Carrie Coon for ‘The Liberation’ | Conversations at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation

[music] Thank you for being here with us to talk about this extraordinary work and really congratulations on - Thank you. Oh my goodness. - your performance. - Oh my gosh, you're really [laughter] I'm you're really losing it and I'm so moved. Oh my gosh, thank you. You really held it together out there. I'm so surprised. - That was when we weren't talking about the film. All right. Um I really want to know like where this process began for you. Um was it a conversation with Guy? How was it pitched and how was it pitched [clears throat] to you? - I was sent the film. The film has been they were Guy has been trying to make this movie for 10 years and there have been many iterations and many actresses attached to this film. So it'd been in the press before and I knew who was attached to it before I got it. And so [laughter] you know, the agents are like when the big people fall out, you get really excited. I don't normally get a crack at this stuff. And so here I was getting a crack at it and I read it and I don't know if you guys have this experience when you read something you're like, "Ooh, I can't picture myself." Normally I'm like, "That's mine." And in this case I had that feeling of like, "Ooh, I don't know." And I'm usually casting other people. I've gotten other people cast before actually. You're welcome Mackenzie Rio Davis. I'm like, "I'm too old for this but you know who you need." So in this case I I didn't picture myself but I took the meeting with Guy. Actually I passed because they were going to shoot in Romania and I had done White Lotus and my daughter is young and I was like, "I can't travel that far. You have to shoot closer or I I say no." And they came back and they're like, "What if we shot it somewhere else?" So I took the meeting and I said, "Why me?" And I wasn't begging for compliments. I wanted to make sure that Guy wasn't being forced to take on an actor he didn't want cuz I feel like because of the because of marketing and because of you know, Q rating and that it's capitalism sometimes they're forced to take on actors they don't want. Now I'm not somebody that's ever moved money on a project, so I'm not I'm usually the person that they're the the the director wants and the producer's like, "No way. We can't sell that movie unless Jude Law is in it." And so, um so for the first time somebody thought they could sell a movie with me in it. Really exciting stuff. And he said, "No, no, I really do want you." And then he said some complimentary things that I won't repeat cuz I'm from the Midwest and it makes me embarrassed. And I've already blocked them out and talked myself out of them. Um keeps me humble. And and then he talked told me the story of his grandmother. Which is, of course, insp- This story is inspired by is not entirely true and we can talk about those details you're interested in. But, um he sent me her testimony from Yad Vashem. 4 hours of testimony. In which she has completely excised her husband. He's not in the story even though they met right after liberation. And so her husband's not in it and she gives this 4 hours of and it's fa-it's fascinating. And I I then went on this deep dive where I started listening to many, many hours of Polish women who survived. Specifically kind of who were from the area Rita was from. She was not in the camps. She was in the fields. Kind of out in the woods. Um but I just went I just watched hours and hours of women giving testimony. And I was so interested in the way that trauma was in their bodies, what it felt like to speak the unspeakable, the moments they had to stop. Which, of course, was in Guy's script. The moment where and it was true. His grandmother was not able to give her testimony until she'd been in the cult for some time. So, um I just became I just then I was like, well, I don't want anybody else to do it. And so I was completely enraptured by her. And this very complex decision she made to leave her family. She didn't leave her babies. She left her grown daughters. And she said to her family, the real Rita said, "You all had your university and this is mine." And Guy says that he believes that Rita would have killed herself had she not found this woman. And that he believes that the woman prolonged his grandmother's life. And yet, when he was a boy, his grandmother was the villain of their family. And so, the idea that this third generation survivor is able to step back and look at this decision with so much compassion for, like, this woman who survived and is living inside the patriarchy and finding her life fundamentally unsatisfying in some way, not feeling, feeling self-actualized, not having any therapy offered to her, 'cuz nobody knew what to do with survivors in the'80s. They were just like, "Good on you. Hope your children thrive." You