Best Of: ‘Boroughs’ Actor Alfre Woodard / Rose Byrne

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From W.H.Y. in Philadelphia, this is fresh air weekend, I'm Tanya Mosley. Today, actor Elfrey Woodard. She stars in a new Netflix sci-fi series, The Burrows, from the creators of Stranger Things. She plays a retired journalist, living in a senior community,

where the residents are being preyed on by something otherworldly. The Duffer Brothers have said, "The show exists because they couldn't understand why no one had made another cocoon." Plus, TV critic David Beancooley has a review of the series.

Also, we hear from Roseburn, who starred in Bride's Mades,

Neighbors, and if I had legs I'd kick you

about a woman who spiraling, trying to care for her sick daughter while her life is unraveling. She really plays with the edge of consciousness,

“I think, in many ways, and tapped into the monster within”

and the fear of being a parent and the horror of being a parent. That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend. This is Fresh Air Weekend, I'm Tonya Mosley. The Duffer Brothers, the team behind the Netflix series stranger things, are back as executive producers

of a new Netflix series. This eight-part series is called The Burrows. And it, too, is a show about sinister forces, mysterious creatures, and a group of neighborhood misfits who emerge as heroes.

This new series was created by Jeffrey Addis and Will Matthews. Our TV critic David Beancooley has seen the entire series

and says it's well worth seeing, but as much for the cast

as the story, hears his review. Part of the appeal of stranger things was that its protagonist were quirky outsiders. Unpopular teens for the most part, who found themselves, and one another, while battling monsters and bad guys

in their isolated small town. The Burrows plays with that same theme

“but on the other end of the age spectrum.”

Its quirky misfits are all elderly, living in neighboring homes on a call to sack in an exclusive retirement community. The newest resident is Sam, a reluctant arrival, played with dead-pan gruffness by Alfred Molina.

He's recently widowed and doesn't want to be there, but there he is. It's a seemingly sparkly and welcoming place, but there may be strange creatures crawling behind the walls and there definitely are odd and nosy neighbors living next door.

Like Art and Judy, a long-time married couple played by Clark Peters from the Wire and the wonderful Alfred Woodard. As Sam is moving in, Judy is on her laptop checking out Sam's past, which Art doesn't like.

- You gotta stop stalking people. - And not stalking. - Investigating. - You're not a reporter anymore. - Turn list.

- And that makes it stalking. This wife died of a stroke five months ago. Oh, gosh, she was young. Not even 70. He worked for Northrop Grumman 35 years

as an aeronautical engineer. So we know he's smart. - Education is not the learnings of the facts, but the training of the mind to think. - Well, who said that?

- Einstein.

“No, maybe Mr. Peabody, one of the other, I remember.”

- All the neighbors in this particular hood have their own defiantly individual personalities and are played by veteran actors who fill them with depth and sadness and humor. It's great to see Peters and Woodard

strut their stuff here, and that's just for starters. Other talented veteran cast members, include Bill Pullman, Ed Beigley Jr., Jane Kasmeric, and Gina Davis, playing a spirited woman named Renee. She meets Sam when unsuccessfully

trying to start her loud car engine early in the morning. He comes out with his tool kit throws open her hood and fixes it. After which, he begins to retreat on foot while she pursues him in her car.

- I'm Renee. - Sam, you've got it on the block. - And I guess, try the engine. - Just like that? - Just like that. - Huh.

- All right. - Oh, thank you. - Hey, hey, I kind of thank you. - I don't want it. I just want to get some sleep.

- Well, they'd say you're welcome. - Excuse me. - Here's a tip. When somebody says, "Thank you." You just say, "You're welcome."

The other person will happily go on their way

what all grumpy old men love to do, be alone. - You're welcome. - That's a boy, Sam. And one of my favorite characters and actors here is Denis O'Hare.

He plays a retired doctor, Wally,

“who has a brazenly outgoing and unfiltered personality.”

He demonstrates this when first meeting Sam,

who has been invited to a party welcoming him to the neighborhood. Sam is reluctant to enter, so he's just standing outside the door. When Wally shows up with a startling opening line.

I have stage four prostate cancer. - Oh. - I probably don't have much time left. It seems a waste to spend a standing outside a party. Not that I call six people in a backyard,

much of a party, but sadly, as opposed to I get since they banned me from the community center. - Cowards. - I'm Sam. - Wally.

