The Hollywood Reporter recently gathered Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Lange, Elisabeth Moss, and Chrissy Metz for a drama actress roundtable interview. Here are some of the highlights:
You have tackled ageism, sexism, misogyny, depression, domestic abuse, adultery and rape. When was the last time you were genuinely nervous to tackle a storyline?
OPRAH WINFREY (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, HBO) I was genuinely nervous to take on the role of Deborah Lacks because look at this table. I come as the least experienced person at this table. I come as a person who has great respect for the craft of acting — and for years interviewing actresses and being inspired by actresses, but not developing the craft. I was really afraid to do that.
Afraid of what, exactly?
WINFREY I was afraid of making a fool of myself! (Laughter.)
NICOLE KIDMAN (Big Little Lies, HBO) That's every day.
REESE WITHERSPOON (Big Little Lies, HBO) What are you talking about?! The Color Purple is so amazing.
WINFREY When was that? That was like 30 years ago now. And let me tell you what actually made me even more intimidated: I just finished doing a film with Reese and Ava DuVernay and Mindy Kaling [A Wrinkle in Time], and I just happened to ask Reese, "How many films have you done?" And you said, "Oh, honey child …" (Laughter.)
WITHERSPOON Do you all know how many movies you've done?
WINFREY You said, "I don't know, 100 or so." I was thinking, "Oh, God, I hope she doesn't ask me because my number will be like, five, maybe?"
CHRISSY METZ (This Is Us, NBC) Oh, I've got you beat. I've done maybe one independent movie.
ELISABETH MOSS (The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu) I don't know if I was nervous about the scenes themselves, but [Margaret Atwood's] book itself is so beloved, so that was my only hesitation. I wanted to make sure that we were going to do the book justice and do it in the way that it should be done or we were going to get in trouble. I don't have any fear with scary stories. That's what I want to do. But I took six weeks to say yes because I wanted to make sure we were going to do a good job.
WINFREY And how did you make sure?
MOSS I spoke to Bruce [Miller], our showrunner, for about an hour and a half. I was in Australia doing the second season of Top of the Lake with Nicole [at the time]. And then I spoke to Warren Littlefield, our EP, and to Hulu. I asked for the second script because I know the second script can be a little bit of a … (Laughter.)
WINFREY Everybody's so excited over the pilot and then … yeah.
MOSS Exactly. Everyone spent 10 years on [the pilot], and then you get the second script and you're like, "Really?! Is there a third one?" And then one night I was thinking about saying no. I just wasn't sure what to do and I couldn't sleep. I don't know if anyone else does this, but if you're thinking about taking a role, I pretend that I said no to see how that feels. I felt terrible and was super jealous of whoever did it and then I knew.
Whether it's The Handmaid's Tale or Feud, much has been made of these shows' relevance in today's political climate. How would they have landed differently if Hillary Clinton were president?
JESSICA LANGE (FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN, FX) We started shooting in September, before the election, and Ryan [Murphy, the showrunner] said he was thinking, "Well, we'll make this piece about misogyny, sexism, ageism, all of this, but come the beginning of the year, it might just be ironic." But of course …
MOSS It wasn't …
LANGE No, we took a different turn, and I think it's more relevant now than it could have possibly been at any other time. I don't think we've ever seen this much misogyny, this much sexism, and I think the fact that we have this story that is set in a particular period, but obviously Hollywood in the 1960s, is just a microcosm of the greater atmosphere that we are all living through now.
Hollywood likes to lock people into lanes, and there is a certain thing they want from you or a role that they expect from you. What is that role? And what are the roles you don't get approached for but you feel like you'd be great at?
METZ Comedy was really my thing, and I guess they were like, "Oh, it's the sad big girl; we better put her in some drama." I'm kidding, but I would love to do comedy. I would also love to do a project that is not about weight. So just a woman who happens to be going for a job interview or whatever. Slowly but surely it will happen.
WITHERSPOON I started a production company five years ago because I was looking at maybe the worst script I've ever read in my entire life and it had two parts for women. I called my agents and said, "This is such a terrible script." They said, "Well, seven women want it so … you're the only one who's not vying for the part." And I thought, "God, if this is what we've come to, I have to get busy." Because you can either complain about a problem or you can be part of the solution.
KIDMAN We created the show for that reason. The other thing is, being a woman and having children, there are so many things I would want to do, but so much of my life is, how do I balance that? If I had my fantasy life, there are so many roles and places and things I'd want to do. I'm now at a point where I have to go, "What is that going to cost me? And what is that going to cost the people I love? Do I want to leave now to do this?" Men have that, but they don't have it in the same way that we have it.
WITHERSPOON They go away and come back and they're a hero. We go away and come back and we have abandoned our children. (Laughs.)
KIDMAN We don't get the choices as much with our careers and our lives because a lot of it is, we have to be there to take care of everything still. Or I do. And so a lot of my fantasy life is that I can go and read a play and then I've done it. I then don't have to go and actually do it because I have done it in my bedroom. And that's what I realized at this stage of my life. That's going to have to be enough.
Read the full interview at The Hollywood Reporter.
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