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00:01and I think you know you really see the woman that she is you she has such a
00:07striking presence that while wearing beautiful clothes you really see her
00:13first and my another god I'm really discussing about Carolyn now
00:23this is such a watershed moment for the company preparing to go public I'm just
00:27so excited I can help spearhead that transition so thank you
00:42I am so sorry I I hadn't I had no idea
00:50you know I
01:02welcome to the actor's side today man she's made a huge splash yes you can tell magazine covers
01:10fashion deals everything going on but most importantly acting and I actually known her
01:16well before she played Carolyn Bessette because and I will talk about what I first saw with the great
01:23Sarah pigeon but welcome to the actor's side thank you be here and congratulations on love story
01:30thank you I'm sorry you have to stare at yourself through this interview but there could be worse
01:35things it's true a lot of hair and makeup went into that cover so oh okay
01:42well this is quite the whirlwind but like I said I actually was introduced to you in a movie I
01:49loved
01:49loved it so much I saw it twice uh I saw uh and it went to tell your ride and
01:54I was urging people
01:56whoever wants to buy this movie and release this movie get it out there it's called the friend oh my
02:01gosh that was so wonderful to work that was the first thing I worked with Naomi on yes I know
02:07you
02:07know Naomi plays uh Jackie Kennedy here but yeah so wonderful yeah it was we shot that in February I
02:13think
02:13of 2024 it must have been freezing in New York and I was on that set and heading to stereophonic
02:21rehearsals we were in tech it was it felt like I was totally living the dreams going from a movie
02:26set one day to in the morning to a rehearsal room in the afternoon so amazing and that was such
02:32a lovely
02:33movie I loved that movie I wish everybody had a chance and if you haven't seen the friend it's
02:39everywhere you know check it out streaming all over the place you played uh Bill Murray's daughter
02:45yes which had to be a kind of a trip oh I mean I between him and Naomi and of
02:50course the rest of the
02:51cast it was pretty and it was just a thrill to be able to be in something alongside of them
02:56and what a character what a legend um I wish I had had I wish there were more scenes together
03:03because
03:03it was just like so wonderful to be in his presence and um but I think the real star of
03:08that movie
03:08was the dog there's no question yeah Apollo's the character name and uh I actually met Apollo
03:16huge yeah Apollo came to the Telluride Film Festival and was the hit of the festival I'm sure
03:22I'm sure you know a Great Dane is a big dog and then you actually see it in person and
03:27it's just
03:28it's he's like a centaur just massive what was it like working with a dog like that though he was
03:35so
03:35soulful that dog he was I mean I think I feel like I've heard this a lot it almost takes
03:41the pressure
03:41off because you know everyone's going to be just captivated by this animal because they're just
03:46living and breathing in a way that it's hard to replicate in terms of acting um but also like just
03:52sort of an aliveness and um you know uh you sort of had to go that Bing was a very
03:59well trained
04:00actor Bing is his real name Bing is his real name and his trainer was lovely wonderful yeah well he
04:06was very consistent and a good listener you know he's still a dog um so I think it was just
04:12wonderful
04:12to work with some something with so much energy yeah and um yeah that openness that that animals and
04:19like children have sometimes and you when you see them in in movies there's just yeah there's just
04:25an aliveness that uh is wonderful to work with is I think about it in the same way as I
04:31was in the
04:32wilds a show that we yeah well that was a huge break for you and playing it was was she
04:38was a handful
04:39she was yeah I that was such a great first job and we shot the pilot and it took uh
04:45took a year to get
04:46picked up but then having an entire season to work with all these young women that were so unique
04:53and distinct and to be a part of that ensemble that is now sort of growing together as we as
04:59we
04:59move forward in our careers but I mean we were thrown into off the coast of New Zealand in the
05:06North Island and it's sort of similar I think when working with an animal to like being in the ocean
05:11you know there's just sort of this reality that you can't really deny yeah um and it locks you into
05:17a different part of yourself and performance um but yeah that was thrilling I would love to go back
05:23and shoot in New Zealand again and be reunited with those people I know a lot of people are probably
05:29first seeing you really on this mass scale uh as Carolyn said but boy I gotta tell you I saw
05:37you up close
05:37in New Zealand I had really good seats at Steliophonic and you played Diana it's fantastic in fact
05:43sitting here watching you I'm going like okay first of all that wasn't her hair color it's a wig