know, there was no support. Anyway, now I've talked a long time. - No. - Did I answer all the questions you - All of the questions. - Okay, thanks. Um okay, so given the the knowledge now that you didn't see yourself in the script, but that Guy pitched it to you and you did this research and so you had an understanding of this deep-rooted trauma that Rita had experienced. Did you then, in your process of preparation, start with the script in terms of like breaking down cuz it's a wild emotional journey. Did you go sort of line by line sorting out a psychological intellectual process with the script? - No. And I'll tell you why. Because I have children. [laughter] And I used to have a process and now I don't. Now I get I I was we were saying in the hallway, you know, actresses like me, I don't get a year to learn how to conduct an orchestra. I have 4 weeks when I get the job. Like, you're moving to Vancouver in 4 weeks. What can you do in 4 weeks that gets you ready for this job with your two children and your husband who works and no family around. I pay women to help me. Let's be clear about that. I wouldn't have a career without those women. Um I learned my lines. I listened to testimony. But the other thing that was fundamentally already there was my own experience as a married woman in this time with children who works. And what I know is that I don't know a married woman alive with children who hasn't one day been like, you know, I could just leave. If I left, what would happen? What if I just never came back? It's a fantasy. It's not something we'll do. I'm never going to leave my children. I love my children. I like being a mom. I think I'm good at being a mom. And I And I love my husband. He's actually really great. And yet [laughter] the cognitive load is high. And it's so so hard to be good at any of it. And there have been many times where I've been like, I can't do both. I can't do both well. I should quit. So, the reality of that in myself, like here is a woman in the '80s who worked at a bank, who raised her kids, who was in a marriage. A good marriage. A A nice family. She was the matriarch of her family. And she One day, she woke up and she was like, nope, I'm done. And we are all living according to these social rules, and they're all made up. We We've made them up. There's nothing biological about what we're doing. Like, there wouldn't be monogamy with biology. We were supposed to be dead when we were 35. It's all pretend. Which I think is really unsettling. Like, we could just stop. And Rita did. - Right. - And I think that's really brave. So, for me, it was really about it just acknowledging that part of myself. You know? - Imagination. - Yeah. - And then learning your lines. - Right [laughter]. Right. So, it's interesting, right? The learning the lines comes before the ability to play and get creative. - Yeah. I'm a theater person, you know? You learn your lines before you start rehearsal, hopefully. - Right. Okay, so then I want to understand about um getting it up on its feet. And you understand all of this stuff, but how, you know, creating a character, inhabiting that life physically [laughter]. How and when did that begin for you with such a short, I mean, rehearsal process, now? - We had a reading the day before. We had a choreographer come in to to talk about the vocabulary of that dancing, that modern dancing, so that we would have a vocabulary on set, so that we could direct the group like a hive, you know, and just have some It's called Gaga dancing. It's a real thing that we're doing. And you know, it was a crash course, a one-day course in Gaga. And I also had this wig. So, we were supposed to shoot the movie in order, more or less. And so, we were we were going to move to the the space, the mill, where we shot the basically the camp version. And then I was going to cut my hair, or shave my head. It was actually shave my head at first. The PR heard that, and they were like, "I'm sorry, what?" Um So, cut my hair really short. But then we found out because of Lily's schedule, we were going to have to go back. So, we had to suddenly decide that I was going to wear a wig. So, we had no money. And uh my my friends on Gilded Age had like an extra wig that it we hadn't been using, and they literally put it like front came to my house to fit it, put in a new front in like 48 hours, and I brought it in my suitcase. And then Judy Durbach, who I worked with on Fargo, who was my hair person, we we were cutting it, we were trying to make it fit, and we were just like banging like the day before we started shooting. So, we were a little stressed out. And it's the'80s, but you don't want it you don't want to announce that you're in the '80s. You don't want it to be like, you know, stuff you've seen on TV that's very'80s, that's like neon and, you know, hair. So, um we wanted to be subtle about it. So, we were all like stressed about even