This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Elizabeth Marvel: Hi, I'm Elizabeth Marvel and you're listening to Behind the Awards.

[0:30] Bruce Gotlieb: Indeed, anything else, anything more is gravy and this makes some awfully nice gravy. Thank you.

[0:45] Eila Mell: Hello and welcome to Behind the Awards. I'm Eila. I am here with Bruce.

[0:50] Bruce Gotlieb: Good morning. How are you today?

[0:52] Eila Mell: I am good. How are you, Bruce?

[0:54] Bruce Gotlieb: I'm doing well. So, that was Paul McCrane's Emmy win for Harry's Law in 2011.

[1:04] Eila Mell: But, you know, it's funny when you have actors that have long careers, it's like, well, what's the in, right?

[1:14] Bruce Gotlieb: So, for me, it was the movie Fame for Paul McCrane.

[1:18] Eila Mell: I don't know what Harry's Law is, but he's Montgomery McNeil.

[1:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes. And then, you know, others, like, years later, he was on ER for such a long time.

[1:27] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[1:28] Bruce Gotlieb: You know, he's done so much TV and movies, but it's so funny when you look at, like, you know, what people's path in or what catapults them, you know.

[1:38] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[1:39] Bruce Gotlieb: He's an Emmy winner. I don't know what Harry's Law is. It starred Kathy Bates, but I didn't watch it.

[1:44] Eila Mell: No. Not only did I not watch it, I don't think it even got on my radar somehow.

[1:50] Bruce Gotlieb: That's so funny.

[1:51] Eila Mell: But I love him. Oh, my gosh. He's so good in Fame.

[1:54] Bruce Gotlieb: He is. I just, that movie and then, you know, obviously the subsequent TV show.

[2:00] Eila Mell: Yeah. Very different tone from the movie.

[2:03] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. Yeah. Totally.

[2:05] Eila Mell: Like, a really sanitized version because the movie was, like, gritty and real.

[2:10] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, it was what it was like, you know, back then.

[2:15] Eila Mell: Back in the day.

[2:16] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. I mean, they looked like they were almost 40, but they were kids.

[2:20] Eila Mell: Well, listen, it was a different time. We cast very differently.

[2:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. Well, I mean, probably today, too. We still cast too old, but I guess.

[2:29] Eila Mell: Probably. Probably.

[2:31] Bruce Gotlieb: But, you know, so for me, it was huge because there was that whole scene with Rocky Horror and I knew so many people in that scene, especially Sal Piro, who, you know, was leading the crowd.

[2:44] Eila Mell: So, you know, that was a regular spot for me for a while.

[2:48] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. And then, you know, I guess, you know, he left the world of music and found himself in more dramatic roles.

[2:55] Eila Mell: Yeah. I mean, Fame was very dramatic, too.

[3:00] Bruce Gotlieb: It was. It was.

[3:01] Eila Mell: He just happened to sing in that. Has he done anything recently?

[3:06] Bruce Gotlieb: He was in an episode of Barry, I remember.

[3:09] Eila Mell: Oh, okay.

[3:10] Bruce Gotlieb: A couple years ago.

[3:11] Eila Mell: Oh, good.

[3:14] Bruce Gotlieb: I don't know what he has coming up next, but.

[3:16] Eila Mell: Right. Right. Oh, my gosh. I loved him.

[3:20] Bruce Gotlieb: He's really good.

[3:21] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[3:22] Eila Mell: I remember when I watched ER, like, watching his, like, his character was like, you just, you love to hate him.

[3:29] Bruce Gotlieb: It was like.

[3:30] Eila Mell: Right.

[3:31] Bruce Gotlieb: You know, one of those meteor kind of roles.

[3:34] Eila Mell: I know.

[3:35] Bruce Gotlieb: And then who can forget that Doris from Fame, Maureen Teefee, was also in Grease, too.

[3:41] Eila Mell: Oh, my favorite.

[3:43] Eila Mell: I remember, obviously, I had watched both, but there was a one point where then that, like, light bulb went off where I was like, wait a minute.

[3:53] Bruce Gotlieb: I know you.

[3:55] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[3:56] Eila Mell: But it was a very similar character, too.

[3:58] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, it was.

[4:00] Eila Mell: So, I mean, listen, if you're getting typecast, it is what it is, right?

[4:04] Bruce Gotlieb: If you're in big movies like that, it's not a bad thing.

[4:07] Eila Mell: No, getting that paycheck.

[4:09] Eila Mell: Well, our guest today is never typecast because she plays, like, so many different roles.

[4:15] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[4:16] Eila Mell: And very serious, typically.

[4:18] Bruce Gotlieb: She's very serious.

[4:19] Eila Mell: I mean, she's not, but she gets cast in very serious roles.

[4:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, I mean, she has this play that is very serious that we like to see.

[4:28] Eila Mell: Super serious.

[4:29] Bruce Gotlieb: And then there were no more.

[4:32] Eila Mell: So, let's get Elizabeth Marvel out here and go over all her stuff because she has so much good stuff coming.

[4:39] Bruce Gotlieb: Let's get her.

[4:42] Eila Mell: Well, Bruce, we are so excited to welcome Elizabeth Marvel to Behind the Awards.

[4:47] Elizabeth Marvel: Hello there.

[4:48] Eila Mell: Hi, good morning.

