May 8, 2025 • 57 mins
From a small-town girl doing plays as an 8-year-old in Macon, Georgia, to being a leading lady on her own hit TV show! Carrie Preston shines as 'Elsbeth Tascioni' in one of CBS' most successful dramas, a show she thought would never see the light of day!
Carrie Preston is opening up to Sophia about reprising the Emmy-winning role of 'Elsbeth,' which viewers first saw on the small screens 15 years ago in "The Good Wife," and what it's like playing a woman of a certain age reinventing herself. She also shares her journey to becoming an actress, director, and producer and using her platform for good.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome
back to Work in Progress, Whipsmarties. We have a guest
today who has been dubbed the Queen of Quirk by
(00:22):
The New York Times, and you know how I love
a quirky lady. Carrie Preston joins us on the show today.
I am so excited to talk to her about how
she built her unconventional attorney named Elsbeth Tousconi in her
hit series Elsbeth, because this character actually originated in a
(00:44):
guest episode on The Good Wife and just kept coming
back for more, then appeared on The Good Fight, and
then apparently thanks to a Colombo rewatch, the creators said,
hold the phone, that's the show that Elsbeth. I want
to talk to Carrie about how she's carried this incredible
(01:04):
character over fifteen years, how she figures out how to
make so many people in the world feel represented on screen,
what brings her joy as an artist, and how she
found her artistic voice it was earlier than you might think,
and what it's like to figure out ways to use
her platform for good being so rooted in joy from
(01:27):
supporting the LGBTQ community with glad to advocating for folks
with Parkinson's alongside Michael J. Fox and his foundation. Carrie
really takes her goodness on screen to off, and I
just can't wait to hear from her how she manages
to balance it all. Let's dive in with Carrie Preston.
(01:57):
Thank you for coming on the show. I'm so gigd
you're here. You're just the absolute coolest human and I'm
like really amped about it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, I should say first that I was on a
jury once for an indie film festival and yeah, yeah,
was one of the in competition and it was like
such an easy this should be the winner for me.
Oh my gosh, it win.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So there you carry.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Thank you you and Michael. You guys were great together.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Oh thank you. We had such a special time making
that movie.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
The two of you were just like electric together. I
don't even know. I mean, it was just like riveting
from the minute it started and it was brilliant the
whole thing.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Oh, thank you so much. That really means a lot.
I really appreciate that, and you were awesome. Thanks well,
You're so awesome, And I just I love when I
get to sit down with people whose work I adore
and who are just doing such cool things in the world.
But I kind of like to go back to catch
up to where we are are, because I feel like
(03:02):
when you're a person who you know, folks know they
love watching you on TV. You know, they know your
body of work, they know you, and I know you
as this person. But I wonder if you know you
got to be in you know, your own sci fi
movie and hang out with yourself when you were nine
(03:23):
or ten, you know, like have a day in the
park in the city with your younger self. Would you
do you think you would see yourself today in her?
And do you think she would be like, oh cool,
I see how I turned into you? Or did your
life just take like a totally unexpected series of turns
and you had no idea you'd be doing this for
(03:45):
a living.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You know, I grew up and making Georgia okay, And
you know that's a smaller town. It's not. It's not
the smallest, you know, it's a but it's in Georgia.
And you know, there weren't like actors that were coming
up in that town, you know what I mean. It
(04:07):
was It wasn't like that was the thing that you
you would you would aspire to do was to be
an actor.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, you didn't grow up like next to Times Square.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I wasn't like going to the professional after school or
any of that stuff. But I'm definitely a little bit
of what you might call a lifer, you know. I
started to doing az when I was eight years old.
My older brother John, he started doing community theater and
I was like, I want to be like him, So
(04:39):
I started doing plays and we had very supportive parents.
My mom. My mom's an artist. She was a painter,
a sculptor and did art therapy. Wow, even knew what
that was. I mean, she called it expressive art. She
didn't get a degree in art therapy, but she got it.
She got certified and expressive art, which is very similar,
(05:00):
So she was doing that kind of thing. My dad
geotechnical engineer, so he's like the left brain side of things, wow,
you know, and my mom was like the right brain
side of things. And luckily they they didn't try to
fight us on that, like, you know, they were like, oh,
you want to be creative, We're going to let you
(05:21):
do that. I mean I was I was when I
was like six years old. I remember playing in the
front yard and acting like there were cameras in the
trees and then trying to act natural. Wow, like why,
don't know why. I don't know how that feeling like
(05:42):
cameras were watching me. So that was just something that
I don't know was maybe ingrained in me. But you know,
by the time I'm twelve, I'm starting my own theater
company with the kids in the neighborhood. You know, I
was Now I was that kid who just was like,
I love to do this. Now. I don't know if
(06:03):
it was because I needed more order in my life.
I don't know what it was, but I was gravitating
towards it, and I started doing community theater and I
would you know, but I wasn't playing like the leads.
I was always playing the comic sidekick. I was always
playing like you know, and I would put on the
fanny pack and the flasses and the you know, I
(06:26):
would do the funny character voices. I was already pressing
around with that and not really knowing what I was doing.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Wow, it's so interesting that you say that. Every once
in a while, I think about moments in my own
childhood where I go, oh, there it was where you know,
my parents would be out and I was finally old
enough to stay home by myself, and I'd be like
doing a scene in the living room alone because I
(06:54):
felt like, oh, I've got a house all to myself,
and now I can work on this. And even now,
I mean this morning, I was, you know, walking from
one end of the subway station to the other to
catch a train, and I was like, God, this whole
thing just feels like a movie. And I catch myself realizing, like,
if I was shooting this, I'd have a camera on
a Delli track over there, and oh, look at that
(07:14):
cool and there's a guy with a you know, a
violin over here, and I'm always thinking about it that way,
but I I didn't. I guess I've never really even
thought to talk about that until you just did and
I went, oh, we do. We do have a weird
thing that we do, I guess when we're our day.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I mean, because otherwise why would we be doing it?
Because it's a very hard business to get into.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So there must be you know, into me and to
be in yeah, and to maintain and do all of
the peripheral things that go go along with it, yeah,
you know, including the not getting the.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Job part, which is way more than the getting the job.
Oh so all of that stuff. If we didn't have this,
I don't know original kernel of Yeah, this is this
is what I this is what I want, what I
need to do, I at least need to try to
do it. Or I got to be creative in some way.
And I've always felt that way, like I got to
be creative in some way, Like even when I was younger. Yes,
(08:15):
it was the acting part, but I started directing and
writing and doing all that stuff at the same time
because I just wanted to make things, you know, And
I would also make puppets and paint and make you know,
because my mom was an artist. You know, we were
always doing, you know, some kind of arts. So there
was an appreciation for it and just a desire to
(08:38):
express myself in some way. And so that has come
in handy as my life has gone on in this
in this creative pursuit, because when I find that, Okay,
well maybe I'm not being hired right now, well I'm
going to go ahead and make my own stuff, right,
(09:00):
there's that empowerment there that I think, I think it
was nurtured. I'm lucky it was nurtured at a young
age by parents who didn't try to talk me out
of it, by teachers who were like, yeah, yeah, you
could do that. We don't quite know how to teach
how to do that, but we can get you to
the places that can you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That's really really very cool because what I'm hearing you
talk about is the fact that, as the phrase goes,
because you could see it, you were empowered to believe
you could be it. Your mom was an artist, so
you could be an artist. And I think to be
given the tools to express yourself from such a young
(09:42):
age and then to have that natural inclination to want
to use those tools be fostered.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
What a cool.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Just what a cool series of empowering events that must
have felt like as a kid.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, yeah, it did. And also just the the joy
of it, you know, the you know how it is
like when you when you key and when you're doing
the role and it just starts to take over and
you just feel like you're expressing something bigger, You're in
(10:18):
charge of giving something bigger to the world. You know, yes,
you know, the the translation of what it is to
be a human through you know, through your your instrument.
You know, I don't know that. There's just something very
thrilling about that, and it's it feels like a contribution.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah yeah, I always I talk about this sort of
singularity I experience where it feels like for me, the
journey into the character, where it really comes alive in me.
It's the amount of work it requires and the creativity
and the excitement and the joy you're talking about. And
(11:02):
then suddenly I feel feelings that I know are not mine,
but my body doesn't know we're not mine. And in
that moment, it's like those feelings can represent everyone who
might watch it. At some point I can give it
away and it's you know, it's like the it's like
the two butterfly wings, and I feel like I'm just
in the body in the center and it's so.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Cool. Yeah yeah, like Martha Graham says, the body never lies. Yeah,
you know, And so it maybe a little you got
to like work on your own mental health because sometimes majorly,
like you just said, your body doesn't know and so
sadly you're carrying some kind of trauma around that you
actually don't have.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So yeah, yeah, I feel like that's an interesting part
of our job nobody ever really talks about is like
you you really have to have some mental health practices
if you want to stay sane and do this for
a living. Yes, it sounds like you got to build
such a big toolkit from such an early age. But
(12:06):
to your point, you know, making Georgia is not times square.
Was it a surreal kind of adjustment for you to
leave home and come to Juilliard and be in the
mix of this city and that kind of professional pursuit.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, I got the great privilege and benefit of going
to some undergraduate schools before I went, so I got
to have a little bit of a bridge. Okay, you know,
so I went first, I went to the College of
Charleston for a couple of years, and then I met
(12:44):
a professor there who said, let's get you some stronger
training than we have here. So they got me. He
got me to audition for a very tiny, but very powerful,
little liberal arts school in southern Indiana called the Ununiversity
of Evansville. And there was a Loudes who had started
(13:05):
that program uh and and fostered the program and turned
it into really a world class little training womb. And
so I went there for a couple of years and
really got some really solid training. And one of the
things that he and the professors there take great pride
(13:28):
in is that they helped place their students in the
top graduate acting schools in the country. Yeah, and so
they really have like an incredible rate still of student
to you know, Juilliard, Yale, m y u UCSD like
the you know, some some really solid solid training grounds.
