December 16, 2025 • 33 mins
This week on Bookmarked, Danielle Robay dives under the covers with Amanda Seyfried and Paul Feig to unravel the deliciously twisty adaptation of Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid. From childhood reading memories to mapping the psychology of a woman who’s playing a woman, Amanda shares how she tapped into fear, rage, and complicated motherhood to build one of her most surprising roles yet. Paul reveals how he crafted tension, why he cut a shocking original opening, and what makes this story such a wild ride for audiences. Expect big laughs, big feelings, red herrings galore, and a conversation that’s as layered as the characters themselves.
BOOKS MENTIONED:
I Know What You Did Last Summer
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bookmarked by Reese's book Club is presented by Apple Books. Hi,
I'm Danielle Robe and welcome to Bookmarked by Terese's book Club. Okay,
this may be a bit of a hot take, but
I actually love reading thrillers during the holiday season. I know,
hear me out, It's four pm, it's already dark outside.
(00:21):
Half of my emails bounce back with out of offices,
and there's something delicious about burrowing under a blanket and
letting a completely unhinged plot take over my mind. It's cozy,
but with danger. I know by now that I love
a contradiction. So when I heard that Freedom McFadden's The
Housemaid was headed for the big screen, directed by Paul
(00:42):
fig and starring Amanda Seifried, I perked up. Paul has
given us cultural staples, right freaks and geeks, bridesmaids a
simple favor, and Amanda is one of those rare actors
who just dissolves into every role she touches, from mean
girls to lay miss to the dropout. She's fearless.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You have to accept that you are in every character,
whether you're in it ten percent or ninety percent.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You have to be present.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I like myself, and I won't always return to myself,
so I choose to just make sure I'm grounding it
as much as possible.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So, if you haven't read the book, let me set
the stage. The Housemaid begins quietly and simply. Millie is
a young woman with a very complicated past, and she
takes a job as a live in housemaid for Andrew
and Nina. Nina's played by Amanda Seyfried, and they're one
of those couples whose white couch actually stays white. Okay,
but soon tiny cracks start to turn into fault lines,
(01:40):
and nothing and no one is what you thought they were.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
So if you're already inching a.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Little closer to the edge of your seat as I'm talking,
good you're in exactly the right place. Let's turn the
page with Amanda Seyfried and Paul Feek A man up, Paul,
Welcome Teresa's Book Club. Welcome to the club.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I'm so excited to chat with you today. Interviews are
a privilege, and it's a real privilege to interview you.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Good line.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Thank you for playing along. When everyone sees the film,
they'll understand. But I feel like a changed woman after
seeing this film. And I want to start with a
question that you probably haven't been asked on this press
to a ton, what is your earliest memory of reading?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Well, for me, it was Winnie the Pooh because I
had trouble reading, but for some reason, I was given
that book by my grandma and I just devoured it
and the whole family was relieved, like, oh, he actually
can read.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You got to find something that you really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It makes you feel safe. I realized that with my
daughter too. I'm like, she's read, No, she just has
different tastes. And I think I never liked to read
until I was maybe ten, and there were these lowest
dunky books and there were chapter books and I felt
really adult when I was reading them. But they were thrillers,
(03:07):
like crazy thrillers that I think I actually should should
make movies. But I remember just devouring them in a
way that I had. It made me feel really empowered.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I love hearing that and Paul, I think there's so
many good lessons in Winnie the Pooh also that carry
over into adulthood. So I think that's cool.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Yeah, I know, it's like it's fun. It's fun friends
that you get to kind of imagine are yours?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, they're a good group, good smart group.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, this film was based on the Freedom of fat
End book. It was released back in twenty twenty two,
and I saw this TikTok of you guys all on
set where everyone was reading the book and having really
big feelings about it. So was everybody reading it on
set or was there a divide between people who wanted
to read it and people who didn't want to read it?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I mean, I think we all kind of read it beforehand.
I always kept it with me just because I always
I was referring to it a lot when I was
making the movie, even though we had the script and
we had done everything. I just I would always kind
of go back for any questions I had because I
really wanted to stay very true to the book because
it's so good. And the only things we changed were
things that we kind of plussed up to make them
a little more cinematic, and then we added an extra
(04:16):
you know, we extended the ending past the book.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, to have the support of Freedom McFadden while we
were making this, the support and the script, everything that
we did we felt we felt empowered by because you know,
we had her blessing, and I mean with Paul too.
You know this movie is going to be special and surprising,
even for the book lover.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
So I don't know. I almost feel like I need
to read the book again.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, did you read it before you were cast? Because
I can't have Matt you did.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I know I hadn't, but I do.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I listened to thrillers all the time, like I eat
these up because I'm always driving or like feeding or
doing things, you know, where I want to be told
a story. And so I was surprised that I hadn't
read them because I read all these anthologies all the time.
I listened to them, and so yeah, that was a surprise.
But i'd read the script first, and.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
It's been fun for me now discovering this is now
I'm reading all of Frida's books and fun.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Right, Yeah, she's got it going on.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, I kind of love that you hadn't read it
before you were cast, because Nina is such a complicated character.
I cannot even imagine how she was pitched to you.
What did what did people describe her as?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Okay, it's Paul Fee and Sydney's meeting. It shoots.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It's based on this crazy, huge, amazing book and it
shoots in New Jersey and I was like, dude, I great.
And then and then the like the privilege of reading
a script where right off the bat, the character that
I'm asked to play is so vastly different than anything
I've ever been asked to play in my life.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah, it keeps getting better, and I'm sorry. It is
the most fun.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Role I've ever played, and it's really probably not gonna
happen for a long time.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, because you were playing somebody who's playing somebody.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Often and the ability that he gave me, the space
Paul gave me to really like go as far as
I needed to go. I got to explore rage in
a way that I never had, very therapeutic, and in
watching it back, like necessary, What's cool? Though she starts
out kind of too dimensional. You don't realize that there's
(06:23):
this person playing a character.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
You don't even see all the rage yet. What kind
of conversations did you and Paul have about how you
wanted to develop her and portray the character playing a character?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I mean, I think it was just really important for
us to map out exactly what kind of crumbs I
was leaving when with her, and it was all in
how I communicated with Millie and I needed to keep
her on her toes at all times because I needed
her to feel completely unstable and so like it was,
(06:58):
it was very del It was very delicate situations. We
had to go through the script and figure out, you know,
seeing to scene where.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
How far I was going to go out losing her completely.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
We'll were on the map at two, so that if
Nina's just turns and is terrible the whole time, it
becomes one dimensional and either you go like, well, by yeah,
So it had to be this weird push and pull
of like she's mean and then she's like, I don't
know what I do without you, and then she's kind
of normal and that she's not, so that Millie can
be going like is she just hormonal because she's pregnant
(07:34):
or is she crazy? Or does she just hate me?