[4:49] Bruce Gotlieb: Good morning.

[4:50] Eila Mell: Thank you so much for joining us. We're thrilled to have you.

[4:52] Elizabeth Marvel: It is such a pleasure, guys.

[4:54] Eila Mell: So, I feel like, you know, I've seen you in a thousand things because you work constantly.

[4:59] Elizabeth Marvel: And I've been around a lot.

[5:03] Eila Mell: But, you know, probably my favorite is Homeland.

[5:06] Elizabeth Marvel: I'm sure you get that a lot.

[5:08] Eila Mell: You were the president, which is amazing.

[5:11] Elizabeth Marvel: It was fascinating, the responses that I got and the time in which I was playing that part.

[5:23] Elizabeth Marvel: I definitely had many, many women, but men too, stop me and say, I wish you were my president.

[5:35] Elizabeth Marvel: I wish you were my president today.

[5:37] Eila Mell: Well, that's the funny thing is because actually the president that I was playing was pretty dicey.

[5:45] Elizabeth Marvel: You know, he wasn't fully on the level.

[5:48] Elizabeth Marvel: I don't know if anyone in that position truly can be.

[5:52] Elizabeth Marvel: But, yeah, it was a bit of a controversial character.

[5:56] Eila Mell: So, it's interesting.

[5:57] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah.

[5:58] Eila Mell: And then, of course, House of Cards and Fargo.

[6:00] Elizabeth Marvel: I mean, you know, you've done many wonderful things, but I'm guessing Presumed Innocent too.

[6:05] Elizabeth Marvel: That's right.

[6:06] Eila Mell: With your husband.

[6:07] Elizabeth Marvel: With my husband.

[6:09] Eila Mell: That must have been so much fun.

[6:11] Elizabeth Marvel: It was so much fun.

[6:12] Elizabeth Marvel: You know, we had done Long Day's Journey into Night on stage the year before, and then we did Presumed on camera.

[6:22] Elizabeth Marvel: You know, we get to, we're very lucky that we, I would say every few years, someone puts us together in something and has been doing that for 30 years.

[6:35] Eila Mell: That's amazing.

[6:36] Elizabeth Marvel: It's crazy.

[6:37] Elizabeth Marvel: It's crazy.

[6:38] Eila Mell: Because I don't even think that most people realize that your husband is Bill Camp.

[6:42] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes.

[6:43] Eila Mell: So, you know, I think the world fell in love with after seeing The Queen's Gambit.

[6:46] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes.

[6:47] Eila Mell: Yes.

[6:48] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes.

[6:49] Eila Mell: I mean, wow.

[6:50] Eila Mell: But, you know, both of you are just such solid actors.

[6:53] Elizabeth Marvel: And I don't think that people realize, you know, what extensive theater backgrounds you have.

[6:58] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah.

[6:59] Elizabeth Marvel: I mean, we both, we met, well, we actually met when I was 15.

[7:05] Elizabeth Marvel: That's a whole other story.

[7:06] Eila Mell: Oh, my gosh.

[7:07] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah, yeah.

[7:08] Elizabeth Marvel: But we sort of came together at Juilliard.

[7:11] Elizabeth Marvel: We were both at Juilliard and then got together, you know, and lived together and have known each other our entire careers.

[7:19] Elizabeth Marvel: So we have literally seen almost everything each other has done.

[7:24] Elizabeth Marvel: And we are like, we are such a team.

[7:28] Elizabeth Marvel: It's such a, and he has, yeah, it's amazing to know someone and love someone for so long.

[7:34] Eila Mell: But it's also incredible to be in a creative conversation.

[7:38] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah.

[7:39] Eila Mell: With someone for 30 years.

[7:40] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah.

[7:41] Eila Mell: And making work together.

[7:43] Elizabeth Marvel: I have to imagine that that also helps inform decisions that you make as an actor.

[7:47] Eila Mell: Because not only, obviously, you trust your husband, but there's such a different level of trust other than, like, a spouse.

[7:55] Elizabeth Marvel: Like, you having come up together and learned craft together, it's a whole different level, I'm sure.

[8:01] Elizabeth Marvel: It truly is.

[8:02] Elizabeth Marvel: It truly is.

[8:03] Elizabeth Marvel: And it's, you know, I feel so fortunate because I'm a person, I'm a digger as a worker.

[8:10] Elizabeth Marvel: People either love me or are kind of driven crazy by me because I just ask so many questions.

[8:19] Elizabeth Marvel: I am a very rigorous question asker in the process.

[8:24] Elizabeth Marvel: And because of that, I can get, if the work doesn't hold that kind of interrogation, room for that kind of interrogation, I can get bored.

[8:36] Elizabeth Marvel: And that can go for people.

[8:38] Eila Mell: So that's saying something about my husband that I am eternally curious about.

[8:44] Elizabeth Marvel: So when you're playing, because, you know, that's your way in with a character, when you're playing a character on television, right, you create who that character is in their background.

[8:54] Elizabeth Marvel: And, you know, all this homework that the audience doesn't see, but you know.

[8:58] Elizabeth Marvel: When something is written on an episode that you didn't plan for, that's a surprise to you.

[9:04] Eila Mell: Does that change how you approach that character then?

[9:07] Elizabeth Marvel: Not at all.

[9:08] Elizabeth Marvel: You know, I love it because I am a big believer.

