Los Angeles Times - 26.11.2019

S6

THE ENVELOPE LOS ANGELES TIMES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019

NEW YORK

N

oahBaum-

bach’s “Mar-

riage Story” is

full of wonder-

ful perform-

ances from stars

Adam Driver

and Scarlett Johansson among

others, but one of the most memo-

rable is Laura Dern’s. No surprise;

the actress was born into Holly-

wood royalty via dad Bruce Dern

and mom Diane Ladd, and rou-

tinely turns in firecracker perform-

ances. But as bulldog divorce law-

yer Nora, Dern (who also appears

in “Little Women” this season) is

clearly having a blast — and could

scoop up a third Oscar nomination,

if not her first win. Over tea and

scones at New York City’s Whitby

Hotel, the actress talked about

divorce, childhood acting perils

and the critical role of correct

jungle footwear.

You clearly had fun playing

Nora.

Oh, yeah. The script was per-

fect. Flawless. Her red high heels

are written into it. But playing a

woman in a position of power,

who’ll never lose her cool — was,

like, crazy. It’s wild to play that

kind of agenda without insecurity.

How much did you develop her?

For the year we spent with

Noah there was this collaboration.

Adam, myself and then Scarlett had

a year and a half of dinners and

conversations, sharing love stories,

heartbreaks, childhoods — every-

thing. Noah said, “I want to make a

love story through the lens of

divorce.” That was an amazing gift

— because we got to define how to

do that together. I felt giddy.

Your parents divorced when

you were young, and you went

through a divorce yourself. Was

playing Nora cathartic, letting

you get it all out in a — fake —

courtroom?

I’ve walked through it in so

many different ways with so many

people — as a child, best friend,

ex-wife. It’s a romance. It’s a trage-

dy. At times it’s a horror film. You

have a marriage until you sign that

paper. It’s a really messed-up sys-

tem. I could have done it better for

my kids, made it more amicable.

Yet some people end up doing it

multiple times.

The bravery of thinking of

marrying again — I don’t know. I

have not remarried. [Divorce is]

not something I’d want to do again.

You’ve spoken about really

catching the acting bug while

shuttling between your parents’

films in the 1970s. Then you

began acting at age 11. Over the

decades, how have you wit-

nessed the backstage atmos-

phere changing?

As a young actress, there was

only one other woman even on the

movie — the script supervisor. I

never saw another [on set]. There

was no gender diversity and no

comfort zone as a child. It was such

a man’s world. It has changed

immensely, which is exciting — but

there’s still a long way to go.

You self-emancipated at 13 so

you could work more; did you

ever feel unsafe while working?

What’s scary is, I’m, like, “I’m 13,

I can take an elevator downstairs”

and the person in the elevator is

attempting to be inappropriate —

and the doors opened and my

guardian was there. So I was pro-

tected and still palpably aware of it

at times. Definitely had a couple of

run-ins. I was very lucky it didn’t

end up far worse. But at the time, I

had no idea it was wrong. I just

knew it was scary, and a person

made me uncomfortable. Even at 15,

16 I had an audition with a great

director at the Chateau Marmont,

and I was called up to his room to

sit on a bed because it was the only

place to read material. Nothing

happened — he was a professional.

You have a 14-year-old daughter,

Jaya. Have you warned her away

from the business?

Jaya knows everything. These

young women I’m around because

of my daughter are very comfort-

able presuming their right to be in

the boardroom or to have any job.

They are on it. I’m letting her find

her way and feel through all of it.

You’re returning to “Jurassic

Park” for the third installment

of the reboot in 2021. You’ll be

reprising the role of paleobota-

nist Ellie from the first “Juras-

sic” film in 1993. Why?

Well, Steven Spielberg called.

Let’s start there. I love Ellie Sattler

the most of all the characters I’ve

played. Every single day since I

made that movie, someone tells me

about her. Steven wanted to make a

feminist, iconic badass amid the big

boys in an action movie.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle

when the franchise rebooted in

2014 and Bryce Dallas Howard

was spotted running around the

jungle in high heels. Will Ellie

have sensible shoes?

I can promise you that. We’re

gonna bring back our Timber-

lands. 8

Jay L. ClendeninLos Angeles Times

Pit bull in

high heels

THE CONTENDERS

Laura Dernhad

lots of fun playing a

hard-charging divorce

lawyer in ‘Marriage

Story.’ But her heart

belongs to an earlier

badass character.

BY RANDEE DAWN

»Alan Alda plays the opposing

lawyer in “Marriage Story.”

See Page S40