WEBVTT - The Handmaid’s Tale with Amanda Brugel 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:06.720 Welcome to Amy and TJ. And we are very excited 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:11.520 about this edition of our podcast because it is season six, 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.240 the final season of Handmaid's Tale. Every woman I know 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:19.320 is obsessed with it. We have discussions about each episode 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:23.440 after they're over, and Wow, this season has already begun 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.360 with a bang. But I want to make sure everyone 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:27.120 knows who's listening. We are not going to give away 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.520 any spoilers in case you haven't started the new season yet, 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.680 but the first three episodes dropped on April eighth, and 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:36.760 then there are new episodes that roll out every Tuesday. 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.800 So this is exciting. It only gets sad when they're 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:41.920 all gone. So we still have so many more to 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.479 consume and so many plot lines to follow. And we're 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.920 going to assume that if you're already listening to this episode, 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.519 you're likely a fan of Handmaid's Tale. But if you 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:54.280 don't know it's premise, let me give you just a 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:59.800 quick synopsis. The series is set in a fictional community 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.480 we can call it that called Gilead. It's a society 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.720 that has basically taken over the United States after an 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.960 environmental disaster has left most women unable to have children, 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.640 so it takes the few remaining fertile women and forces 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.840 them into sexual servitude to have children for childless couples. Essentially, 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.440 women are property of Gilead. And we have one of 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.600 the stars from Handmaid's Tale with us. She plays Rita, 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.560 who at the beginning of the series plays a Martha, 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:32.840 which is basically a maid or a domestic worker for 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:37.000 these Gilead families. And she is the Martha for a 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.720 very prominent Gilead family. And I want to say here 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.440 that TJ wanted to be with us on this podcast, 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:45.840 but he's feeling a bit under the weather, so he 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.280 sends his regards because he was very excited as well 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:52.080 to be talking to the one and only Amanda Brugal. 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.880 So Amanda, thank you for coming on the podcast, and 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.080 thank you for talking with us. I'm so excited to 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:57.480 have you on. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.280 You're welcome. I'm so excited to meet you and to 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.520 discuss all that is Handmaids. 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.000 Wow. I mean, do you have these same conversations with 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.040 your girlfriends even though you know what's coming and you 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:11.560 know what's about to happen. Do you still find yourself 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.480 having debriefs with the women in your life. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:19.680 Yeah? I know, not really. I mean, I think because 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:23.240 they're with me throughout it. It's got every week, they 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.000 were together almost every day, so they know what's coming up. 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.680 What I do love is having conversations with complete strangers 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.480 on the street, Like it's the one thing I found 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.560 in my life, the one job that suddenly all sort 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:42.519 of weird social contracts are out the window and suddenly 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.920 I'm hugging people in the street or bonding or telling 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.000 really intimate stories with complete strangers. And it's the thing 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:53.079 I love about art, but specifically this show. It just 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.760 just throws all of the formalities to decide and we're hugging. 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:57.600 I love it. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.840 You know what? That is so interesting? That makes so 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.520 much sense because this is a show that touches on 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.560 so many I would say, deep seated fears or maybe 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:13.960 not that deep seated among women about our role in society, 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.160 and especially given today's political climate, perhaps even more so 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.799 over the last several years, certainly since Handmaid's Tale has 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:25.880 come out, there have been so many eerily similar things happening, 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:30.080 parallel things happening in politics that I think the show 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:33.639 even probably had more significance and more prominence than ever 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.400 before because all of a sudden women are thinking, my god, 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.320 could that happen here? Or are we on a path 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.920 where that could one day in the future happen. What 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:45.960 do people say to you when they come up to you. 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:51.800 I mean people ask me how It's almost like they 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.520 want my advice, like will this happen? Is it close? 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.680 What should I do? And so I have to sort 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:01.960 of feel like sometimes a therapist to sort of say 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.440 to them that were, although it seems close, we're not 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.520 quite there yet. I too, am just as afraid. I 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.480 don't really have any secrets of how to navigate fictitious gilliad. 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.719 A lot of people talk to me about watching it 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.760 with their children, not children, but the sort of teen daughters, 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.240 how to navigate conversations with them, and just really people 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.880 looking ultimately for my advice and how to navigate gilliad, 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.000 How to navigate if this were to happen, and then 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:32.960 what would I do? 