She lives for the stage and treasures her co-stars.
Just dont ask her about the ending ofOzark.
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I would be underneath the floorboards of the theater, just listening, she says.
You could hear the orchestration of the voices.
Liam Neeson tromping around.
Then you realize just what a fucking genius Arthur Miller was.
When youre in the work like that, it just envelops you and moves through your body.
Laura Linney is an actors actor.
Still, when it comes to why she became an actor, she has no answer.
I dont know if I really want to know, she says one day at a restaurant in Brooklyn.
Maybe when Im 80 Ill look at it.
My parents divorced when I was an infant.
He lived on the West Side; my mother and I lived on the East Side.
It was a very nasty divorce.
I used to tag along with my father to rehearsals.
I remember sitting on the floor at HB Studios, watching Herbert Berghof direct some actors in some scene.
My perspective level was low because I was on the floor.
How old were you?Young.
I remember hearing him throw in outside the door.
My father was a brilliantly complicated guy.
He had tremendous passion and ability to express it.
I can remember sitting outside the door listening to the rhythm of the typing.
It was electric typewriters then.
So it was liker-r-r-rr-r-r-r-rraww.
Thered be a silence.
And I didnt know what was more exciting the silence or the typing.
I was like,Oh, hes thinking.
I didnt care where I was in the theater.
I just wanted to be in the theater.
I know a lot of people say that I really mean it.
I would have been a really good stage manager and been very happy.
Why did you decide on acting?Dont know.
Oh, come on.No, honestly.
Its interesting, but I dont know if its that important.
For me, its always been about a connection that I dont find anywhere else, possibly.
Magazinefirst came out we did a Christmas play calledMrs.
Santa Claus got a cold, couldnt deliver the presents.
Mrs. Claus came to the rescue, and I was Mrs. Claus.
I remember doing satires of beauty pageants.
There was something that, even then, rubbed me the wrong way about all of that.
I just thought it was terribly chauvinistic.
That shouldnt be the only way someone can get a scholarship to college.
It was a combination of things.
He played a part.
For me to deny that connection is silly.
Its not the sole reason.
I love it too much for it to have been about trying to get someone elses attention.
Now, is there an element of that?
Sure, for both parents.
Do I really believe this?
Do I think its plausible?
Then do I really care?
I dont think it really matters at the end of the day.
I could talk to him in a way that I think he enjoyed and that I enjoyed.
It was something that we shared from a really early age.
It wasnt just a hobby.
It was fun to talk shop with him.
During your senior year at Brown, you performedChilde Byron,one of your fathers plays.
How did that come about?Is this article only going to be about me and my father?
At Brown, they did four shows a year on the main stage.
Im sure it was chosen with the intention and the hope that I would do it.
I auditioned for it.
I got the part.
Its the only play of my fathers Ive ever done.
Im very grateful that they provided that for me and my father.
It was a good old college production.
It was not bad.
I think it was okay.
Did you discuss it with him when you were working on it?No.
He came and saw it.
He didnt hate it.
I think he was really happy I did it.
I dont think we ever talked about it again.
You never spoke about itafterward?No.
I didnt feel a need to either.
I mean it wasnt an awkward thing.
It was just something I did.
Why?Well, you just want to pave your own way.
I have no issue with other people doing the work of their own parents.
I wasnt comfortable doing that to myself or doing that to him, for that matter.
God forbid it didnt go well, that would have been awful for both of us.
After graduating from Brown, you decided to attend Juilliard.
When I went into Juilliard, I was ready for it to be really hard.
I was, and still am, very realistic about what a life in the arts is.
Or not taken seriously.
It gives you a whole bag of tools to further your understanding and your execution of work.
Congois one of the few big-budget movies youve done.
What was the person who said yes to doingCongolike?I was fresh out of Juilliard.
I had auditioned forJurassic Park.
It was down between me andLaura Dernand it went to her, which is great.
I think they had always kept me in mind.
ThenCongocame along, and I knew what that was, going in.
