Los Angeles Time - 08.08.2019

S7

T HE ENVELOPE LOS ANGELES TIMES THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019

What goes into the prep work? It’s one

thing to play a character based on a true

person, and try to capture the essence

and the physicality. But to wrap your

head around her mental state from what

she went through her whole life.

I watched so many things. I listened to

her speak so many times. I just really

wanted to know what was going on in [her

head], what kind of wheels were turning.

Watching all those videos online of her was

really helpful for me to kind of be able to

capture her essence.

I just really wanted to capture not just

Gypsy’s appearance — the teeth, and the

glasses, and the [shaved] head; I wanted to

capture her physicality, and the way she

moves, and the way she presents herself

around her mother, versus other people.

Because a lot of the time, my representa-

tion of Gypsy, I had to imagine what Gypsy

was like during her more quiet moments

by herself. There’s this way that she is

around her mom, and you can see a lot of

that in the footage that’s been put out

there. But when she’s alone, I imagined,

what I put out there would just be a little

bit different, especially as time goes on.

As a young actress, was it freeing to not

think about vanity for this role?

One hundred percent. I’ve never felt

more confident in myself as a character

before than playing this role ... I wasn’t

worried about what I looked like, what I

needed to do to make it look prettier, this

and this. I just was so focused on the work,

and I just wanted it to be as authentic as

possible, and, you know, the idea that I got

to shave my head, that I wore fake teeth,

the glasses, the wheelchair, everything. I

was so, so happy that I got to do those

things, because making sure that this was

right was so important to me. And it was

very freeing.

Gypsy is trying to discover who she is and

figure things out. Talk about what you

were playing in those moments, when

she’s forced to do this in secret.

I think that the bottom line is she and

her mom both had this same desire, to love

and be loved. And they both loved each

other, they did. But Dee Dee’s love for

Gypsy was so toxic and so unhealthy that

even though Gypsy loved her, she just

wasn’t getting what a young girl needs

from a mother. So, doing these things in

secret, I wanted to play that there is a

sense of guilt from Gypsy when she does

all these things, because she does love her

mom.

It’s interesting when you hear Gypsy

speak now, and the way that I wanted to

play it, too, was you should never get the

sense, throughout the series, that Gypsy

hates her mom. Even now, in prison, I don’t

think she hates her mom. I think that

when Gypsy is experiencing these new

things on her own, it’s exciting, it’s freeing,

it’s her little secret. But there is a sense of

guilt that comes with that, because she

doesn’t want to hurt the person that is

closest to her, even though she wants to

break away from that closeness.

If given the opportunity, what’s a central

question you would have for Gypsy?

Something that I would want to ask her

is — I don’t even know if I’d want to ask

her. I hope that she is finding some peace

because she deserves it. She’s been

through the wringer. And no one should

have to be socialized for the first time in

prison.

Kirk McKoyLos Angeles Times

THE ENVELOPE

THE CONTENDERS

WHO IS

GYPSY

ROSE?

By Yvonne Villarreal

J

oey King was more than a little nervous about taking on the real-life story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard in “The Act.” ¶ Hulu’s

limited series dramatizes the true case of a disturbing mother-daughter relationship that ended in murder. King portrays Gypsy,

a young woman who grew up being told by her mother (played by Patricia Arquette) that she suffered from a multitude of

debilitating ailments. Later, upon realizing the charade, Gypsy conspired to kill her mother. ¶ “I think what made me so

nervous is that she’s a real person, in prison, right now as we speak, and that the footage of her is so accessible, which is so great

for someone like me portraying her,” King said. “But it’s also a little nerve-racking when anyone can go and look up footage of her and

compare my performance to her, and be like, well, Joey did this wrong, Joey did that, or she did that great, you know? It was just, a lot of

that was on my mind.” ¶It’s safe to say things worked out just fine. King’s performance earned her an Emmy nomination — her first

—for lead actress in a limited series. ¶ The actress stopped by The Times recently for a video interview to discuss getting into

character. Here are excerpts from the conversation.

‘I think that the

bottom line is she

and her mom both

had this same

desire, to love and

be loved.’

—JOEYKING,

of the real-life character she plays in “The Act,”

the story of a disturbing mother-daughter

relationship that ends in murder