You're going to stand out here all night, Sam? - I'm not very good at parties. - And my wife was the sociable one.

“She brought me like me when I was with her.”

- Well, I'm beloved. System class. - I predict you'll warm to all these characters immediately. Sam takes a little longer to warm to them.

At first, he's like Bob Newheart,

reacting weirdly to all his therapy patients on the Bob Newheart show. But eventually, Sam embraces and confides in them all. He has to, as it turns out, if they're going to get out of the burrows alive.

The plot thickens in an intriguing but predictable way, especially if you're familiar with stranger things, and cocoon and ghostbusters and even jaws. But it's all good fun, even when it scores some serious points and has some serious scenes about death and dementia and loneliness.

The cast is more than up to it all, and there are younger cast members contributing too, including Jenna Malone and Carlos Miranda. And because it's central to the plot, the burrows doesn't skimp on the music soundtrack,

especially from the catalog of Bruce Springsteen. The plot of the burrows is good. The music is better, and the acting from this team of old pros is the best. - David B. and Cooley is fresh years TV critic.

He reviewed the burrows. The screen door still lands. Mary's best way. Like a vision she downstairs across the porch, as the radio plays.

More robust in sight and further along. Hey, that's me and I want you only. Don't turn me home again. I just can't face myself alone. Don't run back inside.

Don't let me know just what I'm here for. So you scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't dead young anymore. Now we're going to hear from one of the stars of the series, "Elfrey Woodard." We've been watching her on television film in the stage for decades. She's played wives, mothers, nurses, friends, lovers,

and prison wardens, women carrying their families through the ordinary and the unimaginable. Her work in a very real way has become a record of American life. Woodard earned an Oscar nomination in 1983 for Cross Creek. Over the decades since, she's been nominated for 18 Emmys winning four

and won a Golden Globe with roles in classics like Passion Fish, Crooklyn, 12 years of slave and clemency. "Elfrey Woodard, welcome to Fresh Air. It is such an honor to have you." "I'm happy to be present with you, Tony." Okay, so let's get into it.

I have a story that I have to ask you about regarding the set of the burrows. So the story goes, "There was an HR meeting on the show." And you and the other actors were behaving so badly like middle schoolers

“that's been kicked out of class and that just made me think, "What is this set?”

What was it like?" It is, you know, just think about all the people there in the back of the room and it's packed down, sit down, sit down. That's not what we're not doing that now.

And maybe there was HR when I first decade or two in the business,

but we didn't know about it or what they did. But now we have learned how to take care of environments, make them safe. Back in the day, you just had to partner up and plan up and go, "Okay, don't mess with my friend again. Don't tell."

You heard her feelings, come over here. We need to talk. That kind of stuff.

And you know, I think it's more like over 65.

And we had about like four who did just turn 40. And our show runners Jeff Addison will Matthews, they're like in their early-to-mid 40s. But most of us were people, people, and he's like, "Can you hear? I can't hear." And then we said, "Hello. None of us can hear you. We can't hear." And just being that rallying in the class back together.

When we're hearing things like, "You know, you can't call people honey." What about baby? No, you can't call people. But what if you really like them, and somebody said, "Can I say, you know, your butt looks really good in those chains?" No, definitely not. How am I know if a butt looks good? If nobody tells me.

So it was that kind of very, you know, irreverent kind of stuff going on.

But just, you know, giggling and laughing.

But that's, you know, that's our generation.

“And that's one of the things that I think we bring to the boroughs,”

in that that will and Jeff wrote in. But we expanded on it because, you know, they still haven't really shaved yet themselves at only mid-40s. What were some of the things you had them changed for sure? That you said, "This is not what a 65-plus-year-old woman

or group of friends would be doing living in a retirement community." Well, I believe you haven't seen these seniors on camera before. Maybe you saw one, but they're sort of an outlier and a script and used as comic relief as something. But how we live, how we relax together, what we say to each other.

And the fact that your chemistry, your sexual chemistry, only gets more particular and refined as it goes on. So, you know, there would be some people like, "Oh, if my mom or my grandma, a grand dad was flirting, then it would make me go, you."

“It's like, "No, how do you think you're got here?"”