(13:50):
And I loved school. I was one of those wirdos
that just loved me too, and I got the top
of it. So I just kept going, you know, so
because I ended up going from undergrad to four years
at Julia Julias was at the time when I was there,
a four year program, and so you know, that was
(14:10):
an additional four years. But it was a really good
way for a small town girl to acclimatize herself to
that what you were saying, large ocean of a place,
you know. And uh and so I had that, I
had the the you know, the benefit of being in
(14:32):
a in a school that could prepare me for it,
and so having that kind of insulated vibe, but still
being right smack in the middle of Manhattan, you know,
Lincoln Center, you know, which had its wonderful you know benefits,
which was going getting to go see all those shows
(14:52):
and you know around all those different artists at that school. Yeah,
all the different disciplines you know, really shaped me and
had you know, gave me even more of an appreciation
of all the fellow artists that you know, I had
the privilege of being around.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
What were some of your favorite things that you got
to do as a student there.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I mean we were there, you know, from eight am
until like midnight, you know, every day we were there,
and so we would have these like classroom projects, you know,
so it felt like we were just doing these plays
for each other and for the faculty and for each other,
(15:36):
and so that we were able to feel like less
of the pressure of performance. The school, the the program
is built to kind of lead you up to the
public performance side of things, and you know, to get
you in a place where you feel free and stuff
and you're working with the same people. You know, you
(15:58):
have your core class, and that's who you go through
this four years with, you know, for better and sometimes
for worse. I mean it's a lot, you know, it's
a little bit like boot camp for acting. You know,
there's a joke that some people call it the jail
yard school because you know, you're kind of stuck in
this like you know, pressure cooker. In some ways, I
(16:21):
found it to be invigorating. I'm still very close to
a lot of my classmates, and we had a crazy class.
But along the way, we formed our own theater company,
and we ended up doing a season, a couple of
plays in between in the summer between our second and
third year of school, and so that was like a
(16:43):
really special thing too. To to to get this group
of people and take what we were learning out into
the world, and.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That's really cool. And the desire to keep going, you know,
it's your summer break, and all you want is more
of what you're doing in school. What a great indicator
that you're on the right life path, right.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
It's so cool.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Got to because I was studying the classics, you know,
I was learning how to do Shakespeare and stuff. From
the very beginning of college, I started auditioning for summer
Shakespeare programs, and pretty much every summer I would go
to you know, Georgia Shakespeare, Utah Shakespeare, California Shakespeare. I
would do I would get to do Shakespeare even when
(17:33):
we did our little Juilliard company, we did a Shakespeare play,
so you know, I was constantly cutting my teeth on
you know, some of the the most you know, iconic literature,
dramatic literature, that they're the stuff that we all keep
going back to.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, artists, I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
How fun.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
We'll be back in just a minute after a few
words from our favorite sponsors. I imagine when you get
to reflect, you you know, they say hindsight's twenty twenty, right,
like you see everything so clearly. You see what you
were building and what you loved and was coming back
(18:21):
to this character of Elsbeth. Did it kind of feel
as exciting as the way you're talking about looking back
on that Shakespeare period. Because it's not lost on me
that you started playing this character fifteen years ago and
then played her across two shows and now you're playing
her in this third show. It's like, it feels like
(18:42):
a thing you get to revisit and build and build
and build on in a world. And you know, maybe
it's a stretch, but in my observation in this moment,
I'm like, hold on, it almost feels like you returning
to Shakespeare over and over and over again. It's like
you're getting to do a version of that now, or
does that track or does it feel crazy that tracks?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I hadn't really connected that those dots, So thank you
for that, because it really, it really is making me
think about it in a in a in a way
that feels like it's part of a longer trajectory. You know,
there's not a day that goes by that I'm not amazed, grateful,
(19:26):
and humbled by getting to play this character. Not a
day goes by because it is, like you just said,
it's not lost on me. It is really not lost
on me. I'm I'm a fifty eight year old woman
who has been doing character roles my whole career, happily supporting.
(19:53):
I've had played leads in movies, et cetera, indies and stuff,
but mostly I'm you know, I've been there to support you,
and happily. I love it, you know, I love being
trusted with those kinds of roles. You know, when it
first started out, you know, everybody who always wants to
kind of pigeonhole you and tell you like this is
(20:15):
your type, you know, And so when I was young,
it was like you're the ingenoux and I was always like, okay,
but I don't make that angeneu really interesting because like
I want to just play you know, like the pretty
young thing, like especially in Shakespeare. Yeah, And when I
(20:36):
first got out of Juilliard, I got to audition for
The Tempest, which was being done as Shakespeare in the Park.
It was George C. Wolfe, the Great Director's first Shakespeare
that he'd ever directed. It was Patrick Stewart playing Prospero.
(20:57):
And I was auditioning for Miranda, which is, you know,
one of the news in the Shakespeare cannon. But I
was like, yeah, but if your girl, who's you know,
fifteen and you have only since you were a baby,
lived on an island with a bunch of dudes, your
dad a monster affair, you know you're gonna be like
(21:23):
the pretty girl.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
In the dress.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Like how are you going to do that?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
No way, You're going to be.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
One of the lost boys, gonna be a tomboy you
want to be. So I went whole hard on that,
you know, hot off on my hair, went for the tomboy,
the damming you know thing, and really turned that, tried
to turn that character into somebody a different interpretation of
(21:48):
that role. And got you know, got the park, got
to do it. We moved it to Broadway and I
may mayor Broadway debut doing that, and I thought, no,
you don't have You can be a character actor in
a conta news package. You can be is what we're
always doing character acting. I mean we're creating characters, right, Like,
(22:12):
aren't we supposed to be doing that. We're not supposed
to be doing the audience's interpretation of what the leading
lady is. We're supposed to bring who we are married,
well read on the page, the text work that we do,
the work we do with the other actors, the work
we do with the director, and create something that's fresh.
So I felt that and that's part of just because
(22:36):
I went to school and I was taught to do
the deep, you know, mining of the character. So when
I got the role, this is all leading up to
when I got the role of Elsbeth, I tried to
apply the same principles to that as I add to
these Shakespeare roles, like what are we going to do
with this character that makes her different?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
How do I bring myself? What am I going to do?
How does this woman think? You know? Just started doing
that deeper work and not just be now part of
it was that was written, but you know, not just
be like the the lawyer of the week, like what
can we do this? Something something singular, and the fact
that they were given they gave me that license, the
(23:22):
fantastic that always starts with the page, but they gave
me that license and then kept inviting me back to
well yeah, and then it became this alchemy between what
they were writing and what I was doing and you know,
here we are, but there's no guarantee that like we
(23:42):
would get to do a show that way. Well, like
when they told me this was in twenty twenty, when
Robert Michelle you know, reached out to me because it
was COVID. We were all locked down. They were seeing
the end of the good fight. They knew that that
was going to be coming to an end soon, and
(24:03):
they were like, what are we going to do next?
And they had been rewatching episodes of Colombo and they
were like, huh, maybe that's maybe we could put Elsbeth
Tasioni in a situation like that. Then simultaneously, Elizabeth Vincent Telly,
who's a writer at the New York Times, wrote an
article about what she was doing during COVID was watching
(24:25):
episodes of Colombo, and the last line of the article was,
we don't need a reboot of Colombo. Just give Elsbeth
Tasioni her own show. No, yes, And then I'm just
saying hills, right. So Robert and Michelle they saw that
Robinda Michelle King and they saw that and they were like, Okay,
(24:46):
that's like, this is weird because this is how what
we were thinking. And then they started the process. But
that was in twenty twenty and they called and they
were like, do you want to do this? I was like,
uh yeah, I mean obviously, obviously, and then it just
wouldn't happen, wouldn't happen for years, and I was like, Okay,
I guess it's not going to happen. And then, you
know whatever, a year and a half ago.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
And now Elizabeth is vack. When you look back to
the beginning, you know, when you talk about that character work,
you know, the ways you wanted to build her into
more than just a lawyer of the week. What are
the things that you started to noodle with fifteen years
ago that have become so core to your character.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Now, Yeah, that's a good question because I don't like
to revisit like my past work too much. Yeah, in
my head, I also am like, oh I look so
much younger, you know, and I go to like crazy
places everybody else.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
It's really weird to have to watch yourself be a
human on film.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Mostly they're just in our bodies looking out. So it
happened to look at yourself all the time. It's weird.
It's a weird experience.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
It's a weird experience, and it can really mess you up.
So I try not to do that. But or we
started the series that L was at the series, I thought, well,
just go back because I'd like to see like what
I did back then, because I don't remember it was fifteen,
I'd like to see. So I watched Elsa's first appearance
(26:17):
and it was fascint. First of all, it was like,
I know what, I know, you must relate to this.
It's like watching somebody else.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, it's like it's almost like watching your sister. Yeah yeah, yeah,
they look like you. Yeah, they look like you were familiar,
but also like a stranger, like a stranger.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, it's like revisiting this person that you used to be. Yeah.
Or it's like maybe she was like my child or something.
There was something I felt very I felt very maternal
towards her, you know, like this, but I could tell
that I was, you know, I was finding my way.
I mean, this was like a guest spot, you know, so,
(26:58):
and you're there. When you're a guest spot, which I've
done so very many of it in my career. You're
there to serve.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Oh yeah, you're.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
There to serve what they need to do, to be
a support to those other actors. And I love I
love that. But there's a lot of pressure too, because
you can't go in there and start like messing or it.