just like designing the character the day before we went on camera. And then my first day was like getting out of the car and walking into the bank to meet Lily, which is a great I mean, it was great to start with that, the meeting with Lily. But like, I'd never spoken out loud I was like, I'm going to sound like Groucho Marx. Like, I'm not ready to do this. [snorts] And so, I was scared. I would I didn't think I was up for it. And I was like, well, the thing you do, right? Is you're like, well, okay. So, Rita maybe is having a nervous day, too. And you try to open yourself up to the thing that you're Could the thing that you're going through on that on day one be the thing the character is carrying, right? And knowing I wanted her to have that heaviness of step, at least. Like, I at least had that. And we'd actually padded out my hips. I'd been trying to lose a little bit of weight cuz we didn't have a budget for VFX. And, you know, Guy wanted me to look be a little gaunt. And he can't be like, could you lose weight? You're not allowed to say that anymore. But of course, we said it. And so, I'd been working with a nutritionist. So, they actually cuz we were shooting out of order now, padded my hips out, you know, we had this like weird hip pads and all this stuff. But um, I was really nervous that I wasn't getting it done. And I I always wanted to reshoot that first day, but we didn't have time to do it. - That's It's a It's really interesting that that was your first scene because there's so much sort of nervous behavior, the smoking, the eating at the desk. Like, actually I think it sets the scene perfectly for what her life was. - Yeah. - Um, I wanted to talk to you a little bit more about the physicality and the movement, even if it is that you are finding it while you're on set, because that's an interesting process. You know, there's such a transformation, you know, this we we start the film with the opening monologue, which is the testimony um, that I suppose Ricky was able to capture later on. And there's this incredible contrast between the testimony when you go to the Holocaust Museum in New Jersey and what happens in that scene. And then, this sort of which actually is a flashback from what we see at the beginning. - Yes. - So, can you talk to us about the you know, when you filmed those scenes and because that transformation is brilliant. - Thank you. Well, the the first Holocaust scene where you see her not able to do the testimony, we shot at the end. Which was really interesting because for Guy, that was one of the most emotional parts of the movie because of his grandmother's testimony and something that came for her much later. And we shot to we shot um that scene and then I changed into a cult sweatshirt and we changed the wig here and we shot a version where I'm in the same office and I'm about to give the testimony because that's what Rita did. You saw that flash of her at the end. That was her giving her testimony in the sweatshirt of the cult. And so we did that, but that's not in the movie. Because what they found was it wasn't in the test audience is it wasn't working like people weren't connecting the fact that she was then able to do the testimony. And so we did a reshoot at my house almost a year later. Maybe 8 months later. They were like, "We need a location with a window looking out on snow and woods." I was like, "Well, I have that. Why don't you come to me?" So they came to New York and we shot that the dream that she talks about at the beginning and that last moment where she's like, "Now I feel, you know, I feel free and I feel ready." Um and that was an an an a reshoot because they'd been editing for a a year and it wasn't working. And so I was like, "I don't think I know how to talk anymore." Like it was very startling to be and I was like, "My hair is a funny length." They're like, "Doesn't matter. It's the middle of the cult times." Um so it was really odd and I when I saw the film, I saw it at Telluride for the first time and I didn't know how it was going to end. - No idea what the ending would be. [gasps] - All right, I want to talk a little bit about the scene and I'm interested because I'm shocked to hear the order in which these scenes were filmed. It's So, the first time we really hear Rita open up, I think, is in the scene where she's presenting to the women in the apartment. Um so, where in the shooting schedule did that come? You know, cuz she has this incredible line um where she talks about oh gosh, what is it? She doesn't have anything to live for. - Yeah. Yes. Which again is what Guy really felt his grandmother was going through. That was fairly early. We had We shot um the bank. And I think we moved to that location pretty soon pretty like next almost next. So, we shot all that stuff in Ricky's apartment. And which was nice cuz it was still me getting to know Rita a little bit. And of course that