And flirting is love. It's a way of reaching out. It's what humans do. And when you have people that don't have to answer to anybody, and they don't have to answer to society saying,

"What's that lady thing she's doing showing her thighs at this age?" Well, yeah, there's nobody to tell you, no. And if they do, you can tell them where to go, because you can't tell somebody who was 16, nothing. Well, that's the truth.

Your character, Judy, is also in an open marriage with one rule, "Don't fall in love." And of course, she does with Jack, who is Bill Pullman played by Bill Pullman.

“But when Jack turns up dead, I'm not spoiling it here,”

but when he turns up dead, Judy is the one asking what really happened. And I want to play a clip where she's in the kitchen table with her neighbor Sam, played by Alfred Molina,

telling him about her relationship with Jack for the first time.

Let's listen. Only rules don't fall in love. But you fell in love with Jack. I dead. I'm not diluted.

I see that the years etched across my face, not to feel the weight of my body. With Jack. Jack's all a girl in me. He can see it.

And he respected the woman. Jack and he can Jack saw us. The way we wish we were. He was good. When I was gone,

everybody loved Jack. And Jack certainly did love everybody. That was just one in the line. That's not the way Jack described you. What did he say?

He was seeing someone special. That's Alfred Molina, the new Netflix series The Burrows. That line. Jack saw the girl in me, but also the woman to the way you land that line. It's just, it's it.

Because I think it's very rare to never wear women.

“Our scene at a certain point in their lives for the totality of who they are.”

That's one of the things that the guys. heard me when I talked about it. This affair that she was having. And and and the relationship that art in Judy have. And.

At first it seemed kind of suburban and. That early 60's not like 50's. What do you mean because of that whole idea of an affair with it? Yeah, like you. It's judgmental and within the strictures of a very strict.

Actually paternalistic kind of life that Americans led then. But I said, you know, the thing is. Again, we are that generation.

We do backstory any actor that's really going to work.

That. We will bring a character to life as a human being. You do your backstory. So you know where the history. You don't just say your lines, but.

“You have to create a history for yourself in the time you're born all the way up to be able to say even one line.”

If you're going to have people believe it. And so. You know, I decided that we we went to Berkeley the two of us, you know, when you're husband. Yeah, art who clocked Peter's plays. We are.

At you know, we're educated. We're black. We're in California is of that age. What would have been happening? All of San Francisco was lit up. Reload.

Yeah. So.

And also the band guard, the Panthers were in the Bay area.

So just know, this is where we're coming from. But the thing is. What is it? And I said, yes, I might be 70. But Judy, the girl is still there.

“And some people, you're sitting on the train or the bus or just in traffic.”

LA. And people look at white hair. And all they see is a two dimensional lady stupid. They it's like if you talk to that woman and look at the pictures from her and her 20s, the 30s would her heels all the way over her head and her doing, you know,

tango, bouncing, whatever. But you wouldn't know that if you look at her and just look at her hair. And so that's the thing about accumulating years. His people. Take away your humanity when they look at you when they just observe you.

But whatever you were doing are you are doing at 20 or 30 or 40. You think you discovered it? Oh, darling. It's like just like anybody playing music, anybody painting. The longer you do it, the more fine tune you are at it. We're constantly in the process of becoming more of our true selves.

So look to the look to your elders. Our guest today is award winning actor, Alfred Woodard. She's starring in the new Netflix series The Burrows. We'll hear more after a break. I'm Tanya Mosley, and this is Fresh Air Weekend.

You know, I was so excited to talk with you because you're one of those rare actors that span generations. I can talk to my mother about your work in the 70s and 80s. I sit squarely in the 90s, 2000s. My kids are like, oh, series of unfortunate events. Yes.

Yes. Okay, and we all asked the same question. Like, tell me about her life. So let's talk about that for a minute. And I want to go to the moment where you realized you want it to be an actor.

You're 14. Catholic school in Tulsa. Once a month, your film studies teacher. Is it a brother Patrick? Go to Patrick O'Brien.

Yeah, he would bust the class to art cinema. And you saw this film, this French film about a middle-aged man. And you said what? Okay. It was he didn't just film.

Brother Pat taught me creative writing. And he, along with Cecilia, taught us marriage. Marriage and creative writing. Now, this is funny. But with Christian brother and a nun taught us marriage.

And of course, we had a film day with that. And they were good sports and loved it. But I was at Bishop Kelly High. And they would bust the whole school, 750 kids. And it was to watch whatever brother Pat was on about.