[9:13] Elizabeth Marvel: I don't believe in, like, approaching acting with beats or, you know, any sort of mapping because we are chaotic animals.

[9:23] Elizabeth Marvel: I go from zero to a thousand like that all the time in my life.

[9:28] Elizabeth Marvel: Crossing the street, I'll be screaming at someone in 10 seconds when I was in a perfectly mellow, like, post-meditation mood.

[9:36] Elizabeth Marvel: So, you know, this idea that things have to be mapped and planned, I strongly disagree with.

[9:42] Elizabeth Marvel: It's the same reason why I do get, well, I wouldn't say frustrated, but I'm always taken aback by whenever I hear an actor say, oh, my character wouldn't do that.

[9:53] Elizabeth Marvel: That makes no sense to me because we're animals.

[9:56] Elizabeth Marvel: Like, we are capable of any kind of behavior.

[10:00] Elizabeth Marvel: We see this on a daily basis.

[10:02] Elizabeth Marvel: I mean, turn on the news where it's crazy what we're capable of doing.

[10:08] Elizabeth Marvel: I don't know what I would do in certain situations.

[10:10] Eila Mell: Yeah, we don't know.

[10:12] Elizabeth Marvel: We don't know.

[10:13] Elizabeth Marvel: And I feel like it's also our job as actors to take what is written and make it work, figure it out.

[10:20] Elizabeth Marvel: And even if that's on the spot, I mean, to me, acting is all just music.

[10:26] Elizabeth Marvel: It's just playing music.

[10:27] Elizabeth Marvel: And so, you know, improvise.

[10:31] Elizabeth Marvel: Figure it out.

[10:32] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[10:33] Elizabeth Marvel: No, I love that you say that about beats because I've always thought that.

[10:35] Elizabeth Marvel: I've always thought that, you know, I don't know, it never spoke to me anyway.

[10:39] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[10:40] Elizabeth Marvel: Like, you know, what's the point?

[10:41] Eila Mell: What's the point?

[10:42] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah.

[10:43] Elizabeth Marvel: Things change.

[10:44] Eila Mell: And then why would you be trapped in, like, one thing?

[10:47] Elizabeth Marvel: Right.

[10:48] Eila Mell: Exactly.

[10:49] Elizabeth Marvel: Especially if you're doing live performance.

[10:51] Elizabeth Marvel: I mean, it should always be moving and changing.

[10:54] Eila Mell: And, you know, it is what it is that day.

[10:57] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes.

[10:58] Eila Mell: Well, you are doing live performances right now.

[11:04] Elizabeth Marvel: You are in And Then There Were No More.

[11:06] Eila Mell: Which, based on the little blurb that you get, you know, you clearly are a fan of the dramatic art.

[11:15] Elizabeth Marvel: Have that, you know, that same, you know, drama going on, I would assume.

[11:21] Eila Mell: Yes.

[11:22] Elizabeth Marvel: You know, it's so fascinating because we have our first audience tonight.

[11:26] Elizabeth Marvel: And I have been working on this play.

[11:30] Elizabeth Marvel: It's a difficult play.

[11:33] Elizabeth Marvel: It's a really good play.

[11:35] Elizabeth Marvel: Tim is, you know, I went to school with Tim.

[11:38] Elizabeth Marvel: I've known him forever.

[11:39] Elizabeth Marvel: And he was an upperclassman.

[11:41] Elizabeth Marvel: So we have that hilarious dynamic of being, like, old people with these college-like behaviors.

[11:50] Elizabeth Marvel: I'm in my 50s and I'm still treating him like, oh, Tim, it's so funny. But great. And he's written this very difficult play, which I'm enjoying the difficulty. I don't say that negatively. It's exciting because it demands a lot of the performers. And today while I was running my lines this morning, it resonates completely differently in light of things that are moving in our country and our world. And every day this play is resonating in a kind of a radical way right now. So I'm really interested when audiences come because I think what we were rehearsing in the room, and I've had this with a few projects I've done in my life, what I rehearsed in the room, I had absolutely no idea what it was until people started receiving it and projecting their experience onto it.

And I realized, oh, my God, this is a message in a bottle. And that bottle just got cracked open. And it's flying out. And I sort of feel like we're on the precipice of one of those experiences with this play. It's because it is about, it's about a lot of things. But it's definitely about pith, freedom of speech, justice, man's search for meaning. We're sort of all collectively at the dawn of the next industrial revolution. And none of us can really see what that means. And these are all things we're grappling with in this play. But in a very immediate, I am sort of, I am us, I play us. And other people are playing sort of what's coming.

[13:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, that's interesting. I know it says, the description, at least that we received says, in the not too distant future. So is there, is there actual time frame put on it? Or is it kind of for you to interpret as you as an audience?

[14:04] Elizabeth Marvel: It really is for you to interpret there is not a date. But I would, you know, it's as close as next year. You know, it's not, it's not like we're talking. It's not a Star Trek episode.

[14:16] Bruce Gotlieb: Right. It sounds like Black Mirror, how it's, you know, it could be next week, it could be, you know, whenever.

[14:21] Elizabeth Marvel: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Yes. But it sounds like you've almost caught up to today, since it was written.