You know, they they've hired you. They've hired you to
be the pinch hitter to come in, do you know,
do the same, because we don't have time. We've got
(27:28):
to get this thing done. But I knew sit on
the page there was something that was a sparkle to
this character that I knew they wanted me to do
something different. And then fifteen years ago, Robert King said
to me, we're thinking about her like a female Columbo.
And I said, oh, okay, I think I know what
(27:48):
that means. That they want her to be unexpected unconventional. Oh,
I want her to be somebody that the audience and
then the people around her don't seek coming. So I
just thought, let me pick that out. And you can
see that I was tentatively doing it. But it was there,
you know, the the kind of odd way in which
(28:12):
she thinks and stuff. It was there, but I wasn't
really letting the full freak flag flaw yet because I
didn't know if it was okay to do that, you know, right,
And so I did a couple of episodes at the
end of season one, and then I didn't hear anything
for an entire season. So I thought I blew it.
I thought I didn't do enough or I did too
(28:34):
much for something, so I let it go, said goodbye.
I was like, oh, well, I did it. I did it.
It was fun. People seem to like it, but you know,
that's it. And then they caught me back in season
three and they were like, okay, we have a whole
like her.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
And then I was able to go, oh, okay. And
then I worked with the director and the show, you know,
I worked with them and and they they kind of
pushed me, you know, to to go further with what
I was starting to do.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah. Well, it's interesting because as someone who's observing, you know,
from the outside into your world, I see that there's
so much wonderful praise for your depiction of this character
that people feel really seen and really represented, and they
talk about how she is a really positive example of
(29:25):
neurodivergence and brilliance, and folks talk about, you know, she's
got traits of ADHD and I'm like, thank you for
putting us on TV too, you know, traits that could
be identified as being on the autism spectrum? Are those
things that you have studied and consciously thought about, you know,
do you get into a Colombo esque character with obsession
(29:49):
for detail and pattern recognition and things that we now
know are often signs of that sort of like neurodivergence, sparkliness.
Did they come naturally because of something like you said
that was on the page and then you started to
realize what you were representing or is it kind of
a mixed bag of all of it.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Well, I'm very careful and the writers and everyone on
the show is are very careful to never diagnose Yes.
I find that that would then become a definitive and
then I would have to represent Zach thing and then
(30:30):
I would ultimately and we would ultimately not live up
to that because everybody is different. What I find really
fascinating about playing her is that, and what people seem
to respond to is that she is decidedly that who
(30:53):
she is, and it's a unique and singular just like
anybody who's on what the spectrum of humanity. And you
know what I mean. And so I've honored you know
that I'm given that responsibility but also that gift and
(31:19):
of playing somebody that has that kind of mind that
is so unique, that is ingenious, and that also tender,
vulnerable mind and and smart and extremely capable. So what
(31:45):
I love about it is that I feel like it's
it's a story about a unique person who is entrusted
with a great amount of responsibility. But it's also about
a woman who's of a certain age who is reinventing herself. Yeah,
he isn't settled into who. She's trying to improve herself.
(32:09):
She's trying to change things that she's done in the past. Yeah,
you know.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
To love that path, the journey of self discovery, of
learning self inventory. What I love about what you're saying
is it's it's so universal. And then I imagine in
a way, because you can see, you see who she is,
you have a representation to how her brain works in
(32:36):
its own way. But I think the sort of ingenious
thing about not to your point deciding on any specific
term or specific diagnosis, is that by being in that spectrum,
so many people get to see themselves in you on screen.
You know, in a way, being so incredibly specific about
(32:56):
who Elsbeth is allows you to be universal for so
many people.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
And I think you just put your finger on I
think just acting, you know, and onsibilities as actors is
as specific as possible, so that, yeah, it has become
something that everyone can find a way into.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, I think it's a good.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Actor because you understand that.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Oh that's so kind coming from you. I think about
the women that you've built this world with as well.
I mean, talk about the three of you, incredible actors.
You Juliana Marghlis, the iconic Christine Baranski. I once was
at some event with her and she like walked by
and I heard myself and I know she heard me.
I went oh, and I was like, oh, don't be
(33:44):
the weirdo who like gasps, because you see this amazing woman.
And and I think about these shows, you know, three
of these shows that have built out this world and
your your your creators. You've mentioned them, Robert and Michelle.
Oh are they just the coolest people to work with?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
It?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I feel as a viewer like they really love and
respect women and our intellect, not just our capabilities as
you know, mothers or leaders or whatever, but but our prowess.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Is it just.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
What's your sort of experience like on that side? You know,
how do you all work as a team, How do
you figure out what you want the show to look
like and feel like? Or have you just been doing
it together for so long now that it's almost second nature?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah? I mean, well, the thing about Robert and Michelle
King is they are incredibly strong leaders. And part of
that leadership is that they empower all of their team. So,
and I know this because I've also worked with them
(34:56):
as a director, because I've directed some I directed some
episodes of The Good Fight, and so I got to
be a part of, you know, the prep, which is
where you really see how how the people who are
in charge of the show convey what it is that
they need uh director to do. And so I also
(35:22):
feel like they they build like a real ensemble of
actors that they keep going back to and they enjoy
working with, Like they find the people that they that
speak the same language as them, and then they continue
to employ them. When I when we went into Elsbeth
(35:44):
uh and this show got picked up to series, you know,
one of the first thing I did was I texted
Christine Baranski and I texted Julianna Margalliz, and I thanked
them because I wouldn't be here without them, and that
I felt this great responsibility and privilege of kind of
(36:06):
picking up the baton and carrying it forward. Robert and
Michelle did the same thing with one of their former
writers who had been with them, Jonathan Tolans. They passed
the baton to him. And John Plans is our showrunner,
so their exec producer runs our show, He runs our
(36:30):
writers room. He's the one who has really created this world.
He took what Robert and Michelle did with the pilot,
honored it, and then they gave him the power to
really shape it into his show. They're they're involved, of course,
but John is is our is our guy I call
(36:51):
when he comes to set, I call him Daddy.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I'm him.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
He's very receptive to any input that I need to have,
which is pretty I don't really have that much that
I need to say because the writing is so great
and I do so so great about it. But if
I have a question, very receptive. So there is, you know,
this sense of not controlling but leading.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah, gosh, that's beautiful. And now a word from our
sponsors that I really enjoy and I think you will too.
It must just be the kind of place that constantly
makes you feel like you get to grow. I mean,
I think about you know, even as you said, you
(37:41):
know you're I can't believe you're fifty eight. That's I mean,
I'm like, what, But you know, you talk about your
early career and everyone's looking for the next entrenou and
it is really profound two at least for me as
(38:03):
a viewer, and I would imagine for you as an
actor to continue the fact that you're continuing to build
your own world, you know, in a in an industry
where we've all been told, well, once you're forty, you'll
never work again, and it's like, I'm.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Gonna work forever, and look at you.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
You're building this space and this show is so wonderful,
and the reception to it is so wonderful. And you know,
you get to work with people that you love, you
get to be partners with Jonathan, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Your husband came and guest starred on your show.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
It's like, you look like you're having a really good time.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I am. I'm having the time of my life. I am.
And when I'm not, you know, because it's hard. The schedules,
you do, know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Tough.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
You know, it's a tough schedule. Like you know, we're
doing those episodes in eight or nine days, and I'm
in pretty much every you know scene. So it's it's
I don't have very much. And whenever I'm not on,
whenever I'm not saying words, I'm learning other words. And
so it's you know, it's there's a lot of juggling.
But I'm like, I've always been a multitasker. I mean,
(39:08):
I think one thing that Elsbetasioni and I have in
common is that we both are pretty good at multitasking. Yeah,
I love that, so I can bring that, you know,
to the character and stuff. But I am having the
time of my life because that it has come at
this time. I mean, I said, I was fifty eight,
I will be at fifty eight and two months, but
(39:28):
I feel like I'm already fifty eight. Fifty seven will
be fifty eight and two months. But but yeah, so
I feel like, you know, it's not I don't want
to waste a moment. You know, well, you're you're on fire,
although as long as they'll let me do it, I'm
you don't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Does this experience at this stage because to your point,
you know, you've you've been a working actor for a
long time, You've got an incredible career. But does this
moment you know, the tough of the schedule, sure, but
also the excitement to be doing it and you so
clearly love the work, the writing, all of it. Does
(40:07):
it shift your perspective on your own midlife? Does it
kind of reconstitute for you what longevity means? Feels like, looks.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Like, yeah, yeah, it really does. I mean sometimes I
have these thoughts of like why did I give this?
Did somebody give me this responsibility? When I was like
in my you know, where it was, I had this
endless amount of energy, and I thought, well, because that
wasn't the time, like you know, and it wasn't lined up.
(40:39):
It wasn't lined up. When I was doing shows in
my thirties, they were all like, all the leads were
like dudes, you know, so you know what I mean.
It was just like, yeah, it had to be now,
It had to be time when you know, I was
going to be the show that comes on after Kathy Bates. Yeah,
you know, like it just sort of needed to be that,
(41:01):
and maybe I needed to have a little bit more
of it. Maybe I needed to be a little more
seasoned to bring you know, some of the I don't know,
just some of what it is to be at this
at this late in my late fifties and doing this.
You know, it's a different person than was back then.
(41:22):
And I also but.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
It's just tremendously interesting.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Sting to cut you off there, but I'm like, wait,
it's so cool. Yeah, I know. I feel that I
feel that way, and I feel I feel a responsibility
to represent a woman of that age who's not attached
to a man, who's not a who's not about, you know,
beauty on the outside as much as she is about
(41:47):
beauty in the brain and and love and joy and
positivity and overcoming things and beyond things and just all
She's infectious. It infects me, yeah, play.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
And everything about her, you know, from the way her
brain works to even the way she moves through the world.