Long loneliness of the long distance runner.

Oh, incident at Al Creek Bridge. All of those sorts of films that then you got. When you got to college and film studies, you know, you had already. You'd already spoken about that. And so I remember we were exciting like, oh, go into the movies, go into the movies.

And you're getting there. And there are subtitles. You're like, there's not a movie. This is a lesson with the read. And you know, just sitting there, sucking on it, twizzler.

And before you know it, your heart is gripped. You're identifying with a middle-aged French man. He goes to sing Sunday's in Sibel. Sunday's in Sibel. You're eyes are filling up with water and I'm reading the subtitles.

And I realized then. And with the other things we were seeing. How emotionally they made me. And I immediately saw film how powerful the moving image was. And I wanted to be involved in it.

You wanted to be involved in it. But did you see yourself as a showman?

“How did you come to that moment to say, I want to be on the screen?”

And I want to be, I want to be these actors I'm watching. I didn't think of them as actors until I started watching the narrow. They done a way for Chino. Those actors on screen. That's when I said, okay, that direction.

But there's a non-sisterationally in Graham who should have been an actor, but she went into the combat. And what she knew because I was in public schools in elementary school. And what she knew was she fought me on all the time was.

I always felt, I can remember stuff out of the book.

I remember stuff I read. So you can't mark this wrong. She'd mock my paper up. You were good at memorizing. And she said, I know what Mr. Hawthorne thought.

I read the book. I asked what you thought. And so it was a different way of learning then. So she, somebody was dropping out. Had to drop out was sick.

A week to learn the script. Other play.

“She says, you need to, I need you to do this.”

And I said, oh, no, sister. I couldn't possibly pretend to be standing up in front of other people. Pretending to be somebody else. How old were you? About 14.

14, about 15 at that point. But I was, you know, a student leader. I was loud and bodacious. But there's something about. It's like, what?

Pretending to be someone else. She says, it's not for you. Alfred, it's for God. And how did you interpret that at the time? When someone tells you, you'd be in up on stage.

It's not for you. It's for God. Well, it made sense. And I thought, okay, you know, I had a lot of love and support and creature comfort in my life. I had a good life.

And I just went, okay, I honestly set to God. We are even after this. And so I got in the play. And so I got on stage at this moment. Yes.

It was as if I've been walking around on dry land, my whole life doing the breaststroke. And yeah, what it does is she weird, but she got some good ideas about stuff. And then just somebody came by me and tip me in the water. And that same, that same oddity propelled me into just the most open freedom I've ever felt in my life.

It's being in the middle of your person. Between action and cut. Just like, okay, that's it. That's what I want to do.

“Well, because she calls my parents that you have to see Alfred.”

You know, she's, you know, Alfred. She's, she's, she's an actor. She's just, she's an artist and my father who I'll tell you about him. They both went, oh, oh, everything was so like, hey, God's relief.

So yeah, I think that's such a powerful metaphor to say you felt like you were on land

doing the breaststroke and that feeling of hitting the water. I mean, that's more powerful than anything I've heard. You, you come from a family of storytellers, though, right? Like you tell the story of your mom making big pots of food and people coming from all over

But what I love about this story and I want to know where your place is and it is.

“You all were really like listening and discerning on the story.”

So if someone's story didn't add up, you'd be like, ah, y'all lying. You lied. Yes. Oh, and black people loved to jump up and out. Oh, that's a lie.

That's a lie. Everybody jumps around and goes crazy and it's a good time. But also, a lot of the stories, it's family gathering and chosen family. So a lot of the stories are being retooled, but you want to hear it again. And you could be four years old and somebody would give you the floor, but nobody would stand.

Come on, baby tell the stories. Okay, all right, come on, come on. So you realize acting is your path. You got a Boston University. Boston University in the early 70s was kind of a strange but important place.

It sounds like. Oh, yes, it was. You were there with Paul Rubens and Gina Davis who was co-star in the burrows. Yes. And I did, we did a sitcom together years ago called Sarah with Bill Mar and Bronson.

Can show it. Was Bill Pumman also in it? No, he was. I'll bill Mar. Okay.

“I'm just curious, did you and these folks who would go on to be very successful actors?”