[14:30] Elizabeth Marvel: It's, it's weird. It's, it's really weird. And, and, you know, for all of us, I think it's weird, how time is moving now, because there's a new velocity, it feels like, literally, the space between seconds seems to be condensing, like things just seem to be moving faster. And I don't think it's, I mean, part of it for a little while was because of the pandemic and all of that strangeness. But now it literally feels like, you know, a quantum physics phenomenon.

[15:02] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[15:03] Elizabeth Marvel: There's just so much that's changing so quickly. You know, none of us have ever experienced anything like this before.

[15:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[15:10] Elizabeth Marvel: I think we're all kind of in shock together.

[15:13] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes. And it's also the reason why I never fear, like, do I fear the robots? Yes, I do. I'm an analog, old hippie. So the robots freak me out. But I never fear the loss of the theater, or film for that matter. Television is a very complicated landscape these days, for a myriad of reasons that we don't need to go into. But film and theater, there will always be a space for because humans need stories told by humans.

[15:51] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah. And humans need to sit collectively in the dark for catharsis. I always say it's one of the few things that we do together anymore.

[15:59] Bruce Gotlieb: It is. It is. Music and storytelling will never, until we go extinct, they will always exist. And maybe even once we go extinct, you know, maybe the AI will entertain each other.

[16:10] Elizabeth Marvel: But that's different. That's different. That's, you know, it goes back to Shakespeare and literally the meter based on the heartbeat. You can't replace it.

[16:24] Bruce Gotlieb: No.

[16:24] Elizabeth Marvel: That's true. I mean, it's so interesting. You know, Shakespeare was so long ago, and yet we're still doing the same exact thing. And watching the same plays in some cases.

[16:33] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right. That's right. Yes. Yeah. Because I believe it's because it's intrinsically human. It's like music and rhythm.

[16:43] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah, I think. Every play, you know, takes on its own rhythm based on many different factors. And, you know, one of the things I love about, you know, sitting in a space and watching a show is you can be there with a group of 15 people and everybody has their own reaction and their own feelings. And, you know, they tap into the piece in their own way. So you're having a community experience all while really having a very singular experience too.

[17:14] Bruce Gotlieb: A hundred percent. And have you been to La Mama? Have you been to that space?

[17:18] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes. Yeah.

[17:19] Bruce Gotlieb: It's unbelievable. And the legacy, like, I can't believe it. I've played almost every freaking theater in this. And I've never played La Mama. And I it's just you feel it the moment you come in there. You just feel I don't know, I feel like because I had the good fortune of starting my career in the mid 90s downtown and I did a lot of work for a long time downtown. So I knew a lot of those artists. I just was over at New York Theater Workshop across the street. But I got to know a lot of those La Mama people. And so I feel so honored to be sort of a continuation of that legacy.

[18:04] Elizabeth Marvel: And just that the theater is named for Ellen Stewart.

[18:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[18:07] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah. That's great.

[18:08] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[18:09] Elizabeth Marvel: And Torch Song Trilogy started there. I always.

[18:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, I didn't know that.

[18:13] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah. Basky Broderick was in it before Broadway.

[18:17] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, how lovely. I'm sure it would not be a very deep dig to find a lot of amazing.

[18:23] Elizabeth Marvel: I mean, I just walk around in the lobby and see the picture.

[18:26] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[18:27] Elizabeth Marvel: Of so many, you know, Ron Potter and God's Ruth Malachek is so many fabulous, fabulous artists. I feel like we're in a time where we really don't, because of just the way things are financially, you can't have experimental theater like that. And it's sad.

[18:44] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes. And yet you can. And yet we are. I'll tell you, we are. We are making in alternative spaces. We are making in living rooms. We are still, it's still happening. It's happening differently, but it's still happening. And the work continues.

[19:05] Elizabeth Marvel: Good. I'm glad to know that. It's important.

[19:07] Elizabeth Marvel: I'm here to report from the front line.

[19:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Wonderful. It's important because like you said, you know, theater will always be there and will always continue. And the only way it can do that is if people are still experimenting with the art and with the work.

[19:21] Elizabeth Marvel: That's right.

[19:22] Elizabeth Marvel: And that's where you get the new voices from, the really exciting voices.

[19:25] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right.

[19:27] Elizabeth Marvel: And there are, you know, there is still Playwrights Horizon. There are still the theaters. The workshop continues. The La MaMa spaces are full. There are three spaces there, and there are shows going on. And, you know, one is Celine Song's play downstairs. There's another piece, forgive me, we're teching, so my brain is a little fried, but there's work. There's work being made. And, yeah. And also, I did a show earlier in the year at Lincoln Center's, their experimental new works space with all young, new actresses who were amazing. Amazing. So also, I feel very encouraged by the new generation of actresses.

[20:21] Elizabeth Marvel: By the new generation of actors coming out.

[20:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[20:22] Elizabeth Marvel: That are, wow, they are good and serious and hardworking. So I'm not ready to give up on the form. If anything, I feel a new rejuvenation about it. And I'm doing a ton of theater now, which I've always done theater, but not this much.

[20:45] Bruce Gotlieb: That's fantastic. Yes. Yeah.

[20:46] Elizabeth Marvel: But it's a weirdly interesting time to be engaging with the form.

[20:51] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, I think that in tumultuous times politically, we need more experimental theater. We need more things like that.

