It’s ironic Holly Hunter won an Oscar for The Piano, in which she did her own playing. If she’d had the chops she wanted, we’d never have seen her in that movie, Raising Arizona, Broadcast News or so many others that made us swear she was born to act. Fortunately, she found acting almost as sacred and transportive as music, her original dream. Working with a string of the best directors in the business right out of the gate helped – and led to some later-career disillusionment. But Hunter’s not as ambitious for her career as she is for her characters and what they can tell us about each other. An actor’s actor talks about empathy, and how she makes us feel things we never see on screen in The Big Sick and Strange Weather. She also shares what it’s like having Bill Hurt call bullshit on you, and why she will not be having the stuffed crab, thank you.
It’s ironic Holly Hunter won an Oscar for The Piano, in which she did her own playing. If she’d had the chops she wanted, we’d never have seen her in that movie, Raising Arizona, Broadcast News or so many others that made us swear she was born to act. Fortunately, she found acting almost as sacred and transportive as music, her original dream. Working with a string of the best directors in the business right out of the gate helped – and led to some later-career disillusionment. But Hunter’s not as ambitious for her career as she is for her characters and what they can tell us about each other. An actor’s actor talks about empathy, and how she makes us feel things we never see on screen in The Big Sick and Strange Weather. She also shares what it’s like having Bill Hurt call bullshit on you, and why she will not be having the stuffed crab, thank you.
It’s ironic Holly Hunter won an Oscar for The Piano, in which she did her own playing. If she’d had the chops she wanted, we’d never have seen her in that movie, Raising Arizona, Broadcast News or so many others that made us swear she was born to act. Fortunately, she found acting almost as sacred and transportive as music, her original dream. Working with a string of the best directors in the business right out of the gate helped – and led to some later-career disillusionment. But Hunter’s not as ambitious for her career as she is for her characters and what they can tell us about each other. An actor’s actor talks about empathy, and how she makes us feel things we never see on screen in The Big Sick and Strange Weather. She also shares what it’s like having Bill Hurt call bullshit on you, and why she will not be having the stuffed crab, thank you.
The woman huffing in impotent rage in a frozen Marshall’s checkout line with an armful of bras. The jubilant loudmouth barely able to articulate the awesomeness of a Monster! Truck! Rally! The lady blithely terrorizing passengers with her wheelie as she pushes up to the boarding gate. Nobody wants to be these people. Except Lauren Lapkus. She loves them. She wants to inhabit them. If it means being odd or ugly, it’s also license to say and do anything she wants without repercussion. Oh, to be free of self-awareness and filters, if only for a few exhilarating moments. Oh, to be Lapkus, one of the best improvisers and sketch comics in the business. Just don’t look too hard at the fine print about exposing yourself on stage without a script, props or any idea what’s going to happen. Despite the thousands of people jumping into improv these days, she says – and proves – it’s not for amateurs.
The woman huffing in impotent rage in a frozen Marshall’s checkout line with an armful of bras. The jubilant loudmouth barely able to articulate the awesomeness of a Monster! Truck! Rally! The lady blithely terrorizing passengers with her wheelie as she pushes up to the boarding gate. Nobody wants to be these people. Except Lauren Lapkus. She loves them. She wants to inhabit them. If it means being odd or ugly, it’s also license to say and do anything she wants without repercussion. Oh, to be free of self-awareness and filters, if only for a few exhilarating moments. Oh, to be Lapkus, one of the best improvisers and sketch comics in the business. Just don’t look too hard at the fine print about exposing yourself on stage without a script, props or any idea what’s going to happen. Despite the thousands of people jumping into improv these days, she says – and proves – it’s not for amateurs.
The woman huffing in impotent rage in a frozen Marshall’s checkout line with an armful of bras. The jubilant loudmouth barely able to articulate the awesomeness of a Monster! Truck! Rally! The lady blithely terrorizing passengers with her wheelie as she pushes up to the boarding gate. Nobody wants to be these people. Except Lauren Lapkus. She loves them. She wants to inhabit them. If it means being odd or ugly, it’s also license to say and do anything she wants without repercussion. Oh, to be free of self-awareness and filters, if only for a few exhilarating moments. Oh, to be Lapkus, one of the best improvisers and sketch comics in the business. Just don’t look too hard at the fine print about exposing yourself on stage without a script, props or any idea what’s going to happen. Despite the thousands of people jumping into improv these days, she says – and proves – it’s not for amateurs.
We all have one or two turning points in life, but Michaela Watkins’ life seems like an endless string of them. There was the classical music camp that unleashed her inner comic. The spontaneous road trip that became five years of regional theater. There was the backstage decision that doing Shakespeare actually kinda sucked. And then the double epiphany: she should be on a TV show in Los Angeles and join The Groundlings. Getting cast on Saturday Night Live and then inexplicably dropped after one season was not a turning point she’d anticipated. It was never even in the plan. So, she found herself at yet another: Wallow, or move on? Well, the suspense isn’t killing anyone who’s been watching TV for the last 10 years, but watching one of the most gifted supporting actresses around finally show what she can do with a lead role is one of the best endings we can think of.
We all have one or two turning points in life, but Michaela Watkins’ life seems like an endless string of them. There was the classical music camp that unleashed her inner comic. The spontaneous road trip that became five years of regional theater. There was the backstage decision that doing Shakespeare actually kinda sucked. And then the double epiphany: she should be on a TV show in Los Angeles and join The Groundlings. Getting cast on Saturday Night Live and then inexplicably dropped after one season was not a turning point she’d anticipated. It was never even in the plan. So, she found herself at yet another: Wallow, or move on? Well, the suspense isn’t killing anyone who’s been watching TV for the last 10 years, but watching one of the most gifted supporting actresses around finally show what she can do with a lead role is one of the best endings we can think of.