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.640 That is wild. I did not expect you to say that, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:37.720 But then when you say it, I guess it makes sense. 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.359 But were you prepared for any of that? 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.240 No, not at all. I mean I did. What's interesting 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.400 about the book is that I'm Canadian, and so I 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.279 read the book when I was fifteen, was obsessed with 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.520 the book. In love with the book. I wrote my 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.760 thesis on it to get into university. I didn't know 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.040 if I was waiting to stop children a writer. Yeah, 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.000 I didn't know an actor or writer. And to get 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.240 into the writing program, I chose the Handmaid's Tale. I 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:05.880 chose to write it on the book, but I chose 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:06.760 to write it on Rita. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.320 This was in Night You've got to be kidding me No. 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.800 Nineteen ninety six, nineteen ninety six, and so Rita has 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:14.920 been with me for a long time. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.080 So I do feel a little bit like a Handmaid's 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.240 Tale expert, but not so much so where I can 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.200 help others navigate their lives. 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.920 That is such a full circle moment, crazy. Can you 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.080 take me back to the moment when you first auditioned 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.560 and were you auditioning specifically for this role that you 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.080 wrote your thesis around. 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.760 I was, well, you know, the casting director in Canada, 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:39.479 I talked so much about the book. It's like I 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.560 had shares, like I was trying to push the book 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:46.520 on people, had copies in my pocket. The Canadian casting 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.240 director knew for years how much I loved the book, 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.160 and she said, oh, the book that you like, I 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.760 I'm casting for it, and she said, I'm not. I'm 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:57.800 going to bring you in so you can speak the lines. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:05:59.919 You're not going to get it. It's going to go 0:05:59.920 --> 0:06:02.600 to an American, but just just so you can come 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.520 in and audition. And so that first audition I was 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.440 there and Bruce Miller, our showrunner, and Read Morano, our 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.279 director who started this whole ball rolling, were there and 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.440 we just talked openly about the book, and I gave 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.039 my advice and how I thought what I thought some 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:19.599 mistakes were thinking I wouldn't get the job, but I 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.560 think it's they felt my passion for it, and so 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:24.320 I got the job. 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.000 What was it about Rita that spoke to you for 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:27.880 all these years? 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.679 You know? I think Martha's are really interesting. I really 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:37.080 feel like they are not unlike a lot of black 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.560 women in this world in which we are asked to 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.880 be seen and not heard or people of service. In 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.359 the book, Rita is not a woman of color. But 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.440 I just felt such a kinship with her, and she's 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.640 quite mysterious, and I made up all sorts of backstories 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.880 for her even before this became a television show. I 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:57.760 just felt like she was a kindred spirit. 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.640 Wow. And yes, the Martha's due take on this other role. 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:06.040 They're not the ones that are providing children, and yet 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.440 they're having to provide everything for the family and almost 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.040 be of service to the Handmaid's Tale. Sorry, the Handmaids 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.280 as well. You know from what I've I have not 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.440 read the book, but obviously I've watched every single episode 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.200 of every single season of Handmaid's Tale, and the Martha's 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:26.800 kind of have to do it all. They are the 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:28.800 unsung heroes in the story. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.160 Absolutely, that's what I call myself, especially for this season. 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.440 It's I've always thought of her as the secret weapon 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:41.480 or sort of the silent unsung hero, providing emotional support, 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.480 providing sometimes physical support, and the many times she has 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:53.760 helped June escape, although June keeps coming back. Yeah, they 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:59.120 are the women who fight without weapons who women like 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.200 that are always the most interesting to me. They have 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:07.200 a very very large impact with a very small sort 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.119 of verbal bite. They don't make a lot of noise, 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.280 but they make they influence the world greatly. 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.800 Wow. That's that's incredible and such a good way to 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:29.080 put it. So this is the final season, how do 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.000 you feel about that. Are you ready to move on? 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.040 Are you ready to you think it was time for 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:35.880 it to be over? 