05:48I was in a wig ah which was great I mean considering just that that was an incredible show oh
05:54thank you
05:55oh and you the entire cast you got a Tony nomination yes yes that must have been thrilling yeah well
06:02yeah
06:02it definitely was I mean that was my doing the play off Broadway and then we transferred to
06:07Broadway shortly after and that was my New York stage debut and to be able to be a part of
06:12that
06:12production and have that sort of set the the bar and the standard uh was I just feel so grateful
06:19for
06:19it and it it really was such a wonderful ensemble experience and there were so many parts that we had
06:25to
06:25lock in together on um you're becoming a band not only you know I I sing in the show but
06:32I
06:33I had never sang you know eight shows a week um or it's not a musical not a musical but
06:42and to be
06:43fair it was only about eight or nine minutes of actual singing during the play as you know um I'm
06:48not sure I could do a maybe I'm diminishing my prospects of potentially doing a musical in the future
06:54but I could not imagine singing like two and a half hours every night you know what the trick
06:58and I think why it did so with 13 nominations and everything and the and the cast is you have
07:04to be believable at different points in recording something that it can't be just a here I am and
07:10it's all great and all this stuff we're watching the creative process here as well as the personal
07:15dynamics of all these people we were lucky in this the surprise I guess event activity that uh will
07:24gil butler our composer he threw us in the studio to record the album um not only the songs that
07:32you
07:32hear in the show but also the songs that are referenced in the show um so to have that sort
07:36of lived experience of we shot it not shot it we recorded it see I'm clearly not a musician um
07:43we
07:43recorded it during the hiatus between off-broadway and broadway and to have that real life understanding of
07:51you know what it's like to sort of sit there and hear yourself back and figuring out like what
07:56adjustments you want to make and seeing how like this the sausage is made and the show that we are
08:01you know and that process we're examining um but it was such i think the the the growth became
08:10exponential to a certain degree but at the beginning it was really really difficult it was
08:15unlike anything i'd done before you know not only singing but singing in a band yeah um and supposed
08:21to be like fleetwood mac yeah yes esque fleetwood mac did they anybody ever come to see the show
08:27i'm i don't think stevie did um but i'm not i know someone who was a manager at some point
08:35might have
08:36come to the show yeah um but was what was exciting was hearing the best compliments you could get were
08:42from people in the music industry yeah um you know and a lot of people were like who you that
08:47was it
08:48you did it that was it i remember our um our music supervisor he said i knew you guys started
08:54becoming a real band when you started bickering when you realized you played the wrong note or
08:59you sang the wrong note but yeah i i sometimes you know imagine what it would be like if i
09:04you know if we did like one night only the bands getting back together and do a play or do
09:10that play
09:10again um fun i've had i had a few nightmares in like the wake of the show closing that that
09:18exact
09:19scenario happened that someone said like oh you're going on tonight i thought oh in my dream i thought
09:24oh i don't have to look at the script like it's still in my bones and then the nightmare was
09:29five
09:29minutes before i'm set to go on set or on stage my uh juliana canfield who played holly in the
09:36show
09:36we're like oh well maybe we just run through that that scene and we couldn't remember the lines
09:40uh and then i that is woke up from that classic actor dream nightmare dream i had it when i
09:47did
09:47high school drama i go like oh i just showed up i i should have come to a rehearsal you
09:52know that is
09:53so classic and i know from reading your background you were a theater kid you really i was you knew
09:59what
10:00you were going to do you know i think i'm i've been trying to figure out what my origin story
10:04is
10:05because i feel like every time i remember it it's slightly different and i i think that acting was
10:10just i really consider it part of my self-expression and my identity and and it's how i like to
10:17i think
10:18navigate the world and and while i don't think that thought was um that clarity of thought was in my
10:26head at like nine years old when i was doing community theater plays yeah i think there was just
10:30this intrinsic i had i just had to do it there was like a pull yeah and i was very
10:35lucky that my my
10:36parents you know really encouraged that artistic expression and i went to summer camps but they
10:41weren't in the business so they weren't no no i mean i guess my parents were lawyers um and i
10:47think
10:48there is a bit of storytelling yeah for sure um uh you know in terms of setting up a case
