Frances McDormand Is Good People

 
We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Frances McDormand on the phone from her dressing room at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. The Academy Award-winning actress is currently starring there in David Lindsay-Abaire's new play Good People, in which she plays Margie, a working-class woman from Southie who has fallen on some particularly hard times.
Like many of her characters, (most famously, Marge Gunderson in Fargo) McDormand seems extremely warm and approachable, even via AT&T. When we tell her we think her co-star Patrick Carroll is particularly good-looking she exclaims, "Isn't he! And he's single. We all love trying to set him up." Aside from matchmaking, McDormand's having a great time with her costars Estelle Parsons, Tate Donovan, Becky Ann Baker and Renee Elise Goldsberry who help tell Abaire's story of a community of women who constantly worry about childcare, paying the rent and winning at Bingo in South Boston. Here, McDormand tells us why she's drawn to playing working-class women, the importance of good lighting and this heartbreaking play which made us think about what it really means to be a true heroine.

Margie is a struggling single mother. What do you think about this role and your character?
 
She's up there in the pantheon as far as I'm concerned. I told David this in rehearsal. There's Hedda, Irina, Masha, Olga. There's going to be Margie. I really believe it. Actresses of my age are going to want to do this role.

Her life has been so unstable for so long. Do you think she's scared?

Yes, I think she must be.  Every day she wakes up not knowing what's going to happen.  I feel like David has giving me the opportunity to give a voice to such a really important fragment of our population.  It's really large, and I don't think there are lot of people that live in Manhattan that feel that way, but they are certainly a lot that service Manhattan that feel that way -- not knowing what's going to happen day by day, and what's going to happen in the next year. It's all almost too hard to fathom. I feel like we're giving a voice to that larger population, and David's also really allowed to give a voice to a specific world of women who do it on their own.  And not with a lot of education, not with a lot of advantages and always knowing they're going to make less money than a guy in their position.  So, it's a real, true gift.

Do you feel like you have a special inside knowledge of these types of people having grown up outside of Chicago?

Yes, I do. I mean, from where I come from, I was born in a very small town to a woman that's of very strapped circumstances.  I was raised by two people who were in the working class, that's where I grew up, so I feel like my career as an actor has been primarily working class woman. The best roles that I think I've interpreted have been through American, working class women. A couple of Irish, some British, but most of them have been American and primarily all working class.  Margaret is in the tradition of all the best roles I've played.

You do play a lot of characters from blue-collar backgrounds. Do you think you'll ever get tired of them?

No, it's too rich.  With that being said, I love playing the occasional businesswoman, and the Harvard-educated lawyer, that never hurts either, but...no.  This tradition is too rich. It goes back to pioneers. It's doing the pioneer woman thing.

I got the distinct feeling that Margie's romantic life is over. Do you agree?

 I know women in my family that raised four kids on their own, on welfare, and, I mean, it's hard to get dates. Who wants to date somebody with four kids?  Who wants to date somebody with the problems that Joyce has?  It's a lot to take on, and if you can't really afford to take care of yourself...I do think it's great that David shows a community of women. Dottie and Jean. That's who generally raise the kids -- the community of women.

Does playing someone with such a bleak outlook depress you?

No, this play is so well-written to me. It's only difficult when it's not right, as an actor, when it's not done properly. This play is written in such a way I feel a cathartic relief every single time I do the play.  So, I'm not carrying home shit. I don't have to fill in the gaps because it's well-written and Dan [Sullivan] has directed us so solidly. He's given us a really, really good roadmap.  And I don't need to talk nice about these people, I would tell you otherwise. The last time I was on Broadway, [The Country Girl in 2008] this was not the case.  It was not a good production.  It was a really uncertain production, a mis-cast production, and none of us knew why we were there.  That was really difficult to do. That was really hard to do for three months.  With this one, I can't wait to see how it grows and changes.  We've got the best foundation possible and that's due to David and Dan's work.  We're all really well cast and the bar's been set by the work by this cast and it's high.  So it's a joy.

And what do you have to have in your dressing room?

Good light bulbs.  In my room now I had to replace these green-ecologically correct ones because...man, they make you look bad!  Not that Margie is any diva or glamour queen but come on!  You got to have a little confidence before you go out there.