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.000 Absolutely, I mean I want to say, and I don't 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.480 want to all for it to be mistaken. I said, 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:43.800 I want to get the heck out of here. But 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.600 like it's almost been ten years amy, and you know, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.520 in television we don't get that, Like it's I feel 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.840 so lucky to have been a part of something for 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.760 almost a decade. All of us have changed, We've been 0:08:55.840 --> 0:09:03.040 through like personally, marriages, children, divorce separately outside of our characters, 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:05.520 we have navigated life together for almost a decade. So 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.679 to have that and to grow with these people who 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.960 I love, I feel so lucky. But also the fact 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.160 that we get to end the story on our terms, 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:15.600 Like it's not like something for two years we loved 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.400 and suddenly the chord was yanked and it was we 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.880 had to finish the show. So it feels like the 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.360 perfect ending that we can control and that we've taken 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.160 everything that we can and now it's time to move on. 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:31.400 And we're all quite frankly, just thrilled, thrilled that we 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:32.840 got the chance and thrilled to move on. 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.160 I love hearing that It makes me feel better being 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.040 over knowing that you all are also like you're like, 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.360 you know, it's good. It served its purpose, but now 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:45.480 there are other projects and other things to do. How 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.000 would you describe this season compared to the others? I know, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.720 I said, and certainly anyone who loves the show wouldn't 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:55.360 want to know anything about what's coming, But how would 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.600 you describe this season compared to the others? 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.960 You know? I think to me, the season the moment 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.440 I started really reading it and getting into the scripts. 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.680 It's a love letter for fans. It is to me. 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.680 It unfolds in all of the ways that fans have 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:15.400 been wanting it to unfold. Passion. There is such an 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:21.600 inertia towards a sort of a rebellion, and I know 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.680 there are Handmaids has twists and turns, but there really 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.800 is so much more action, and the action pays off 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.040 without soiling it in a way that fans have been 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.559 wanting it, been needing it to. And so I really 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.040 feel like it's the season for the fans, and people 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.000 can come back to me and question me afterwards, but 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:42.560 I promise it's going to pay off. 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.080 That is very exciting. I love hearing that did you 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.720 have a favorite episode in this stretch in this season? 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:56.559 Yeah, oh so many, Amy, Yes, Yes, I have to. 0:10:57.960 --> 0:10:58.640 I have too. 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:00.000 I have you have said it. 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:04.559 I have two. I have the there Oh gosh, I've 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.040 almost spoiled it. I have the second to last and 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:13.120 then the last. There's just it's like the everything falls 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.319 apart and then hopefully it comes back together. And those 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:17.240 are my favorites. 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.160 That is very exciting because there's something to wait for, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.720 right The second to last and the last episode are 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:25.760 the big payoffs, and they were your favorites. All right, 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:31.319 that's exciting. That makes me even more anticipatory of Tuesdays, 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.840 like Tuesday Nights. How difficult is it? I mean it 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.080 sounds like you're feeling really good about everything and you're 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.760 excited about new projects and all of that. But is 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.800 it hard? Was it hard to say goodbye to Rita? 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:47.640 Yes? And no. I mean it was on the last day, luckily, 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:49.959 and this is not spoiling anything. On the last day, 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:54.000 I wasn't by myself. I had other cast mates with me, 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.440 and I had had the pleasure of wrapping out and 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:01.439 out aunt Lydia, I saw Ot and so I had 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.200 had the pleasure of sort of being able to be 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.319 there with my people and say goodbye to them as well. 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.440 So when it was my turn, it didn't feel strange. 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.000 It just felt we were all just slowly, one after one, 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.600 jumping off the cliff and saying goodbye. And so that 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.960 was that was It was sad because it was it's 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:20.000 you take for granted that I just don't get to 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.520 do this every year. So that was that was sad. 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.480 But Rita is so much a part of me now 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:29.959 that I feel like if I miss her without sounding insane, 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.160 I can just I can just talk to her like 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.400 she's with me, And so I don't feel like I 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.480 feel like I've become so close to her and my 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:42.319 relationship with her before. I feel like I just always 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.280 have her with me, which I love so much, so 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.600 that I have to be careful not to have her 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.760 sort of sneak out into other performances. I'm in another 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.720 television show right now, currently working on the second season 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.080 of Dark Matter at an Apple show, and I played 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.800 Jennifer Connolly's best friend. We were doing a scene the 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.240 other day and I kind of went back into just 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:08.319 instinctively went back into sort of a Rita like physical 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.280 stance and my mannerisms, and I had to be like, wait, 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:15.360 wrong universe, wrong show, wrong person, And so that's something 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.959 I have to make sure I'm careful of. But she's 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:18.480 always with me. