Marcia Gay Harden on Depicting the “Universal Heartbreak” of Netflix’s Uncoupled
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The post Marcia Gay Harden on Depicting the “Universal Heartbreak” of Netflix’s Uncoupled appeared first on Consequence.
Marcia Gay Harden feels like one of the hardest-working actors out there; since winning her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Pollack (she was also nominated for Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River) she’s made countless appearances across film and television, often appearing in multiple episode guest-starring roles across shows including The Morning Show, Damages, The Newsroom, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, How to Get Away With Murder, and more.
So it’s not a huge surprise to see her appear in Uncoupled, the new Darren Star (Sex and the City) comedy now streaming on Netflix, though it is a pleasure. The series focuses on how Michael (Neil Patrick Harris), a 40-something residential real estate agent in New York, copes with the sudden end of a 17-year relationship; Harden appears as Claire, one of Michael’s Upper East Side clients who’s also going through a dramatic breakup, and dealing with a lot of anger issues as a result.
In this interview, transcribed and edited for clarity, Harden talks about how the character she plays in Uncoupling is a type of woman she knows very well (with an angry twist) and what keeps her working across so many projects. She also reveals why one of the shows she most wants to appear on is RuPaul’s Drag Race, favors Consequence with a taste of her Clint Eastwood impression, and teases her upcoming appearance in the Jon Hamm-starring Confess, Fletch — while using an Italian accent.
To start off, what brought you to Uncoupled?
Easy. Darren Star, Jeffrey Richmond, New York City, Neil Patrick Harris, Tisha Campbell, and the crew of amazing actors. That’s the ticket. They’re like, “Hey, there’s this thing,” and you’re like, “Great,” and they’re like “now read the script,” and you’re like, “Okay, someone makes me stop laughing and tell me who I need to scrub off a porch to get that role.” Because [the character] is so fabulous. So arch and so fabulous and such a fun, funny, aggressive, angry woman. I loved it.
Is this the type of woman you feel like you’ve met before?
Haven’t you? Haven’t we all? I waited on them when I was a waitress and a caterer, I’ve worked with them. I know them in some of the circles that I am in. Yes, we do know them. There are so many wonderful philanthropists and very wealthy upper East Side people, but it is a stereotype. We can poke fun at them because we do know what it’s like, in the schools where everybody has a Tesla at Christmas, and all the Teslas have reindeer ears them. It is a bit of a stereotype, but yes, I know her.
With a character like that, it feels like the challenge is not to stereotype them, but to find things about her that make her unique and individual.
I think her anger makes her individual. I think her cunning makes her individual. It’s also an individual with emotions that are…I won’t say generic, but I’ll say universal. Everybody has heartache, everybody has loss, everybody has love and joy and rediscovery, hopefully in their life. So those things about Claire, I think anybody can relate to and she has a depth of emotions.
She’s a particular type of Upper East Side lady — there’s such a brittleness, and such a crispness that they go through to control themselves that they stress themselves out at times. These women, they’re powerful executives, they’re producers and what they’re used to having is power so they think nothing of wielding their power in many ways.
But then I think Claire finds herself feeling incredibly vulnerable. When you first go through a divorce or discovery or something shocking — a betrayal, let’s say, you cannot stop talking about it. You talk about it with everybody. When I became “uncoupled,” as it were, I was talking about it to the cab drivers, anybody who would listen, until I could finally distance myself from it. So when you meet Claire, she’s in the thick of it, and then learns a bit about how to distance herself.
When you’re doing a show created by the man who created Sex in the City, does that legacy stand out to you?
Oh yeah, that’s what made me want to do it. That comes across the table first and you think “Okay, is there a reason to say no?” If you read the script and you’re like “They’re not really using me,” then you might say no to this legacy, but because they deliver even in the small roles, it really marks them as the kind of wonderful talent that they are. Even the small roles have a moment. Everybody has a moment and that’s so lovely.
Speaking of supporting roles, you’ve gotten a lot of great opportunities to come and do these amazing guest star appearances across a variety of shows. How deliberate a strategy has that been?
