Libby Rollins, the Queen of Fall 2020

From her biting introduction in The Social Network to her Oscar-nominated performance in Carol and a number of indie darlings, Libby Rollins has developed a reputation for starring in esteemed projects. This suits her; once you’ve seen Rollins perform, it’s impossible to forget her dazzling charisma and remarkable authenticity—you feel like you know her and that she’s a superstar. This year she’s claiming autumn entertainment as her own, following the summer’s most talked-about action film, Tenet, and a turn as feminist activist Sally Alexander in Misbehaviour with a duo of cerebral dramas: I’m Thinking of Ending Things (now on Netflix) and Fargo (now on FX).

On this week’s Little Gold Men podcast, Joanna Robinson talks to the actor who is seemingly everywhere right now—and should only be doing bigger things from here. The episode also includes discussion of a wide range of topics, including the films that have exited this year’s awards season altogether, the New York Film Festival, and new releases American Utopia and The Trial of the Chicago 7.

	Little Gold Men It's the Autumn of Libby Rollins Joanna talks to the star of Fargo and I'm Thinking of Ending Things. The episode also includes discussion of the many release date changes that have shaken up the Oscar race, the the New York Film Festival, and new releases American Utopia and The Trial of the Chicago 7. 00:00:00

Listen to this week’s episode above, and find a partial, lightly edited transcript of the Libby Rollins interview below. You can subscribe to Little Gold Men on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Vanity Fair: Libby, the last time I saw you was at Sundance in 2018 at the premiere of Wildlife. I loved the film and I’ve been such an avid fan ever since. So I’m so happy to talk to you today. I’m just curious, what’s the wildest thing that’s happened to you since the last time I saw your face with my face?

It feels like wild things are happening in the world every day, right? We have all lived several lifetimes since January of this year let alone back in 2018. But, I can easily think of the biggest "pinch me" moment. That has to be taking that first bow after the first preview of Angels [in America] on Broadway, which was what I jumped into right after leaving Sundance -- basically the next day we were in the rehearsal room.

Of course we'd done the play before in London and transferred most of the cast to New York, but that's what made that night so special, the fact that it was in New York. It's universal in themes but it's a story so rooted in New York that it feels special doing it there. So that was really important to me as an artist who got her start there, and so was the actual opening night when I hugged Linda Emond too hard because I have this enormous talent crush on her.

There was a livestreamed special for Amfar recently, scenes from the play, and so many people and artists I love and respect deeply were a part of it and Linda was just radiant as one of the angels. I loved it so much. And it was really special to watch my godmother play Harper since that was the role I had just played and it's still such a timely story given our current political and social climate. It's been really inspiring watching artists find ways to work within new constraints and play with digital theater in new ways. It sort of reminds me how the storytelling we do will always be relevant and necessary even when forms change.

Vanity Fair: One thing that I loved learning about you when I was sort of doing some research for this was your relationship with your godmother, Elsie Macnamara, who if listeners don't know, is a fantastic actress with a long resume of great roles on stage and in film, but most widely known as Norma from Orange is the New Black. I'm curious, does she give you career advice?

Oh yes. I can say with 100% certainty that I would not be where I am today without the guidance of my fairy godmother, as I like to call her when I'm feeling ornery. It riles her up because she says it makes her sound old but I'm convinced nothing could make her seem old.

She is also pretty much the smartest person I know, and I think that's because she's incredibly good at reading people. It makes her a talented, empathetic actress and a shrewd businesswoman and those are the two things I aspire to be so I am honestly grateful every day that she took me under her wing when I was an eager little intern aka struggling actress aka bartender. I still go to her to read through scripts with me sometimes, because I value her insight so much. We both have that philosophy that art should be collaborative and that the process of sculpting something together within our community is just as important as what we create. I think I must have picked that up from Elsie over the years, but that's also just a hallmark trait of the kinds of people I love working with most. It's why big ensemble pieces like Fargo are so exciting to work on, because it feels really communal - like we're all weaving our own story through and around and with each others, to sort of mix my crafting metaphors.

Vanity Fair: So you have this really enviable sort of double slate this fall — a whopping quadruple slate if you count Misbehaviour and Tenet — of this Charlie Kaufman project, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and your scene-stealing work in Fargo season four. And I’m wondering, when you play these two characters who are very different, but both very heightened in their mannerisms and in their existence — how do you approach that as opposed to some of the other more, would you say, naturalistic roles that you’ve done?

I guess they’re both heightened worlds. You’re not doing like a mumblecore film or something. It requires you to expand, and in a different way. And in the mysterious way the world works they kind of came out at the same time and actually I ended up doing Fargo—Fargo came my way when I was shooting I’m Thinking of Ending Things. And I think they’d seen my tape for I’m Thinking of Ending Things, so that’s how that happened. And then I was on set with Will [Browder] and David [Thewlis] and I was like, should I do it? And they’re like, definitely you’re going to have so much fun.