[20:57] Elizabeth Marvel: Well, that's right. And also to be perfectly frank, what we are in an era of male domination and women have no body autonomy. And so the narratives of women are, we can find them on stages and not on TVs right now. I mean, can you believe that we have to fight for rights that we grew up having? It's crazy. It's a very disorienting time in a myriad of ways.

[21:31] Elizabeth Marvel: So your character in this play, she's a lawyer, is that right?

[21:48] Elizabeth Marvel: She is. She is. And she is us. And the sense of law is, you know, I say this line, it's a great line. I say, you know, Scott Shepard, who I have the great fortune of acting with in this show, who's a magnificent actor, says, justice truly blind. This is the new way of law. And I say justice shouldn't be blind. It should be discerning, all seeing. But we seem to apply it now only when punishment gets meted out. Justices come to mean retribution, never mercy. And I think that's really at the core of a lot of this legal speak. It's sort of unpacking what justice is, what this system is. It's not so much about a lawyer, you know, it's not Mr. Smith goes to Washington. But it is like, what does it mean to represent the human in this world?

Of synthesized intelligence. And what is our collective responsibility to each other? Versus, you know, how are our resources better used? You know, do we use our resources to help those in need? Or do we just use our resources to support those already succeeding? And these are questions that are very pressing. We are being forced to look at, do we ship people from our country because they do not fit a profile?

[23:40] Elizabeth Marvel: Do we stop medical support because people do not fit a profile? Do we stop educational support because people do not fit a profile? Do we agree to this collective contract that we always have in this country? We grew up believing in the give us your poor, hungry, huddling masses, bring them, give them to us, let us raise them up, let us raise each other up. These are the questions that we're sort of putting on the floor.

[24:22] Elizabeth Marvel: It's so interesting because all of that is obviously happening today and yesterday, but not that far back, but plays take a long time to develop. So, you know, the playwright had to have some kind of sense or maybe it's just luck how this would go down. Well, honestly, we've been on this road for a little while. You know, I mean, if we really look at ourselves, we've been walking on this road as far as the dehumanization and the intolerance and the separation, the willful separation. So I think it's a little of both. I think there are things that Tim did get lucky with the time. And, you know, there is a meeting of the future and the present that maybe sped up in the course of working on this play. And he also had an idea of sort of what was being said he was listening to.

[25:26] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. Had you had an opportunity to read the play before becoming involved in the project?

[25:33] Elizabeth Marvel: I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I actually did a reading of the play of a different character like a year before. So I was familiar with the play, although it changed a lot. You know, within reason, not that much, but it has changed. But yes, I was aware and I just did Tim's film, The Life and Death of Wilson Shedd. I just shot that right before rehearsing this play. So I've been in the Tim Blake Nelson universe. I mean, you know, he was in, of course, the Coen Brothers movie, Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? I mean, you know, he's no slouch himself.

[26:18] Bruce Gotlieb: He's no slouch. He's unbelievable. He's got this movie coming out that he's already got. I think he's got the final cut done. Wow. And we just like just wrapped it. Wow. He's got a TV show coming out. He's got a book coming out. Oh, my gosh. Wow. No, no rest, apparently.

[26:38] Elizabeth Marvel: Apparently. Yeah. Well, that's great. What's been the most fun part of working on this show for you so far?

[26:45] Elizabeth Marvel: The company. It's a wonderful company. It's a beautiful company of actors. Also, Mark Wing Davey is a director that I worked with in my 20s. I did my first New York City leading role at The Public with Mark. I played Diane Arbus in a play at the play when I was like 22. So I I've known him and had the good fortune of working with him and I hadn't worked with him in a long time. And so I I jumped at the opportunity to be in the room with him as well because he's a he's a great, great artist.

[27:27] Bruce Gotlieb: Didn't you also just play a photographer, too?

[27:32] Elizabeth Marvel: I did. Yeah, I did. Was that at Lincoln Center?

[27:36] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right. That's okay. Yeah, I forget the name of the show. But yes, I thought you did.

[27:41] Elizabeth Marvel: I did. It was called Five Models in Ruins. Yeah. Yes. Yes. I have a funny relationship with playing photographers, which is interesting because I started as a visual arts person.

[27:46] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, accidental actor. So how did that happen?

[27:55] Elizabeth Marvel: It's a long story. Is it in any way related to meeting your husband at age 15?

[28:02] Elizabeth Marvel: It is. I was a visual arts student. I was I was studying painting. I was in a painting class. And my teacher was one of his pals. And he was my husband was hitchhiking across the country to live in a teepee and stopped at my boarding school to see his friend, who was my teacher.

[28:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, wow. There are no chance encounters.

[28:24] Elizabeth Marvel: Right. It's right. Everything is for a reason. Evidently. And so then when did you meet up again with him at school?

[28:28] Elizabeth Marvel: When I auditioned at Juilliard, he was my audition monitor.

[28:33] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, how funny. Oh my gosh. I know. It's crazy. So it must be so nice because, you know, knowing each other so long, you know, you must have the same friends circle. So, you know, it's never his friends or your friends. It's just all the same.

[28:43] Elizabeth Marvel: It's true. It's that's nice. It's lovely. Yeah. Do you look for projects to do together or does it just happen that way?

