was my dream. And then I was fifteen and some 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.760 people came to my high school and did a movie audition, 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.680 and I got the job and Heavenly Creatures and went 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.960 off by myself for three months to make this incredible movie. 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.960 Was one of the world's greatest actresses and one of 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.919 the world's greatest directors, and I like it just was 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:42.320 like drama school. I learned so much. You don't fit 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:47.160 into this typical box for an actress. I was really 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.880 upset reading that. Not surprisingly, Harvey Weinstein was a real dick, 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:57.919 and you describe your co star as having this unfettered confidence, 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.599 and as you mentioned, I'll read, Melanie, you were shy 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:08.880 and Harvey Weinstein didn't help build up that confidence. Tell 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.520 me how you were treated at that time, which is 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:17.120 really aggravating to me. It's not like a traumatic, you know, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.280 it feels a bit ridiculous to talk about when people 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:23.960 have had genuine, terrible traumas inflicted upon them by that person. 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.440 It just was more, you know, Kate and I had 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:31.320 been on this adventure together making this movie together, like 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:33.840 a little team. We were you know, some nights we 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.320 slept over together because we were so close we couldn't 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:41.440 let it go. And then during the release of the movie, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:45.920 became apparent to me that I was not the important one, 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.320 and at a certain point I was kind of a hindrance. 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.120 It felt like, you know, I was shy. I would 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.120 take a minute to talk in interviews like often Kate 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:58.240 would just answer all the questions because I'd be kind 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.800 of collecting myself. Were also sixteen years old. Yeah, I was. 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.920 I was so young, and I just like the fact 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:07.960 that I was in New York. I just was you know. 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:11.160 We were staying at the Four Seasons off of Central Park, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.680 and every day we just would like take all the 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:17.320 snacks out of the mini bar. But he just there 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.880 was just like a vibe of like, yeah, like every 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.520 time I was there, I was kind of ignored, sat 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.440 at the end of the table kind of thing, and 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:31.360 Kate was being very celebrated deservedly, but whenever there was 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.560 a fancy dinner, I just was treated as though I 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:39.040 wasn't there by Harvey in particular, and it was hurtful. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:44.520 Did that give you a sense that, gosh, maybe I'm 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.559 going to be a bit of an outsider in this industry? Yeah, 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.320 it really did. And I just I started to think, 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.400 did I do a bad job? You know? And I 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:57.400 always have loved film criticism, so I asked to read 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.280 every review in Merrimax was sending me the reviews and 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.880 they were wonderful. So I was like, Okay, people, I 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.640 respect people have been reading or saying wonderful things about 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.280 the work that I did, So what is it? And 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.360 it kind of boils down to you know, you're it, 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.199 You're not the thing, And then you know, Kate was 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.880 getting offers from agents and millions of scripts and it 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.320 just wasn't happening for me, and I just had to 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:26.839 sort of go. I didn't expect that to happen, the 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.880 Kate within Slid experience, right, but you expected something. I 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.960 thought maybe I'd get an agent, and I just for 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.520 a couple of years nothing happened, and then a very 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.439 sweet lady in Los Angeles signed me and I started 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:44.000 working again, but it was definitely a slow process. We'll 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:50.839 be back right after this. Are you or a loved 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:55.120 one battling cancer. I'm passionate about raising awareness about the 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:59.400 importance of early detection and for patients and their caregivers 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:04.600 to fully understand all available treatment options, especially those that 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:09.640 have meaningful impact to extending survival and improving quality of life. 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.600 You know, too often the length of treatment, recovery period, 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.240 and debilitating side effects can be difficult to cope with. 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.880 Our partners at View Ray have reinvented cancer treatment with 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:27.120 Meridian MRI guided radiation therapy for those who qualify. Around 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.960 eighty percent of patients complete treatment and as few as 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:36.400 five sessions, often with little or no side effects. Viewray 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.840 is working to educate patients about this life changing cancer 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.720 treatment and where patients can find a Meridian treatment center. 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.200 Innovation like Meridian gives me hope for the millions of 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:51.800 people around the world currently battling cancer. So talk to 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.359 your doctor to find hospitals where a Meridian is available. 0:10:55.920 --> 0:11:05.480 Visit viewry dot com. What is it do you think, Melanie, 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:09.520 about your upbringing or about your training that has allowed 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:15.360 you to tap into something that is complex and mysterious 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:22.760 and makes you particularly adapt at portrayed deeply misunderstood characters. 