Lily Rabe on Nicole Kidman’s ‘impeccable taste,’ ‘red flags’ in acting
Lily Rabe —PHOTO COURTESY OF HBO GO
We wouldn’t be surprised if Lily Rabe and Patrick Fugit end up getting nominated for their indelible turns in HBO Go’s true-crime series, “Love & Death.”
In the seven-part drama, Lily plays Betty, the jealous wife of Allan (Jesse Plemons), who agrees to have an affair with her close friend, Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen). Meanwhile, Patrick portrays Candy’s supportive but silently suffering husband Pat.
When we spoke to Lily and Patrick about the show, we described their characters as “tough nuts to crack” because of the complexity and high degree of difficulty they both had to hurdle to bring the roles to life. We asked them at which point during the shoot did they feel comfortable inhabiting their characters.
“You said they’re tough nuts to crack,” Lily told us. “You know, when I’m reading a script or thinking about playing someone, I am never interested in a character who I think will be easy to play—that’s something I lean on as an actor.
“With Betty, I felt both incredibly comfortable and incredibly uncomfortable, from Day 1 until my last day on set. I did feel comfortable in my sense of her. But the same time, even before we started shooting, I’ve always felt tremendous discomfort in Betty’s skin.
“I think that’s part of how Betty navigates her world. So comfort and ease weren’t something that I got to feel while playing her. If I had a moment of feeling that way, I would have treated that as a red flag… that I was on the wrong path. Because the ground beneath her is really prickly.”
On the other hand, Patrick said that his character Pat “showed himself to me early on.”
He explained, “It wasn’t like a big push to get to him. The ’70s/’80s wardrobe and era were a huge help. Clothing is like an actor’s armor, physically and emotionally. And putting on those glasses and seeing photographs of Pat were also super informative.
“But the first thing I appreciated was [creator/screenwriter] David E. Kelley’s writing, which was very self-explanatory. It vividly communicated what David needed from my character. So, it was distilled, in a way—but it gave me more life and reason to internalize it. And it all came together pretty quickly.”
‘Heavy cast’
While both actors were intrigued by their characters as soon as they read the script, Lily disclosed that it was producer Nicole Kidman, with whom she costarred in HBO’s “The Undoing,” who convinced her to take on the project.
Lily said, “I got a call from Nicole… she was the first person who reached out to me about it. I’m always interested in whatever direction Nicole takes because the material that she moves towards is consistently good.
“At the time, I was thinking of doing something I was absolutely excited about. Then, Nicole called me and said, ‘There’s this part, and I really think you’re the best person to play it—and here’s why.’ Well, I would always take any project involving Nicole seriously because whether she’s acting in it or just producing it, she has such an impeccable taste and an unbelievable eye for material and for storytelling.
“So, of course I listened to her, because she’s brilliant. And she has a real understanding of me as an actress and as a person, and of what I would be interested in. After that, there was David E. Kelley, [director] Lesli Linka Glatter and the incredible cast that they managed to get together.”
For his part, Patrick said he was thrilled to be handpicked for the role. He recalled, “I got a phone call from my agents, who said I had an offer for an HBO Max series. I was like, ‘That’s cool!’ That doesn’t happen a lot because I usually audition for things.
“Then, I read the cover sheet, which had the cast in it, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a heavy cast!’ I felt very honored to be included in that group. And when I started reading the scripts, I was like, ‘This is a high-level project with a lot of great storytellers involved.’”
We told Patrick that it was easy to empathize with his character, who nonetheless makes a conscious choice to rally behind his two-timing wife. How would he explain Pat’s devotion and loyalty to Candy despite her infidelity?
“As a way to deal with the situation, Pat does something that’s pretty unique,” he answered. “He pretty quickly takes a look at himself and thinks about why his actions had contributed to how things played out.
“That move in itself is indicative of Allan’s character. In my view, his sense of loyalty or accountability is a rare thing, and that’s what also inspired him to make the psychological shift to commit and support his wife.
“He still doesn’t have the awareness to fully get there. At the same time, Candy also doesn’t have the awareness to fully express what she needs from him. Pat wants to make up for overlooking his wife—and that’s where his enduring loyalty comes through. It’s his redeeming trait.”
Right balance
How different is it to portray a real character compared to a fictional one?
“I’ve done it more than once. So yes, it’s certainly different because there’s a heightened sense of responsibility when you play someone real,” Lily noted. “Usually, there’s also available material—like an actual footage of the person—that lends itself to a difference in the creative process.
“But a story like this falls somewhere in between, because it’s really not about incredibly famous people. This isn’t a story that everyone knows, where everybody has an immediate visual idea of the characters involved.
“Because of that, you’re thrust into a delicate way of finding the right balance. It isn’t something that people are coming in with preconceived ideas. There may be a little poetic license that exists, but only to be used when it helps make the story more accessible.”
Patrick agreed, “Yeah, there’s a difference between the two. In the past, I have played real people where the story called for my own interpretation of a person’s essence or character. But I’ve also portrayed real people where the mannerisms were very important, so they felt more technical… I had to start with mimicry, then build the character as the story progressed.
“In ‘Love & Death,’ the way David wrote Pat was pretty freeing. I had some photographs to base my characterization from—like how he looks, how he might move. But there was very little to go by in terms of mannerism.
“So, it’s not like we’re playing someone as distinctive as, say, Elvis Presley or Freddie Mercury, where people are going to be comparing our portrayal side by side with the real deal. In our case, the biggest references can be mined from David’s writing.”