[28:49] Elizabeth Marvel: Both. Both. We make things together and we make things with the intention of the other being available and hoping. Yeah. And then, you know, often we also get called in to do things together. You know, it's so great because when you have that with someone, you just don't have to do anything because it's all just there. And it's so lovely. It's like working, you know, having a great collaboration with the director. You know, I love repeat offenders and I have the good fortune of having many repeat offenders in my life. I work with a lot of the same directors and often familiar cast. So it's great.

[29:37] Bruce Gotlieb: That is wonderful. Because, you know, there's a relationship that, yeah, it's just second nature. You don't have to work as hard in those situations.

[29:46] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So was your Broadway debut The Seagull?

[29:53] Elizabeth Marvel: It was. Yeah. Okay. So I wrote a book on set design and Ethan Hawke wrote the forward.

[30:00] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, cool. And that production was part of the forward because he said when you all got there for the first time, you know, the first time you were on the set, he said that Jon Voight said the show was not going to work because the set's wrong.

[30:10] Elizabeth Marvel: I think Jon Voight said that every day.

[30:11] Bruce Gotlieb: So I always remember that. It's so funny.

[30:15] Elizabeth Marvel: This show, we talked about the weight of it all and the topic. Do you have a certain process after you're done rehearsing or, you know, doing it to then kind of come back to, you know, a level playing field again?

[30:29] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes. I watch a lot of Nick Kroll at night, which helps me a lot. And Tim Robinson, who I find both very silly people and that helps me just watching silliness. But I, you know, I have a son. I have a son and he's amazing. And so as much as I want to detach and untether from this world, I feel very personal responsibility to engage and to use my voice in a way that's productive. It's productive. And my way of doing that is storytelling. And I also, you know, it's funny because I've played, I've had such good fortune in my weird career of playing many serious political heavy hitters, although I'm the opposite, which is all my friends find it hilarious because I'm such a whack hippie, but I can fake it really well.

So I get, I do, I play a lot of like majors and presidents and bosses. And then I've also played a lot of weirdos and killers. And then I also do a lot of network where a lot of people, you know, I was on the show manifest that was really popular for a while, person of interest and law and order SVU. And so, you know, people know me and all kinds of people know me across the spectrum of humanity. And so I have blue state fans and I have red state fans. And I love that. And I love that about my profession because I feel like part of my responsibility being a public, I'm a very non-public public person. I don't do social media. I've never been on social media. I've never been on Facebook. I don't know anything about it.

I never engaged. That being said, I am a big believer in building bridges and having conversations and engaging and learning and listening. And I am, I am open. I am open. I'm not open to anger and hate and rage, but I am open to all kinds of points of view and I am curious. And it's something that I feel like because of the oddness of my career, I, I am, I do get to engage with all kinds of people and I love that.

[33:18] Bruce Gotlieb: That's interesting.

[33:19] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah.

[33:20] Bruce Gotlieb: And that openness probably also helps you tap into these, all these various women that are, are not like who you are.

[33:26] Elizabeth Marvel: That's right. Exactly. Totally.

[33:30] Bruce Gotlieb: At what point did you feel your career shifting that, you know, that people started to know who you were and you, you know, people would approach you?

[33:39] Elizabeth Marvel: You know, I, so I was like a weirdo theater rat for the first, I, I also, I had this amazing mentor at Juilliard who told me this man, Michael Langham, who was my mentor. And he told me if I wanted to be a theater actor, I had to spend the first five years on stage to incorporate what I learned at Juilliard. And that's just what was necessary, but he did not put any pressure on me. He was just like, if this is what you want to do, this is what you have to do. And it was also the nineties and you could do that. Like I had roommates and stuff, but you could find your apartment in the back of the village voice. And like you could, and I was always rehearsing a play while performing a play. So I would just roll, but you could do that and still make rent.

And so I did that for five years. I just did theater. I worked in the theater downtown. I worked, I went to Stratford. I went to the Guthrie. I just did plays. And then after five years of that, I called my agent and I was like, I need money. I really want some money. I see my friends making money. I want money. And so, you know, I didn't know any better. And I got on a network cop show and I did this cop show for four years. And then I just started, you know, doing TV. And then I sort of walked into this golden age of Netflix and got on cards right when it was like hitting. And, you know, the great thing that my husband and I have found is that these streamers need character actors to do, to carry the water. They need us because we show up, we know our words, we are dependable. We can play anything and we will be there on time.

[36:30] Elizabeth Marvel: And I love moving between film, television and theater because they're each such unique mediums and I love them each for different reasons.

[36:39] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, yeah, you know, it's so you were saying that TV is something that is in question right now. And, you know, I don't think we're ever going to stop wanting to watch things at our home, but network television is so different than when we were growing up.

[36:54] Elizabeth Marvel: For sure. And and what's happening with the streamers and what's happening with all of these corporate mergers and what's happening with creatives versus tech and, you know, all of it. Who knows where it will all land in so much is going overseas and, you know, we'll see. We no longer have TV seasons, really. There's no more fall TV preview TV guide.

[37:21] Bruce Gotlieb: No, no, no. I mean, there's more pilot season. There's no more.

[37:28] Elizabeth Marvel: No, none of that. None of that. And and again, like the majority of what is shot is overseas. The majority of what is shot is with I mean, you know, just honestly, the majority of actors on TV we watch are British. So, you know, it's just a different a different deal.

[37:41] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, right. Because you're a parent. Do you and your husband try to work like we pass a job and then you'll take a job?