And that weird push and pull that they played together
so well, and.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Then that outside the outside outsiders like the PTA moms
who you know, end up making Millie feel empathy for
I mean, she's just like every time she loses her
she kind of takes her back, and.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
God, it's it's really really It was really fun at
the beginning because those first few scenes I remember, I
think my only direction was like cookie and fun. She's
cookie and fun, like just make her just yeah. So
the Millie's like, Oh, this is the greatest job ever,
this is the greatest boss ever. And then the next
morning shows up.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And to that point, I was sort of like watching thinking,
I wonder who she pulled inspiration from. Were there any
real housewives or TV or film housewives that you were
thinking about?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
No, I boring answer, No, No, I've channeled one of
my fears in life, or one of the things that
I really struggle with is when I'm with people, working
with people, or having to be near people who are
unpredictable and hot and cold.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
And because this.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Is who Nina is when you meet her, it was
really really fun and interesting to channel like what I
fear most, try to find the scariest pieces of that
and portray them.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
And it was just cathartic, mostly therapeutic. This whole movie for.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Me, Amanda, that's so deep, is it? Yeah? I mean
I don't want to pry too much, but it sounds
like that stuff is from childhood, and so to be
able to play it out and also it's.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Like it's something I learned, you know, in my thirties
probably that of course, of course, you don't feel safe
when you don't know what you're gonna get, you know,
the I fear of the unknown. It's like, you want
to trust somebody and love somebody, but if they treat
you differently than they did the day before, it's you know,
it's not your fault, but you want to try to
(09:36):
make change yourself for them. And I think that's just
what humans do when they're especially when they're younger.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
They don't know any better.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
So you know, thank god spoiler alert, it doesn't end
up that Nina is that person, but actors get to
do get to learn a.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Lot through their work. It's definitely one of the upsides.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Maybe what's so amazing is that you have to be
you sow yourself and simultaneously another person.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, you have to like in that you're grounding it,
and so you have to accept that you are in
every character, whether you're in it ten percent or ninety percent.
You have to be present, I think in order to
ground something or you have to completely turn into somebody else,
which some people do and are successful at it. I
(10:26):
like myself, and I want to always return to myself,
so I choose to just make sure I'm grounding it
as much.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
As possible, to go back to the book for a moment.
The first line gags everybody. It says, if I leave
this house, it will be in handcuffs. Paul, as a director,
how do you translate an opening line that is that
(10:54):
explosive onto the screen without blowing tension too early?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Yeah, I mean, it's a very living, breathing organism a movie.
And the original opening for the movie that we shot
starts with somebody's dead, and it's the cops coming down
staring at this body. And then one of them picks
up a tooth and it says, is that a tooth?
(11:18):
And so? And then we go into the movie as
a flashback, and I liked it, but with an audience,
we realized we were we were taking too much away
from them for that with that, and so it was
better to lose that, and we just come into it
and like, oh, this is just a nice little domestic
thing of a you know, young woman showing up who
(11:39):
needs work. And I'm so glad we took it out.
Even though I liked the scene and it was a
really cool shot. So obviously as a director, you're like, oh,
you to lose that, but you want to seduce people in
in a way that sometimes a book.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
It's so funny. I really learned because I've done a
bunch of book adaptations, but every book is different, and
some books need a lot of help from us as
screenwriters and actors and directors, and other ones just kind
of sort themselves out. And the Housemaid really told us,
(12:14):
let's play this almost linear, well very lineary for the
first hour because then we know we're going to do
this switchback. And it was really fun. You know, I
don't normally like voiceover in a movie. It's a crutch
that you can rely on, but this movie, it was
so important to have it because, as Laura Fisher, my
(12:36):
producing partner, says, this movie is the first hour is
all questions and the second hour is all answered yes.
And so by the time you're just like, I gotta
know what's going on. Here it comes and Nina's backstory
is so wonderful. And let me just credit my friend here, Amanda.
We recorded that vo on the first day is temp
(12:57):
and we went to a Moti.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Story dancing that day.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Yeah, yeah, and you were and she just did it
once and that's what's in the movie. It was so good.
I would just like, I mean, when when you were
doing it, I was leaning forward, and when you finished it,
we were all just like, oh my god, like I
don't feel like I just watched the movie. It was
so good. So there was one take, one take, wonder
over take it.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I'll take it. I just think it's really just a
great design all and all.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I mean, there are certain formulas for certain types of genres,
but you don't always have to play by those rules,
because if you have something more interesting, if you're gonna
give the audience even a better ride, you have to
go with your instincts. So that's it's it's always interesting
to me.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
What's what was gonna be?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
And now is? Yes? Do you feel because I know
in what I do, I'll I'll repeat a line ten
times and then decide which take is best. Were you
nervous that they went with the first take? No, it
just poured out.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I don't care if it were. I mean, I try
to do my best, you know. Of course, I've always
seen takes in movies or TV that I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Like, why would they use that? That's terrible? I see
something different now the character, it's probably fine.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Well, the other thing I don't rehearse either, So my
favorite thing is to get to start going and see
what their natural instinct is. Yeah, and then I have
in my head usually something slightly different. So then I
just kind of like to incrementally move them towards what
I think I want. But then I've got this whole,
(14:36):
you know, selection of takes, and I usually end up
almost always using closer to what their original instinct was
than what I wanted, because they are the.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Character now, Paul, to your point earlier about building tension,
the book contains actually very little dialogue, and instead you're
in the narrator's head the entire time, and so that
tension builds through the gap between what the characters think
and what the actually do. And then when you adapt
this for a screen, you have to transfer that tension. Now,
(15:06):
understanding how you thought about it, questions and answers, that
makes a lot of sense. But was there a scene
or a moment that was either particularly hard to adapt
to screen or one that you're particularly proud of.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
I mean, I'm proud of everything in this movie. But
I think I think my favorite scene is when Nina
when Andrew confronts Nina after the stolen car and then
throws around the house because the high extreme tension in
that scene is so great and Amanda place, it's so fantastic,
(15:41):
just that slow walk down the stairs.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Oh yeah, it's so great and you still don't know
for sure what's happening during that walk. That's how good
and complicated you were, Amanda.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Thanks, there were so many opportunities in that scene. It
was just a mule a feast.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
In my favorite moment, it was just like because when
she grabs her and I just said, get as close
to it in her face as you can. And then
and I was watching it and you got in there,
I just I almost like, I just I almost streamed out.
