Balancing Acting Careers and Family

Hi, I'm Anne Marie Baldonado from Fresh Air with another bonus episode for you as a plus listener. Today I want to share some cutting room floor clips from my interview with actor Rose Byrne. She came on Fresh Air back in May to discuss her Oscar nominated performance In the film, If I had Legs, I'd kick You and her Tony nominated performance in Fallen Angels on Broadway Byrne has been an actor for a long time, so we also spoke about some of her other well known roles, including acting with Glenn Close on Damages on FX, and a few times playing opposite Seth Rogan in movies and TV We had to cut these segments for time, but I'm happy to share them with you today. First though, let's listen back to some additional questions I had about if I had legs, I'd kick you. It was directed by Mary Bronstein, and it's a fast moving in your face movie about a woman in crisis Byne told me it was meant to feel claustrophobic. so I wanted to hear more about her experience of filming such high intensity scenes Speaking of claustrophobia, the camera is super close to your face. and I think that helps build the anxiety and really gets the viewer into Linda's perspective. What was it like having that camera so close to you for a lot of the filming? Does it add to your like Rose's personal anxiety? It was the first day was the hardest and I've spoen about this, but it was the first day was the hardest because we were establishing everything, you know, the character at the beginning of the film and the first scene was the first thing we shot. And then this technical thing of the camera being so close to me. And I had done a show called Physical for Apple TV where the camera was also quite close to me a lot. and I always was looking at the matte box, like the eyeeline. I was never looking at the other actor And that was a good learning curve for me, I think to then step into legs. That first day was really hard and I said to Mary, Ohh, okay, this is right. You're getting thisre going to get this close to me. And she was like, Mh. And then I just adjusted. I figured it out. I was like, okay, this then I have to know what she needs here is not what she's going to need. bigger angle. so it sort of became just technically aware of like, okay, what are we starting with today What are we building up to? How close are you going to be? what she needs when she's on my eyeball is not going to be what she needs when she's at my my, you know, my shoulders. So It was just more just more conversation around that, but it was definitely when I saw the film, I was like, wow, okay The language she's using, obviously I knew what was going to happen but to really see it as a viewer was was even for me really kind of in an incredible to see that technical language she'd been using with the camera tell the story. Can you articulate what it is that's different, what she needs from you if it's close them versus if it's your, you know a more conventional wider shot. Well Closer became almost about a breath, like a breath of difference of like holding my breath, how still I could be you know, knowing exactly where she was on my eye. like because it's so close. So it became physical things she would need really. And then when it's wider it would depend on the scene, like what partilot the story we telling? A I doing a scene with Rocky? Am I doing a sce with C? Like whereere are we? And that's all, you know about the narrative and where we are in story and so on. But When it would be closer it just became it became almost less. you know, it would be less to really capture what she needed in a way You doing less Yeah, physically, like really containing and containing and containing I want to talk about the tone of the film. Some have called it Uncut Gems for Motherhood. And that's kind of an accurate description. And while when watching the film, your anxiety level is very high. and know, Uncut Gems is a movie made by the Zapfi brothers. The Zfty brothers are filmmakers who make films that are pumped with adrenaline like this. And I think Josh Zafee was a producer on If Lgs. I'd kick you. and writer director Mary Bronstein has collaborated with the afies in the past and her husband, Ronald Bronstein, even made Marty suupreme with Josh afie. And wrote and edited Jam. Yes. Oh yes, of course Yes, so not that it's a It was a Bronstein familyily Film year this year. But no, I mean, I love uncut germs and I love obviously, you know adore Josh and Ronnie. So yah, it's I think it's entirely flattering to have that. I don't know for Mary, I can't speak for Mary, but There is an absolute tension for sure that those films cross over with a little bit. And yeah, they have this incredible kind of creative conversation Marry and her husband and Josh. and yeah, and again with yeah, with Marty Supreme, that was also a very high high octane film. Is making a film that is that relentless to watch? Do it is it that anxiety provoking to make Qion. u Foray wasn't, I I didn't I was I was anxious about my performance and like 't I just didn't want to mess it up. So I was just constantly thinking and texting Mary and did we get this you know always just hyper aware of what we were doing. My adrenaline, I guess was very, very high shooting the film. It was also a very short period. know, as I said, it was twenty five days or something But we We laughed a lot in between takes on the contrary, like we kept the tone pretty light in between. and we had, you know Delany Quinn, the lovely young actress who plays the daughter in the film. When you have a child on set, there's immediately like levity that you want to provide to in between to keep things fun and silly and So that was sort of what we leant into, I think, in between. We kept it a fun shoot, which sounds odd, obviously