I mean, I'm obsessed with her obsession with tote bags.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
You know, it's such a fun little quirk.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
It's a detail that is fun for me as an
actor to think about you coming up with and I
you know, I love having like the big, motivational, artistic conversation,
and then part of me is so curious, like, what
do you think is the weirdest thing in her bag?
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Well, we did a whole episode where we had a
con Mari type person played by the brilliant Mary Luise Parker,
who I'm obsessed with icon icon I mean the icons
that I've gotten to work with on this show Yond Beyond.
But anyway, she makes me go through my toes and
(42:56):
I was very worried. I even said to John Tolanz,
I was like, I called him. I don't usually do that,
but I called him and said, I am worried. I
don't know if we want to open up the mystery bag.
Don't you think it's more interesting curious about what's in
the bag than showing showing what's you know, because it's
(43:18):
sort of like, we don't want to talk too much
about her brain because it's more interesting and surprising to
just watch her do her thing. And he assured me that,
you know, that we would do it in a way
that was responsible, and I was, and I, you know,
I said, well, we need to at least talk about
her emotional connection to it. That it's not just just
(43:38):
carrying much of random things around. There's a really carrying
them around. And I always think about it in terms
of it's like a security blanket, or it's something that
you know, makes her feel confident, armored. It's like armored
she's bringing out into the world. And that just means
that there are a lot of things in there that
(44:00):
you think she said you might need. That could be
a sandwich because she's hungry later, and some string cheese,
but also you know some uh you know, the Encyclopedia
Britannica and Atticus, like just whatever it is that she
thinks she might need to help unlock something, you know,
(44:22):
And so I think about it that way. And then,
and I've talked about this before, I made the decision
pretty early on that when Elspeth shows up to solve
the crime, to make the arrest. She doesn't have the
bags because she is an.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
She's not in the process of solving.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Right. I love, she's an encumbered and she's you know,
stands in her own you know, confidence and truth in
that moment.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
That's very very cool. That's very cool. Are there other
things you've found her through in terms of decision making?
Like do you know what her favorite cocktail is? Does
she have a favorite snack? Is there is there like
a must have wardrobe item for her that goes along
(45:24):
with her toolkit in her bags? You know, what are
some of the things you've selected for her that we
might know or that we might not.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Yeah, I mean well, first of all, I there we
have the most genius costume designer working in the business,
Daniel lot awesome, who's costumed good Wife, Good Fight Elsbeth
like the through line, the character doesn't exist without him.
I go up and stand there like a paper doll,
and he hands me the character. Yes, so I totally
(45:56):
completely trust him. Our fittings are epic. The closet that
he builds for me is it takes like the almost
half of the whole. You know, thousands of clothes and
they're just so so delightful and so specific. Started coming
(46:17):
up with this idea that because Elizabeth has moved to
New York and she's such a tourist and she loves
New York so much. Yeah, wherever she goes in, whatever
crime in the world of the crime that she goes into,
she gets a little something from it. Yeah, you know
what I mean. So we find like tope bags from
the little We had an episode about tennis, so I
have like a little brooch sometimes that I wear these
(46:39):
tennis reckets and then the like towards the end of
the season, Dan came in and he was like, don't
you think Elsbeth is probably playing pickleball by now? I mean,
I would have never thought of that, but I'm like,
of course she's playing kickballs because everyone's playing pickleball, and
I'm sure she's satelite, but she's going to go in
there and try to do it. So he had this
(46:59):
little roaches that was pickleball, a little pickleball how and
we just put that on. So he I work so
closely with the costume department and with him. You know,
I'll come, I'll find some some knitted thing and I'll say,
don't you think that she needs to be wearing this?
And we will put that in there, or you know,
(47:23):
a certain boat or whatever. And so we we find
those little details together as far as like way way
earlier on and good Wife Elisath said, you don't want
to see me drunk. You don't want to see me drinking.
I'm I'm so she doesn't drink, so it's right, but
she but she loves Shirley Temples. So the prop department
(47:47):
what they will do with a Shirley Temple for me,
Like we will show up and they'll say, see, there's
a place for you to have a Shirley Temple if
we've do like a scene in a restaurant or a bar.
And so we did this. We did this episode that
was set in a restaurant. It was about a chef
played by the again another person I worship, Pamela Adlin
played a chef brilliant and we're in this like super
(48:10):
high end restaurant and they had, you know, Shirley temple,
and I was like, no, let's put it in the
tiniest little glass because all the food is tiny, yes,
tiny Shirley Temple. And then I'm gonna try to drink it. Yes,
(48:31):
So they put it there and I was like, they're
going to cut this, but I did this whole lotsy
with this whole bit, with the trying to drink the thing,
with the thing and the little umbrella and stuff, and
just like having the hardest time with it, and thankfully
they kept it in the cut. They fighting a lot
of my little I call them El's bits, caught the
l's bits because you know, they have to time and
(48:53):
plot and story. But when they keep my little, my
little moments in, I'm always very vitorius, so much fun.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
And you know, it isn't lost on me that you,
with this platform that you've built, you've you know, not
only leaned into such great content, but you use your
platform for advocacy. You know, you support LGBTQ rights with glad,
you work with Michael Fox Foundation and support folks battling Parkinson's.
(49:25):
You know, how how do you decide what you're going
to lend your time to and and and how you're
going to show.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Up Like, yeah, I can think it's just you know,
being raised by my parents were very much about you know,
supporting acceptance, love and uh and and advocating for people
(49:57):
who maybe don't have a voice, or people who disenfranchised,
and you know, early early on, like in college and stuff.
I always feel feel like I still am feel like
even I'm married to a man, I'm very much part
of the queer community. So I feel like I want
to bring a voice to them, and especially now when
(50:20):
their voices are being taken away. Early on in my career,
when I started directing, I started making movies and projects
for the LGBTQ audience. Twenty five years ago, there wasn't
as much content and so and I wanted my my
(50:44):
producing partners, and I wanted to make, you know, projects
that were less about uh maybe romantic relationships and more
about you know, coming coming of age. Or we made
a movie called Ready Okay about a little boy who
wants to be a cheerleader and just mother and how
she's struggling with her kid being different. And so, you know,
(51:07):
making something that you could show at a p FLAG meeting,
you know, something that you could take your parents to
and go, this is this is this is what I'm
going through Your ways to do that and tell stories
that way. I do believe that stories have the power
to change the world and so we as artists are
responsible for changing the world a lot of the time.
(51:29):
And so I feel, you know a lot of privilege
and responsibility in telling those stories and bringing them to light.
And then also, you know, my father passed away from
complications from parkinson So watchould and go through that for
twenty years. One of my best best friends has partners
is my you know, a cousin mine has part like
(51:51):
it's there are a lot of people we have Parkinson's
in this world and they're making great strides. Michael J. Fox.
I remember I did an episode to Spend City way back,
got to you know, meet Michael J. Fox and when
he was first starting to deal with Pardinson's and just
being so impressed with how he was using his platform,
and it said his organized organization has made Yeah, it's
(52:16):
just so important to keep an eye on that so
that we as you know, as as the as the
audience and we as fellow humans can continue to support
that and bring you know, a light to that so
that it continues to grow.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
And yeah, it's beautiful. And I think when you get
to harness you know, the attention that your job comes with,
and help make sure you can transmute that toward other
folks who needed. It's such a it's such a gift
that comes with all the other crazy stuff that you know,
we do and deal with. And yeah, it's always really
(52:56):
exciting for me to to see the things that people
are so passionate about.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah, I know, I know, and I do it in
a quieter way, I think, maybe than some people would wish.
But I just feel like I want to be you know,
I want to just do the work and be authentic
to to the to the activism. Also being you know myself,
which is somebody who is just a loving and you know,
(53:22):
joyful person you know out in the world as well,
you know, somebody who's appreciative, appreciative of of the place
that I'm you know, a privileged to be in as well.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
I think that's great. And now a word from our sponsors.
When you sit and you think about you know, continuing
this show you love, uh, being in this place in
your life that you love and you know what comes next?
(53:59):
What what feels like You're work in progress now?
Speaker 2 (54:04):
I mean, I'm constantly trying to do this. Do it
a spiritual work, you know. I mean, I like my parents,
we weren't. We weren't religious per se, but we were
very and you know, my parents were always you know,
(54:25):
my parents had a commune at one point. You know,
we were very like trying to find an alternative way
of thinking love that been interested in mindfulness, practice Buddhism,
you know, uh meditation. And it took me a long
time to get to a place where I had like
a daily practice because I'm a hummingbird.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
Really hard to like subtle, I feel that.
Speaker 2 (54:50):
H And so that's my work, is that I'm constantly
trying to ground down into uh mindfulness and finding compassion
and empathy for myself and for and that's sort of
my daily I just started at what I'm calling a
(55:12):
grat text thread with my closest some of my day ones,
my wride dies, girlfriends, and you know, we're just every
day we grat text and it's just got to do
just three things, just three things you're grateful for. And
it really does open up a conversation and open up
(55:35):
a way of looking at your life. And I'm looking
at the world and trying to be aware of constantly
aware of you know, not everybody has the privileges that
I have. And you know, figuring out a way to
(55:55):
harness that empathy and compassion for the good.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Yeah, that's beautiful because you're you know, you're talking about
the things out there and the things in here, and
I think it's special to try to hold all that space.
It's special work.
Speaker 2 (56:16):
Yeah, it's necessary, I think, especially for where we are
in the world right now, which is kind of divided.
And yeah, yeah, well I.
Speaker 1 (56:23):
So appreciate it. I mean, I'm I'm so inspired by
you as an artist and it's a real treat to
get to sit and just be inspired by you as
a human. We all love the show. Thank you for
all that hard work and all those crazy hours. You
really you bring us all a lot of joy.