I was so.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
One of my.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Favorite parts I'm shooting with you is that, like you
I can feel your excitement after.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Oh that's the best.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yeah. We laughed a lot and got how to have levity.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Yeah yeah, yeah, But that's that's the most fun thing
about being a director is to see these things realized
and you have something in your head and then to
see somebody do it better than you had in your head,
or take some idea that was like in a moment
of like, oh, try this, and then it's like, oh
my god, we just created the perfect moment that I
(16:47):
wasn't even sure I didn't even have planned.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's exciting, that's right, It's like fireworks. It feels good
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
You can you can feel an overall like kind of
celebration of like nailing something where you weren't really sure
what was going to happen, and you're.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Like, oh my god, I think we found it.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, I think the misdirection or like the red herrings
is what's so fun about this movie. And you got
me like, usually I can tell what's going to happen.
And I was thinking to myself, like, Paul fig is
not going to do a movie where women aren't like
they aren't winning, you know, so like what's happening here?
(17:23):
But Amanda, I'm curious how you step into a role
when your characters like seeming and being are two different stories.
Did you, like, do you write in the lines of
the script, How did you even think about how to
do this?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I mean, I just I don't I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I was just like, this is a woman who's desperate, and.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Had you felt that before that sort of desperation, could
you align with it?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I have never felt like I was.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I had to set up such a found the trap
for some another woman so I could I could escape
an abusive husband, thank God. But when I get a character,
and you know, when I try to understand the character,
(18:15):
obviously I have to relate to a lot of things.
But I think I relate to the fact that she's
just had enough and she has to play one last
part in order to find her destiny. And I had
to ignore the fact that she was using this other
woman because it's a terrible it's terrible, but it's the
same time, like you, you're at this point so desperate,
you're putting yourself and your and your family first with yeah,
(18:37):
your daughter, and I don't know, you just find it
Humanity's we're all humans.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I mean, even with Andrew.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
The character of Andrew, it's like, you know, spoiler turns
out to be an abusive mother. But it's not because
he decided that he wanted to be this guy.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's because he was born to a certain person and
didn't have you know, the tool wasn't given the tools,
you can find empathy for every single character in every movie,
and as an actor you have to find that. But
it was just interesting. It was just balancing that the
push and pull.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, and with Andrew because you didn't want to give
too much away to him, but he almost didn't want
to see it.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Well, I mean everything I do, anything I write, or
anything I put up on the screen, I run through
George Bernard Shaw. You know, the back of his plays
would have these little maximum and maximums, and one of
them was all men mean well, And that to me
is the key to making everything believable, because the worst
villain in the world has some reason they think they're
(19:39):
doing the right thing. Correct and Andrew, this is how
he was brought up, so I'm sure that happened to
him too. It's not an excuse by any means, but
you go, Okay, at least there's an inner logic that
I'm tapping into. I think the worst movies and the
worst villains and movies are just like mustache twirling, like
I'm just going to create chaos, Like like, well, why,
what's the reason you're creating chaos?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Evil? So I think that gives everything a three dimensions.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Like everybody, they just when they don't have control and
want controls the things that they're willing to do to
get it.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Well, there's hardly any men in this movie, and one
of them barely talks. He does have really good hair
though Amanda's face, are you agreeing? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
No, No, he's so wonderful. I we just spent the
day with him, and it's just like, it's not how
funny he was.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I wouldn't know because I didn't.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Hear him speak, and he does speak, and then the
scene where we speak at the end, he's like, you
and Chichen are going to leave, and we're like, it's
an Italian, it would.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Be Chicha, but CEC.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Okay CC, you have to go with Chichen.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And it was just hilarious.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
He just wanted to be there.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
He was so willing to be I mean, he is
a major character in the next two books.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, and he shares a lot with his eyes, like
I did feel him. What were you trying to telegraph
about women's relationships, Paul by not having these men really
have a huge role.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Well, I mean, I just love telling women's stories, and
obviously we needed Andrew because he's the catalyst for all this.
But you know, I've always ever since, you know, everything
I've done. But like when we were doing Bridesmaids, it
was so important to Kristin and I to not have
cat fighting, and I have that. It's like they're at odds,
but it's not you know, dynasty where they're fighting it.
(21:35):
So you know, I just like you say, it doesn't
seem like one of my movies in the first half
because they're against each other and it's kind of like, oh,
he's going to win. But that's why I think this
book is so brilliant. She makes you, and by extension us,
make you as an audience, rooted for everything you should
(21:58):
not be rooting. Thing you are rooting for in that
first half is good. And I love audiences cheer when
he throws you out of the house. I mean they
always cheer, and I'm just sitting there going like, oh,
I can't wait for you guys. You're gonna feel so
bad that you cheered for that, and you're the audience.
People really are reacting having fun through that whole first,
(22:21):
you know, first half, because it's that you know, kind
of triangle and there's lots of stuff to root for
and find kind of fun. When we get to your
backstory and you're narrating it, the place is silent and
getting invested. So then when we come out of that
back into present day, they are bloodthirsty, and that's where
the fun where. You know, it's weird to say a
movie about abuse is fun. The fun is the retribution
(22:44):
and way back and the audience just releases so much
and we get to just go crazy with it.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Amanda.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I heard you talk about motherhood and your CBS This
Morning interview, which was so well done. I love that
whole interview.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Fun.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, you could tell you just seemed so yourself.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I was at home.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
It was just like everybody's come to me, and my
daughter and my mom were watching behind the camera because
my son and my husband were in.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
The house because he'll just talk.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
But it was amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, I was the most eddies because I knew my
daughter was like right there.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Oh that's so cool. I could feel that. Wow. So
I heard you talk about motherhood and roles that you
were playing once you became a mom, And one of
the things that struck me about this is that it
was about motherhood, but it was about the performance of
what a good mother looks like, which is sort of
a haunting part of the story. What parts of your
(23:53):
own experience did you pull from when you were thinking
about how you wanted to perform motherhood?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Oh God, I mean the mother. She doesn't seem like
a great mother at first.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I mean, she just seems like she's in her own
head and completely you know, putting importance on the wrong stuff.
But I think, you know, I think the frenzied like
everything must be right, everything like I told you to
do this and you didn't do this, and it's like
everything that she's hitting against as performance, Nina is still
(24:30):
very much part of the life of someone who's you know,
raising kids and the madness that comes with that, the
x factor of two little humans who don't necessarily know
how it's done because they're not adults, and it's just
like it's it's chaotic with with schedules, and it's just
you can tell that she's worn out, you can tell
(24:52):
that you don't know why. You think that the reason
she's so out of her mind is probably because she's
just stressed and she been working too hard at keeping
the house together, and that probably is part of it. Too,
because she has to maintain this house and this feeling
and the perfectionist look for her husband so she doesn't
get abused. And I mean, I can't relate to that again,
(25:16):
but I can relate to feeling like you have to
kind of do everything and make sure the home fires
are burning, and that it's just too much for one person.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Mm hmm, well said thanks. I love asking our guests
every week what they've bookmarked. It can be a weird fact,
a fun quote, something that you saved on Instagram or
texted your best friend about. What have you bookmarked this week? Amanda?