that same day is when we shot the dancing bit of it. Yes, right. So, yeah, that was fairly early. Um and then I think the house was after. So, then all the family stuff came, too. Did we shoot the family before? We might have shot the family in the house before we shot Ricky in the apartment, which was very supportive, I think, but now I can't even remember. - I mean, the family stuff in the house is so lived in and as you alluded earlier, just like it's real 80s. The relationships are just Obviously, it all came together very quickly, but they just seem so well drawn and lived in. You know, - And I give the actors credit for that, including my husband, because my husband is um he's an he's a from the theater. He's an ensemble actor. He understands the responsibility of being in an ensemble. He understood his wife was the lead in the movie and that he was a supporting player. And so, what he did is he came in on that day, that first day that he shot, and he started to get to know Odessa. And he started to get to know um Bella. And they were just having They were having the good old time over here here the corner playing games. Like they had built such a solid foundation before they came into those scenes with me cuz I'd been sort of working with Lily. And um it was it was beautiful and and it was exactly what I expected Tracy to do. So, when I knew when he was cast as Ruben, who Guy said reminded him a bit of his grandfather, kind of quiet and Tracy's actually very quiet. He doesn't He plays an in a suit, but he's more like Lady Bird's dad, you know? Cries at everything. And um And so, Guy did want Tracy. It wasn't just cuz he was in Vancouver. But um you know, that's the responsibility. That's why Tracy's not out doing press cuz he's home taking care of our kids, you know? And not all actors are able to seed that space. You know, some actors, no matter how big the part, have to come in and take all the air out of the room. And we don't have time for that. And I knew when Tracy was cast we wouldn't have that problem, you know? And Bella and Odessa are such smart and accomplished actresses actors and actresses in their own right in that they came in making such smart choices. Odessa said, "I had diabetes. You would have had to take care of me. I'm going to have a lot of physical relationship with you. I'm always going to be touching you, reaching for you." So smart. And of course, Bella's in the position playing Guy's mother, really, of always pulling away. So, already you have a physical relationship on screen that's very dynamic before you even open your mouth. - So well told. When they come to meet you and you know, at the camp and she you know, she Yeah, it's brilliant. The Gaga dancing. - Yes. - I think that was such an interesting, you know, because the way we watch her go through the phases of finding Can you the choreo It's so like it's all just so yummy. Can you tell us about the journey of the dance? - Yeah, I mean, I've done a lot of dancing on screen, you might have noticed. Uh The Nest and like White Lotus. I and I I'm always the last person dancing at a wedding. Even I'm sober and I'm still the last person dancing. And I love a family wedding, so I've I have a freedom with my own body. I've been always pretty reckless with my body. I should be more have a sense of danger that I don't have. And so, for me, the liberal body movement is not a problem. Restraint is the problem, right? That's the trick. Thank you. And I give Heather, our choreographer, a lot of credit for that because my instinct is not going to be that. And so, she would come in and say, "Remember, okay, let's say that your hips I mean that your ribs are still attached to your hips, right? There's no separation." And she would say, "Remember, if you choose to make a bold movement, it is embarrassing. Right? You feel immediately you feel shame." And what does that look like? And I I'm sure that if we played the first take of that scene from begin it would just look like Saturday Night Live. I think I would look like a Muppet like Cheri Oteri. I think it's probably not usable. And I remember we [laughter] finished the first take cuz we just went all the way through and the producers were like, "Whoa." [laughter] "Wow, that was I've never I don't think I've seen that before." [laughter] And they didn't They kind of couldn't tell if they if they thought it was good or maybe terrible. That's the feeling I got. Um and so, I'm glad they found a way to edit that scene where it feels, you know, organic still and connected. And of course, Lily's in there being so sensuous. She's a great dancer. She's so in her body. She is a beautiful person who's never given roles like this like this darkness. And she's a singer and she's so so sensual and so grounded and she's her energy is you know, reaching for me and drawing. And so, that again, that contrast in the scene is so important. It's really