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:27.000 Do you ever think about, like what helped shape me 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.440 and allow me to do that? Thank you first of 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:34.800 all for saying that I think I was always very 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:39.160 sensitive and now you know, I'm in my mid forties now, 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:40.920 and this is the first time in my life that 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:46.720 I've had kind of true, like mainstream success, And I'm 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.719 so grateful for all the years of being anonymous, all 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:52.880 the years of being under the radar. Honestly, all the 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.480 years of struggling and getting to know myself and living 0:11:56.559 --> 0:12:00.760 life and getting to observe people, because that's where you learn, 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.040 that's where you you know, Empathy is such a big 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:08.560 part of acting and the ability to understand someone else's situation, 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.600 and you can really be put in a little bubble 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.960 if you're a famous person. So I'm very grateful that 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.719 I was not famous at a young age that I 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.880 got to just live and experience things. You are having 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.480 a moment, as they say, I'm sure you've seen a 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:30.640 lot of the headlines. Melanie Melanie Lynsky is having a moment. Yes. 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:37.280 And I read in an article that your psychic predicted this. 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.440 I mean, do you have a regular psychic or is 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:45.880 this somebody You happen to see the hand on a 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:50.000 window and decided to give it a try. Every time 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.439 I saw the hand on a window people they would say, oh, 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.440 you have a duck or a tragedy is all around you. 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:57.920 I was like, oh god, I never got and then 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.560 they would charge you. They'd be like, that's a hundred 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:06.319 dollars for hearing that your life is tragic. No. I 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.520 met this woman through a friend of a friend. She's 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.960 absolutely amazing. Her name's Fatima. She lives in New Orleans. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:17.640 Her website is called Awakened with Fatima dot com, and 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.160 it's kind of like having a very empowering therapy session 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.720 every time you talk to her. But there is one 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:28.440 time in the middle of the pandemic, I was feeling 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.280 kind of hopeless. I had been pregnant, I lost my pregnancy. 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.200 It was a very painful, sad time for me, and 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:41.160 I wasn't doing anything, going anywhere working, it was the pandemic. 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.440 And she just said, you're about to enter into a 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:47.679 time in your career that you thought wasn't going to 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.120 happen because it didn't happen when you were a twenty five. 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.960 And I said, Fatima, I don't think so, it's not 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:59.080 really how it goes, like, bless you, but no, and 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:00.880 she was like, no, it's going to happen. And then 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.199 she said you've already done something and it's going to 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.880 come back. And I said, well, I did this pilot, 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.360 but I haven't heard a peep, like I literally haven't 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.000 heard anyone say like the pilot was great or anything. 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.680 And eight months, yeah, crickets. And she was like, Nope, 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:19.240 it's gonna get picked up. It's going to be a 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:23.200 big success. And she just sounded crazy, like I was like, 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:25.960 you know what, she can't always be right. She's probably 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.800 stressed out she is always right. She's always right. And 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.760 of course she was talking about Yellow Jackets. She was 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:37.680 talking about Yellow Jackets. Yeah, which is a fantastic show. 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:42.040 I'm so excited for the second season. Oh thanks, And 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.880 I want to talk all about your role in that, 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:48.280 but I also want to talk a little bit about you. 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:52.120 Once said that you weren't getting any roles, and the 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:56.560 ones that you were getting would be quote, the fat 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.680 character just sitting in the corner eating a chocolate bar 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.160 while the pretty girls are all at the dance. Yeah, 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.239 And I objected to that. I objected to their very existence. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.880 And also, you know, the other painful thing about it 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:13.600 was that I was in the middle of a very 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:17.520 very intense eating disorder where I would eat eight hundred 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.240 calories a day and if I ate anything over, I 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:23.400 would throw up. Sorry trigger warning for anyone you know 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:28.160 with eating disorders. But I was starving myself as much 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.680 as I possibly could. I was obsessively exercising, and I 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.480 was still like a size six, you know, that was 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.240 as small as it was going to get. And I 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.520 was still being treated like the chubby one and the 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:44.960 plane one, and it kind of my self acceptance kind 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.560 of came out of exhaustion at a certain point, because 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.400 I was like, it doesn't matter what I do, and 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.400 I'm spending so much time worrying about like what's on 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.560 this salad, like you know, never having salad, dressing, never 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:02.120 eating a French fry, and I just couldn't anymore. I 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:07.400 was so tired. I didn't want to be playing the 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.120 roles that were coming to me, so I was passing 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:13.280 on everything and I just thought like, maybe I can't 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.840 be an actor. And then there was this kind of 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.040 amazing thing that happened that the more I came to 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.640 terms with me and my body and who I was 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.520 and what truly was like a healthy point for me, 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:30.000 the more my world started opening up. It was like 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:34.440 the universe was rewarding me for believing in myself. That 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:39.000 sounds a bit mystic, and for accepting yourself. Yeah, you know. 