because the film, the tone of the film is very heavy and U and dark and has that kind of gallows humor, but I just loved it. It was such a creative opportunity for me. I just loved it. It was like I got to do everything. and that's all you can ask for. on my memory of it is It's sort of fast and furious, I suppose, but really fun In this next clip, I asked Roseburn about working on the FX show Damages. It aired for five seasons from two thousand seven to twenty twelve She played a young protege under the influence of a big time morally corrupt lawyer played by Glenn Close. Your breakout role in the States was the TV show Damages, which premiered in two thousand seven. and you play a young ambitious lawyer who began working at a law firm of a very prominent and let's say morally corrupt lawyer played by Glen Close Like your character, you were a young actor in your twenties working with People like Lynn Close and also other people on the show were like Ted Danson and Martin Short. What did you pick up and learn from working with them? Be And that's actually like an old fashioned TV show with, you know, twenty plus episodes a season. Yeah We came out the same year as Madmen and it was really the beginning of I mean, HBO would set the bar with the Spranos obviously and six feet under and Oz for that matter. but before Netflix It was before House of Cards. like it was really early So it's looking back. It's kind of fascinating to see that show from this perspective now and streaming is obviously, you know, we have It's so much too much choice really of like prestige television and how do you, you know how do you find your way through it as a viewer or as an actor for that matter? But It was fascinating to look back now in that period because it really yeah, it was so long ago it was right when it was still like, oh, we' doing a TV show. you know, o, okay, you know, like And to have someone like extraordinary as, you know Glen did playing this partot It was a huge deal and I was much like the character very intimidated and very overwhelmed and just moved to New York. And all those parallels were not lost on me And it was a fantastic job. It wasrillant Again, I hadn't done a show, like a long running series really since that soap opera. so it was again, a technical kind of Uh rigorous, um, schedule you have on those shows and the legal aspect and trying to wrap my head around that and do all that research. and it was lots of fun. I remember just being struck by Glenn Obviously she's one of the one of the greats and how hard she worked and how she didn't she took every every writer to task in the best possible way of working out the best way to do the scene, the best way to get the writing at its best. And she raised the bar in a way that was so extraordinary to see. Um And that's why she's Glen, you know? So it was an extraordinary learning curve to see to see her at work In this next section, we talk about Platonic, the Apple TV comedy series that premiered in twenty twenty three Byrne and Seth Rogan play college best friends who reunite as middle aged adults I want to ask about the comedic series Platonic. you star opposite Seth Rogan and you've worked with him before. you've made the neighbors' movies with him. You play a woman Sylvia who has three kids. She used to be a lawyer but left to be a stay at home mom. She and Seth Rogan's character used to be best friends and are now after a break in touch and they're both kind of searching in their lives and they're funny together but sometimes encourage bad behavior in each other. I want to play a scene from the pilot of the show. Your character is at a school drop off with a friend, another mom, played by Carla Gallow. Your character's daughter has just told her that she doesn't want you to drop her off walk her to kindergarten anymore. She's fine now. and your character is a little bit hurt Did you see what just happened? Mave didn't want me to walk her into her classroom anymore. Yeah had a good room It's just so abrupt I've been full time mom for the past thirteen years and now. no one even wants to be seen with me on the school yard. A too? I thought I'd feel relieved when Mae finally went to kindergarten, you know? Have some time to myself. Have a shower. Make a salad. You were never gonna make a salad. I feel like everybody's just looking at me going. What are you gonna do with the rest of your life? You know, No one is looking at us. We're invisible. We're middle aged women. Hi morning guys. How is this? No. This is a midlife crisis. This is how a woman experiences a midlife crisis. You know what I'm thinking you should do with your life? Please don't say it, Etsy I was a lawyer. I have a law degree. You forget that That's a scene from Platonic. I'll say that there's something that both your character Linda, from if I had legs, I'd kick you and your character Sylvia and Platonic have in common. Both of these women have lost track of who they feel they really are or have lost a connection to their past selves, the people they were before becoming parents. Your character actually in if I had legs, I'd kick you at one point says that she feels further and further away from being herself and she can't get back And I think Sylvia also believes this at some points. Are you drawn to characters like this? or is this something you relate to I love that throughline and I think I've been so spoiled to have these characters you know, into my life. Francesca Delbanco and Nicholas Stoola write and direct all the episodes of Platonic and Francesca is really the voice of Sylvia. and've it's just been a delight because it's obviously totally very different from legs. It's a light touch. It's very funny. It's about a friendship, a platonic friendship with Seth's character, Will. um, the sort of, you