Did you ever talk about your dreams with each other? Or what you want it to do or anything like that? I didn't, maybe people did, but I.

I've never shared my goals.

And I've never shared my goals with anybody until I got to, I was backstage at the taper. We were doing for color girls. It was the LA. Your color girls. After Boston University, right, you moved to LA.

Where everybody else moved went to New York but you chose LA. Because my whole orientation into what would be my purpose was film. So I came to LA and I was saying, oh, I'm going to LA to be in films and people are going. Would it sold out already? She's going to Hollywood to be in the movies.

Because at the time was theater considered where actors would go. Is that kind of the thought? Well, if you're in a conservatory and the work that you're doing is classic plays and theaters. But they didn't even give you the reality of it. We all thought we could go off to the Open Gate theater and do breakfast with the rest of our lives.

But again, I'm sitting there going on LA.

And so I did tell a couple of friends I said, I'm going to LA. And then a guy Gary Bass, who was from Tulsa as well, he said, "I'm going with you." And then Brenda, who was from Lakeland, Florida, and Northean, that they continue on being actors.

Now, Gary had more skills. I had no marketable skills. I still-- I can cook. But don't tell me what to cook, I know. The number of actresses like you, black actresses your age, working at your level,

has never been large. I'm thinking about CCH pounder, militia Rashad, Sicily Tyson, the Angela Bassett. You all know each other. I can imagine you at one point or another have gone for the same roles.

And how do you work through that? How do you well continue to stay and keep each other grounded, knowing that they're just a few of you. And just by virtue of the way the industry is, you're kind of going to have to be pit against each other. Well, we don't pit ourselves going to see each other.

I don't. I started a thing called "Sisters Swaray." Yes. And the reason I did-- And let's talk about what the sister swaray is.

It's a pre-askar party. Yes. Okay. And the reason I started it was, you know, people say things like, "Oh, it's just so great.

It's too bad there's not any roles for black women." It was like, no, I have to answer you. If it's the queen of England, yeah, let all the cates be queen Elizabeth. But if there's 99 other roles,

then shame on you for not seeing all these women who are not only prolific but profound, they have a track record. And they have made bank for people. And so I said, okay, this is what we're going to do.

And I got tired of hearing fans and we live our fans going like, they want to put-- you're going to share the--

“you know who would have been better in this, doesn't it?”

You know what? You don't do that to the cates. Don't do that to us. And the thing is, we have more in common with each other. Then we do with anybody else.

The sisters.

I started having this one where the first people

I honored was Terragia and Biola were nominated in the third year. And I said, we're going to live

“Jala up before y'all go on that red carpet”

because we don't care what happens there. We celebrate people. We don't put prizes on them. Alfred Wooder, this has been an honor and a pleasure. Thank you so much.

You want to so welcome. Alfred Wooder stars in the new Netflix series, The Burrows. Coming up, actor Rose Bird. She'll talk about her return to theater and the revival of the Noel Coward play

fallen angels. And her role in the Oscar-nominated film, if I had legs, I'd kick you. This is fresh air weekend. Our guest today is actor Rose Bird.

Known for both drama and comedy, she is now one of the few actresses to receive both an Oscar and a Tony nomination in the same year.

She's currently on Broadway

and the revival of the play Fallen Angels. She spoke with fresh airs and Marie Baldenado. When Rose Bird appeared on American TV in 2007 in the show Damages, it was clear she was a dramatic force.

Playing opposite Glenn Close, she was nominated for two Emmys and two Golden Globe Awards.

“Then she starred in a series of comedies,”

get 'em to the Greek, Bridesmaids, and neighbors, and it became apparent that she's also one of our most gifted comedic actors. Her work in the last year alone

shows that she's so good at playing complex characters in any genre. She stars opposite Seth Rogan and the Apple TV comedy Platonic, and she received an Oscar nomination

for her raw performance in the film, if I had legs at kick you. Now Rose Bird is on Broadway in the play Fallen Angels. It's a revival of the 1925 Noel Coward play.

A farce about two wealthy women married, English who go a bit crazy when they hear that the man they had both been involved with before they were married is coming to town.

Both burn and her co-star, Kelly O'Hara, had been nominated for Tonys for Best Actress in a Play. Rose Bird, welcome to Fresh Air. Hi, thanks so much.