I love how you grabbed your phone instantly.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Oh god, I can tell you what. I Well, we
just got a new puppy, so I've just been constantly
on Instagram. Now I'm getting all these things like dog
training tips, so I'm just constantly forwarding goes to my
wife who's with our puppy bag in the back of
Palm Springs right now.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
That's so fun. Wow, congrats, Hey all, thanks, he's he's security.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Are you sleeping He's actually a good sleeper. Weirdly, he
actually met Weirdly, the first dog we've had that kind
of wants to sleep. Not on the bed, and my
wife is really insulted by this. Yeah, it's okay. I
don't even go in sideways and kicking me off the
bed like all the other dogs do.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Hilarious, Amanda, what have you bookmarked?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
This is one of my favorite things in life.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Can I read it?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Please?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Whatever teaches us to sing to ourselves, sing ourselves out
of despair. But the painting has also taught me that
we can speak to each other across time. And I
feel I have something very serious and urgent to say
to you, my non existent reader, and I feel I
should say it as urgently as if I were standing
in the room with you. That life, whatever else it is,
is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random.
That nature meaning death, always wins. But that doesn't mean
(27:00):
we have to bow and grapple to it. That maybe,
even if we're not always so glad to be here,
it's our task to immerse ourselves anyway, wade straight through it,
right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open,
and in the midst of our dying, as we rise
from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic.
It is a glory and a privilege to love what
death doesn't touch. That's the last page of the Goldfinch.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
And I every time I read.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
It, just like any Marry Oliver poem that exists on
the planet, every time I read it, it brings me
back around.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That's really beautiful. I think I have a frame. So
that's why I was like, oh my god, can I
ask you why? It just reminds me that I'm dying.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
In a really beautiful way.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
And yeah, you know, we deny that every single day
in order to keep living. But if you remember remind
yourself that you are gonna be dead at some point,
hopefully not too soon, you'll live a little more or
make decisions based on like what fills you, what fills
your cup?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
It gives you the urgency to live.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Well.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Thank you both so much for your time. It was
such a fun movie to watch.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Oh yeah, thanks, it's fun to promote. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yes, well, the two of you together, I can imagine
there's lots of laughs.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Just there's just so much to do with.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Him, you know, m H, I get it.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Thank you, Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Okay, friends, Before we wrap today's episode. It's time for
our monthly comfort segment with Cotton, called the Booknook, where
we celebrate the little rituals that make reading feel just right.
And now we've slid into the holiday stretch. Twinkle lights,
festive outfits, cozy after parties at home, it feels especially
(28:59):
perfect to bring on the comfort right. Cotton is such
a big part of that holiday feeling this time of year,
from the soft layers we live in to the pieces
that help us feel grounded wherever we're reading. Let's hear
from another Bookmark listener sharing their ideal reading setup.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
Hi, Bookmarked, this is Kelly calling from Brooklyn. My ideal
place to read a book is a local neighborhood bar
on a weeknight. I like a play set's a little
bit divy, but friendly and welcoming. Good music, but not
so good that I'm singing along in my head with
all the songs the whole time. So maybe a couple
of my favorites sprinkled in among some songs I don't know.
(29:38):
I want a comfortable barstool that is just wide enough
for me to fold up my legs on the seat,
and low, warm lighting where my booklight won't be too intrusive.
I'll usually order some food that can be eaten with
one hand so I can still turn the page, like
a sandwich or tater tots, and then sip on my
tequila and soda with lime. For weeknights, because it's not
(30:01):
too busy and there are plenty of seats with lots
of elbow room, and I don't mind chatting with the
bartender for a bit, or answering a couple questions from
someone who's curious about what I'm reading. But in general,
I like to think that reading a book in a
bar is a pretty clear sign that I don't want
to start a long conversation. It doesn't always work out
that way, so my advice to everyone is, if you
(30:24):
see someone reading in a bar, leave them alone.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
They're busy.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
So I guess my ideal reading place is about what
it isn't as much as what it is. Not too loud,
not too crowded, and not too distracting. I like being
in a place where the only thing I need to
focus on is the page in front of me.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Kelly, I adore this.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
There's something so charming about a quiet bar in wintertime,
that warm amber glow, soft music. You tucked into your
own little pocket of calm with a book. I can
totally picture you perched on that barstool, wrapped in something
comfy and cottony, creating that little cocoon even when you're
out in the world. Such a good reminder that comfort
(31:06):
doesn't have to mean being at home.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Sometimes it's the familiar.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Softness you bring with you, your favorite cotton sweater, a
well worn scarf, wherever you're snuggly settled, consumed by the page,
but still connect it to the cheer around you. So friends,
keep your reading setups coming, especially now that the cold
is settling in and we're all layering up in those
soft cotton essentials. Are you curled up under twinkle lights,
(31:31):
maybe reading in your coziest cotton sweater while cookies are
in the oven, or you're wrapped in a blanket like
a bookish burrito.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
That's me. Take me into your winter reading ritual.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Leave me a voicemail at five zero one two nine
to one three three seven nine, or email a voice
memode a bookmarked at Reese's bookclub dot com. Thanks to
Cotton for bringing the segment to life and for reminding
us that comfort and style can go hand in hand,
especially during the holiday when you're getting dressed for a
night out or cuddling up with a book.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Don't forget to check the tag for cotton.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
And to learn more, head to the fabric of OurLives
dot com. And if you want a little bit more
from us, come hang with us on socials. We're at
Reese's book Club on Instagram, serving up books, vibes and
behind the scenes magic. And I'm Danielle Robe rob a
(32:27):
y Come say hi and DM me And if you
want to go nineties on us, you can call us. Okay,
so our phone line is open, So call us now
at five zero one two nine one three three seven nine.
That's five zero one two nine one three three seven nine.
Share your literary hot takes, your book recommendations, oh please
share those, and questions about the monthly pick, or just
(32:50):
let us know what you think about the episode you
just heard. And who knows, you might just hear yourself
in our next episode, so don't be shy. Give us
a ring, and of course make sure to follow Bookmarked
by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your shows. Until then, see you
in the next Chapter. Bookmarked is a production of Hello
(33:10):
Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts. It's executive produced by Reese Witherspoon
and me Danielle Robe. Production is by ACAST Creative Studios.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Our producers are.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Matty Foley, Brittany Martinez, and Sarah Schleid. Our production assistant
is Avery Loftis. Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder are the
executive producers for a Cast Creative Studios. Maureene Polo and
Reese Witherspoon are the executive producers for Hello Sunshine, Olga Cominwha.