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.240 I also had an eating disorder when I was in 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:48.240 college and a few years afterwards, and I know this 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:53.040 kind of strange mentality that takes over where it's kind 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.480 of an all or nothing situation. If I ate a 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:59.560 stick of gum that wasn't sugarless, yeah, I would feel 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:05.960 like a failure and then punish slash reward myself by benching, 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:10.200 because I'd have to start again tomorrow on this quest 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:17.200 for perfection. Yeah, and it's so damaging physically and mentally, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.800 and I'm so glad for both of us that we 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.160 stopped doing that. Yeah, I'm so glad for you. It's 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.840 exhausting and it's I mean, you're one of the most 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.359 brilliant women in the world. The fact that any part 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.440 of your brain was occupied with what your body looked 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:39.840 like as a tragedy. You know, the fact that it 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.800 just makes it impossible for us to be our whole 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:48.560 selves because you're obsisting over something that's so meaningless. How 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.679 did you keep going though? So you said you accepted 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:57.399 yourself the universe opened up, and tell me about what 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.600 happened after that? Did you start getting the kind of 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:07.480 roles that you wanted? I not exactly. I mean I 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.479 was very happy being a working actor, and I just 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.120 tried to make the best choices I could within what 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:19.119 I was being given. And I guess the kind of 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.479 turning point for me. I did this movie called Shattered Glass, 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:26.159 which I think was in two thousand and four. Do 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:29.800 you see all those editors at the correspondence dinner why 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:32.760 they were circling him. Is that what you want? Amy? 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:34.720 Do you get a bunch of smoke blown up your 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:39.480 ass by a pack of editors? Yes? Yes it is. 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.800 And when I saw that movie, I just had a 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.840 very deep understanding. I was like, this is how I 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.160 want to feel every time I see myself in anything. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.760 And of course that didn't happen. There were still disappointments 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.560 after that, but it became my set point for quality 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.399 work and the type of work I wanted to do, 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.600 and I really tried to follow a path that lead 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:16.719 me into more independent movies after that. Let's talk about 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:22.000 Yellow Jackets, which is, as I mentioned, an incredible show. 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.959 It's a soccer team, a girls soccer team. They're plane 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:31.520 crashes in the wilderness, and it really becomes a sort 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:36.120 of Lord of the Flies, survival of the fittest, and 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:42.119 each character carries a mystery of how they survived into 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:47.879 adulthood and how they manifest the trauma of being in 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:52.720 that situation. How did that come together? And why do 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.120 you think it's struck a chord among people who are 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:00.280 watching it? I mean, I just got a script, got 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.440 an offer in a script, and it was so good. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.840 And I just was like, I don't know how many 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.440 people got offered this before me, but thank you for passing. 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:16.280 You're crazy, whoever you are. I just was so excited. 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.520 The thing for me about the pilot was that there 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.679 are so many women, so many female characters, and they 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.240 all felt like human beings. They all felt like people 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:29.520 that I knew or wanted to know. There was no 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:34.520 sort of stereotypes, and I think that that's the thing 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.720 that's been appealing. Part of it is the mystery of 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:39.760 the show and the fact that the show is very, 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.720 very compelling and well written. But the other thing I 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.639 think is that the women feel real, Like it's a 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.480 group of women in their mid forties, and we all 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.160 kind of look like it. You know, we all look 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.639 like we've lived, we all resemble someone that you might know. 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.680 You know, my co stars are absolutely beautiful, but there's 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.760 not like a level of perfection that anyone's trying to attain. 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:08.080 We were encouraged to not we're makeup. We were encouraged 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:13.440 to look like real people, and I just think it's refreshing. 