I was always really intimidated by film and TV.
I was not someone who grew up thinking I wanted to be in the movies.
I wanted to be onstage.
I went from department to department.
I know what everybody does, and theyre so cool.
For whatever people thinkaboutCongo, I have a real soft spot in my heart for it.
You could have done more movies like that, I assume.I dont know if I could have or not.
Did you want to?
You learn as you go.
But you never know how somethings going to turn out.
Its a miracle when anything works.
Theres a difference between successful and good.
Something can be great and nobody sees it.
You have to figure out how much work a script will hold.
It wouldnt hold anything.
You cant overload something thats not meant to be overladen.
If you come at it with a personal agenda, youre going to fuck it up.
So whats a red flag for you?The director answers questions too quickly.
Whys that?Too knowing.
Theres no sense of discovery.
There might not be room for contribution.
Its nice when theres a pause if you ask a question.
Some people know what they know, and thats great.
But when youre geysered, its lonely.
The creative quiet is a good place to be.
Its so intriguing because theres such a difference between being alone and being lonely.
All of my prep work I do alone.
I just dig in there.
Its my favorite time.
I do all of that work and I roll around in it.
But feeling lonely around other people while youre working is brutal.
And people have different taste levels.
Taste is a tricky one.
When peoples feelings get so hurt and they get so bent out of shape, its so hard.
Its like telling someone their child is ugly.
Youre saying, Your child is ugly.
Is that why youve stayed away from the bigger blockbusters?No.
Ive just never been offered one.
Theres a myth that youre offered a ton of things.
And I am offered some things.
If a huge blockbuster came my way,Id consider it.Absolutely.
You have a great director, like a Sam Mendes come on, are you kidding?
Who would say no to that?
What if its to play Aunt May inSpider-Man?Well, I dont know.
It depends on Aunt May.
Can I do anything with it?
If I cant do anything with it, give it to someone who can.
Is there stereotypical writing that bothers you?Yes.
When everyones voice is exactly the same.
It robs everyone of an experience.
But particularly when everyones voice is exactly the same.
They all talk in the same rhythm, the same amount of time.
It probably wouldve helped in a way.
It wasnt anything that I personally pursued, but Im sure my representation pursued it.
Im sure they did.
Did you have conversations about that?No.
I wasnt thinking about it because I was just thinking about my work.
Have you ever had a dry spell?Yes.
I had a bit of a dry spell afterThe Truman Show.
And thats just what a career does.
It ebbs and flows.
Im surprised that happened afterThe Truman Show,though.Me too.
I also feel like a lot of the characters I play are not terribly likable.
I was the happiest understudy there ever was.
He was an older actor, and he took an interest in me.
He was a great-looking man.
He was so nurturing, so wonderful.
In the theater, theres a real tradition of older actors mentoring younger actors.
That doesnt exist as much in film and TV, and I wish it did.
But I remember him saying to me, Just say yes to all of it.
Dont say no to something you dont really know.
Unfair of me, totally unfair.
And then I stopped.
I got there, and theyre like, This is just like theater.
Its nothing like theater.
It has a live audience.
And its also nothing like a single-camera drama.
Its nothing like a movie.
Its its own thing, and its never been given the respect to be its own thing artistically.
Well,Frasierwas alsoa really good sitcom.Thats the other thing.
Im always like, If Im going to learn, Im going to gothere.
And theres no guarantee that youll be used.
You are signing over your life to that.
Ozarkis the longest youve worked on one show.
My understanding is that your character Wendy Byrde was changed after you first read the script.
I just remember she was snoring in the bed a lot.
There was a lot of:Wendy snores.
I just didnt know where it was going to go.
Otherwise, dont cast me.
Theres nothing worse than people not wanting what you have to offer.
When people dont want what you have to offer, its justwomp-womp-womp.
Would you have done more seasons?Absolutely.
Im having real withdrawal fromOzark.
Everything about it worked.
All the right people were in the right positions.