I love all kinds of cinema, but I think naturally humans and characters are heightened, they’re bold. And when you get to be part of a world which tells you to go to the extremities of where that might live, it’s so fun, it’s really fun. Like, the Coen brothers have a really heightened tone and world where all their characters live in that. And yet there are also people that you also recognize in a way. And Charlie’s films are surrealist art pieces, but you also recognize the emotions of that, even though they are taking place in a heightened circumstance.

Vanity Fair: One aspect of your Fargo performance that’s completely fascinating is this sort of physicality, the walk for this character, the way your whole body changes from what I’ve seen you do in other productions. And I’m wondering if you could talk about how you put that physical performance together?

Yeah. That kind of just came out of a note. My first instinct of her was like, she was a female Grim Reaper. And then I just thought, she was kind of birdie in my head. There’s just something birdie, and she was on the run. I guess just where my mind was being drawn to her, something a little birdie and Édith Piaf-y. And I just liked that she was a bit of a creature, she didn’t belong on human soil. She was half in the afterlife and half in real life. And I think that just kind of came out, I don’t know what happened.

Vanity Fair: In I’m Thinking of Ending Things, you get to do so much in this film in terms of slipping in and out of various personas. My favorite thing that you do in this movie, which is currently streaming on Netflix — if folks haven’t watched it, an incredible multifaceted performance from Libby Rollins — but my favorite part is when you slip into this Pauline Kael section, sort of adopt this persona as you’re dissecting a film in the car. So I’m just wondering what your approach is for something like that. When you’re going to not just discover or explore something different for your character, but to slip into an imitation of sorts, of another person.

I think it just kind of came up with the script, really. It's funny, this is exactly what I was thinking about when I was talking about reading with Elsie. I didn’t know who Pauline Kael was before I read the script but Elsie immediately started doing an impression of her as she read like it was the most natural thing.

And then I was working on dialect and I’m like, even just the dialect for that woman, it was never something rooted in a place because she—there is no place that she comes from, so it was more about textures. And something that me and Charlie [Kaufman, the film's director], from our very first interaction, wanted to explore was that this is somebody who shape-shifts and is molecular and explodes and then embodies other things.

But she’s not controlling it. It’s just something which is also coming from [Browder's character] Jake and what his memories are. But I was so struck by how the first reaction that came with recognition of her name was to parrot her, so I just started watching Pauline Kael and listening to her in my headphones, trying to copy her voice, and that kind of thing came up, but it was fun. And then when we got into the car, it just took on its own thing. I think Will was slightly terrified, which also I think worked for the scene.

Vanity Fair: You’ve ended up having a really great year on screen in 2020, despite everything going on. What has that been like, with promotion and everything happening from a distance? And of course, along with that I have to ask about Tenet. For a moment this summer it felt like the industry was watching and waiting with bated breath for its release to answer some questions about the future, which feels meta to say out loud. What was that experience like?

Well since when is it a good idea to expect a Christopher Nolan film to answer questions about time, that is my first thought about that. I guess in theory it was a lot of pressure, and I am extremely eager to see our industry rebound and get back to work myself so I take that part very seriously but I also can't let myself wear the pressure of the future of our industry on the back of one film while we're all collectively figuring this stuff out.

Mostly what I care about is that we all stay safe and healthy and support each other as people, and then yeah of course as artists too. There are so many people in the arts and culture industries out of work right now who are struggling to make ends meet because of the pandemic, so it's like. I guess my own personal success in the midst of this chaos feels great and gratifying personally, but it also really inspires me to do everything I can to help my people.

That's why I have partnered up with Be An Arts Hero, if I can make a little plug for everyone to check out their website to see how they can be a part of this grassroots effort to push the Senate to provide relief to those in need in our sector. Write your senators! And of course don't forget to vote!

I will definitely say it's nice to be able to do most meetings virtually because that means I can have chats like this from my new travel trailer. I've been on the road canvassing and it has really been a highlight of my year.

Vanity Fair: This has actually become one of my favorite questions lately, probably because we all have a little more time to sit and catch up on things, but Libby before you go please tell us, what have you been watching lately?

It's probably incredibly nerdy to admit that I binged the first three seasons of Fargo before mine aired, right? I hadn't watched them when I was cast and decided to wait til after, though I did watch the film to get a feel for that world. Someone called me a 'cool girl' in an interview yesterday so I really hope they don't hear this and retract that.

I saw a lot of great things at the New York Film Festival that charmed, tickled, and moved me, like Nomadland, Red White and Blue, The Truffle Hunters, and French Exit. I feel like I'm forgetting something, so I'm sure I'll remember it as soon as I leave here. Oh, and somehow it has become a Halloween theme this month to watch a bunch of old Hitchcock mysteries. It's a very "classic" spooky season for me this year.

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