10:54my uh father
10:56was a trial attorney so there definitely is sort of a uh sense of you know laying out a scene
11:03and
11:03and really hooking people into like understanding what this world is um but yeah no connection to
11:09theater or the arts but i was very lucky that that my parents you know saw that as a good
11:15use of my time
11:16and um and i think my my mother in terms of this becoming something that i think was you know
11:23a serious
11:23uh pursuit i think she saw that i was it was not only something that i really enjoyed doing but
11:28something that i was good at and she encouraged me to to pursue it um i went to school for
11:35it
11:36and i think whether or not i mean i'm really glad that it worked out and i'm not really sure
11:41what i
11:41would be doing personally now if i wasn't an actor but i think theater school was such an incredible
11:49use of my time of just like stretching oneself and it's such a practice and empathy and you know
11:55you learn all these different tools way to move your body ways to use your voice um you know learning
12:01about all these different types of people that you try to embody it was yeah i'm i'm feel very lucky
12:07in
12:07like the life and opportunity that i think it's so important for you too because i also saw you
12:11and i know what you did last summer yes that's so fun and you mentioned stevie nicks but you played
12:16a very different stevie it's true in that and spoiler alert she kills people um that was a that
12:25was a fun role i we had the best time shooting it i actually one of my dearest friends now
12:30um chase
12:31v wonders we reconnected on that play and we were um we did community house theater together when we
12:37were like 12 11 12 years old you're kidding um so it's a very small world but it was such
12:42a great
12:42cast it's such a fun shoot i was shooting in sydney australia and just to be able to sort of
12:49push the
12:50limits i think on that genre of horror and sort of like there can't be elements to it and it's
12:55just
12:56such a wonderful i mean i i feel very lucky that i've done a lot of ensemble work and there
13:00isn't a
13:01person that i've worked with now that i wouldn't want to team up with again so i think so much
13:05of the
13:06making of it you know a project becomes and audiences after a certain you know once it comes
13:12out but my relationship to so much of my work is the making of it right um and when you
13:18have a good
13:18time it's so much better that's important yeah yeah well did you have a good time on uh love story
13:25the best i mean to be completely honest it was very difficult at times but um it was such a
13:34labor of
13:35love it was quite intense and you're playing a real person that so many people remember right
13:41and now is that a particular added challenge for you it was something that i i hadn't really done
13:49before with tiny beautiful things the adaptation of cheryl strade's um uh book tiny beautiful things
13:56that there was an element of playing a real person because the character was based off of cheryl
14:01and then also what the show became right but um but to play someone to play carolyn which demanded a
14:09physical transformation and a real investigation into who this woman was but at this with the
14:16challenge was that she was so enigmatic she's very mysterious yeah never sat down for an interview so
14:21really try to take as much information as i can or i could and then sort of like walk it
14:28back as to
14:29what would make sense how does one connect the dots into how this person might might have walked
14:34through the world and what opinions she might have held and how through this the lens of the show with
14:42these scenarios you know how would that maybe impact this person but i i spent a lot of time looking
14:47at
14:48photos there's videos of her not as many couple of books couple of books um you know people obviously
14:54knew her and that and that are still with us today and i think that that understanding that
14:59that there's a real intimate understanding of who this woman is was an added pressure because it's
15:04not sort of this like it obviously was always an interpretation but there wasn't the sort of
15:10history and time that passes to i think have a bit more freedom in that interpretation it was
15:16you know it demanded that i don some blonde hair understand how she like moved in these clothes
15:25that she's so well known for wearing that wasn't a wig though that you had it was extensions extensions
15:29yeah because i i understand they spent a lot of time in getting that just the way they wanted it
15:35to
15:35look yeah there was i've never thought so much about hair i don't tell you that much yeah and well
15:41you're playing a fashion kind of icon icon yes and i what i came to there were a few times
15:47i read and
15:48people that knew her that the last thing she would ever want to be known for are her clothes
15:52and i think that is not to say that she didn't understand the power of dressing right and as i've
16:00been donning more outfits and playing someone like carolyn i'm i'm really understanding how they