Everyone had a similar viewpoint.
Everyone had a similar work ethic.
I loved being in Atlanta.
It was an unbelievable crew.
Crews on television normally do not stay intact.
Ninety percent of our crew stayed the entire time.
I miss it a lot.
Ultimately, what wasOzarkabout?Identity.
What do we want?
Who are we as individuals?
Who are we as families?
Who are we as communities?
Who are we as a country?
Okay, so to that end, who are the Byrdes?
Who is Wendy Byrde?Who is she?
Its not likewhoshe is.
Its looking at the journey.
When youre telling a story, people get confused when they start asking questions.
They infuse it with a little more meaning than its worth.
They function well, theyre a family.
Do they go on and learn even more?
What did you think ofthe ending?I havent seen it.
I dont know what they chose.
I really cant comment on it.
Can I ask what the other endings were?No.
Im not going to do that.
Maybe this is not a fruitful conversation, so we can move on …No, its fine.
This is just what my experience in doing it is.
What its overall result is or how it affects other people, I dont have an agenda about that.
I dont think about results like, what it all means, what it all does.
Thats not my job.
You cant act an emotion.
You act the things and then the emotion is a result of something.
And she finally just turned to him and said, Well, just get Laura Linney.
And so he wrote me a letter asking if I would do it.
I was like, Yes, I will, Mr. Richard Curtis.
When do you want me to show up?
Why was that a no-brainer?Well, I was just offered something, which is lovely.
I was the only American in a stellar, primarily British cast.
So Id do a week onMystic Riverand then do a week onLove Actually.
What do you think of the movie?I love the movie.
Its great.But is itThe Seventh Seal?No.
It is what it is.
And its a movie that shouldnt work as well as it even does.
It works because of Richard Curtis.
A string of other movies tried to copy the formula ofLove Actually, and none of them worked.
And heresLove Actually20 years later, and people are very attached to it.
Your andEmma Thompsonscharactersfeel completely incongruousto the rest of the movie.Sure.
It was a different time.
It has powerful archetypes that are recognizable to a lot of people, told cleverly by really good actors.
It takes you along, soLove Actuallywill get you in some way.
Have you ever felt reluctant to do romcoms?Ive never been asked.
I dont think Im quite seen as romcom material.Love Actuallywas as close as I was going to get.
And now I dont know what a really successful romcom even looks like.I havent seen one in a while.
Its just something thats happened.
Its the one relationship in my work that has bled through into life.
Mark Ruffalo feels like a brother.Tom Pelphreyfeels like a brother.
Philip Seymour Hoffman felt like a brother.
And I have a familial closeness to them.
I dont think thats an exaggeration.
Phil and I recognized something in each other.
We just got each other in a way, and he was a tremendous support.
That was a tough movie to make.
The hours were long.
It was low budget.
Sometimes movies fly, likeKinsey;The Savageswas a rough production just by the nature of independent film.
He was just great.
There are people who are just from another planet.
They have keys to a different kingdom.
Sean Penns one of them.Daniel Day-Lewisis one of them.
Phil had the keys to the other kingdom.
Those uniquely brilliant people that just work on another level.
Theyre not thinking of themselves all the time.
Theyre thinking about telling the story.
So youre in service to something else.
They jump right in with you.
On the flip side, I assume there are those who are …Theyre distracted.
Or theyre young and they dont know, or theyre too afraid.
The business is in their ears a little bit.
My understanding is thatYou Can Count on Me, with Mark Ruffalo, was also a difficult production.
Kenny understands his own material unlike anyone Ive ever worked with before.
He was pushing me in a direction that just didnt fit with me.
He wanted me to pat someone on the back.
It was a physicalization of something.
I didnt understand it.
I think I was cranky.
Independent film is not for the faint of heart.
And I just didnt understand what Kenny was saying sometimes.
I couldnt figure it out.
I remember when I saw it, I was like,Motherfucker, hes right.
Let go of it.
We know you love it, shoot it, get it out of the way, make another choice.