[37:55] Elizabeth Marvel: We pass the baton. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We always have because we felt really strongly that we you know, we have one and we wanted to experience every minute of it. So, you know, our son, unfortunately, he it's their positive memories, thank God. But he grew up on sets and theaters. And, you know, and that was his childhood because I just took him with me.

[38:25] Bruce Gotlieb: And Bill took him with him.

[38:25] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah. That's the Auntie Mame philosophy. Exactly. I love. Exactly. That's right. Now, does that as a parent and obviously you and your husband have been entrenched in theater forever and arts. Did that pass down genetically?

[38:38] Elizabeth Marvel: Well, yes and no. He loves performing when he was a kid. He was in this Shakespeare group in Brooklyn where they would do full productions. They were fabulous, called Child's Play. It's a wonderful group for people looking for fabulous Shakespeare for their children. And he did, you know, in high school, he did the musical, he did the play. He loves acting as a hobby. He's doing a movie at college right now, but he does not want to be an actor, but he loves doing it. And he's very good and he knows camera. He shot a movie. So but he's he's also my son. He's a fascinating person because he's also a combination of a very serious academic. So he's also a historian. He's very interested in psychology and psychiatry. He's yeah. Theology. So who knows?

[39:42] Bruce Gotlieb: Is that a relief as a parent? Like, OK, he's going to go do something so much because it's sort of like it's the family business.

[39:47] Elizabeth Marvel: We could make a lot of great actions for him. Yeah. But but again, who knows what the world will be like when he's out of college? Who knows? Exactly. So I just say to him, you know, enjoy yourself. Whatever.

[40:00] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, exactly. Interesting. Right. And who knows? You know, people change their minds all the time. You never know if my life had been what I thought it was going to be at 19.

[40:11] Elizabeth Marvel: Right. Exactly. Different life. And you probably wouldn't be happy.

[40:18] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right. That's right. So, yeah, we never know. How are you? How are you feeling today?

[40:25] Elizabeth Marvel: Well, knowing that you have your feeling, I'm very curious. That's how I'm feeling. I'm feeling very curious. Do you have like a pre-show like ritual, like you do like a certain thing to kind of get your yourself ready?

[40:38] Elizabeth Marvel: I do. I do. Do you want to hear it? Only if you want to share.

[40:46] Elizabeth Marvel: Well, sure. Actually, yes, I I have a little kooky thing that I do that I learned a long time ago because it is all pretend and because it's the same impulse of when we were all six years old and, you know, wanted to play whatever we were playing with all intention and intensity is the same thing I do as an adult. I wear funny clothes and pretend to be people. But sometimes what I've learned over time is that the body doesn't know you're lying. So when you suffer on stage or you go through anything in extremis on stage, the body thinks it's happening and the body sends signals to the brain because it's a holistic phenomenon, us humans. So it can get confused.

[41:33] Elizabeth Marvel: So what I do is I have a little ritual that's going to sound completely bananas, but it really works. I put on invisible chain mail that's very thin and I take time to put it on each piece of my body underneath my costume before I go on stage. And then when I come off stage and I take off my costume, I remove each very thin piece of chain. And that's what I do. And that's how you that's how I leave it. And it's just a little thin whisper of separation to remind my body that it's separate from my job.

[42:09] Bruce Gotlieb: I like that. Did you have an invited audience last night?

[42:11] Elizabeth Marvel: Nope.

[42:13] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay. So tonight is the first time that people will see you.

[42:16] Elizabeth Marvel: Tonight will be the first time for us to do the play.

[42:20] Bruce Gotlieb: In sequence with tech.

[42:21] Elizabeth Marvel: That's so exciting.

[42:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[42:22] Elizabeth Marvel: And we have.

[42:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my gosh, really?

[42:24] Elizabeth Marvel: So it's our first run and our first audience.

[42:28] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, wow. I'm sure you're very prepared.

[42:31] Elizabeth Marvel: You know, we're pros. It'll be it'll be fine. It'll be really, you know, it's it's jazz.

[42:37] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[42:38] Elizabeth Marvel: And there's something so special about no matter where you are in the process, when it's time to open the theater gods from that have been with us for all these years, they.

[42:50] Bruce Gotlieb: They show up.

[42:51] Elizabeth Marvel: They know their job. They show up. And also it's the other member of the cast comes, which is the audience.

[42:58] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[42:58] Elizabeth Marvel: We wait for them and then they finally show up and then we get to play with them.

[43:04] Bruce Gotlieb: So and I do a lot of we we definitely play with you.

[43:10] Elizabeth Marvel: So.

[43:11] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, well, I'm coming next week.

[43:13] Elizabeth Marvel: So great.

[43:14] Bruce Gotlieb: Fantastic.

[43:15] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes, I can't wait to see it.

[43:17] Bruce Gotlieb: So you guys are running through November 2nd at this point.

[43:20] Elizabeth Marvel: That's correct.

[43:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Anything that you can speak about that you have coming up following the play?

[43:25] Elizabeth Marvel: I'm doing a piece in January called The Ford Hill Project that I made with Lee Sunday Evans that we did at The Public last year and at Wooly Mammoth. And we've taken the transcripts of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford and built this piece.

[43:41] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[43:41] Elizabeth Marvel: So that is coming in January.

[43:43] Bruce Gotlieb: So come see that.

