{"id":193385,"date":"2025-12-19T16:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T16:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/193385\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T16:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T16:56:12","slug":"cynthia-erivo-jennifer-lawrence-and-the-drama-actress-roundtable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/193385\/","title":{"rendered":"Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Lawrence and the Drama Actress Roundtable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThis year\u2019s Oscar frontrunners have more in common than usual. Start with their films, of course, where overlapping themes abound. The darker sides of motherhood, and the way grief seeps in, are front and center for Jennifer Lawrence<\/a>\u2018s Die My Love<\/a>, Jessie Buckley<\/a>\u2018s Hamnet<\/a> and even Amanda Seyfried<\/a>\u2018s The Testament of Ann Lee<\/a> \u2014 which trades more specifically in the grief of not being a mother. There are bad dads of every variety: Renate Reinsve<\/a>\u2018s Sentimental Value<\/a> (distant, narcissistic); Lawrence\u2019s Die My Love again (apathetic, bumbling); Cynthia Erivo<\/a>\u2018s Wicked: For Good<\/a> (megalomaniac). And though Laura Dern<\/a> was on hand to discuss Is This Thing On?, it\u2019s worth mentioning that she also stars in Jay Kelly<\/a>, the final boss of complicated\u00a0fatherhood.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe actress\u2019 performances, though varied in breadth and scale, are all deeply personal to the women who embody these roles. Lawrence and Buckley found themselves unlocking a new connection to their own matrescence. Erivo\u2019s time as Elphaba mirrored her own journey to superstardom. Reinsve and Dern both reunited with dear friends (directors Joachim Trier and Bradley Cooper, respectively) behind the camera. And Seyfried worked through newfound levels of discomfort for Ann Lee\u2018s absurd (a compliment!) song-and-dance\u00a0numbers.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tAll six women gathered on a rainy Los Angeles afternoon to discuss their experiences onscreen \u2014 as it turns out, it\u2019s normal to feel embarrassed! \u2014 and in navigating the months-long road show that is compulsory to releasing a film these days. \u201cI really appreciate when other actors do it, and I watch these interviews all the time because I\u2019m so curious about other people\u2019s processes,\u201d says Reinsve. \u201cBut doing it myself, it\u2019s weird and the opposite of what I do on set.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat is a favorite, or most rewarding, way that you have gotten to know a recent co-star? Jessie, I believe you have a great story about going out with Paul Mescal before Hamnet.<\/p>\n

\n\tJESSIE BUCKLEY I told you that in absolute secrecy. What happens at Joyface stays at Joyface [a vibey NYC bar]. They play ABBA and all the old hits. We got really drunk and went out dancing, which is a good thing to do with Paul Mescal when you\u2019re getting to know him.<\/p>\n

\n\tJENNIFER LAWRENCE [Die My Love director] Lynne Ramsay had me and Rob Pattinson do interpretative dance lessons before we started filming. And then our first day on set was a naked scene where we were attacking each other like tigers. But it was kind of nice that it was day one because then it wasn\u2019t hanging over our heads.<\/p>\n

\n\tAMANDA SEYFRIED That\u2019s actually brilliant. And if you know what the genitals look like, you don\u2019t wonder.<\/p>\n

\n\tCYNTHIA ERIVO Mine pales in comparison because [Ariana and I] just went to my house and sat on the floor and ate crudit\u00e9s. We talked for five hours, got to know each other, and the next time [we saw each other], we were singing.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Nobody was naked?<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO Nobody was naked.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAURA DERN Bradley Cooper and I are old friends, and so are Bradley and Will Arnett, so we just dove into a workshop. We shared our dreams and our childhoods because in our movie, there\u2019s no backstory. It\u2019s about a marriage, and in the first scene it\u2019s falling apart, so you have to come in feeling like you know everything.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re all in various stages of your careers, and I\u2019m curious at what point you started to feel full autonomy and control over your circumstances in this business?<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO I feel as though we all have that at the beginning, but we just didn\u2019t know it. We relinquish the power to everybody else, and we\u2019re pressured into doing some things that we don\u2019t need or want to do \u2014 but from the beginning, our yeses and our nos are our own. I don\u2019t think the choice to do what I wanted was ever not there \u2014 it\u2019s just louder now.<\/p>\n