16:05tell a story you know it's it's how you present to the world um what you think of yourself and
16:11what you
16:11what you want to be perceived before you even open your mouth um but i think when i learned that
16:17it
16:17was a really strong insight into the woman that she was and she's very opinionated there was this sort
16:22of wildness about her of so charismatic incredibly sensitive a loyal loyal friend right and those seem
16:30so much more interesting and then to to spend time sort of ruminating on and then how does that sort
16:37of energy fit into these clothes that we know so well yeah
16:55but i thought what really helped and i think you know you really see the woman that she is you
17:02she
17:02has such a striking presence that while wearing beautiful clothes you really see her first and my
17:09my another god i'm really discussing about carolyn oxley about the weather you know just to hear her
17:16voice and because a lot of the videos were only you know her being stalked by paparazzi and he moves
17:22so
17:22differently that way and it's such a thing with instant fame you know a fame you're connected to that
17:29wasn't you yes and that's very much diana you know yes as we sort of touch on episode eight i
17:36was
17:36going to ask you about because episode eight stood out for me as i think anybody it would because there
17:42it's the two of you arguing together it's like a play watching a play within a thing but and it
17:49was
17:49intense yes i was so i you know i had heard about this bottle episode from the beginning right um
17:57and
17:57you know is that the technical term the to be honest i don't even know really what it means i
18:04i think the bottle episode means that it takes place in one location yeah we can fact check this
18:10i love i love tv terms okay our acting terms i've picked it up and i've been i it's become
18:16part of my
18:16vocabulary yeah um but i had heard about you know episode eight is going to take place all in the
18:21apartment it'll be sort of like a three-act play um but of course with with tv in this particular
18:26production we you know i would get the episodes like a few weeks before we would start shooting
18:31them um so i was really just waiting with so much anticipation to read this um but i was it
18:37was so
18:38wonderful to be able to inhabit that space with such long scenes you know the scene really starts when
18:46paul as john walks through the door yeah and to be able to reset as an actor take after take
18:53after
18:53take and to be able to try something new um was so i mean you hopefully try something new in
18:59every
18:59single tape but to have all of the different layers and sort of like go down this river of a
19:03scene in a
19:04different way um was really thrilling and to have like that run-up to where the conflict was if those
19:09like moments of of um you know when they missed each other with their communication but then as
19:16well since it was such a long scene and it was in one you know long long sort of railroad
19:21apartment
19:23um the technical element of having this dance with the cameras and the boom operators and and keeping
19:31that at at top of mind uh it just it felt like sort of this added layer that we got
19:38to play with
19:39and there was so much meat on the bone of those scenes so much so well written and you know
19:45i i
19:46you know i remember when this project was announced and those leak of the photos and the world we're
19:53living in social media it's really hard to be an actor now our you know a filmmaker because it gets
20:01out somewhere and people have preconceived opinions of what they're going to see yeah you know i remember
20:05i think there was an article about so much was filming last summer in new york and i i won't
20:12even try to quote it because i i will get it wrong but i think there was a discussion about
20:16you know
20:17because there are we all have phones and you're able to sort of capture what it's like to film
20:21outside in new york which was also such an incredible opportunity yeah to you know walk these streets that
20:28are it's a love letter to 90s new york it really i mean i i was born in 1996 so
20:32i don't have that
20:33experience but everyone i've met has you know said like you guys that i felt transported and i felt
20:39transported to a time that i don't really even remember but i think you know while photos can get
20:45out um understanding that like the the camera the film camera is capturing such a different sort of
20:54energy and tone um you know it was a little shocking i think to see that it's like oh my
20:59gosh
20:59that's what it looks like or like that's what i'm doing and at a certain point i just had to
21:03not look
21:04at it um yeah that's kind of like hard as an actor to actually get into that aspect and it
21:10sort of takes
21:11you away from what you're doing yeah i think it was something it was something new for me um but
21:17you know i think i guess i found comfort and that's not unique to me and um just understanding