Speaker 2 (56:42):
Thank you, Thank you, and thanks for having thanks for
such a lad nurturing the conversation.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
Thank you, Thank you for joining us. It means a
lot
Hey everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome
back to Work in Progress, Whipsmarties. We have a guest
today who has been dubbed the Queen of Quirk by
(00:22):
The New York Times, and you know how I love
a quirky lady. Carrie Preston joins us on the show today.
I am so excited to talk to her about how
she built her unconventional attorney named Elsbeth Tousconi in her
hit series Elsbeth, because this character actually originated in a
(00:44):
guest episode on The Good Wife and just kept coming
back for more, then appeared on The Good Fight, and
then apparently thanks to a Colombo rewatch, the creators said,
hold the phone, that's the show that Elsbeth. I want
to talk to Carrie about how she's carried this incredible
(01:04):
character over fifteen years, how she figures out how to
make so many people in the world feel represented on screen,
what brings her joy as an artist, and how she
found her artistic voice it was earlier than you might think,
and what it's like to figure out ways to use
her platform for good being so rooted in joy from
(01:27):
supporting the LGBTQ community with glad to advocating for folks
with Parkinson's alongside Michael J. Fox and his foundation. Carrie
really takes her goodness on screen to off, and I
just can't wait to hear from her how she manages
to balance it all. Let's dive in with Carrie Preston.
(01:57):
Thank you for coming on the show. I'm so gigd
you're here. You're just the absolute coolest human and I'm
like really amped about it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, I should say first that I was on a
jury once for an indie film festival and yeah, yeah,
was one of the in competition and it was like
such an easy this should be the winner for me.
Oh my gosh, it win.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
So there you carry.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Thank you you and Michael. You guys were great together.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Oh thank you. We had such a special time making
that movie.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
The two of you were just like electric together. I
don't even know. I mean, it was just like riveting
from the minute it started and it was brilliant the
whole thing.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Oh, thank you so much. That really means a lot.
I really appreciate that, and you were awesome. Thanks well,
You're so awesome, And I just I love when I
get to sit down with people whose work I adore
and who are just doing such cool things in the world.
But I kind of like to go back to catch
up to where we are are, because I feel like
(03:02):
when you're a person who you know, folks know they
love watching you on TV. You know, they know your
body of work, they know you, and I know you
as this person. But I wonder if you know you
got to be in you know, your own sci fi
movie and hang out with yourself when you were nine
(03:23):
or ten, you know, like have a day in the
park in the city with your younger self. Would you
do you think you would see yourself today in her?
And do you think she would be like, oh cool,
I see how I turned into you? Or did your
life just take like a totally unexpected series of turns
and you had no idea you'd be doing this for
(03:45):
a living.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You know, I grew up and making Georgia okay, And
you know that's a smaller town. It's not. It's not
the smallest, you know, it's a but it's in Georgia.
And you know, there weren't like actors that were coming
up in that town, you know what I mean. It
(04:07):
was It wasn't like that was the thing that you
you would you would aspire to do was to be
an actor.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, you didn't grow up like next to Times Square.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I wasn't like going to the professional after school or
any of that stuff. But I'm definitely a little bit
of what you might call a lifer, you know. I
started to doing az when I was eight years old.
My older brother John, he started doing community theater and
I was like, I want to be like him, So
(04:39):
I started doing plays and we had very supportive parents.
My mom. My mom's an artist. She was a painter,
a sculptor and did art therapy. Wow, even knew what
that was. I mean, she called it expressive art. She
didn't get a degree in art therapy, but she got it.
She got certified and expressive art, which is very similar,
(05:00):
So she was doing that kind of thing. My dad
geotechnical engineer, so he's like the left brain side of things, wow,
you know, and my mom was like the right brain
side of things. And luckily they they didn't try to
fight us on that, like, you know, they were like, oh,
you want to be creative, We're going to let you
(05:21):
do that. I mean I was I was when I
was like six years old. I remember playing in the
front yard and acting like there were cameras in the
trees and then trying to act natural. Wow, like why,
don't know why. I don't know how that feeling like
(05:42):
cameras were watching me. So that was just something that
I don't know was maybe ingrained in me. But you know,
by the time I'm twelve, I'm starting my own theater
company with the kids in the neighborhood. You know, I
was Now I was that kid who just was like,
I love to do this. Now. I don't know if
(06:03):
it was because I needed more order in my life.
I don't know what it was, but I was gravitating
towards it, and I started doing community theater and I
would you know, but I wasn't playing like the leads.
I was always playing the comic sidekick. I was always
playing like you know, and I would put on the
fanny pack and the flasses and the you know, I
(06:26):
would do the funny character voices. I was already pressing
around with that and not really knowing what I was doing.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Wow, it's so interesting that you say that. Every once
in a while, I think about moments in my own
childhood where I go, oh, there it was where you know,
my parents would be out and I was finally old
enough to stay home by myself, and I'd be like
doing a scene in the living room alone because I
(06:54):
felt like, oh, I've got a house all to myself,
and now I can work on this. And even now,
I mean this morning, I was, you know, walking from
one end of the subway station to the other to
catch a train, and I was like, God, this whole
thing just feels like a movie. And I catch myself realizing, like,
if I was shooting this, I'd have a camera on
a Delli track over there, and oh, look at that
(07:14):
cool and there's a guy with a you know, a
violin over here, and I'm always thinking about it that way,
but I I didn't. I guess I've never really even
thought to talk about that until you just did and
I went, oh, we do. We do have a weird
thing that we do, I guess when we're our day.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I mean, because otherwise why would we be doing it?
Because it's a very hard business to get into.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So there must be you know, into me and to
be in yeah, and to maintain and do all of
the peripheral things that go go along with it, yeah,
you know, including the not getting the.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Job part, which is way more than the getting the job.
Oh so all of that stuff. If we didn't have this,
I don't know original kernel of Yeah, this is this
is what I this is what I want, what I
need to do, I at least need to try to
do it. Or I got to be creative in some way.
And I've always felt that way, like I got to
be creative in some way, Like even when I was younger. Yes,
(08:15):
it was the acting part, but I started directing and
writing and doing all that stuff at the same time
because I just wanted to make things, you know, And
I would also make puppets and paint and make you know,
because my mom was an artist. You know, we were
always doing, you know, some kind of arts. So there
was an appreciation for it and just a desire to
(08:38):
express myself in some way. And so that has come
in handy as my life has gone on in this
in this creative pursuit, because when I find that, Okay,
well maybe I'm not being hired right now, well I'm
going to go ahead and make my own stuff, right,
(09:00):
there's that empowerment there that I think, I think it
was nurtured. I'm lucky it was nurtured at a young
age by parents who didn't try to talk me out
of it, by teachers who were like, yeah, yeah, you
could do that. We don't quite know how to teach
how to do that, but we can get you to
the places that can you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That's really really very cool because what I'm hearing you
talk about is the fact that, as the phrase goes,
because you could see it, you were empowered to believe
you could be it. Your mom was an artist, so
you could be an artist. And I think to be
given the tools to express yourself from such a young
(09:42):
age and then to have that natural inclination to want
to use those tools be fostered.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
What a cool.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Just what a cool series of empowering events that must
have felt like as a kid.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, yeah, it did. And also just the the joy
of it, you know, the you know how it is
like when you when you key and when you're doing
the role and it just starts to take over and
you just feel like you're expressing something bigger, You're in
(10:18):
charge of giving something bigger to the world. You know, yes,
you know, the the translation of what it is to
be a human through you know, through your your instrument.
You know, I don't know that. There's just something very
thrilling about that, and it's it feels like a contribution.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah yeah, I always I talk about this sort of
singularity I experience where it feels like for me, the
journey into the character, where it really comes alive in me.
It's the amount of work it requires and the creativity
and the excitement and the joy you're talking about. And
(11:02):
then suddenly I feel feelings that I know are not mine,
but my body doesn't know we're not mine. And in
that moment, it's like those feelings can represent everyone who
might watch it. At some point I can give it
away and it's you know, it's like the it's like
the two butterfly wings, and I feel like I'm just
in the body in the center and it's so.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Cool. Yeah yeah, like Martha Graham says, the body never lies. Yeah,
you know, And so it maybe a little you got
to like work on your own mental health because sometimes majorly,
like you just said, your body doesn't know and so
sadly you're carrying some kind of trauma around that you
actually don't have.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So yeah, yeah, I feel like that's an interesting part
of our job nobody ever really talks about is like
you you really have to have some mental health practices
if you want to stay sane and do this for
a living. Yes, it sounds like you got to build
such a big toolkit from such an early age. But
(12:06):
to your point, you know, making Georgia is not times square.
Was it a surreal kind of adjustment for you to
leave home and come to Juilliard and be in the
mix of this city and that kind of professional pursuit.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, I got the great privilege and benefit of going
to some undergraduate schools before I went, so I got
to have a little bit of a bridge. Okay, you know,
so I went first, I went to the College of
Charleston for a couple of years, and then I met
(12:44):
a professor there who said, let's get you some stronger
training than we have here. So they got me. He
got me to audition for a very tiny, but very powerful,
little liberal arts school in southern Indiana called the Ununiversity
of Evansville. And there was a Loudes who had started
(13:05):
that program uh and and fostered the program and turned
it into really a world class little training womb. And
so I went there for a couple of years and
really got some really solid training. And one of the
things that he and the professors there take great pride
(13:28):
in is that they helped place their students in the
top graduate acting schools in the country. Yeah, and so
they really have like an incredible rate still of student
to you know, Juilliard, Yale, m y u UCSD like
the you know, some some really solid solid training grounds.