\n\tRENATE REINSVE I think the signals you get from inside yourself about what is right are really small in the beginning and get stronger and stronger the more you get scolded by experiences. These past few years, I finally feel like I\u2019m on the right path, but it\u2019s taken a long time.<\/p>\n

\n\tRenate, you were offered a lot of romantic comedies after the success of The Worst Person in the World, but did you feel they weren\u2019t right for you?<\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE I love a good rom-com, I really do. They\u2019re really hard to make really good. But I felt like if I do one after Worst Person, then that will just become what I do. So instead I did A Different Man, which was more like a Charlie Kaufman world. It was the opposite of Worst Person.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN Renate and I were talking before we started about how lucky we\u2019ve been that we found a filmmaker to work with numerous times. You feel like, \u201cOh, OK, I know my place in this world.\u201d And that takes me back to the question of autonomy. Especially on a film, I think a lot of times it can feel the same as having autonomy in a partnership. It\u2019s complicated because you want to involve the other person, for people to be your true teammate and partners.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRenate Reinsve styled by Karla Welch. Schiaparelli blazer, blouse, pants; Completed Works rings.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tLaura, your movie Is This Thing On? is a great example of a movie that could have been about the male lead, but it is a true two-hander about a relationship. Is it easy for you all to find movies that are about women as opposed to a movie that just has women in it?<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO No. That\u2019s the short answer.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Do you care if it passes the Bechdel Test?<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO You know what, I didn\u2019t care, but now I do. I\u2019m always like, \u201cHow much is she speaking, and what is she saying when she does speak?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLaura Dern styled by Elizabeth Stewart. Gabriela Hearst suit, vest, shoes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tIs there any sort of formula to finding, and then keeping, those long-standing director-actor collaborations?<\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE Joachim Trier and I mutually felt on the set on Worst Person in the World that we had more things we wanted to explore together. We didn\u2019t really say it because it\u2019s up to him [whether we keep working together]. In Norway, it\u2019s really the director\u2019s vision and not so much an actor. It\u2019s almost the opposite, where if you\u2019re too famous or you become a star, it can get in the way of things. So Joachim and his co-writer Eskil Vogt had to decide if they wanted to work with me again. And then they did write that character [in Sentimental Value] for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY Did your relationship change the second time around?<\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE Yes, because Nora is really angry. I don\u2019t do the thing where you\u2019re in the role all the time, but it\u2019s like a transference of feeling. I talked to him in a different tone. The character also is depressed throughout the movie, so it affected our communication. After you have that experience, you come out of it and you\u2019re still friends, and you actually get closer.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED It\u2019s intimate. Growing as an artistic couple, the things you create grow, it seems like the best of both worlds. They say don\u2019t mix business with pleasure, don\u2019t mix business with relationships and love, but I don\u2019t agree with that because you\u2019re going to make something deeper and be fulfilled by it. Unless of course, somebody does something fucked up and you\u2019re not friends anymore.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN Cynthia, I\u2019m curious how the experience was in making the second iteration of this film.<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO We actually shot simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE So some days you\u2019re shooting for number two and some days you\u2019re shooting for one?<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO Sometimes all in the same day. When we shot the song \u201cFor Good,\u201d we were meant to be shooting something for film one, but it was supposed to be outside, and it was raining. It\u2019s a sort of surrender. There\u2019s something lovely about being able to just let it be.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Well, at least you\u2019re green no matter what. [On X-Men,] we could never do that because sometimes I\u2019d be blue, sometimes I\u2019d be blond. They\u2019d say, \u201cWe\u2019re going to try to shoot something else,\u201d and it\u2019s like, \u201cOK, just give me eight hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCynthia Erivo styled by Jason Bolden. Rabanne top, skirt; Roberto Coin jewelry.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tIs that hard to get used to? Since there\u2019s probably no world in which you could say, \u201cI\u2019m just not ready for that scene yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE I worked with one actor who did that.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid it work?<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Yeah. We didn\u2019t shoot the scene that day.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmanda, with all of the choreography and singing you did on The Testament of Ann Lee, did you always feel ready?<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED We did get this luxurious preparation period that you don\u2019t get for other genres. If there\u2019s music and movement involved, there\u2019s built-in time. And thank God because my brain is not clicked into the movement. I am always very uncomfortable dancing.<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO I would never have known that you were uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED Thanks. It\u2019s the preparation, right? It\u2019s also very intuitive movement, so it\u2019s different than Mamma Mia!<\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE Were you uncomfortable in that too?<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED Very much so. And it\u2019s internal because no one\u2019s got time for that [on set]. There are too many people doing too many things. So I\u2019m just like, \u201cI\u2019m a piece of shit, I\u2019m a piece of shit, are we rolling?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE That\u2019s a good mantra.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAmanda Seyfried styled by Elizabeth Stewart. St John vest, pants; Aquazurra shoes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tJennifer, it seems as though there\u2019s a fair amount of improv involved in Die My Love, especially during the moments when your character is breaking down or acting out.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE In the bathroom scene, what was in the script was just: \u201cShe destroys the bathroom.\u201d So I did that. I scratched at the wall and then in post, they peeled off the wallpaper for me. It was just me in the bathroom with the camera guy. Once it got going, it was like I was living an intrusive thought out loud. How often do you want to take a shampoo bottle and just (mimes squeezing it out) and smash things?