21:24sort of this year has been a big change i think in in sort of wrapping my head around that
21:28uh part of
21:30the internet over in the industry um but yeah i think it's sort of like a constant of course you
21:39have
21:39an innate curiosity to figure out what discussions are being had about you know things that you're
21:44involved in but um i used to do it i can hold myself i don't recommend it no you know
21:50i just focus
21:50on oh they they don't like me they really don't like me i i think that i mean this is
21:57a whole
21:57different conversation we should have a whole different podcast for but yeah i think i guess
22:02what has been really wonderful is that i think the show did really resonate with people you got an
22:08emmy nomination as outstanding lead actress in a limited series anthology or television movie and
22:15you're up against icons like sally field and claire dange you're in it and it's so well deserved so
22:23thank you it worked out it is well i'm just very honored to have my name alongside those incredibly
22:29talented women i mean just that alone um is such a feather in my cap they i got to meet
22:36sally field
22:36recently so i mean talk about an icon if she was here sitting in that show oh my gosh she
22:41was she
22:42was here um she's amazing yeah she won her first emmy in 1977 wild and in this what is this
22:53category
22:53now it was called something else but it is that for sybil you know so what was it called then
22:58uh it
22:58was like outstanding lead actress in a tv movie or something like oh yeah i guess they didn't yeah i
23:04guess
23:04limited series yeah it's changed its name they've added anthology it's all over the map now now they've
23:10combined it but yeah she's um you know she's she's had a career first of all she's i think that's
23:16what's
23:16so exciting i mean to to see the how she has carved out her path in this industry and you
23:24know as the
23:24artist that she is is so incredibly inspiring um so to be able to be in the same room with
23:29her it's just
23:30insane um but yeah it's really exciting i'm so glad that the show got recognized and constance and
23:37yeah um yeah it's just i'm sorry paul didn't because i thought he was really good in this i know
23:43what i understand and this is from the first job i've done is that it really is such a collaborative
23:49effort you know i don't i'm i know that my performance would not have been what it is without
23:54paul's performance as john and it was so wonderful to come to work every single day with him and he's
24:00a friend now and i think that i mean he's already doing such amazing things and i can't wait to
24:06see
24:06what else he does and i hope that we get to to reunite on something and to see his transformation
24:11was just so incredible day after day and before we go i can't wait to see what you do because
24:17i know
24:18what you uh are doing um uh and it's honeymoon with harry yes this is a legendary you know the
24:26lore
24:26about this oh my god jonathan demi was going to do it at one point um all these people um
24:31pal hagas
24:32i think everybody was attached all jack nicholson all these actors and things it's one of those
24:38projects that you know i thought would never get me the light of day yeah and now it has i
24:45had to work
24:46with jake for you yeah it was i was so i actually auditioned for that the day of the love
24:51story
24:51premiere yeah i woke up went to i think it was mcc um did my audition and then got back
24:59and started
25:00getting ready for the premiere um so another one of those days we're like wow i can't believe i'm an
25:04actor life is so crazy oh um oh what a movie i mean what a movie jake jill and jake
25:09jill and
25:09kevin costner i i was so excited at the chance to work with them and then they just like absolutely
25:16blew my expectations out of the water i filmed a lot of scenes with jake and i'm i've been such
25:20a fan
25:21of his um and he really is just such a generous incredible exciting actor um and kevin costner also
25:29hearing all of his stories was so i mean he really he has so many good ones i know and
25:35talk about a
25:35legend he totally is and and he you know he really believes in the stuff he does and you know
25:42that big
25:43sprawling western he was trying to do i mean what what an epic kind of a thing i i sat
25:48down with
25:48him talking about and i said man you're ambitious but this sounds so great such a great idea you know
25:55honeymoon with harry the jake jill and hall's fiancee or a wife dies and spoiler yes well i don't think
26:03it
26:03is a spoiler it's not it's the premise yeah it's the hook so so he goes on the honeymoon with
26:09the
26:10father and and you are all mixed up in it too we won't tell too much you'll have to see
26:16it
26:18i cannot wait i cannot wait for that so much good stuff well again good luck at the emmys and
26:25so so
26:26fun but you're you're no stranger to award shows i mentioned that tony nomination and the theater
26:30world award and all kinds of things you're getting and you're just at the beginning this is sarah pidgin
26:34thanks so much thanks for having me this is so fun
26:37you