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.280 That makes a lot of sense. And Jennifer Connelly love her. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.280 We ran the New York City Marathon with her. She 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.320 is a blast. She killed it, by the way. She 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.120 was amazing in that marathon. She just it was her 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.040 first one. She got up and she blew past me. 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:35.439 She was rocking it. 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:37.440 She's amazing. I feel this is another thing that I 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.040 feel so lucky, and this is why I'm excited, not 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.040 excited to leave, but excited to go off and do 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.600 other things. I feel so lucky in my career at 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.120 you know, forty eight years old, that I get to 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:53.480 meet and experience friendships and like a deep relationship with 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.040 all of these phenomenal women and out Elizabeth Moss, Jennifer Connelly, 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:03.240 Alici Braga who's also in Dark Matter. It's been such 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.200 a treat to get to know her because she really 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:05.840 is a force. 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.920 I love hearing women also just rally, and that's part 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.880 of what Handmaid's Tale is all about, just seeing that 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.600 female sisterhood. You know, we talk so much about how 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.200 we pit each other, pit ourselves against one another, and 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.640 cat bit's not. It's so awesome when you hear genuine 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:26.520 stories about just genuine people supporting one another and making 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:29.680 brilliant art together. I love hearing about that, and we 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:35.880 need to hear more about that. I'm I'm curious about 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:40.200 you take on such heavy topics. I mean, there is 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.880 a lot of death, there is rape, there is I mean, 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.520 you name it. You guys have portrayed it and acted 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.680 through it and done so brilliantly. But what is it 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:52.640 like in the breaks when you're dealing with such heavy, 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.120 heavy material, Like I'm just wondering on this set, you 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.200 don't want to necessarily break out of character or get 0:14:58.200 --> 0:14:59.680 out of that mood. But I'm just curious how you 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.520 hand and navigated through all of that darkness with so 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.560 many awesome bright lights of beautiful women and actors and 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.200 actresses there on the set. 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:12.160 You know, you said it perfectly. I think because specifically 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:16.320 the casts are all such bright, warm lights because we 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.600 do trust one another and have such good relationships. But 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.960 also each individual personality is so funny. The actors on 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.120 the show are the funniest some of the funniest people 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.200 I've worked with, and I've traditionally had worked on comedies 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:32.160 before Handmaids that those moments that you're talking about in 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:37.040 between the takes were sometimes so light, so funny, so 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.680 filled with levity and laughter that we had to remind 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.680 ourselves that were on the set of The Handmaid's Tale. 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:46.320 Because we do get along, and because none of us 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:52.280 are really that hard core into method, we would almost 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.800 use those breaks as moments to lift one another up 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:59.160 through laughter, through humor, and then because we know the 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.600 characters so well, it was an easier transition to slide 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.960 back in. But I will say they are the happiest, 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.480 lightest moments that I've ever had on a set. We're 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.400 on the set of The Handmaid's Tail, which is so strange. 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.320 I get it, though you have to let the air out. 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.520 I can only relate in a little bit just as 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.640 a journalist when we are at worst case scenarios. You know, 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.120 terror attacks, school shootings, all of that, and you've got 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.160 all of us together that we know the different stations 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:27.920 and different folks, but you're on the scene of this 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.160 horrible tragedy, and yet somehow you got to take a 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.000 break from it. You got to be able to go 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.040 to lunch and decompressed. You got to be able to 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:37.640 have a beer and have a laugh or something, because 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.480 you can't live in that darkness the whole time. So 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.480 that actually makes sense to have that relief, for that release, 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.040 to then go back into some very dark but important 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.520 subject matter. That makes a whole lot of sense for me. 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.880 How did it feel, Obviously you all had to have 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.800 talked about you were as you were doing the show, 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.680 and you've been acting it in the middle of a 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.120 lot of political upheal here in this country. How did 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.959 it feel to maneuver through what was happening in this 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:08.840 country versus specifically, you know, even Roe v. Wade being overturned, 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:12.560 those sorts of things where women genuinely, legitimately feel fear 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:14.280 that somehow they're not going to have control over their 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.560 own health. How did you navigate that as an actress 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.200 and as a person, as a woman. 