everything. And I remember thinking about my grandmother who my father's mother was a conservative Catholic in the Midwest who raised four children. By the time her grandchildren came along, she was like, "Thank you very much. I'm all done." You know, just arms length away. [snorts] And I loved her, but you know, she wasn't taking care of us on the weekends. And so, I just imagined this my grandmother who got her hair done once a week and her nails being in a room like that with a bunch of women and being asked to move her body would have been she would have died. She would have just died spontaneously on the spot. And so that like that amount of you know, I I just thought about a lot of women like that in my life. - So yeah, you told you talk about couple of things working with Lily and also sort of the grace that your husband has in understanding the function of the character in the story. That you know, the end of that you know, evening in the apartment they've you know, she realizes perhaps what might be happening and it seems like an emotional turning point but I think your scene on the bench with Lily is such a masterclass in listening. - Oh, thank you. - So can you explain your how the two of you worked that scene together? - Well, a lot of first of all, Lily got three pages of rewrites the day we shot it. So she had to memorize those lines which guy was guy couldn't believe that she memorized all the lines. And in and inside of that was an explanation for Ricky's backstory which is now not in the film [snorts]. And she and she and it was in it was inspired by the real story of the actual cult leader who by the way is still operating in the world and has never been held accountable. And is now in her 80s. So Lily had all this material she had to relearn and we shot so we had shot in the apartment we had the apartment for maybe a day or two days. So it was the sun was coming up and we had to get that scene and we had to get Tracy driving in and we had to get that you know, three pages or whatever it was with these monologues that we were doing. So we were under a lot of pressure and Lily likewise was still working out with Guy who this person was. We don't see female cult leaders depicted. Um she was really had a responsibility to humanize this woman so you understood why Rita would follow her which I think she really accomplishes but she and Guy were still figuring it out. I mean, the day we did the read-through, and if Lily were sitting here, she would say this, too. She did the read-through, and they were like, "Yeah, not not any of that." [laughter] I mean, she really had a, you know, kind of more arch way in and a different accent. You know, it was like everything everything about it changed. So, she's like, "What do I do?" So, we were still very early in that process, and I just I admire her just hunkering down and learning that stuff. And so, it really was just like, "Here we are on this bench, and the sun is coming up, and we just better listen hard, because we don't have that many takes." You know, listen hard, remember where you smoked your cigarette, right? Try to help with the continuity, which I love I love continuity. Actually, I'm kind of secretly really engaged by it. And then to have all that material then be also excised from the film when we saw it was really interesting, too. But it does kind of get it. It It is like a really important moment, as you point out, where Rita admits what she wants and what she thinks she doesn't have is isn't allowed to have. Happiness and freedom and those things. - So, now you draw me to something technical, the continuity. Like that seems like such an impossible task for actors in the moment to like hit the mark, do the thing. So, but you love it. So, do you have any tips, tricks, how what how do you approach it? - say there's a time for everything. There's a time for continuity, and there's a time to throw continuity away. Sometimes, in the interest of in the service of getting the most out of a few takes when you have a schedule with 12 scenes on it, you if you pay attention to that, you're actually buying yourself more time. Because nobody has to come over and be like, "Remember, you crossed your arms." You can like, "Can I find freedom? Can I still find newness in this scene within that shape?" Which actually, I think is maybe a theater background, right? Because when you're doing a play eight times a week, you have your guide posts, right? You tried everything in rehearsal, and now you know what works, and you have these moments that you know you're going for. And what we know when we do theater is that eventually your body gets on board with the ride. So even on a day when you're feeling tired or disconnected, your body sometimes will kick in. It's kind of mysterious and you're like, your body knows it's time to cry at this moment. And I feel like that shape, like knowing that the