Now this play is from the 1920s. It was scandalous back then because it was about two women

“talking about having affairs with the same man”

before they were married. Had you known this play or had you performed Noel Coward before? And I'll say that Coward is a British playwright known for writing sophisticated

witty comedies about the upper class, you know, funny with a lot going on underneath. I wasn't familiar with the play. Scott Ellis, who's the artistic director of The Roundabout Theatre,

brought it to me in Kelly O'Hara for a benefit reading for The Roundabout. So that's how I discovered the play. Obviously I was, but I was familiar with Noel Coward. I'd sing productions of his more popular plays.

I guess that had done sort of very frequently I'd sing private lives. I'd sing high-favorite. I've seen productions of his other plays, but full of angels was no, I didn't know it.

It's a lesson done play. So it was a really interesting discovery. I want to play a scene from the play. Here you and your co-star, Kelly O'Hara,

are discussing your ex-level Maurice whose French, who you haven't seen in years. You're both excited about the possibility of him visiting.

Kelly O'Hara speaks first.

I say, wouldn't it be too wonderful if he arrived suddenly now? Oh, I should choke. You're sure you left a thoroughly clear message

at your flat in case he went there first. Of course. We're bound to get a frightful shot when we do see him. Oh, I don't see why.

He's bound to have got bold or gone fat or something. No, no, he went to change at all. He wouldn't come if he had. Because he's far too conceited.

No, I'm not conceited. A little vain perhaps. Naturally. With her eyes who can blame him not in those hands.

And there's teeth. Oh, there's legs. Oh, man. That's a scene from the play, fallen angels.

Roseburn, you're Australian. You live in the US now. Can you talk about your accent in this play? I would think it's some that some of this dialogue

is fun to say. In some of the words, the syllables get drawn out like the way you say eyes, blame, even teeth in this clip.

I mean, yeah, it is the language who uses sort of linguistic gymnastics and the extraordinary vocabulary of knockout is a delight. Yeah, we work with Kate Wilson,

who's the head of voice at Julia. I've been working with her now for nearly 10 years. And she's extraordinary because she's just like consonants, consonants. You got to hit the consonants.

Stick the landing. It's sort of the language that sort of is everything

It is this brilliant sort of use of language

that he had at the age of 25. I believe on he wrote this play. It's all in the delivery. And the kind of the pacing of it. And just staying very lightly on all

of the on all of the language. It's a real tight rope.

“Yeah, I've never tired of sitting backstage”

and constantly rediscovering the words that and he peppers throughout. Like the word calluses throughout, which I just love. It's so delicious.

And just brilliant. And bitterly is used a lot. It was a bitter time, a bitterly. And it's just these brilliant words that he uses that I've started to use in my day-to-day.

As I walk around my life now. Every year doing everything bitterly now. Exactly. It was a bitter time, I say, in the morning to my children. And they're like, "What?"

For a lot of the show, you and your co-star Kelly O'Hara are playing drunk. Both of you can out. You're just getting drunk. Yes, slowly.

But surely you're getting drunk over the course of the evening. And so much of the comedy comes from that. How do you prepare to act drunk? And how do you actually do it? It's interesting.

Well, he's writing is so brilliant with the drunkenness. Like, he's, you know, the switching of words and the slow decline and the volume. It's very specific in the stage directions. My character gets louder continually throughout this sequence

of them drinking, which is very funny. And very true about drunk people. They spot on this often get louder and louder and louder. And that's what happens to Jane.

And then it's referred to in the third act that she was much worse than Julia.

And she really is. She sort of unravels. And then there's a violence that comes out in the character too. That is very dark. And can also happen. I've seen with people when they get to an e-braided.

Sometimes it can really, you know, it can be, not reveal the best part of them. Yeah, there's a lot of physical comedy in this play. It reminded me actually of kind of Lucy and Ethel and I love Lucy, as far as the physicality of it.

Or maybe you're both Lucy, as far as the-- It's just such an honor. I mean that, you know, we stand on the shoulders of those women. You know, of those extra-- And like, Carol Burnett, like,

they're just on a pedestal Christian wig. You know, I'm the physical comedy of those performances. Julie Louie Drive, it's, I mean, John Claes, these are the people I put on pedestals. My, I wrote off, you know, I just brilliant physical comedians.

So we've definitely pushed that side of things, which has been very fun.

“How does performing in a Broadway show each shows a week?”