know, the chaos that ensues with them, sort of their inability to have a regular kind of friendship that they can't She's too sort of possessive of him and he's too you know doesn't kind of acknowledge his own shortcomings, and so they're always sort of at odds with one another, but also have the most fun with each other It's been really fun to explore these experiences of women that are really again, very relatable. and I've loved that with plotonics. so many people have gone, oh my goodness, that's me That's been me trying to reenter the workforce or that's me with my friend getting out of control when I should be at home or you acting out, acting like I'm twenty two when I'm forty five. it sort of taps into those sort of presentiments that I think that we find ourselves in and and that sense of Yeah the identity you do lose sight of when you become a parent, just naturally. it just happens. and it is obviously the greatest role and the gift and all of those wonderful things. But you know, there's a before and after, you know, becoming a parent and There's a bit of grief around that. that never's never you're not going to be the same person afterward And thats there's a sadness to that too. And that's okay. I think it's rather better to acknowledge it than to like bottle it up and act out in other destructive ways because you haven't come to terms with it. the show is really delightful in that sense expl of exploring that side of motherhood You star with Seth Rogan in Platonic. and the both of you co starred in the film Neighbors and the sequel to Neighbors. Those films, as you just mentioned, those films were both directed by Nick Stoller who created Platonic with his wife writer and actor Francesca del Banco. It must be nice to work on different projects with some of the same people. What do you get with that kind of familiarity It's lovely. And Nick, you know he was the first person to cast me in a comedy, you know. I was so lucky I had really not done anything hugely comedic Um And so It's been such a lovely relationship to develop over years now. He cast you and get get him to the G Get to the Greek. Yes, yeah, he cast me and get to the Greek And that really changed so much creatively for me, possibilities opening up. And so to have this long relationship is lovely. And again with Seth, like we did these neighbors movies together and realized we had a kind of lovely time and had timing together as performers and Um And so we, you know, they came to me with this idea and I really was intrigued by it and I thought be fun if we could This is a great thing for Seth and I, you know, not knowing if he would be even available or interested or anything, but it was try to like recreate or discover a different sort of side of our chemistry to see if it could work with something like this, which has been so lovely and they really they write to our strength so well, and that can only come with time and a history. so that's been lovely to the writing is just always so they just again, push me further and further comedically every time Do you have shorthands that get created Yeah with Absolutely no totally. We do. And I think they can see what's working and what's not very quickly And most things don't work. L comedy' all about failing really. Most of it's not working. And like with any show, I think gets better as it goes on because you find your groove and you find, you know where the characters can go and develop a relationship with the audience and all those sorts of things. So it's been a really lovely a lovely role to play Finally, I asked Roseburn what it's like having two actors in a family living in New York City with kids Your partner, Bobby Caneale, is of course, an actor who does movies, TV, and also a lot of theater. You've worked together in films, some films and on stage before, but how much do you sort of switch off and figure out who does what role based on schedule? I'm just thinking of again, of the character if had legs I'd kick you on the phone with her husband who's away. and how hard it is to sort of make those negotiations that you know, realistically, all working couples do, you know, if you course if you, you know, if you're lucky enough to have work that takes you away from home, sometimes you're the person on the other end of the phone the absent person. And I was just wondering You know, how you negotiate both you both having these like super active lives. This is constant. I feel like it is constant with every working couple, whether you're a couple of actors or you're a couple of whatever you know, any picker profession. I think it's a constant thing, particularly obviously when you have family it's always, we're always Every day, week is constantly juggling, traveling, back the whole thing, it's a constant thing But Bobby loves the theater for that. reason, I mean I could just you know, I'm speaking for him, but but he I know he loves to be at home to work and do a play and come just, you know, theater is his church in a way And I think that's had a really lovely influence on me in the rediscovering plays and theater and you know, he really grew up dreaming of that and so that's been lovely to be in New York and have that experience and do a play together and But I'm always asking other couples like, how do you do it? How do you figure it out do how do you do the schedule? and ' it's just there's no balance, I think, it's all I think it's about like being honest about that and going, okay how we going to we're going to face this challenge Those were some cutting room floor clips for my interview with actor Rose Brne. You can find a link to the on air interview in the show notes. Our plus bonus episodes are produced by Chow T. I'm Anne Marie Baldonado. Thanks for your continued support of our work here at Fresh Air