Episode 5: Ann Dowd Behind The Scenes Interview

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:04.799
Hi, listeners, this is Nat
Mundel, founder of Voyage. I am

2
00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:11.919
beyond excited to introduce you all to
Anne Dowd, who stars in our allegedly

3
00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:18.679
episode My Forever Love I. Anne
has been nominated for four Emmys in her

4
00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:23.960
storied career, and she won for
her portrayal of aunt Lydia in The Handmaid

5
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:30.000
Stale. You probably can really visualize
and in that role. You may also

6
00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:35.280
know her from her Emmy nominated performance
in The Leftovers and then countless other credits

7
00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:37.960
as well. So, Anne,
it's my greatest honor. Thank you so

8
00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:43.039
much. Thank you for having me
in my disheveled appearance. I'll be to

9
00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:46.280
see you. That's the beauty of
podcasting right now. There you go.

10
00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:51.799
That's that's it. So on that
note, is this your first podcast voiceover?

11
00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.759
Is it is? Are you also
a listener of podcasts? Well?

12
00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.799
Yes, occasionally if I drive a
long distance then I have the pleasure of

13
00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:07.959
listening. So yes, not a
huge amount. But this was very very

14
00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:11.079
interesting to be the first that I've
looked at in a different way, so

15
00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:15.000
to speak. Yeah, and why
take the role. What is interesting about

16
00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.120
it for you? Well, when
I can't read something twice because it's so

17
00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:23.760
upsetting that I think, oh,
this is very interesting. M Ah,

18
00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:30.159
that poor woman, because what can
you say? Yeah to her? She

19
00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:34.599
was aware of all of it,
and she was lonely. Yeah, and

20
00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:42.400
how life and how the connection and
how familiar were you prior with this sort

21
00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:47.959
of online world of catfishing. I've
certainly heard about it and read a little

22
00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.760
about it, and I oh god. And when you're from the outside,

23
00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.000
you think, Okay, couldn't be
more obvious, like this is weird,

24
00:01:55.560 --> 00:02:00.840
don't get involved. But then that's
judging, isn't it, particularly in this

25
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:05.640
story, where at the heart of
it is a loneliness for human contact of

26
00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:09.439
whatever kind that brings some joy to
the heart, some sense of I'm alive

27
00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:14.080
for a reason. So as she
was taking the money out, I think,

28
00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:16.879
oh, honey, what could you
be thinking? Well, as I

29
00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:21.240
read the you know, as I
read it a few times, I realized,

30
00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.439
you can't make a judgment here.
It's too personal, too yeah,

31
00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:30.719
too real. Yeah, And it's
interesting. You know. I thought a

32
00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:37.800
little bit about this because it's so
commonplace today and it and it exploits the

33
00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:43.879
most vulnerable, and it really appeals
to the most sort of base and persuasive

34
00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:49.280
aspects of our psychology, and I
in some respects I think that, you

35
00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:53.080
know, sort of, these professional
cat fishers are the world's greatest marketers in

36
00:02:53.159 --> 00:03:00.240
that they really have a deep understanding, obviously of what drives people to make

37
00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:06.199
decisions. They can read, you
know, reminded me a little of compliance.

38
00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:09.479
Did you ever see compliance? I
have not. It was based on

39
00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:15.000
a true story, but the character
play is running a fast food restaurant on

40
00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:17.800
a Friday night. She gets a
call from a detective and what it leads

41
00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:23.520
to is full blown sexual assault.
But she doesn't even know she's complicit in

42
00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:29.800
all of this because she just believed
him right away. And so it's once

43
00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.159
you get in that door and then
starting to read people, what are the

44
00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:38.039
vulnerabilities this poor woman in this story? Profound loneliness? Yeah, yeah,

45
00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.879
And that word desire to connection,
the desire for a companion to walk on

46
00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:46.199
or that word yeah, that word
compliance. That's actually one of the most

47
00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:52.439
persuasive. You know, when you
when you start with an authority and you

48
00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:58.800
get that first agreement to comply,
then all of the other compliances that follow

49
00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:02.400
become that much more easy and insidious. You know, It's and that's a

50
00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:09.000
skill they possess, these scammers.
Ah. I see The difference here,

51
00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:13.080
of course, is the woman tells
us I know how how this sounds.

52
00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:18.319
I know this. She completely outs
herself in terms of awareness. That waits

53
00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:25.519
complete fake. And how are you
finding m You know, what are you

54
00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:29.639
drawing on in in in you know, to get access and empathy with this

55
00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:32.759
character? Well, you know,
I think it's very clear in the writing,

56
00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:38.600
and so I reminded myself and a
few times I've rehearsed it, which

57
00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:45.199
is not even really the word.
Remove all judgment, remove all skepticism,

58
00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:48.600
and just listen to the words,
and just let her be who she is.

59
00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:53.240
Wow. I mean that's a rule
for actors in the first place,

60
00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:57.680
because the minute judgment comes in the
doors closed. Correct with her, because

61
00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.240
sometimes I literally pulled back, No, no, honey, come on,

62
00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:05.759
now, you know better than this. But then again you realize what well

63
00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:10.839
is it worth it? Did she
get something from this? And then that

64
00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:15.160
last sentence that she gets another message
got to be kiddy, Yeah exactly,

65
00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.600
very compelling. Yeah, well,
we're so thrilled you've chosen to play with

66
00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:24.240
us in this in this universe.
Um, but tell us what else is

67
00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:26.519
going on for you, Like,
what's next? What do you want your

68
00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:29.040
fans to know? What are you
working on? That's kind of you.

69
00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:34.079
Well, I head back next week. We're in the middle of the sea.

70
00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:39.399
Well, we're into the last state
third and I'll be there for the

71
00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.839
better part of five weeks just for
all of us to you know, to

72
00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:46.240
the end. We are doing ten
episodes, so that's always very exciting.

73
00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:50.639
And then the hope is to go
to Europe to shoot a very interesting film

74
00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:57.439
called The Undertaker's Children, which takes
place in the war Second War in East

75
00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:02.439
Germany. Very very story, so
very fortunate, how exciting, and can't

76
00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:06.879
wait for season You got some work
to do there, buddy, you got

77
00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:12.360
to catch up. Well, I
know what what what you said? There's

78
00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:15.839
hopefully two more seasons coming of the
Handmade season five and then season six,

79
00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:20.439
and then we go on to the
Testaments. I was listeners. I was

80
00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:26.800
telling Anne earlier how much I I
basically bought Hulu four that and then canceled

81
00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:30.959
it, not knowing there was another
seasons more seasons coming. So now that

82
00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.920
I know, I have to go
buy Hulu again to jump off, because

83
00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:39.399
I've watched all four start to finish. Oh you did all? Oh yeah,

84
00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:42.360
no, I mean that was like
maybe five days of work for me.

85
00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.000
That's it. And I mean it's
hard to watch these, you know,

86
00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:51.120
one after another. You know,
space is helpful, so yeah,

87
00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:55.959
well, um, you know I
I have a tendency toward the dark,

88
00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:00.319
so um, you know it's a
little unfortunately a little easy for me to

89
00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:04.399
getting crows. Well, here we
are with open arms, so darkness comes

90
00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.879
to us. Well, thank you
again so much for joining us and for

91
00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:15.000
joining us today. Listeners please tune
in. You can find allegedly on Apple

92
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:19.160
Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you listen
to podcasts. And I want to thank

93
00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:26.639
our star and OWD for Voyage Media. I'm Nat Mundel. I'm signing off

94
00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:28.720
pleasure. Thank you,