Sarah Kernerman, Kristin Perla and Ashley Rappaport are associate producers
(33:41):
for Reese's book Club. Ali Perry and Lauren Hanson are
the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's book Club is presented by Apple Books. Hi,
I'm Danielle Robe and welcome to Bookmarked by Terese's book Club. Okay,
this may be a bit of a hot take, but
I actually love reading thrillers during the holiday season. I know,
hear me out, It's four pm, it's already dark outside.
(00:21):
Half of my emails bounce back with out of offices,
and there's something delicious about burrowing under a blanket and
letting a completely unhinged plot take over my mind. It's cozy,
but with danger. I know by now that I love
a contradiction. So when I heard that Freedom McFadden's The
Housemaid was headed for the big screen, directed by Paul
(00:42):
fig and starring Amanda Seifried, I perked up. Paul has
given us cultural staples, right freaks and geeks, bridesmaids a
simple favor, and Amanda is one of those rare actors
who just dissolves into every role she touches, from mean
girls to lay miss to the dropout. She's fearless.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You have to accept that you are in every character,
whether you're in it ten percent or ninety percent.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You have to be present.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I like myself, and I won't always return to myself,
so I choose to just make sure I'm grounding it
as much as possible.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So, if you haven't read the book, let me set
the stage. The Housemaid begins quietly and simply. Millie is
a young woman with a very complicated past, and she
takes a job as a live in housemaid for Andrew
and Nina. Nina's played by Amanda Seyfried, and they're one
of those couples whose white couch actually stays white. Okay,
but soon tiny cracks start to turn into fault lines,
(01:40):
and nothing and no one is what you thought they were.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
So if you're already inching a.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Little closer to the edge of your seat as I'm talking,
good you're in exactly the right place. Let's turn the
page with Amanda Seyfried and Paul Feek A man up, Paul,
Welcome Teresa's Book Club. Welcome to the club.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I'm so excited to chat with you today. Interviews are
a privilege, and it's a real privilege to interview you.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Good line.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Thank you for playing along. When everyone sees the film,
they'll understand. But I feel like a changed woman after
seeing this film. And I want to start with a
question that you probably haven't been asked on this press
to a ton, what is your earliest memory of reading?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Well, for me, it was Winnie the Pooh because I
had trouble reading, but for some reason, I was given
that book by my grandma and I just devoured it
and the whole family was relieved, like, oh, he actually
can read.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You got to find something that you really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It makes you feel safe. I realized that with my
daughter too. I'm like, she's read, No, she just has
different tastes. And I think I never liked to read
until I was maybe ten, and there were these lowest
dunky books and there were chapter books and I felt
really adult when I was reading them. But they were thrillers,
(03:07):
like crazy thrillers that I think I actually should should
make movies. But I remember just devouring them in a
way that I had. It made me feel really empowered.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I love hearing that and Paul, I think there's so
many good lessons in Winnie the Pooh also that carry
over into adulthood. So I think that's cool.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Yeah, I know, it's like it's fun. It's fun friends
that you get to kind of imagine are yours?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, they're a good group, good smart group.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, this film was based on the Freedom of fat
End book. It was released back in twenty twenty two,
and I saw this TikTok of you guys all on
set where everyone was reading the book and having really
big feelings about it. So was everybody reading it on
set or was there a divide between people who wanted
to read it and people who didn't want to read it?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I mean, I think we all kind of read it beforehand.
I always kept it with me just because I always
I was referring to it a lot when I was
making the movie, even though we had the script and
we had done everything. I just I would always kind
of go back for any questions I had because I
really wanted to stay very true to the book because
it's so good. And the only things we changed were
things that we kind of plussed up to make them
a little more cinematic, and then we added an extra
(04:16):
you know, we extended the ending past the book.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, to have the support of Freedom McFadden while we
were making this, the support and the script, everything that
we did we felt we felt empowered by because you know,
we had her blessing, and I mean with Paul too.
You know this movie is going to be special and surprising,
even for the book lover.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
So I don't know. I almost feel like I need
to read the book again.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, did you read it before you were cast? Because
I can't have Matt you did.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I know I hadn't, but I do.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I listened to thrillers all the time, like I eat
these up because I'm always driving or like feeding or
doing things, you know, where I want to be told
a story. And so I was surprised that I hadn't
read them because I read all these anthologies all the time.
I listened to them, and so yeah, that was a surprise.
But i'd read the script first, and.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
It's been fun for me now discovering this is now
I'm reading all of Frida's books and fun.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Right, Yeah, she's got it going on.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, I kind of love that you hadn't read it
before you were cast, because Nina is such a complicated character.
I cannot even imagine how she was pitched to you.
What did what did people describe her as?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Okay, it's Paul Fee and Sydney's meeting. It shoots.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It's based on this crazy, huge, amazing book and it
shoots in New Jersey and I was like, dude, I great.
And then and then the like the privilege of reading
a script where right off the bat, the character that
I'm asked to play is so vastly different than anything
I've ever been asked to play in my life.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah, it keeps getting better, and I'm sorry. It is
the most fun.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Role I've ever played, and it's really probably not gonna
happen for a long time.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, because you were playing somebody who's playing somebody.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Often and the ability that he gave me, the space
Paul gave me to really like go as far as
I needed to go. I got to explore rage in
a way that I never had, very therapeutic, and in
watching it back, like necessary, What's cool? Though she starts
out kind of too dimensional. You don't realize that there's
(06:23):
this person playing a character.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
You don't even see all the rage yet. What kind
of conversations did you and Paul have about how you
wanted to develop her and portray the character playing a character?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I mean, I think it was just really important for
us to map out exactly what kind of crumbs I
was leaving when with her, and it was all in
how I communicated with Millie and I needed to keep
her on her toes at all times because I needed
her to feel completely unstable and so like it was,
(06:58):
it was very del It was very delicate situations. We
had to go through the script and figure out, you know,
seeing to scene where.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
How far I was going to go out losing her completely.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
We'll were on the map at two, so that if
Nina's just turns and is terrible the whole time, it
becomes one dimensional and either you go like, well, by yeah,
So it had to be this weird push and pull
of like she's mean and then she's like, I don't
know what I do without you, and then she's kind
of normal and that she's not, so that Millie can
be going like is she just hormonal because she's pregnant
(07:34):
or is she crazy? Or does she just hate me?