I love that you think it could be deliberate. For me, it’s not deliberate at all. I’m a single working mom that has kids to put through college and when the jobs come along and if I like them, I jump into them. During COVID, it was quite devastating for a lot of people. At the end of [quarantine], I got to do a couple of odd films. Morning Show was happening during COVID, my part was certainly reduced in the second season, but they still gave her wonderful, powerful things to do. So it’s always kind of looking for a job and looking for what appeals.
Coming from a logistical sense, are you at the point now where you’re getting mostly offers, or are you at the point where you’re auditioning a fair amount?
It’s mostly offers, and it’s been that way for a long time. But I tell you, a certain director could say “please audition,” and because their work is so beautiful and so specific, of course, I would. I don’t have a snobbery about auditioning. I think the hackles go up more when someone has no idea about your body of work because they’re 12 and they’re directing their first movie or whatever. They’re just so young and they don’t know and they haven’t bothered to look at what you can do.
But I don’t mind showing people an idea for a role. I do remember Clint Eastwood would say, [Clint Eastwood impression] “Hey, what do you think?” It’s so simple in his low gruff growl, and I’d say, “I think I can do something with her, Clint.” I would want to start telling him what I could do with her — this is for Celeste from Mystic River — and he’d say, “I trust you.” I really wanted long hair and I showed up with it. There was a thrifted jacket that I showed up with for that. It’s nice that people trust you and allow you to transform and they just trust you to do that. But if I had to audition for someone to do that, I would.
Uncoupled (Netflix)
Of course, something that’s really interesting about your career is that you’ve been going back and forth between film and TV a lot longer than most people.
I think that TV is doing the most incredible writing possible right now. Mare of Easttown was genius. And you look at all of the shows Netflix has. All the streaming shows are fantastic, the writers are really really good. And that supplanted, on some level, film, and a lot of network shows as well, so that was fantastic. The world opened up.
I came from the world of theater so that’s really my background and my training and I love it, but when you have the chance to join something like Morning Show and just create this character, this sassy ass redhead reporter who has interviewed all the presidents and then she pokes, she’s not afraid to poke… I love that about her, how she pokes is what makes her so unique, she gets under your skin and I love that. She’s so smart. I couldn’t be a snob about that because for me it’s such a great opportunity to cross between these worlds.
Looking out on all the TV that’s out right now, what are the shows that you would like to guest star on that you haven’t yet?
RuPaul’s Drag Race, for one. I was invited to be a judge on it once, but the girls are so amazing, the work they do is so beautiful, the legendary legends right now, it just has me absolutely in awe of it. And I like period shows. The Downton Abbey shows would be so fun, I love to do something like that. I would’ve done Morning Show if I didn’t have the blessing to be on that already.
And honey, I would’ve said Uncoupled, I would’ve begged me to put me in it if they hadn’t already. It’s just the kind of world I want to be a part of. I think it’s important to remind people that our hearts are…. It’s stupid that you have to remind people that we’re the same. A gay heartbreak and a straight heartbreak and a trans heartbreak, it’s the same. This movement to separate even the educational knowledge of kids in different states makes me very sad and it makes it really hard for a lot of kids when they become targets. So to normalize what should be a no-brainer, I love to be a part of it.
Great. With my last question, I would love for you to tease a little bit about what’s to come in your role in Confess, Fletch?
Oh, yes, the Countess. [She begins speaking in an Italian accent.] She is bawdy, she is Italian, she has a fabulous wardrobe and she is a little bit of a flirt as she helps solve this dilemma of where this painting went. She’s sexy, and flirty, and bawdy.
I was hoping you’d get to flirt with Jon Hamm.
Of course, you flirt with Jon Hamm, of course you do.
Uncoupled is streaming now on Netflix.
Marcia Gay Harden on Depicting the “Universal Heartbreak” of Netflix’s Uncoupled
Liz Shannon Miller
Popular Posts
Metallica Salute Stranger Things' Eddie Munson with Epic "Master of Puppets" at Lollapalooza: Watch
Slash Plays Guns N' Roses Riffs in Humorous New Capital One Commercial: Watch
Brendan Fraser Is a 600-Pound Man in First Look at Darren Aronofsky's The Whale
Kendrick Lamar Responds to Viral Video of Security Guard Crying at His Show