<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you ever feel like, in promoting this film, you have to be the poster child of the postpartum experience?<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Not to sound stupid, but it is a privilege to talk about something that, 10 years ago, we weren\u2019t talking about. I had really bad postpartum with my second \u2014 whom I was actually pregnant with while we were making this [movie] \u2014 so I had to watch cuts of it while I was suffering from postpartum. More than any other movie I\u2019ve made, it\u2019s very ripe for projection about your own relationships and family. But I\u2019ve talked about postpartum a lot in the last six weeks, for sure.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoes the subject matter of a film, and more specifically the subject matter that you\u2019ll be required to discuss ad nauseam during the press tour, ever influence your decision to take a role?<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE I was surprised when I started doing this because I\u2019ve always been really strict about, \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about my kids.\u201d But it\u2019s impossible not to, so I\u2019ve landed on, \u201cI will talk about my experience as a mother.\u201d But it did make me realize that it was not something I had considered.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd you\u2019re really generous with it \u2014<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Too generous. I hear what you\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJennifer Lawrence styled by Ryan Hastings. Givenchy dress, shoes; Longines watch; JAR. earrings from Sotheby\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tLike the interviews talking about the meds that helped you.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Zurzuvae. Really helpful.<\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE It\u2019s funny, I struggle with the period where you\u2019re like, \u201cOh, I have to articulate what I did a year ago.\u201d You never think that you\u2019re going to be an advocate for anything when you\u2019re making the movie, and then you end up in conversations with people having similar experiences [to the movie].<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY I find it can narrow the experience. Everybody can have a completely personal, unique relationship to whatever you\u2019ve made. Sometimes I wish we didn\u2019t have to talk about it at all and could just put it out there and let it be.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE We have to turn into a salesman. I get it, it\u2019s a business, but it\u2019s bizarre.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED And we\u2019re not experts on what we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN Often people turn to the actors when the director doesn\u2019t want to tell you what his or her movie\u2019s about. Actors often become the spokespeople of the intentions. I don\u2019t know if you guys ever had a director upset with you about how you described their movie \u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Was it David Lynch?<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN Yes. It was funny. It was the first time I had to describe what Blue Velvet was about, and I was 17 years old. And he was like, \u201cYou don\u2019t ever have to tell them anything about what we\u2019re making. You could just say that we had fun.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh.\u201d And, by the way, and then I betrayed that because I\u2019m still trying to explain what our movie was about.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE I really love that moment when he brought a cow.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN Yes, for the first Oscar campaign. He did find it kind of insane what has happened with the promotion of movies.<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY I never want to project any idea of what the women I play are meant to be, I just want to go down the river with them and let them have their own voice with it.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJessie Buckley styled by Danielle Goldberg. The Row sweater, skirt, cummerbund.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the scene when Hamnet dies, you have this incredibly visceral scream-cry. How did you get yourself there that day?<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY Well, it wasn\u2019t in the script, that moment. I guess my job in exploring grief was to try and touch the edges of that in as honest a way possible. The little boy who plays Hamnet, Jacobi Jupe, is so extraordinary. We shot that setup maybe three times, and the scream came out on the third time. I\u2019d created a really strong bond with this little boy, and it felt like that scream was ancient. It just came through, I have no idea how.<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO I\u2019ve got a question. How do you come out of something like that? How do you protect yourself? I\u2019m always concerned when I watch your films.<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY I have a pretty simple life outside of my work, and coming back to something grounded is really important to me. Making a slice of toast or gardening or going for a walk. I\u2019m also grateful for it because I don\u2019t want to wear a mask \u2014 I want all the shadowy bits to show. But I have an amazing husband, I have great siblings and I\u2019m very close to them. Don\u2019t be worried, I\u2019m fine. I also have therapy.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN As actors, we give ourselves permission to feel all the things because they\u2019re true, and then in life, culture teaches us not to have those feelings. Sometimes I think I\u2019m more compassionate about needing that time [in work] than I am in real life, when I\u2019m supposed to be together and show up for my kids even though I\u2019m in pain.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier, Amanda pointed out that no one here is an expert in whatever topic their movie is about \u2014 but what are you experts in?<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE English royal history. I love it, I always have. The Tudors, specifically.<\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE I love quantum physics.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED I believe that.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE That\u2019s so annoying.<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY That\u2019s really hot.<\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE You said you garden?<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY I\u2019m absolutely rubbish at gardening. I have grown one flaccid courgette. But I love my garden.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED I keep trying to picture it, but I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY It was small, yellow and flaccid.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED Flaccid?<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE If she says \u201cflaccid\u201d one more time, I\u2019m leaving.<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO I feel like it\u2019s obvious, but music really is my second language.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED You are an expert at finding notes and making them fucking throttle your soul. You are an expert at moving metaphorical mountains in people\u2019s bodies. I don\u2019t know how else to articulate it.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019d like to end by asking if any of you have a memory of what you bought yourself with your first Hollywood paycheck. <\/p>\n