And that weird push and pull that they played together
so well, and.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Then that outside the outside outsiders like the PTA moms
who you know, end up making Millie feel empathy for
I mean, she's just like every time she loses her
she kind of takes her back, and.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
God, it's it's really really It was really fun at
the beginning because those first few scenes I remember, I
think my only direction was like cookie and fun. She's
cookie and fun, like just make her just yeah. So
the Millie's like, Oh, this is the greatest job ever,
this is the greatest boss ever. And then the next
morning shows up.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And to that point, I was sort of like watching thinking,
I wonder who she pulled inspiration from. Were there any
real housewives or TV or film housewives that you were
thinking about?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
No, I boring answer, No, No, I've channeled one of
my fears in life, or one of the things that
I really struggle with is when I'm with people, working
with people, or having to be near people who are
unpredictable and hot and cold.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
And because this.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Is who Nina is when you meet her, it was
really really fun and interesting to channel like what I
fear most, try to find the scariest pieces of that
and portray them.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
And it was just cathartic, mostly therapeutic. This whole movie for.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Me, Amanda, that's so deep, is it? Yeah? I mean
I don't want to pry too much, but it sounds
like that stuff is from childhood, and so to be
able to play it out and also it's.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Like it's something I learned, you know, in my thirties
probably that of course, of course, you don't feel safe
when you don't know what you're gonna get, you know,
the I fear of the unknown. It's like, you want
to trust somebody and love somebody, but if they treat
you differently than they did the day before, it's you know,
it's not your fault, but you want to try to
(09:36):
make change yourself for them. And I think that's just
what humans do when they're especially when they're younger.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
They don't know any better.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
So you know, thank god spoiler alert, it doesn't end
up that Nina is that person, but actors get to
do get to learn a.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Lot through their work. It's definitely one of the upsides.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Maybe what's so amazing is that you have to be
you sow yourself and simultaneously another person.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, you have to like in that you're grounding it,
and so you have to accept that you are in
every character, whether you're in it ten percent or ninety percent.
You have to be present, I think in order to
ground something or you have to completely turn into somebody else,
which some people do and are successful at it. I
(10:26):
like myself, and I want to always return to myself,
so I choose to just make sure I'm grounding it
as much.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
As possible, to go back to the book for a moment.
The first line gags everybody. It says, if I leave
this house, it will be in handcuffs. Paul, as a director,
how do you translate an opening line that is that
(10:54):
explosive onto the screen without blowing tension too early?
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Yeah, I mean, it's a very living, breathing organism a movie.
And the original opening for the movie that we shot
starts with somebody's dead, and it's the cops coming down
staring at this body. And then one of them picks
up a tooth and it says, is that a tooth?
(11:18):
And so? And then we go into the movie as
a flashback, and I liked it, but with an audience,
we realized we were we were taking too much away
from them for that with that, and so it was
better to lose that, and we just come into it
and like, oh, this is just a nice little domestic
thing of a you know, young woman showing up who
(11:39):
needs work. And I'm so glad we took it out.
Even though I liked the scene and it was a
really cool shot. So obviously as a director, you're like, oh,
you to lose that, but you want to seduce people in
in a way that sometimes a book.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
It's so funny. I really learned because I've done a
bunch of book adaptations, but every book is different, and
some books need a lot of help from us as
screenwriters and actors and directors, and other ones just kind
of sort themselves out. And the Housemaid really told us,
(12:14):
let's play this almost linear, well very lineary for the
first hour because then we know we're going to do
this switchback. And it was really fun. You know, I
don't normally like voiceover in a movie. It's a crutch
that you can rely on, but this movie, it was
so important to have it because, as Laura Fisher, my
(12:36):
producing partner, says, this movie is the first hour is
all questions and the second hour is all answered yes.
And so by the time you're just like, I gotta
know what's going on. Here it comes and Nina's backstory
is so wonderful. And let me just credit my friend here, Amanda.
We recorded that vo on the first day is temp
(12:57):
and we went to a Moti.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Story dancing that day.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Yeah, yeah, and you were and she just did it
once and that's what's in the movie. It was so good.
I would just like, I mean, when when you were
doing it, I was leaning forward, and when you finished it,
we were all just like, oh my god, like I
don't feel like I just watched the movie. It was
so good. So there was one take, one take, wonder
over take it.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I'll take it. I just think it's really just a
great design all and all.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I mean, there are certain formulas for certain types of genres,
but you don't always have to play by those rules,
because if you have something more interesting, if you're gonna
give the audience even a better ride, you have to
go with your instincts. So that's it's it's always interesting
to me.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
What's what was gonna be?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
And now is? Yes? Do you feel because I know
in what I do, I'll I'll repeat a line ten
times and then decide which take is best. Were you
nervous that they went with the first take? No, it
just poured out.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I don't care if it were. I mean, I try
to do my best, you know. Of course, I've always
seen takes in movies or TV that I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Like, why would they use that? That's terrible? I see
something different now the character, it's probably fine.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Well, the other thing I don't rehearse either, So my
favorite thing is to get to start going and see
what their natural instinct is. Yeah, and then I have
in my head usually something slightly different. So then I
just kind of like to incrementally move them towards what
I think I want. But then I've got this whole,
(14:36):
you know, selection of takes, and I usually end up
almost always using closer to what their original instinct was
than what I wanted, because they are the.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Character now, Paul, to your point earlier about building tension,
the book contains actually very little dialogue, and instead you're
in the narrator's head the entire time, and so that
tension builds through the gap between what the characters think
and what the actually do. And then when you adapt
this for a screen, you have to transfer that tension. Now,
(15:06):
understanding how you thought about it, questions and answers, that
makes a lot of sense. But was there a scene
or a moment that was either particularly hard to adapt
to screen or one that you're particularly proud of.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
I mean, I'm proud of everything in this movie. But
I think I think my favorite scene is when Nina
when Andrew confronts Nina after the stolen car and then
throws around the house because the high extreme tension in
that scene is so great and Amanda place, it's so fantastic,
(15:41):
just that slow walk down the stairs.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Oh yeah, it's so great and you still don't know
for sure what's happening during that walk. That's how good
and complicated you were, Amanda.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Thanks, there were so many opportunities in that scene. It
was just a mule a feast.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
In my favorite moment, it was just like because when
she grabs her and I just said, get as close
to it in her face as you can. And then
and I was watching it and you got in there,
I just I almost like, I just I almost streamed out.
I was so.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
One of my.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Favorite parts I'm shooting with you is that, like you
I can feel your excitement after.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Oh that's the best.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yeah. We laughed a lot and got how to have levity.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Yeah yeah, yeah, But that's that's the most fun thing
about being a director is to see these things realized
and you have something in your head and then to
see somebody do it better than you had in your head,
or take some idea that was like in a moment
of like, oh, try this, and then it's like, oh
my god, we just created the perfect moment that I
(16:47):
wasn't even sure I didn't even have planned.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's exciting, that's right, It's like fireworks. It feels good
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
You can you can feel an overall like kind of
celebration of like nailing something where you weren't really sure
what was going to happen, and you're.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Like, oh my god, I think we found it.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, I think the misdirection or like the red herrings
is what's so fun about this movie. And you got
me like, usually I can tell what's going to happen.