guideposts are that guidepost, but they're not dictating how you do something or how you listen. They're just there to help you have some structure inside of the thing. So sometimes I find continuity is like that, too. It's like, well, I smoked at this moment, but you don't have to smoke the same way. You just have to make sure you're holding the thing in the right place. And you don't have to be a slave to what you did before, but it can help you just like, yeah, I don't know. I'm those these movies are so fast, you know, you don't have time to muck around. And sometimes you have a director who's like, I don't care about continuity at all, forget it. And that's also great. Then you know it's not your responsibility and that you're just trying to get the most, you know, out of it. And sometimes if something's really cooking, you just you have to let it go. And but you got to know that it's discernment and that comes from experience. - So that moment when something's really cooking, is that coming out of relaxation and yeah? - I think so. I think I think the older I get, I was a very cerebral actor as a young person. I was a good student, right? I was a girl. I was going to be good and right. And I was going to anticipate everything everyone wanted from me and deliver it even if it caused my entire selfhood to be subsumed. That's what I was taught. And so it's a job of work to integrate those things. And so the older I've gotten and the more I've done jobs like Fargo where you you have these boots and you have this belt and you have this uniform and this giant coat and you have this accent. Well, there you are 85%of the way to where you're going. And I realized actually how much of it was outside in. And I'm an athlete. I played sports in college, so I've always been, I think, in my body in a way that's useful. And so I think the older I get the more I realize like it is all about that actually. Being relaxed, being present, be have and breathing. Like those takes where you realize, oh I wasn't actually breathing. So therefore I really wasn't listening and nothing happened. And that's why. And that happens in the middle of a thing you're like, well I forgot I lost my way there. I got to like remember to you know, where your get get your body under you. Which is the crime of the way we talk now like it's the crime of the baby voice. - Which is like just right here. And there's just no body under it. - It's terrifying how disconnected we are. [laughter] Right? So terrifying. - It's training. - Yeah. - Um breathing is really interesting. The hospital scene. Um, you know, the way you and Lily, or perhaps the cult leader connects, with with with the, you know, with you, with Rita, is this breathing exercise, which seems so visceral and real and relatable and makes it seem, you know, something that's so important in the actor's toolkit, so important to the story of manipulation. - Yes. Oh that's interesting. That's true, isn't it? Um I suspect playing Rita there were moments when she's somebody who's not breathing. Right? That there is a there's a stuckness about her. And so those moments with Lily were all always a good reminder. But also, what was great in that scene too is that's the time when Tracy actually gets to be scary. And Lily was talking about this at a Q&A that, that there was actually a startling moment from him in there that made her have to recalibrate; and she's like, she always loved those moments when Ricky was destabilized and you see a little bit into the right that it's not all kind of put together, and so Lily was really grateful for that moment. And yeah, that was we also went back and we did reshoots in that scene as well, but it's hard to remember. But yeah, that breathing was really important. And the you know, the Gaga dancing too involves a lot of that breathing. And so as we become more liberal with our bodies, so much of it is about that that breath work, too. - Towards the end of the film, the the scenes at the camp just must have been really grueling for you as an actress, especially you know, indie film, no money. I'm sure you're working very quickly. - Yes. - Um you know, what can you tell us about how you prepare or approach those scenes when the daughters return? You know, when you know, they're delivered, you know. - Well, luckily, my family left. And that helped a lot. Because when my kids were with me in Vancouver in the city, we were like co-sleeping and I wasn't getting any sleep and I was like, "Thank God Rita's allowed to be tired." Like it wasn't the good old days where I was supposed to be, you know, I got to lean into just being tired and feeling kind of old. That was good. And then once we got to the island, she does have a physical vigor actually from the work that they're doing in the and yet they're also being starved. And so there is a there is a physical shift that I wasn't thinking about consciously, but is