\n\tREINSVE Probably just rent.<\/p>\n

\n\tBUCKLEY I think it was rent as well. I got a bit nicer place.<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO I bought my first Chanel bag and paid off my student loans.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you still have the bag?<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO It was stolen. I remember I went into the store and paid for it with cash because I\u2019d saved up my per diems from the job. I was like a little grandma putting it away in a cupboard.<\/p>\n

\n\tSEYFRIED My favorite Louis Vuitton bag that I spent too much money on during an early movie was also stolen.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN I bought a camera and a tripod. And then the camera was stolen. I was so proud that I got to buy this for myself, so I put the tripod in the corner of my bedroom and used it as a coatrack for two years because I wanted it to matter. I don\u2019t know why I didn\u2019t just save up and get another camera, but I was so traumatized. I had been studying photography, and I just sort of let go of the passion. By the way, it might have been a boyfriend who stole the camera. He knows who he is.<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO Fuck him.<\/p>\n

\n\tLAWRENCE Fucking bitch.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN I think it\u2019s time to get myself a camera, guys.<\/p>\n

\n\tERIVO You must, I\u2019ll go with you.<\/p>\n

\n\tDERN OK, I love this.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Laura Dern, Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Lawrence, Renate Reinsve, Jessie Buckley and Amanda Seyfried<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Beau Grealy<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story appeared in the Dec. 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s Oscar frontrunners have more in common than usual. Start with their films, of course, where overlapping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7496,458,26874,57757,110375,146,30850,85,399,110376,46,35519,22408,28402,7213,38653,79000,39750,76042,61656,67679,69536],"class_list":["post-193385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-amanda-seyfried","tag-celebrities","tag-cynthia-erivo","tag-die-my-love","tag-drama-actress-roundtable","tag-entertainment","tag-hamnet","tag-il","tag-international","tag-is-this-thing-on","tag-israel","tag-jay-kelly","tag-jennifer-lawrence","tag-jessie-buckley","tag-laura-dern","tag-renate-reinsve","tag-roundtable","tag-sentimental-value","tag-the-testament-of-ann-lee","tag-thr-cover-story","tag-thr-original-video","tag-wicked-for-good"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}