And I was thinking to myself, like, Paul fig is
not going to do a movie where women aren't like
they aren't winning, you know, so like what's happening here?
(17:23):
But Amanda, I'm curious how you step into a role
when your characters like seeming and being are two different stories.
Did you, like, do you write in the lines of
the script, How did you even think about how to
do this?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
I mean, I just I don't I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I was just like, this is a woman who's desperate, and.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Had you felt that before that sort of desperation, could
you align with it?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I have never felt like I was.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I had to set up such a found the trap
for some another woman so I could I could escape
an abusive husband, thank God. But when I get a character,
and you know, when I try to understand the character,
(18:15):
obviously I have to relate to a lot of things.
But I think I relate to the fact that she's
just had enough and she has to play one last
part in order to find her destiny. And I had
to ignore the fact that she was using this other
woman because it's a terrible it's terrible, but it's the
same time, like you, you're at this point so desperate,
you're putting yourself and your and your family first with yeah,
(18:37):
your daughter, and I don't know, you just find it
Humanity's we're all humans.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I mean, even with Andrew.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
The character of Andrew, it's like, you know, spoiler turns
out to be an abusive mother. But it's not because
he decided that he wanted to be this guy.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It's because he was born to a certain person and
didn't have you know, the tool wasn't given the tools,
you can find empathy for every single character in every movie,
and as an actor you have to find that. But
it was just interesting. It was just balancing that the
push and pull.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, and with Andrew because you didn't want to give
too much away to him, but he almost didn't want
to see it.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Well, I mean everything I do, anything I write, or
anything I put up on the screen, I run through
George Bernard Shaw. You know, the back of his plays
would have these little maximum and maximums, and one of
them was all men mean well, And that to me
is the key to making everything believable, because the worst
villain in the world has some reason they think they're
(19:39):
doing the right thing. Correct and Andrew, this is how
he was brought up, so I'm sure that happened to
him too. It's not an excuse by any means, but
you go, Okay, at least there's an inner logic that
I'm tapping into. I think the worst movies and the
worst villains and movies are just like mustache twirling, like
I'm just going to create chaos, Like like, well, why,
what's the reason you're creating chaos?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Evil? So I think that gives everything a three dimensions.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Like everybody, they just when they don't have control and
want controls the things that they're willing to do to
get it.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Well, there's hardly any men in this movie, and one
of them barely talks. He does have really good hair
though Amanda's face, are you agreeing? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
No, No, he's so wonderful. I we just spent the
day with him, and it's just like, it's not how
funny he was.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I wouldn't know because I didn't.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Hear him speak, and he does speak, and then the
scene where we speak at the end, he's like, you
and Chichen are going to leave, and we're like, it's
an Italian, it would.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Be Chicha, but CEC.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Okay CC, you have to go with Chichen.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And it was just hilarious.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
He just wanted to be there.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
He was so willing to be I mean, he is
a major character in the next two books.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, and he shares a lot with his eyes, like
I did feel him. What were you trying to telegraph
about women's relationships, Paul by not having these men really
have a huge role.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Well, I mean, I just love telling women's stories, and
obviously we needed Andrew because he's the catalyst for all this.
But you know, I've always ever since, you know, everything
I've done. But like when we were doing Bridesmaids, it
was so important to Kristin and I to not have
cat fighting, and I have that. It's like they're at odds,
but it's not you know, dynasty where they're fighting it.
(21:35):
So you know, I just like you say, it doesn't
seem like one of my movies in the first half
because they're against each other and it's kind of like, oh,
he's going to win. But that's why I think this
book is so brilliant. She makes you, and by extension us,
make you as an audience, rooted for everything you should
(21:58):
not be rooting. Thing you are rooting for in that
first half is good. And I love audiences cheer when
he throws you out of the house. I mean they
always cheer, and I'm just sitting there going like, oh,
I can't wait for you guys. You're gonna feel so
bad that you cheered for that, and you're the audience.
People really are reacting having fun through that whole first,
(22:21):
you know, first half, because it's that you know, kind
of triangle and there's lots of stuff to root for
and find kind of fun. When we get to your
backstory and you're narrating it, the place is silent and
getting invested. So then when we come out of that
back into present day, they are bloodthirsty, and that's where
the fun where. You know, it's weird to say a
movie about abuse is fun. The fun is the retribution
(22:44):
and way back and the audience just releases so much
and we get to just go crazy with it.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Amanda.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I heard you talk about motherhood and your CBS This
Morning interview, which was so well done. I love that
whole interview.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Fun.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, you could tell you just seemed so yourself.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I was at home.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
It was just like everybody's come to me, and my
daughter and my mom were watching behind the camera because
my son and my husband were in.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
The house because he'll just talk.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
But it was amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, I was the most eddies because I knew my
daughter was like right there.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Oh that's so cool. I could feel that. Wow. So
I heard you talk about motherhood and roles that you
were playing once you became a mom, And one of
the things that struck me about this is that it
was about motherhood, but it was about the performance of
what a good mother looks like, which is sort of
a haunting part of the story. What parts of your
(23:53):
own experience did you pull from when you were thinking
about how you wanted to perform motherhood?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Oh God, I mean the mother. She doesn't seem like
a great mother at first.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I mean, she just seems like she's in her own
head and completely you know, putting importance on the wrong stuff.
But I think, you know, I think the frenzied like
everything must be right, everything like I told you to
do this and you didn't do this, and it's like
everything that she's hitting against as performance, Nina is still
(24:30):
very much part of the life of someone who's you know,
raising kids and the madness that comes with that, the
x factor of two little humans who don't necessarily know
how it's done because they're not adults, and it's just
like it's it's chaotic with with schedules, and it's just
you can tell that she's worn out, you can tell
(24:52):
that you don't know why. You think that the reason
she's so out of her mind is probably because she's
just stressed and she been working too hard at keeping
the house together, and that probably is part of it. Too,
because she has to maintain this house and this feeling
and the perfectionist look for her husband so she doesn't
get abused. And I mean, I can't relate to that again,
(25:16):
but I can relate to feeling like you have to
kind of do everything and make sure the home fires
are burning, and that it's just too much for one person.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Mm hmm, well said thanks. I love asking our guests
every week what they've bookmarked. It can be a weird fact,
a fun quote, something that you saved on Instagram or
texted your best friend about. What have you bookmarked this week? Amanda?