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.840 Well, you know, at the beginning, it felt, I don't 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.440 want to say surreal, but because I feel like that's 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.520 sort of downplaying it, but it was sort of surreal. 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.280 It was something that was strange at the time, but 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.679 it wasn't as serious. We had no idea this was. 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.119 We started filming this in twenty sixteen, we had no 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.400 inkling of where we were headed, and so we would 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.919 comment on how strange it was or how odd it 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.840 felt that there was still a bit of a separation. 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.200 As the years went by, and as we got closer 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.960 and closer to the narrative of the story being the 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:56.159 narrative of our real lives, that's when conversations started to 0:17:56.200 --> 0:18:00.960 turn a lot more serious. We felt a considerable amount 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:05.400 of pressure to ensure that we tell the stories accurately, 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.520 but also separately in our personal lives, a considerable amount 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:13.439 of pressure to become just more politically outspoken. Not to 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:15.800 say that I wasn't proud. I didn't even really like 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:17.800 the word feminist, because I just feel like that's just 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.840 the idea of being a woman, but just not. I 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.600 was quite verbal in my beliefs before, but suddenly as 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.159 the seasons went by, I feel and have felt a 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:31.639 responsibility to speak out against oppression of women, to speak 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.960 out against things that I thought were getting out of control. 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.159 I'm Canadian, so in Canada especially a pressure to feel 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:41.800 just more politically outspoken. 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:43.760 Yeah, I mean that makes a lot of sense. And 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.080 how did it play? I mean, did it affect you 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.520 at all? Being Canadian versus American? Did you feel like 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:53.240 you could say more because you were you were watching it, 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.360 you weren't maybe you weren't experiencing it, you weren't subject 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:58.239 to what was happening, but you could actually from an 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.000 objective point of view, almost being Canadian, and say things 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.359 maybe perhaps that even an American might be a little 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:04.400 worried about saying. 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.399 Hesitant to say. I certainly did, but I also felt, 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.000 What's interesting, and no one's ever asked this, I felt, 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:14.480 and I still feel, quite protective over Americans. Half of 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.440 my cast are Americans. Were telling a show that takes 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.160 place in Boston, although it was written by a Canadian, 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.080 and I love America. I love Americans, and so I 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:30.720 felt a protectiveness when, particularly speaking to Canadian journals of 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:36.840 my American counterparts to sort of suggest that we can't 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.680 paint everyone with the same brush, and just feel a 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:46.400 very sense of protectiveness against America in general. 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:58.440 Huh, that's very cool. And something else that's very cool. 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:02.880 You got this role, and I'd imagine this is one 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:06.680 of those roles for you, especially having written about written 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:10.200 her thesis about Rita is a dream role, a dream job. 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.120 You got it at the age of thirty seven? When 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.400 did you start acting and how did you like? Can 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.439 you give me an idea of how you got from 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:24.720 graduating from college to thirty seven landing the role of 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.399 a lifetime and for a woman that's not very typical. 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:29.560 You usually need to hit it hot early on or 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:30.440 you've aged out. 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:35.479 Girl, girl, I know I'm good to do? Are you? Oh? 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:40.760 My us Amy tell it to the world. Holy well, 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.760 I uh well, then you probably know and can relate. 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:49.439 It's I had made peace with the fact that I 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.960 was doing okay in Canada, and peace with the fact 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.960 that I was just sort of going to be a 0:20:56.040 --> 0:21:00.199 really hard, boots on the ground working actor and I 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.600 was happy doing that. It's a difficult job, and so 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:04.720 I was happy just being able to make ends meet 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:08.360 and make a life a living for myself. So suddenly 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:12.800 getting this and then it changing the course of my life, 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:19.200 changing everything about my life was sort of a miracle 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:21.200 and something that it took me a while to accept, 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:23.800 if that makes sense. It took me a while to 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:28.639 believe it, to settle into myself, to allow it to happen, 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.480 to allow myself permission to have success at a late age, 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.359 to allow myself permission to also enjoy that, to not 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:39.879 sort of apologize for it or shrink away. I earned it. 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.560 A lot changed for me. Right around the time I 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:47.400 got Handmaids, I got divorced, so I left a marriage 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:49.719 that wasn't working for me. I had two young children. 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:53.560 I was able to buy a home, and so suddenly 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.240 it felt like the life that's supposed to happen at 0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:59.440 twenty two, the one that everyone tells you. You land 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.240