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.119 I think people want to see themselves who represented and 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.800 I think I think also the young cast is so 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:24.480 great they are. They're amazing too, They're just amazing. So 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.919 it's just kind of a magical. There's some moments working 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.240 on the show where I'm like, oh, there's just magic here, 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.200 just something magic is happening. But it is so well 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:37.879 written and the characters are so awesome. You play Shauna 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:45.040 who has this strength and yet this vulnerability too. How 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.520 did you go about playing Shaun as someone who takes 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:54.439 a rabbit who's eating her vegetables and basically bilets it 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:57.119 and serves it to her family for dinner with a 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.520 big smile on her face. This chili is really good night, 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:11.320 It's really good new Russipe. Actually it is Callie forgot 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.840 to take the men out of the freezer, so I 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.440 killed a rabbit in the garden, skinned it. Chin to Ana, 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:24.399 she says, Christmam, you're in a mood. You were so 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:27.919 freaking weird. Oh it's one of my favorite scenes. It 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:31.800 was so funny. It's so funny and yet so disturbing. 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.119 It's so funny. I mean, there's very little that I 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:38.480 have to do. It's all on the page. This character 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:43.159 is so fully realized. She's everything. She's very very funny, 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:48.679 she's sarcastic. She's kind of rough around the edges, but 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:53.320 she's like an empowered sexual woman. I mean, it's there. 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:56.919 They're just giving me incredible stuff to do in every episode. 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:01.520 It seems like with every role you take, Melanie, this 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:06.359 idea of what an actor should look like continues to 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:10.359 dog you. On the set of Yellow Jackets, there was 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:17.240 one person who I was working alongside in some capacity 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:21.639 who was very concerned with my body. And it was 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:25.199 disappointing because I had said to that person ahead of time, Listen, 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:29.359 I had a miscarriage. I have not been able to 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:33.239 lose the weight that I gained from being pregnant. I 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:35.920 think there's some hormonal thing. I've gone through four rounds 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:39.359 of IVF since I had my miscarriage. My body is 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:41.840 sort of going through it right now, and I'm just 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:44.720 trying to give myself some grace and be kind. And 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:50.119 they just had a problem, you know. It was just 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:52.720 one single voice, and I do have to say at 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:55.520 a certain point, you know, as somebody who had had 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:58.440 an eating disorder, my first instinct was to turn on myself, 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:02.199 be full of shame. You know, I had been on 0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:04.560 a diet, I had done you know, nothing was happening, 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:07.440 Like sometimes it just is what it is. Your hormones 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:11.240 are like out of control and your body's protecting itself. 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:15.560 So there wasn't really anything I could do. I was 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:17.560 driving myself crazy and then I said, you know what, 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:20.840 I think, I'm going to go to the producers. And 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:24.640 I went to them and I said, is this a problem? 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:27.640 You know I've been told it's a problem. I'm trying 0:24:28.840 --> 0:24:33.679 my best, and they were horrified, mortified, and they just said, listen, 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:35.880 this person has come to us. We shut it down. 0:24:36.000 --> 0:24:39.280 We said, please stop talking about that. It's inappropriate. We 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:42.359 think she's perfect. And Ashley was one of the co 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:44.560 creators of the show, wrote me this beautiful letter that 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:47.840 just said, I wish that I had seen someone who 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:49.960 looked like you on television when I was growing up, 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:53.120 and especially in a love triangle with two hot men. 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:57.680 It might have like shifted my future a little bit. 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:00.560 And this is something that I want to do for women. 0:25:01.000 --> 0:25:03.320 So the team involved in the creation of the show, 0:25:03.400 --> 0:25:06.679 that's their feeling about it, and I really did feel 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:09.760 empowered by them. And also I was playing a character 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:13.320 who honestly doesn't think about your body, doesn't think about it. 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:15.639 It's you know, if someone was to say, like, oh, 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:17.399 are you sure about those genes, she'd be like, what 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:19.600 the fuck are you talking about? You know, it's not. 0:25:19.840 --> 0:25:22.600 And there's an empowerment in that too, especially for me 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:26.280 at that time of my life, feeling so fragile and vulnerable, 0:25:26.400 --> 0:25:28.679 to have to go to work and be in the 0:25:28.680 --> 0:25:31.400 skin of somebody who's just like, yeah, here I am. 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:33.440 This is what I look like. You know, I think 0:25:33.440 --> 0:25:36.760 I look great. It really helped me sort of process 0:25:36.840 --> 0:25:39.359 some of my own feelings. Do you sometimes feel like 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:42.600 sissiv us, you know, pushing a boulder up a hill, 0:25:43.280 --> 0:25:47.879 trying to be the embodiment of what it means to 0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:52.000 be an inclusive society, what it means to appreciate and 0:25:52.160 --> 0:25:57.840 love bodies and people of all different types. Because I 0:25:57.840 --> 0:26:01.320 feel like we make gains and then we, you know, 0:26:01.480 --> 0:26:06.000 take two steps backwards, and it's very frustrating, isn't it. 0:26:06.000 --> 0:26:11.080