(13:50):
And I loved school. I was one of those wirdos
that just loved me too, and I got the top
of it. So I just kept going, you know, so
because I ended up going from undergrad to four years
at Julia Julias was at the time when I was there,
a four year program, and so you know, that was
(14:10):
an additional four years. But it was a really good
way for a small town girl to acclimatize herself to
that what you were saying, large ocean of a place,
you know. And uh and so I had that, I
had the the you know, the benefit of being in
(14:32):
a in a school that could prepare me for it,
and so having that kind of insulated vibe, but still
being right smack in the middle of Manhattan, you know,
Lincoln Center, you know, which had its wonderful you know benefits,
which was going getting to go see all those shows
(14:52):
and you know around all those different artists at that school. Yeah,
all the different disciplines you know, really shaped me and
had you know, gave me even more of an appreciation
of all the fellow artists that you know, I had
the privilege of being around.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
What were some of your favorite things that you got
to do as a student there.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I mean we were there, you know, from eight am
until like midnight, you know, every day we were there,
and so we would have these like classroom projects, you know,
so it felt like we were just doing these plays
for each other and for the faculty and for each other,
(15:36):
and so that we were able to feel like less
of the pressure of performance. The school, the the program
is built to kind of lead you up to the
public performance side of things, and you know, to get
you in a place where you feel free and stuff
and you're working with the same people. You know, you
(15:58):
have your core class, and that's who you go through
this four years with, you know, for better and sometimes
for worse. I mean it's a lot, you know, it's
a little bit like boot camp for acting. You know,
there's a joke that some people call it the jail
yard school because you know, you're kind of stuck in
this like you know, pressure cooker. In some ways, I
(16:21):
found it to be invigorating. I'm still very close to
a lot of my classmates, and we had a crazy class.
But along the way, we formed our own theater company,
and we ended up doing a season, a couple of
plays in between in the summer between our second and
third year of school, and so that was like a
(16:43):
really special thing too. To to to get this group
of people and take what we were learning out into
the world, and.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That's really cool. And the desire to keep going, you know,
it's your summer break, and all you want is more
of what you're doing in school. What a great indicator
that you're on the right life path, right.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
It's so cool.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Got to because I was studying the classics, you know,
I was learning how to do Shakespeare and stuff. From
the very beginning of college, I started auditioning for summer
Shakespeare programs, and pretty much every summer I would go
to you know, Georgia Shakespeare, Utah Shakespeare, California Shakespeare. I
would do I would get to do Shakespeare even when
(17:33):
we did our little Juilliard company, we did a Shakespeare play,
so you know, I was constantly cutting my teeth on
you know, some of the the most you know, iconic literature,
dramatic literature, that they're the stuff that we all keep
going back to.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, artists, I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
How fun.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
We'll be back in just a minute after a few
words from our favorite sponsors. I imagine when you get
to reflect, you you know, they say hindsight's twenty twenty, right,
like you see everything so clearly. You see what you
were building and what you loved and was coming back
(18:21):
to this character of Elsbeth. Did it kind of feel
as exciting as the way you're talking about looking back
on that Shakespeare period. Because it's not lost on me
that you started playing this character fifteen years ago and
then played her across two shows and now you're playing
her in this third show. It's like, it feels like
(18:42):
a thing you get to revisit and build and build
and build on in a world. And you know, maybe
it's a stretch, but in my observation in this moment,
I'm like, hold on, it almost feels like you returning
to Shakespeare over and over and over again. It's like
you're getting to do a version of that now, or
does that track or does it feel crazy that tracks?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I hadn't really connected that those dots, So thank you
for that, because it really, it really is making me
think about it in a in a in a way
that feels like it's part of a longer trajectory. You know,
there's not a day that goes by that I'm not amazed, grateful,
(19:26):
and humbled by getting to play this character. Not a
day goes by because it is, like you just said,
it's not lost on me. It is really not lost
on me. I'm I'm a fifty eight year old woman
who has been doing character roles my whole career, happily supporting.
(19:53):
I've had played leads in movies, et cetera, indies and stuff,
but mostly I'm you know, I've been there to support you,
and happily. I love it, you know, I love being
trusted with those kinds of roles. You know, when it
first started out, you know, everybody who always wants to
kind of pigeonhole you and tell you like this is
(20:15):
your type, you know, And so when I was young,
it was like you're the ingenoux and I was always like, okay,
but I don't make that angeneu really interesting because like
I want to just play you know, like the pretty
young thing, like especially in Shakespeare. Yeah, And when I
(20:36):
first got out of Juilliard, I got to audition for
The Tempest, which was being done as Shakespeare in the Park.
It was George C. Wolfe, the Great Director's first Shakespeare
that he'd ever directed. It was Patrick Stewart playing Prospero.
(20:57):
And I was auditioning for Miranda, which is, you know,
one of the news in the Shakespeare cannon. But I
was like, yeah, but if your girl, who's you know,
fifteen and you have only since you were a baby,
lived on an island with a bunch of dudes, your
dad a monster affair, you know you're gonna be like
(21:23):
the pretty girl.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
In the dress.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Like how are you going to do that?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
No way, You're going to be.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
One of the lost boys, gonna be a tomboy you
want to be. So I went whole hard on that,
you know, hot off on my hair, went for the tomboy,
the damming you know thing, and really turned that, tried
to turn that character into somebody a different interpretation of
(21:48):
that role. And got you know, got the park, got
to do it. We moved it to Broadway and I
may mayor Broadway debut doing that, and I thought, no,
you don't have You can be a character actor in
a conta news package. You can be is what we're
always doing character acting. I mean we're creating characters, right, Like,
(22:12):
aren't we supposed to be doing that. We're not supposed
to be doing the audience's interpretation of what the leading
lady is. We're supposed to bring who we are married,
well read on the page, the text work that we do,
the work we do with the other actors, the work
we do with the director, and create something that's fresh.
So I felt that and that's part of just because
(22:36):
I went to school and I was taught to do
the deep, you know, mining of the character. So when
I got the role, this is all leading up to
when I got the role of Elsbeth, I tried to
apply the same principles to that as I add to
these Shakespeare roles, like what are we going to do
with this character that makes her different?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
How do I bring myself? What am I going to do?
How does this woman think? You know? Just started doing
that deeper work and not just be now part of
it was that was written, but you know, not just
be like the the lawyer of the week, like what
can we do this? Something something singular, and the fact
that they were given they gave me that license, the
(23:22):
fantastic that always starts with the page, but they gave
me that license and then kept inviting me back to
well yeah, and then it became this alchemy between what
they were writing and what I was doing and you know,
here we are, but there's no guarantee that like we
(23:42):
would get to do a show that way. Well, like
when they told me this was in twenty twenty, when
Robert Michelle you know, reached out to me because it
was COVID. We were all locked down. They were seeing
the end of the good fight. They knew that that
was going to be coming to an end soon, and
(24:03):
they were like, what are we going to do next?
And they had been rewatching episodes of Colombo and they
were like, huh, maybe that's maybe we could put Elsbeth
Tasioni in a situation like that. Then simultaneously, Elizabeth Vincent Telly,
who's a writer at the New York Times, wrote an
article about what she was doing during COVID was watching
(24:25):
episodes of Colombo, and the last line of the article was,
we don't need a reboot of Colombo. Just give Elsbeth
Tasioni her own show. No, yes, And then I'm just
saying hills, right. So Robert and Michelle they saw that
Robinda Michelle King and they saw that and they were like, Okay,
(24:46):
that's like, this is weird because this is how what
we were thinking. And then they started the process. But
that was in twenty twenty and they called and they
were like, do you want to do this? I was like,
uh yeah, I mean obviously, obviously, and then it just
wouldn't happen, wouldn't happen for years, and I was like, Okay,
I guess it's not going to happen. And then, you
know whatever, a year and a half ago.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
And now Elizabeth is vack. When you look back to
the beginning, you know, when you talk about that character work,
you know, the ways you wanted to build her into
more than just a lawyer of the week. What are
the things that you started to noodle with fifteen years
ago that have become so core to your character.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Now, Yeah, that's a good question because I don't like
to revisit like my past work too much. Yeah, in
my head, I also am like, oh I look so
much younger, you know, and I go to like crazy
places everybody else.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
It's really weird to have to watch yourself be a
human on film.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Mostly they're just in our bodies looking out. So it
happened to look at yourself all the time. It's weird.
It's a weird experience.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
It's a weird experience, and it can really mess you up.
So I try not to do that. But or we
started the series that L was at the series, I thought, well,
just go back because I'd like to see like what
I did back then, because I don't remember it was fifteen,
I'd like to see. So I watched Elsa's first appearance
(26:17):
and it was fascint. First of all, it was like,
I know what, I know, you must relate to this.
It's like watching somebody else.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, it's like it's almost like watching your sister. Yeah yeah, yeah,
they look like you. Yeah, they look like you were familiar,
but also like a stranger, like a stranger.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, it's like revisiting this person that you used to be. Yeah.
Or it's like maybe she was like my child or something.
There was something I felt very I felt very maternal
towards her, you know, like this, but I could tell
that I was, you know, I was finding my way.
I mean, this was like a guest spot, you know, so,
(26:58):
and you're there. When you're a guest spot, which I've
done so very many of it in my career. You're
there to serve.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Oh yeah, you're.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
There to serve what they need to do, to be
a support to those other actors. And I love I
love that. But there's a lot of pressure too, because
you can't go in there and start like messing or it.
You know, they they've hired you. They've hired you to
be the pinch hitter to come in, do you know,
do the same, because we don't have time. We've got
(27:28):
to get this thing done. But I knew sit on
the page there was something that was a sparkle to
this character that I knew they wanted me to do
something different. And then fifteen years ago, Robert King said
to me, we're thinking about her like a female Columbo.