[43:44] Elizabeth Marvel: Oh, well, we'll invite you and Lee back at that point to talk about it because we would love to support a project like that.

[43:51] Bruce Gotlieb: Awesome. Awesome.

[43:53] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah.

[43:53] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, well, and what's the movie that you have coming with Tim?

[43:57] Elizabeth Marvel: Oh, oh, it's called The Life and Death of Wilson Shedd.

[44:02] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, so everyone look for that.

[44:04] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes, there's other movies, but you'll see them or you won't.

[44:09] Elizabeth Marvel: And then and then you can just, you know, if you want to do a deep dive into Elizabeth Marvel, there's Homeland, there's House of Cards, there's Fargo.

[44:17] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, there's so much I can't even go into it.

[44:20] Elizabeth Marvel: But if you if you look at her IMDb, you'll just be blown over.

[44:26] Bruce Gotlieb: And also watch House of Cards for her wonderful husband, not House of Cards.

[44:29] Elizabeth Marvel: Presumed Innocent.

[44:31] Bruce Gotlieb: Thank you.

[44:31] Elizabeth Marvel: Presumed Innocent and Queens for her wonderful husband, Bill Camp, who is I mean, the two of you are just the some of the finest actors we have in the business.

[44:41] Bruce Gotlieb: Thanks.

[44:42] Elizabeth Marvel: And just solid. And you call yourself a character actress, but you could also easily be a leading lady if you wanted to.

[44:47] Elizabeth Marvel: I do both. Whatever.

[44:50] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right.

[44:51] Elizabeth Marvel: That's right. It's nice to have that look that you can do whatever you want.

[44:54] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, yes.

[44:55] Elizabeth Marvel: Versatility never hurt.

[44:57] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right.

[44:58] Elizabeth Marvel: Oh my gosh. Is there any other actors that you found yourself up against for parts a lot because you were similar?

[45:03] Elizabeth Marvel: No.

[45:05] Bruce Gotlieb: Do you know, it's so funny.

[45:06] Elizabeth Marvel: I mean, I think because I'm such a I'll call myself singular. There are many words I could put in that.

[45:15] Elizabeth Marvel: But also, I, I find it comes down to me and men.

[45:22] Bruce Gotlieb: It comes down to me and women of color.

[45:28] Elizabeth Marvel: I read Yeah, I mean, I because I think it's about the person. It's about love that the meanness of it or not meanness of it.

[45:39] Bruce Gotlieb: So yeah, it's interesting.

[45:41] Elizabeth Marvel: I don't I mean, I'm sure I'm sure there are people that are on a list that I'm on.

[45:47] Elizabeth Marvel: But but when I've been told, like, after I've gotten a job, like, oh, do you know, we almost went with a man for this, like Homeland.

[45:55] Bruce Gotlieb: That's Homeland.

[45:56] Elizabeth Marvel: It was down between me and I want to say, Tracy Letts, but I could be wrong. But it was it was me and another man.

[46:05] Bruce Gotlieb: And I thought I think because you play a lot of authority figures.

[46:08] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah, yeah.

[46:09] Bruce Gotlieb: That's interesting.

[46:10] Elizabeth Marvel: I would love to see you and Allison Janney plays.

[46:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Wouldn't you?

[46:13] Elizabeth Marvel: Me?

[46:16] Bruce Gotlieb: Please.

[46:16] Elizabeth Marvel: Yeah, make that.

[46:18] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[46:20] Elizabeth Marvel: In the theater would be even better.

[46:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Or both like a theater television program movie.

[46:28] Elizabeth Marvel: Phenomenal.

[46:29] Bruce Gotlieb: I love it.

[46:29] Elizabeth Marvel: Let's just make all three.

[46:31] Bruce Gotlieb: But I mean, it's a no brainer, because you never see people in film and television that truly look related, but we truly look really.

[46:40] Elizabeth Marvel: You look like you could be related for sure.

[46:42] Bruce Gotlieb: All right.

[46:43] Elizabeth Marvel: From your lips.

[46:44] Bruce Gotlieb: So you need to do that.

[46:45] Elizabeth Marvel: That's right.

[46:45] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right.

[46:46] Elizabeth Marvel: And you can both be serious and funny.

[46:48] Bruce Gotlieb: I think people don't realize that you can be funny.

[46:51] Elizabeth Marvel: And we need more funny.

[46:53] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[46:54] Elizabeth Marvel: Yes.

[46:54] Bruce Gotlieb: I agree.

[46:55] Elizabeth Marvel: Watch Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories.

[46:57] Bruce Gotlieb: I'm funny in that.

[46:58] Elizabeth Marvel: OK.

[46:59] Bruce Gotlieb: All right.

[47:00] Elizabeth Marvel: Excellent.

[47:01] Bruce Gotlieb: You'll like it.

[47:01] Elizabeth Marvel: I will do that.

[47:03] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, what a joy to have you on.

[47:04] Elizabeth Marvel: Thanks, guys.

[47:05] Bruce Gotlieb: It was a pleasure.

[47:06] Elizabeth Marvel: Thank you so much.

[47:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Everyone got a lot of work to do today.

[47:10] Elizabeth Marvel: You do.

[47:11] Bruce Gotlieb: All right. Well, we will see everyone next time on Behind the Awards.

[47:14] Elizabeth Marvel: Bye-bye.