rather rooted in the what's happening in the storytelling. And so I guess for me again, it's it's it's the like being open to what Bella and Odessa are bringing into the room is the most important thing to do. But also remembering in those scenes that everything that Rita's going through, she has to check in with Ricky about. So remembering the codependence that's happening. So there's a really interesting dynamic built into the scene work already. Um and giving the actresses a lot of credit, I mean, for bringing that energy with them into the room. Because there's also something that's happening to Rita where she has effectively ceded all control to this woman. She's returned herself to a childhood she didn't have. Which I find really moving and very sad. She lost her mother and she has effectively created a mother figure in this woman, which is why she can't stay at the hospital. And the pain of the movie actually lives in Bella's face. In that doesn't it? It lives in like Bella's experience. She's the cipher for the audience. I mean, they are the cipher for the audience in the movie. She is she in my daughter, but in real life, of course, Bella. So, Bella and also the phone call that Bella has with Tracy. I think phone calls are really hard. I hate them. And I also I I yell at every writer I know, "Write both sides. You know what the other side is? Why are you making me guess?" Because you know the thing the thing is like for actors who aren't good at phone calls like me, your default will be your own rhythm. You'll fall into a rhythm, you know, but if somebody writes the other side, then you can change your rhythm. I'm just like, "Write the other side." So, I thought that phone call was really beautiful. And so, so much of the pain of that loss actually lives in in Odessa and Bella. Because Rita is so at that point so hollowed out in a way, but - Yeah, it's interesting like the whole ultimatum that she gets in the cabin as well. And I'm just wondering about the drugs. You know, they've taken away her drugs and the smoking, but you know, they're doing mushrooms and who knows what. So, is that delirium? Is that sedative? What was that? - I do feel like we we see it mostly in the ecstatic experiences they're having around the fire. There's an ecstasy and then there's a purge of, you know, literally like your serotonin, right? It's kind of gone out of you. But there is some peace in it in the in giving up control. Um and so, I do find that there was a there's an aspect of peacefulness to Rita even if it's not entirely real. Um but as far as how it plays out scene to scene, it's just that, right? It's scene to scene and sometimes it's 3:00 in the morning and you're all freezing and they took your coats away too soon. Um - I mean, in the rain that looked like the real - Yeah, it was a rain machine. See, I love that stuff so much. I could have done that all day long. Guys, like, "Aren't you cold?" I'm like, "I love it. You know, keep going." Um I'm never happier than when I'm jumping out a window, throwing a rock, like anything that's like a physical because I think so often these scripts don't require women to use their whole body. We're just a face, you know, looking with disdain at this hapless man, even though we're going to stick around. You know, it's so boring. [laughter] And so when I get to climb a fence and fall down, like that's my favorite day. I'm totally energized by it. And I'll do it for 15 hours. And they're always like, "Aren't you tired?" I'm like, "No, let's do it again." I love that stuff. You know, makes me feel like a little kid, and that's the best part of the job. Um and that that was I mean, it was it is a physically hard day, and you get, you know, you get beat up. I had an actor come up to me at Q&A, he goes, "When I had to fall on the ground, I had them put a piece of duvetine under my face." He goes, "But your face, it was just in the dirt." I was like, "Yeah. Yeah. I love it." - We unfortunately, I wish - Oh, no. I could listen to myself talk all day. [laughter] - I could listen to you talk all day, but we I do want to ask just a couple of We've got lots of audience questions. So, Greg Bain is saying, um you know - Hi. - Yes. He you just finished The Leftovers. Nora was amazing. Similar - I peaked early. - Coping [laughter] with No, no, no. We can't wait to see what comes next. You are an a force. Um so, do do you bring your past characters with you to new ones? Looking at the sort of the things that are similar between Nora and Rita. - Only in so far as they have changed me. Peo-I I find that the the parallels between the characters are often coming from outside of me. They're like, "Remember, there was a cult in The Leftovers." I'm like, "Yeah, but I didn't really I didn't really join it. Yeah, I guess so." So, often times I'm not thinking about that, and yet I am. I think the best characters in the will transform us, because