And I said, oh, okay, I think I know what
(27:48):
that means. That they want her to be unexpected unconventional. Oh,
I want her to be somebody that the audience and
then the people around her don't seek coming. So I
just thought, let me pick that out. And you can
see that I was tentatively doing it. But it was there,
you know, the the kind of odd way in which
(28:12):
she thinks and stuff. It was there, but I wasn't
really letting the full freak flag flaw yet because I
didn't know if it was okay to do that, you know, right,
And so I did a couple of episodes at the
end of season one, and then I didn't hear anything
for an entire season. So I thought I blew it.
I thought I didn't do enough or I did too
(28:34):
much for something, so I let it go, said goodbye.
I was like, oh, well, I did it. I did it.
It was fun. People seem to like it, but you know,
that's it. And then they caught me back in season
three and they were like, okay, we have a whole
like her.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
And then I was able to go, oh, okay. And
then I worked with the director and the show, you know,
I worked with them and and they they kind of
pushed me, you know, to to go further with what
I was starting to do.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah. Well, it's interesting because as someone who's observing, you know,
from the outside into your world, I see that there's
so much wonderful praise for your depiction of this character
that people feel really seen and really represented, and they
talk about how she is a really positive example of
(29:25):
neurodivergence and brilliance, and folks talk about, you know, she's
got traits of ADHD and I'm like, thank you for
putting us on TV too, you know, traits that could
be identified as being on the autism spectrum? Are those
things that you have studied and consciously thought about, you know,
do you get into a Colombo esque character with obsession
(29:49):
for detail and pattern recognition and things that we now
know are often signs of that sort of like neurodivergence, sparkliness.
Did they come naturally because of something like you said
that was on the page and then you started to
realize what you were representing or is it kind of
a mixed bag of all of it.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Well, I'm very careful and the writers and everyone on
the show is are very careful to never diagnose Yes.
I find that that would then become a definitive and
then I would have to represent Zach thing and then
(30:30):
I would ultimately and we would ultimately not live up
to that because everybody is different. What I find really
fascinating about playing her is that, and what people seem
to respond to is that she is decidedly that who
(30:53):
she is, and it's a unique and singular just like
anybody who's on what the spectrum of humanity. And you
know what I mean. And so I've honored you know
that I'm given that responsibility but also that gift and
(31:19):
of playing somebody that has that kind of mind that
is so unique, that is ingenious, and that also tender,
vulnerable mind and and smart and extremely capable. So what
(31:45):
I love about it is that I feel like it's
it's a story about a unique person who is entrusted
with a great amount of responsibility. But it's also about
a woman who's of a certain age who is reinventing herself. Yeah,
he isn't settled into who. She's trying to improve herself.
(32:09):
She's trying to change things that she's done in the past. Yeah,
you know.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
To love that path, the journey of self discovery, of
learning self inventory. What I love about what you're saying
is it's it's so universal. And then I imagine in
a way, because you can see, you see who she is,
you have a representation to how her brain works in
(32:36):
its own way. But I think the sort of ingenious
thing about not to your point deciding on any specific
term or specific diagnosis, is that by being in that spectrum,
so many people get to see themselves in you on screen.
You know, in a way, being so incredibly specific about
(32:56):
who Elsbeth is allows you to be universal for so
many people.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
And I think you just put your finger on I
think just acting, you know, and onsibilities as actors is
as specific as possible, so that, yeah, it has become
something that everyone can find a way into.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, I think it's a good.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Actor because you understand that.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Oh that's so kind coming from you. I think about
the women that you've built this world with as well.
I mean, talk about the three of you, incredible actors.
You Juliana Marghlis, the iconic Christine Baranski. I once was
at some event with her and she like walked by
and I heard myself and I know she heard me.
I went oh, and I was like, oh, don't be
(33:44):
the weirdo who like gasps, because you see this amazing woman.
And and I think about these shows, you know, three
of these shows that have built out this world and
your your your creators. You've mentioned them, Robert and Michelle.
Oh are they just the coolest people to work with?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
It?
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I feel as a viewer like they really love and
respect women and our intellect, not just our capabilities as
you know, mothers or leaders or whatever, but but our prowess.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Is it just.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
What's your sort of experience like on that side? You know,
how do you all work as a team, How do
you figure out what you want the show to look
like and feel like? Or have you just been doing
it together for so long now that it's almost second nature?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah? I mean, well, the thing about Robert and Michelle
King is they are incredibly strong leaders. And part of
that leadership is that they empower all of their team. So,
and I know this because I've also worked with them
(34:56):
as a director, because I've directed some I directed some
episodes of The Good Fight, and so I got to
be a part of, you know, the prep, which is
where you really see how how the people who are
in charge of the show convey what it is that
they need uh director to do. And so I also
(35:22):
feel like they they build like a real ensemble of
actors that they keep going back to and they enjoy
working with, Like they find the people that they that
speak the same language as them, and then they continue
to employ them. When I when we went into Elsbeth
(35:44):
uh and this show got picked up to series, you know,
one of the first thing I did was I texted
Christine Baranski and I texted Julianna Margalliz, and I thanked
them because I wouldn't be here without them, and that
I felt this great responsibility and privilege of kind of
(36:06):
picking up the baton and carrying it forward. Robert and
Michelle did the same thing with one of their former
writers who had been with them, Jonathan Tolans. They passed
the baton to him. And John Plans is our showrunner,
so their exec producer runs our show, He runs our
(36:30):
writers room. He's the one who has really created this world.
He took what Robert and Michelle did with the pilot,
honored it, and then they gave him the power to
really shape it into his show. They're they're involved, of course,
but John is is our is our guy I call
(36:51):
when he comes to set, I call him Daddy.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I'm him.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
He's very receptive to any input that I need to have,
which is pretty I don't really have that much that
I need to say because the writing is so great
and I do so so great about it. But if
I have a question, very receptive. So there is, you know,
this sense of not controlling but leading.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Yeah, gosh, that's beautiful. And now a word from our
sponsors that I really enjoy and I think you will too.
It must just be the kind of place that constantly
makes you feel like you get to grow. I mean,
I think about you know, even as you said, you
(37:41):
know you're I can't believe you're fifty eight. That's I mean,
I'm like, what, But you know, you talk about your
early career and everyone's looking for the next entrenou and
it is really profound two at least for me as
(38:03):
a viewer, and I would imagine for you as an
actor to continue the fact that you're continuing to build
your own world, you know, in a in an industry
where we've all been told, well, once you're forty, you'll
never work again, and it's like, I'm.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Gonna work forever, and look at you.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
You're building this space and this show is so wonderful,
and the reception to it is so wonderful. And you know,
you get to work with people that you love, you
get to be partners with Jonathan, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Your husband came and guest starred on your show.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
It's like, you look like you're having a really good time.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I am. I'm having the time of my life. I am.
And when I'm not, you know, because it's hard. The schedules,
you do, know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Tough.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
You know, it's a tough schedule. Like you know, we're
doing those episodes in eight or nine days, and I'm
in pretty much every you know scene. So it's it's
I don't have very much. And whenever I'm not on,
whenever I'm not saying words, I'm learning other words. And
so it's you know, it's there's a lot of juggling.
But I'm like, I've always been a multitasker. I mean,
(39:08):
I think one thing that Elsbetasioni and I have in
common is that we both are pretty good at multitasking. Yeah,
I love that, so I can bring that, you know,
to the character and stuff. But I am having the
time of my life because that it has come at
this time. I mean, I said, I was fifty eight,
I will be at fifty eight and two months, but
(39:28):
I feel like I'm already fifty eight. Fifty seven will
be fifty eight and two months. But but yeah, so
I feel like, you know, it's not I don't want
to waste a moment. You know, well, you're you're on fire,
although as long as they'll let me do it, I'm
you don't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Does this experience at this stage because to your point,
you know, you've you've been a working actor for a
long time, You've got an incredible career. But does this
moment you know, the tough of the schedule, sure, but
also the excitement to be doing it and you so
clearly love the work, the writing, all of it. Does
(40:07):
it shift your perspective on your own midlife? Does it
kind of reconstitute for you what longevity means? Feels like, looks.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Like, yeah, yeah, it really does. I mean sometimes I
have these thoughts of like why did I give this?
Did somebody give me this responsibility? When I was like
in my you know, where it was, I had this
endless amount of energy, and I thought, well, because that
wasn't the time, like you know, and it wasn't lined up.
(40:39):
It wasn't lined up. When I was doing shows in
my thirties, they were all like, all the leads were
like dudes, you know, so you know what I mean.
It was just like, yeah, it had to be now,
It had to be time when you know, I was
going to be the show that comes on after Kathy Bates. Yeah,
you know, like it just sort of needed to be that,
(41:01):
and maybe I needed to have a little bit more
of it. Maybe I needed to be a little more
seasoned to bring you know, some of the I don't know,
just some of what it is to be at this
at this late in my late fifties and doing this.
You know, it's a different person than was back then.
(41:22):
And I also but.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
It's just tremendously interesting.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Sting to cut you off there, but I'm like, wait,
it's so cool. Yeah, I know. I feel that I
feel that way, and I feel I feel a responsibility
to represent a woman of that age who's not attached
to a man, who's not a who's not about, you know,
beauty on the outside as much as she is about
(41:47):
beauty in the brain and and love and joy and
positivity and overcoming things and beyond things and just all
She's infectious. It infects me, yeah, play.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
And everything about her, you know, from the way her
brain works to even the way she moves through the world.
I mean, I'm obsessed with her obsession with tote bags.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
You know, it's such a fun little quirk.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
It's a detail that is fun for me as an
actor to think about you coming up with and I
you know, I love having like the big, motivational, artistic conversation,
and then part of me is so curious, like, what
do you think is the weirdest thing in her bag?