How does it compare to shooting a movie? You know, even, like, something so kind of adrenaline pumped as your last film, if I had legs, I'd kick you. I was just wondering how it feels differently those different kinds of performance.

No, it's a great question. Something I'm sort of wrestling with, because it's kind of a little bit hard to describe in any area-died fashion that it feels. We are trying to reach the back row, you know? So it's, say, physically, it's just bigot.

It is a bigger experience than to sort of perform in a bigger arena like that, and to still remain truthful in that sense of, like,

I felt like I was screaming when I first got up,

because we're not wearing mics either. There's mics on the stage, but we get up there and I'm like, "What, you know, smell out, Jane?" You know, it's something to yell. How do I translate that in a way that still feels authentic?

But the theatricality of that leading into that too, so it's been a learning curve again to do that. It had long wanted to do a true comedic piece on stage. I could've been one of my dreams, so this has been extraordinarily to have this experience.

Now, I want to ask about the film, if I had legs, I'd kick you.

“How would you describe the film and your character, Linda?”

I've loved speaking to other people about the film, because it's really, it sort of defies generalization or description, because it's sort of like a favorite dream in a way. It has gallows humor in there. It's also horror, kind of tropes in the film, too.

I think Mary Bronstein really kind of broke the mold with the tone of the film in many ways. And she really sort of plays with the edge of consciousness, I think, in many ways, and tapped into sort of, like, the monster within and the fear of being a parent

and the horror of being a parent. And some of the joy, too, but obviously she's in a really difficult situation, this woman. But I still can't believe the film kind of got as far as it did, just because it was, you know, it's a small independent film,

so it was just extraordinary. Yes, the film is written and directed by Mary Bronstein, and it's based on some of her own experiences.

and she had that similar experience about trying to get her well,

and feeling trapped, or the weight while doing it. And I read that you both did a lot to prepare for the role, that the two of you would meet after dropping off your kids at school, and just talk about the script, about motherhood.

“Did any of the stories that you shared make it into the movie?”

Yeah, we were really lucky. We had a period of, really, like, five or six weeks where I would go to a apartment, and we just started from page one, and just went through every single, you know, comma, and syllable, and dialogue,

and it was just carving through and sharing stories. And as to your point, your Mary Bronstein has shared that too, it was based on a, you know, something she went through with her and child. I'd obviously shouldn't behave like my character doesn't film, but the fears behind that, and what went into it,

and she shared her journals from that time. And yeah, and I shared my own personal experience of being a parent, and how that feels, and struggles,

and it was really an incredible period we had there,

so then when we got to set, obviously it was a short shoot. It was only 25 or six days or something. We sort of had every conversation, so we could really leap off and play the scene and discover stuff, and as an actress, I can't make any sort of decision

until the other actors in front of me,

“and I'm, you know, responding to what's happening.”

So I'm so grateful we had that period. Mary Bronstein has said that, you know, she wanted to capture that visceral feeling of, you know, desperation, that mental state, where you feel everything is falling apart, because all these say, she has a child who's ill, and then there are all these other things

that are happening too. And as these things feel like they're falling apart, you feel like it's your fault. Like it's the state of where you're so stressed

that all these problems become equal.

And that felt real to me, and I was wondering how you and Mary Bronstein wanted to convey that, and if you've ever had that kind of feeling before yourself. What Linda's going through of having a seriously critically ill child, you know, knock on what most parents don't have to go through that,

you know, ninety nine percent of it, isn't it? It's a very extraordinary specific illness that she has to. But I was sort of obsessed with, like, how do it? What happened before this? I was so glad to this moment, who was she before?

Like, you know, because very little information is given, and I was like, I wanted to, like, discover this sort of, because she's got such a sort of streak of distrust of authority. You know, she's very defiant and, like, prickly, and why, like, where did that come?

So that was sort of our boring, like actor and work, that, you know, I was really interested in as a point of entry for the story. And Mary was, she's come from her acting background. She's the character and the details of that. So that was something we discussed a lot of.

And just also tracking the downfall, because the trap would be, she's hysterical from the start, you know, and how do we, you know, and sort of to track that sort of slow decline. And also the isolation the character has put upon herself, because she does not want anyone reflecting back her choices,

which are becoming increasingly unhinged and irresponsible. She just has her therapist, really.