isn't that the joy of it? That we are living in the fullness of our humanity, that our work is an invitation to being present, and that it is an exercise in empathy? And we all know that empathy is the thing that needs to be crushed in order to call the herd and decide who gets to live and who gets to die, which is why it's most important to support art right now, 'cuz that's an important education, right? That's it. That's the project. The authoritarian project is crush empathy and crush equality and then we'll decide who dies. So, um So, Nora was so much more confident than me in her grief and just the way she walked into a room and I learned a lot from that. Um and it and in likewise in some ways Rita is more frail than I present in the world. She's a She's weaker in some ways and people haven't seen me do that. I play strong hyper-verbal people, neurotic people. I'm actually quite light-hearted. I'm very [clears throat] funny. Um [laughter] Tell your friends. And so, uh my family finds my career very mystifying. [laughter] But, um but yeah, that's what I That's what I bring. I bring the way in which I've been shifted by the thing. Um and not knowing what the next shift will be, I think. - Um this is an interesting interesting question about, you know, whether or not this It's from Linnea. I hope I pronounced that correctly. About whether or not the role sort of challenged your assumptions of what freedom looks like. She said, "You know, Rita believes she's liberating herself yet she enters a community that demands surrender. Do you think she experienced that surrender as freedom?" - Mhm. - How did you approach that contradiction? - We had to change the name of the film because of legal reasons. We had to change it to something else to protect ourselves and so when I first heard the title I was like, "Oh, no, we lost our you know, it was so cu- And then the multiple meanings of the liberation bec-it's a great title. It's Guy has said it's the liberation for himself of finally getting to tell this story. It's the liberation of the camps, of course. It is Rita's liberation, yes, from her marriage, from her obligations to her children in a way. Um she's liberated in her body. She's fully expressed in her voice. She ultimately is liberated from her life, which maybe I I think of it very touchingly. I do think she experienced freedom and liberation on some level. I think she wouldn't have been able to communicate in the way she does. And also just her physical life. I think an I think an invitation to being fully expressed physically is actually really is something everybody could use, and I feel grateful that my job asks that from me. But ultimately, I think there's also something about survivor's guilt. You know, when Rita died, she looked like she just walked out of a concentration camp. She was very frail. Her hair was cut. Um and there is something about I think there is something suicidal inherent in that, too. There's something self-punishing. There is something that actually fundamentally does result in her um unworthiness actually being validated. Uh so, I think it is really complicated. And that's why I wanted to do it cuz it's not simple. And I think the achievement of of the film is that Guy has really humanized every decision she makes so that you can't necessarily hold yourself apart from it, which we often do in cult documentaries. We're like, I see right through that guy. I would never. But in fact, people who gets fall into cults are intelligent. They are seekers, spiritual seekers, idealists who hope we can live better. And they are also um often suffer trauma, usually childhood trauma, but other kinds of trauma. And so, it's not it it could I don't know anyone who doesn't check at least one of those boxes, you know? We're all vulnerable in that way. And so, I love that the film doesn't allow us necessarily to hold ourselves outside of it. I do think she experienced some liberation. I think what Guy is saying is he does think it ultimately it saved her life even though it also, you know, took her life. - Okay, Austin Bryant, what is your dream role? - I don't think I've read it yet. You know, it's not my job to write it. Um so I think I'll know it when I see it. I can say that I can say that my family would like to see me do more comedy. And that I I want to use myself up and so it's such a cliché to say you want to do action, but I do because I love it. I'm 45. I I don't think I have many years to take a crack at that and I hope somebody will give me a chance cuz I think it'd be really really fun. I would love to just like get really ripped [laughter] and like Irish whip everybody. I would love that. - All right, well, I hope that somebody watching this and if you realize this that that's the opportunity they need to give you. Thank you so much for sharing with us today. - Yeah, thank you for being here. I appreciate it. [music]