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Well, we did a whole episode where we had a
con Mari type person played by the brilliant Mary Luise Parker,
who I'm obsessed with icon icon I mean the icons
that I've gotten to work with on this show Yond Beyond.
But anyway, she makes me go through my toes and
(42:56):
I was very worried. I even said to John Tolanz,
I was like, I called him. I don't usually do that,
but I called him and said, I am worried. I
don't know if we want to open up the mystery bag.
Don't you think it's more interesting curious about what's in
the bag than showing showing what's you know, because it's
(43:18):
sort of like, we don't want to talk too much
about her brain because it's more interesting and surprising to
just watch her do her thing. And he assured me that,
you know, that we would do it in a way
that was responsible, and I was, and I, you know,
I said, well, we need to at least talk about
her emotional connection to it. That it's not just just
(43:38):
carrying much of random things around. There's a really carrying
them around. And I always think about it in terms
of it's like a security blanket, or it's something that
you know, makes her feel confident, armored. It's like armored
she's bringing out into the world. And that just means
that there are a lot of things in there that
(44:00):
you think she said you might need. That could be
a sandwich because she's hungry later, and some string cheese,
but also you know some uh you know, the Encyclopedia
Britannica and Atticus, like just whatever it is that she
thinks she might need to help unlock something, you know,
(44:22):
And so I think about it that way. And then,
and I've talked about this before, I made the decision
pretty early on that when Elspeth shows up to solve
the crime, to make the arrest. She doesn't have the
bags because she is an.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
She's not in the process of solving.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Right. I love, she's an encumbered and she's you know,
stands in her own you know, confidence and truth in
that moment.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
That's very very cool. That's very cool. Are there other
things you've found her through in terms of decision making?
Like do you know what her favorite cocktail is? Does
she have a favorite snack? Is there is there like
a must have wardrobe item for her that goes along
(45:24):
with her toolkit in her bags? You know, what are
some of the things you've selected for her that we
might know or that we might not.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Yeah, I mean well, first of all, I there we
have the most genius costume designer working in the business,
Daniel lot awesome, who's costumed good Wife, Good Fight Elsbeth
like the through line, the character doesn't exist without him.
I go up and stand there like a paper doll,
and he hands me the character. Yes, so I totally
(45:56):
completely trust him. Our fittings are epic. The closet that
he builds for me is it takes like the almost
half of the whole. You know, thousands of clothes and
they're just so so delightful and so specific. Started coming
(46:17):
up with this idea that because Elizabeth has moved to
New York and she's such a tourist and she loves
New York so much. Yeah, wherever she goes in, whatever
crime in the world of the crime that she goes into,
she gets a little something from it. Yeah, you know
what I mean. So we find like tope bags from
the little We had an episode about tennis, so I
have like a little brooch sometimes that I wear these
(46:39):
tennis reckets and then the like towards the end of
the season, Dan came in and he was like, don't
you think Elsbeth is probably playing pickleball by now? I mean,
I would have never thought of that, but I'm like,
of course she's playing kickballs because everyone's playing pickleball, and
I'm sure she's satelite, but she's going to go in
there and try to do it. So he had this
(46:59):
little roaches that was pickleball, a little pickleball how and
we just put that on. So he I work so
closely with the costume department and with him. You know,
I'll come, I'll find some some knitted thing and I'll say,
don't you think that she needs to be wearing this?
And we will put that in there, or you know,
(47:23):
a certain boat or whatever. And so we we find
those little details together as far as like way way
earlier on and good Wife Elisath said, you don't want
to see me drunk. You don't want to see me drinking.
I'm I'm so she doesn't drink, so it's right, but
she but she loves Shirley Temples. So the prop department
(47:47):
what they will do with a Shirley Temple for me,
Like we will show up and they'll say, see, there's
a place for you to have a Shirley Temple if
we've do like a scene in a restaurant or a bar.
And so we did this. We did this episode that
was set in a restaurant. It was about a chef
played by the again another person I worship, Pamela Adlin
played a chef brilliant and we're in this like super
(48:10):
high end restaurant and they had, you know, Shirley temple,
and I was like, no, let's put it in the
tiniest little glass because all the food is tiny, yes,
tiny Shirley Temple. And then I'm gonna try to drink it. Yes,
(48:31):
So they put it there and I was like, they're
going to cut this, but I did this whole lotsy
with this whole bit, with the trying to drink the thing,
with the thing and the little umbrella and stuff, and
just like having the hardest time with it, and thankfully
they kept it in the cut. They fighting a lot
of my little I call them El's bits, caught the
l's bits because you know, they have to time and
(48:53):
plot and story. But when they keep my little, my
little moments in, I'm always very vitorius, so much fun.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
And you know, it isn't lost on me that you,
with this platform that you've built, you've you know, not
only leaned into such great content, but you use your
platform for advocacy. You know, you support LGBTQ rights with glad,
you work with Michael Fox Foundation and support folks battling Parkinson's.
(49:25):
You know, how how do you decide what you're going
to lend your time to and and and how you're
going to show.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Up Like, yeah, I can think it's just you know,
being raised by my parents were very much about you know,
supporting acceptance, love and uh and and advocating for people
(49:57):
who maybe don't have a voice, or people who disenfranchised,
and you know, early early on, like in college and stuff.
I always feel feel like I still am feel like
even I'm married to a man, I'm very much part
of the queer community. So I feel like I want
to bring a voice to them, and especially now when
(50:20):
their voices are being taken away. Early on in my career,
when I started directing, I started making movies and projects
for the LGBTQ audience. Twenty five years ago, there wasn't
as much content and so and I wanted my my
(50:44):
producing partners, and I wanted to make, you know, projects
that were less about uh maybe romantic relationships and more
about you know, coming coming of age. Or we made
a movie called Ready Okay about a little boy who
wants to be a cheerleader and just mother and how
she's struggling with her kid being different. And so, you know,
(51:07):
making something that you could show at a p FLAG meeting,
you know, something that you could take your parents to
and go, this is this is this is what I'm
going through Your ways to do that and tell stories
that way. I do believe that stories have the power
to change the world and so we as artists are
responsible for changing the world a lot of the time.
(51:29):
And so I feel, you know a lot of privilege
and responsibility in telling those stories and bringing them to light.
And then also, you know, my father passed away from
complications from parkinson So watchould and go through that for
twenty years. One of my best best friends has partners
is my you know, a cousin mine has part like
(51:51):
it's there are a lot of people we have Parkinson's
in this world and they're making great strides. Michael J. Fox.
I remember I did an episode to Spend City way back,
got to you know, meet Michael J. Fox and when
he was first starting to deal with Pardinson's and just
being so impressed with how he was using his platform,
and it said his organized organization has made Yeah, it's
(52:16):
just so important to keep an eye on that so
that we as you know, as as the as the
audience and we as fellow humans can continue to support
that and bring you know, a light to that so
that it continues to grow.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
And yeah, it's beautiful. And I think when you get
to harness you know, the attention that your job comes with,
and help make sure you can transmute that toward other
folks who needed. It's such a it's such a gift
that comes with all the other crazy stuff that you know,
we do and deal with. And yeah, it's always really
(52:56):
exciting for me to to see the things that people
are so passionate about.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah, I know, I know, and I do it in
a quieter way, I think, maybe than some people would wish.
But I just feel like I want to be you know,
I want to just do the work and be authentic
to to the to the activism. Also being you know myself,
which is somebody who is just a loving and you know,
(53:22):
joyful person you know out in the world as well,
you know, somebody who's appreciative, appreciative of of the place
that I'm you know, a privileged to be in as well.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
I think that's great. And now a word from our sponsors.
When you sit and you think about you know, continuing
this show you love, uh, being in this place in
your life that you love and you know what comes next?
(53:59):
What what feels like You're work in progress now?
Speaker 2 (54:04):
I mean, I'm constantly trying to do this. Do it
a spiritual work, you know. I mean, I like my parents,
we weren't. We weren't religious per se, but we were
very and you know, my parents were always you know,
(54:25):
my parents had a commune at one point. You know,
we were very like trying to find an alternative way
of thinking love that been interested in mindfulness, practice Buddhism,
you know, uh meditation. And it took me a long
time to get to a place where I had like
a daily practice because I'm a hummingbird.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
Really hard to like subtle, I feel that.
Speaker 2 (54:50):
H And so that's my work, is that I'm constantly
trying to ground down into uh mindfulness and finding compassion
and empathy for myself and for and that's sort of
my daily I just started at what I'm calling a
(55:12):
grat text thread with my closest some of my day ones,
my wride dies, girlfriends, and you know, we're just every
day we grat text and it's just got to do
just three things, just three things you're grateful for. And
it really does open up a conversation and open up
(55:35):
a way of looking at your life. And I'm looking
at the world and trying to be aware of constantly
aware of you know, not everybody has the privileges that
I have. And you know, figuring out a way to
(55:55):
harness that empathy and compassion for the good.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Yeah, that's beautiful because you're you know, you're talking about
the things out there and the things in here, and
I think it's special to try to hold all that space.
It's special work.
Speaker 2 (56:16):
Yeah, it's necessary, I think, especially for where we are
in the world right now, which is kind of divided.
And yeah, yeah, well I.
Speaker 1 (56:23):
So appreciate it. I mean, I'm I'm so inspired by
you as an artist and it's a real treat to
get to sit and just be inspired by you as
a human. We all love the show. Thank you for
all that hard work and all those crazy hours. You
really you bring us all a lot of joy.
Speaker 2 (56:42):
Thank you, Thank you, and thanks for having thanks for
such a lad nurturing the conversation.
Speaker 1 (56:47):
Thank you, Thank you for joining us. It means a
lot
Host
Sophia Bush
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