“And he is telling her, you need to get a good night's sleep.”

Don't smoke pot, you know, these basic things. And she's ignoring that. She just completely goes off the rails. She has no guardrails anymore. So that sort of sense of isolation that I've seen with people in my life,

if they're in a situation they don't want comment it on, and they don't want acknowledge. They slowly remove from your life, because they can't have that reflected back. I want to play a scene from the film, and Mayor Bronstein, the writer director, is actually in it.

She plays the daughter's doctor, who's really hard on your character, Linda, in this scene. Here, the doctor is trying to talk to Linda about how treatment isn't working, and she doesn't think Linda is doing enough to help. You've missed the last few weeks of family sessions.

Yeah. I told you what happened, our entire ceiling fell down, and we're living out of the hotel. So we need to schedule something as soon as possible, to talk about our goals and the treatment pass.

Yeah. Okay, yeah. So. Yeah. Oh, you met now.

Okay. All right. Well, let me look at my schedule. I should probably do that. I know that you already know this.

But you can't start letting feelings of guilt and control about this illness and treatment affect you. So no one's fault. That's right. That's what I keep hearing.

Oh, so. I really need you to start taking care of yourself.

You can, yes.

No, put my oxygen mask on first.

Mm-hmm. I'm just going to have to get blunt here. So she needs to reach her weight goal in the next week. If she does that, then we can put to removal and discharge dates on the books. But if she doesn't do that, I'm going to have to reassess the level of care

because obviously something is not working here.

“And this is what I need to talk to you about when can we sit down properly?”

Yeah. Fine. September 7th. It's September 15th. September 20th.

I mean, September. September 20th. That's a scene from the film. If I had legs, I'd kick you. I think it's hilarious.

That's funny. Well, you know, it's funny because, yes, there's a lot in the movie that's funny. But, you know, when you are nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, people are like, that was supposed to be a comedy. It feels like hard to me.

Yeah. No, totally. It's not prize-mates. No, it's a different sort of comedy. Totally. But that's seen so funny hearing it, especially because Mary's so serious. Yes.

And she's my friend and I'm like, just dying because she's... And she also looks like she's 12 years old, Mary, and she's playing the doctor. But that's what happens. All of a sudden you get to certain age and there's a lot of young people telling you what to do. And you're like, oh my god.

“I think something that the film does so well is convey that pressure of what”

it's like to be a caretaker, like the darkness of it.

Because it feels relentless like you never stop worrying.

And, you know, there are these decisions that the director makes. For example, there's this constant beeping of the machine that happens through the film. And, you know, it's the machine that feeds the daughter through the feeding tube. And you can hear that throughout the movie and that adds to the anxiety. And I think that's also what happens when you're a caregiver.

Like there's that constant beeping in the background. Yeah, these noises get magnified and actually Mary, bronzing made those louder. Just a bit, like the clock on the wall, the beeping of the machine. All those things were louder because they are in her point of view. And it is as apparent, those things become overstimulating.

It's relentless. And that's she wanted to capture that claustrophobia.

“And the sound design was really extraordinary.”

And that's hence too, really captured that.

One thing I should add is that we never fully know as viewers what kind of illness the daughter has.

Nor do we see the daughter's face through most of the movie. Mm-hmm. Yes, again, she sort of provides more questions and answers. And the conceative, not seeing the daughter and she's Mary's spoken to this many times. Sort of a two-prong thing, and I don't think Linda, my character, can see her daughter at this point.

She's so drowning and beginning this sort of real dissent into her crisis. Her mental health crisis that she can't even see this little. She's sort of lost her shape, which can happen with your family. Or, you know, when you're in and in a day and in and out. And you just lose their physical shape in front of your kids or your husband or wife or whoever.

And I feel like that's Linda's perspective and also for the audience to have that choice taken away to not see the daughter. You're forced to reckon with the mother. Um, because as soon as you put a child on screen, your empathy as it should goes to the child. Um, they're so vulnerable and it's, you know, immediately your concern will go to them. And so she takes that choice away from the viewer.

You know, you're forced to, uh, to be in the perspective of the mother. Roseburn can grats on the Tony nomination and thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Emily. Thank you so much. Roseburn spoke with fresh air producer and Marie Baldonato. Fresh air weekend is produced by Theresa Madden.

Fresh air executive producer is Sam Brieger. With Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.