I love how you grabbed your phone instantly.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Oh god, I can tell you what. I Well, we
just got a new puppy, so I've just been constantly
on Instagram. Now I'm getting all these things like dog
training tips, so I'm just constantly forwarding goes to my
wife who's with our puppy bag in the back of
Palm Springs right now.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
That's so fun. Wow, congrats, Hey all, thanks, he's he's security.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Are you sleeping He's actually a good sleeper. Weirdly, he
actually met Weirdly, the first dog we've had that kind
of wants to sleep. Not on the bed, and my
wife is really insulted by this. Yeah, it's okay. I
don't even go in sideways and kicking me off the
bed like all the other dogs do.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Hilarious, Amanda, what have you bookmarked?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
This is one of my favorite things in life.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Can I read it?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Please?
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Whatever teaches us to sing to ourselves, sing ourselves out
of despair. But the painting has also taught me that
we can speak to each other across time. And I
feel I have something very serious and urgent to say
to you, my non existent reader, and I feel I
should say it as urgently as if I were standing
in the room with you. That life, whatever else it is,
is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random.
That nature meaning death, always wins. But that doesn't mean
(27:00):
we have to bow and grapple to it. That maybe,
even if we're not always so glad to be here,
it's our task to immerse ourselves anyway, wade straight through it,
right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open,
and in the midst of our dying, as we rise
from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic.
It is a glory and a privilege to love what
death doesn't touch. That's the last page of the Goldfinch.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
And I every time I read.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
It, just like any Marry Oliver poem that exists on
the planet, every time I read it, it brings me
back around.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That's really beautiful. I think I have a frame. So
that's why I was like, oh my god, can I
ask you why? It just reminds me that I'm dying.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
In a really beautiful way.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
And yeah, you know, we deny that every single day
in order to keep living. But if you remember remind
yourself that you are gonna be dead at some point,
hopefully not too soon, you'll live a little more or
make decisions based on like what fills you, what fills
your cup?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
It gives you the urgency to live.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Well.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Thank you both so much for your time. It was
such a fun movie to watch.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Oh yeah, thanks, it's fun to promote. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yes, well, the two of you together, I can imagine
there's lots of laughs.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Just there's just so much to do with.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Him, you know, m H, I get it.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Thank you, Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Okay, friends, Before we wrap today's episode. It's time for
our monthly comfort segment with Cotton, called the Booknook, where
we celebrate the little rituals that make reading feel just right.
And now we've slid into the holiday stretch. Twinkle lights,
festive outfits, cozy after parties at home, it feels especially
(28:59):
perfect to bring on the comfort right. Cotton is such
a big part of that holiday feeling this time of year,
from the soft layers we live in to the pieces
that help us feel grounded wherever we're reading. Let's hear
from another Bookmark listener sharing their ideal reading setup.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
Hi, Bookmarked, this is Kelly calling from Brooklyn. My ideal
place to read a book is a local neighborhood bar
on a weeknight. I like a play set's a little
bit divy, but friendly and welcoming. Good music, but not
so good that I'm singing along in my head with
all the songs the whole time. So maybe a couple
of my favorites sprinkled in among some songs I don't know.
(29:38):
I want a comfortable barstool that is just wide enough
for me to fold up my legs on the seat,
and low, warm lighting where my booklight won't be too intrusive.
I'll usually order some food that can be eaten with
one hand so I can still turn the page, like
a sandwich or tater tots, and then sip on my
tequila and soda with lime. For weeknights, because it's not
(30:01):
too busy and there are plenty of seats with lots
of elbow room, and I don't mind chatting with the
bartender for a bit, or answering a couple questions from
someone who's curious about what I'm reading. But in general,
I like to think that reading a book in a
bar is a pretty clear sign that I don't want
to start a long conversation. It doesn't always work out
that way, so my advice to everyone is, if you
(30:24):
see someone reading in a bar, leave them alone.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
They're busy.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
So I guess my ideal reading place is about what
it isn't as much as what it is. Not too loud,
not too crowded, and not too distracting. I like being
in a place where the only thing I need to
focus on is the page in front of me.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Kelly, I adore this.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
There's something so charming about a quiet bar in wintertime,
that warm amber glow, soft music. You tucked into your
own little pocket of calm with a book. I can
totally picture you perched on that barstool, wrapped in something
comfy and cottony, creating that little cocoon even when you're
out in the world. Such a good reminder that comfort
(31:06):
doesn't have to mean being at home.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Sometimes it's the familiar.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Softness you bring with you, your favorite cotton sweater, a
well worn scarf, wherever you're snuggly settled, consumed by the page,
but still connect it to the cheer around you. So friends,
keep your reading setups coming, especially now that the cold
is settling in and we're all layering up in those
soft cotton essentials. Are you curled up under twinkle lights,
(31:31):
maybe reading in your coziest cotton sweater while cookies are
in the oven, or you're wrapped in a blanket like
a bookish burrito.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
That's me. Take me into your winter reading ritual.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Leave me a voicemail at five zero one two nine
to one three three seven nine, or email a voice
memode a bookmarked at Reese's bookclub dot com. Thanks to
Cotton for bringing the segment to life and for reminding
us that comfort and style can go hand in hand,
especially during the holiday when you're getting dressed for a
night out or cuddling up with a book.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Don't forget to check the tag for cotton.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
And to learn more, head to the fabric of OurLives
dot com. And if you want a little bit more
from us, come hang with us on socials. We're at
Reese's book Club on Instagram, serving up books, vibes and
behind the scenes magic. And I'm Danielle Robe rob a
(32:27):
y Come say hi and DM me And if you
want to go nineties on us, you can call us. Okay,
so our phone line is open, So call us now
at five zero one two nine one three three seven nine.
That's five zero one two nine one three three seven nine.
Share your literary hot takes, your book recommendations, oh please
share those, and questions about the monthly pick, or just
(32:50):
let us know what you think about the episode you
just heard. And who knows, you might just hear yourself
in our next episode, so don't be shy. Give us
a ring, and of course make sure to follow Bookmarked
by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your shows. Until then, see you
in the next Chapter. Bookmarked is a production of Hello
(33:10):
Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts. It's executive produced by Reese Witherspoon
and me Danielle Robe. Production is by ACAST Creative Studios.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Our producers are.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Matty Foley, Brittany Martinez, and Sarah Schleid. Our production assistant
is Avery Loftis. Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder are the
executive producers for a Cast Creative Studios. Maureene Polo and
Reese Witherspoon are the executive producers for Hello Sunshine, Olga Cominwha.
Sarah Kernerman, Kristin Perla and Ashley Rappaport are associate producers
(33:41):
for Reese's book Club. Ali Perry and Lauren Hanson are
the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts
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