Im very easy about that now.
I dont think I was at that period of time.
Well, I guess that circles back to the earlier question …why acting?I dont know.
Its deeply personal for everybody and different for every single person.
And I think thats kind of the sacred space.
I dont really understand it.
Do you know what I mean?
I really just dont.
He said that getting older made him more fearful, which I thought was interesting.
I remember being with Phil in Buffalo, where we filmed part ofSavages.
We were in a car, and someone yelled from across the street, Hey, Phil.
Congratulations on the Oscar.
I saw him put his head down and have a moment that was clearly uncomfortable for him.
He did not like that it had intruded in his life that way, and that stuck with me.
So consequently, I was really curious: What does success do to a person?
Its not always good.
So what does success do to a person?I think its different for everybody.
Im asking you.Youre asking me what has success done for me?
It has really changed the contents of my closet.
That was the big thing.
My idol growing up was Maggie Smith, hands down.
I watchedThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodiea gazillion times.
I walked up the stairs, and there was Maggie Smith.
I couldnt believe it, I almost turned around and left.
Now Im about to go do a movie with her.
It can say, Yes, keep going.
Yes, keep working.
Psychologically, thats a big deal.
The bad part of it is it can overshadow the work.
But that stuff goes away.
The work does not.
Have you felt distracted in your career?Oh, sure.
At one point or another, you get distracted by the wrong stuff.
Because I never fully fit into the whole fashion world, that always just made me feel bad.
And then I was like,It doesnt matter.
Its okay.Its okay, and it doesnt mean that Im not fashionable.
It doesnt mean that Im not that.
I just cant be forced into something that Im not organically.
Ive seen it over and over and over again.
Still photographers are trying to bring something out of you.
Even though Im really good one on one, Im basically an introvert.
Im not really performative.
I just get there and feel awkward and silly.
Its ironic that now Im the one who … [laughs].
My father could never get over it.
I think winning wouldve been different.
Is that your favorite awards show?Yeah.
That community is just wonderful.
Some people have real blood in their mouth.
Theyre terrified theyre going to lose their job if someone doesnt win.
Its enough to give anyone a stomachache.
But dont get me wrong; its also wonderful.
The Tonys are just fun.
The community is physically closer together.
Were all in the same neighborhood.
Theater people spend time with each other in a way that those in the other mediums dont.
She just did a play calledAt the Wedding.
She was a Juilliard student.
When she was a second-year student, I went to a gala where she did some Moliere piece.
I was like, Who is that?
I also give a shot to get to know the fourth-year students as theyre leaving.
How is the institution doing?The school is going through real growing pains.
When I went to Juilliard, it was just a white, white, white American school.
And it is a very different school now.
I think about the students of color who were there when I was.
I just cant imagine.
We were all so self-absorbed at the time.
I would love to say that I was profoundly aware of all of it, but I wasnt.
I was a self-involved drama student who was just so terrified in my own skin.
I read about how people would have to speak in an American accent.Its called Standard American speech.
Its not about destroying something.
Its about folding in.
Its literally about inclusion in making something better and stronger from it.
There is room at the table for playwrights of color, for composers of color, for choreography.
It was long overdue, and Im happy to see it everywhere, but its uncomfortable.
Everyones going to feel pain at one point, but its going to be for the best.
The thing is you should do all of it.
So you dont want to not do Shaw.
You want to do Shaw.
Is there resistance to that?Its very controversial all over the place.
There was an outcry about rigor.
The amount of time it takes, how harsh it can be, what it costs you.
Im coming at it as someone who went to that school decades ago.
I imagine you believe in rigor.I do.
I believe in getting through discomfort, and rigor helps you do that.
Thats something that you only learn in the doing.
But theyre not easy things to unpack.
Feelings are very strong, legitimate, valid.
Theres also a big difference when rigor is perceived as exploitation.
Then theres a real issue that needs to be really examined and taken to task and redefined.
When culture changes, you got to listen.
It will only make things better.
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