After Mariska Hargitay produced the 2017 HBO documentary I Am Proof, individuals began asking her if she would make one other movie — and if she’d ever think about making one about her mom, actress Jayne Mansfield. She wasn’t on the time, she says, however when COVID shut down a lot of on a regular basis life in 2020, together with Hargitay’s long-time day job on Regulation & Order: SVU, she began reconsidering the story of her mother, who died in a automobile accident in 1967 when Hargitay was 3 years previous (she and her brothers had been within the again seat; all three survived the crash).
“It was actually throughout COVID that I had all this time to course of issues that I had by no means processed earlier than, and I began studying these letters from individuals who knew her,” Hargitay tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I used to be so moved by the generosity and thoughtfulness that individuals would ship me what felt like these valuable little items of her. This one girl stated she used to drive to [Mansfield’s] home and sit within the driveway and hearken to her play the violin, which piqued my curiosity but additionally made me take into consideration, ‘Who was this particular person behind what we noticed on this iconic degree?’ I began actually desirous to know who she was.”
Hargitay’s documentary about Mansfield — and herself — is known as My Mother Jayne. It premieres Friday on HBO and Max and gives up each a nuanced portrait of Mansfield — who was celebrated and really a lot typecast as a intercourse image within the Fifties and early ‘60s whereas struggling to interrupt free from that picture — and a deeply private examination of Hargitay’s personal identification.
Within the movie, Hargitay reveals that Mickey Hargitay, Mansfield’s bodybuilder-and-actor second husband and who raised Mariska and her siblings after Mansfield’s loss of life, was not her organic dad — and that she had stored that data to herself for many of her grownup life. Singer and entertainer Nelson Sardelli, who had a quick affair with Mansfield within the early Nineteen Sixties and can be within the movie, is Hargitay’s organic father. She additionally talks extensively along with her siblings — brothers Mickey Hargitay Jr. and Zoltan Hargitay and sister Jayne Marie Mansfield — about recollections of their mom, and makes use of plentiful archival footage to current the mom she by no means actually knew.
Hargitay talked with THR concerning the “miracle” of preserving her organic father’s identification a secret till now, how this undertaking has affected her relationships along with her siblings — in each branches of her household — and the way she has reclaimed her identification in full.
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Once you began serious about this, was it all the time in your thoughts to make a movie, or had been you simply trying to look at your mom’s life on your personal functions?
I’d all the time had a really advanced relationship along with her and the picture decisions she made. After which my love of documentaries has been growing. I expertise them in such a visceral approach, and it’s all the time been a approach to [understand] a topic. It’s my interest and what I like to spend my time doing. The second that I made a decision was throughout COVID. I had, clearly, been carrying the story with me for a very long time. Once I began serious about how I don’t wish to carry this anymore, I believed, “Ought to I write a e book? Do I do a phase on Oprah? What do I do?” On the time, I used to be pondering this wanted anyone who’s expert and masterful at affairs of the guts, as a result of this was such a fragile story. After which I believed, “Nicely, I don’t suppose that’s lengthy sufficient or complete sufficient.” And the story turned multi-layered, so I believed, “How do I inform my story?” I don’t know that I’m a talented sufficient author [to write a book]. Documentary is simply my medium. It’s a medium that speaks to me, and I like filmmaking. That is what I have to do.
Can I inform you a joke actual fast?
Please do.
I can’t bear in mind what number of years in the past it was, however I’m pals with [Alexander Hamilton and Ulysses S. Grant biographer] Ron Chernow. I met him as a result of I’m very a lot a Hamilton-phile. I used to be so excited to satisfy him. We had been launched at a celebration, and we simply sat and talked and talked. Then he stated, “Have you ever ever considered making a documentary about your mom?” I stated “No, I feel that everybody is useless now, I don’t suppose I’d have anyone to speak to.” He seems at me and goes, “I might help you with that.” [Laughs]
It was simply this nice second. Right here’s the man who wrote Grant. It was simply such a mind-blowing, very humorous second. However he loves movie as nicely, and he stated, “I feel it’s one thing it’s best to take severely.” So I had these moments that had been percolating. It was many issues all lining as much as the proper second. And COVID was a second that I had the time and house to suppose and to learn all these letters. This movie actually received made due to the presents that these individuals [sent], these letters that I had in a field for 30 years.
Mariska Hargitay as a toddler with mother Jayne Mansfield.
Alamy Inventory Picture/HBO
Prior to creating the movie, had you had many conversations together with your siblings about their recollections of Jayne, or was it one thing you stored at arm’s size?
It was one thing I stored at arm’s size. We had conversations right here and there, however they didn’t bear in mind. Once I requested them, two of my siblings knew about my organic father, and two of them didn’t. That was a really fascinating factor, too. I type of couldn’t imagine that this fact, this bombshell for me, had been out on the planet, and that it didn’t ever come to mild. I checked out that like as a form miracle to me, but additionally an indication that it was my story to inform.
Had been your siblings in any respect hesitant once you approached them with this concept?
All of them had been, and it was so stunning to observe that flip, as a result of they had been all like “What?” [at first]. All of them felt that they moved on and didn’t wish to return to this painful place, however in a short time and fantastically and courageously and generously they shifted and the tide turned. They stated, “We perceive and we get it, and we love you. And most of all, we belief you with the story.” It was extraordinary, actually stunning. As soon as they had been in, they had been all in. It was such a bonding expertise, clearly intimate, and we had conversations we’d by no means had earlier than.
We watched the film collectively, and we held on to one another for an hour and 45 [minutes]. We began in 4 chairs, after which we ended up in two chairs. My sister and I and my brothers had been all linked on this stunning second. We simply cried collectively and skilled the movie. Afterward, my sister stated, “I really feel like we’re 4 individuals with one coronary heart.” After I confirmed them the screening, my coronary heart was so full. I bear in mind pondering, “If no one [else] sees this movie, mission achieved.” I used to be so glad as a result of I did it for myself. I did it for them. I did it for therapeutic, they usually liked it and had been proud. It was very organizing for all of us to place issues in a sequential approach.
My first concrete recollections are from once I was about 3 years previous, and it looks like that’s when most individuals begin to kind them. Do you might have recollections of your mother that you’re positive of, that aren’t one thing somebody advised you or that you simply noticed an image of?
That’s the query, proper? That’s the query I’ve been requested my entire life, and it’s what I discuss within the film. I noticed an interview of me from my 20s, and I spoke about it with such readability on the time that I remembered this second sitting at a countertop within the kitchen the place we had all our meals. It’s a dream sequence that I did within the film that I believed I remembered consuming my Kwisp cereal, after which my mother simply strolling by and stroking my head, after which one other time being in mattress along with her. However I don’t know. That’s why I stated [in the film], “I don’t know if that’s an actual reminiscence or one thing I wished to occur.” It was very fascinating — with [making] the film, interviews are developing that I haven’t seen in 30 years. I noticed this interview and I went, “Wow.” I spoke about it with such readability and conviction and was so concrete. But in addition being on SVU and studying about trauma and about what occurs in trauma to our reminiscence… I don’t know.
Are you able to inform me extra about your resolution on the time to not go public with the truth of who your organic dad is? It’s laborious for me to think about having one thing like that to carry in for so long as you probably did.
It was actually a no brainer for me. It was all about loyalty. I felt on the time as a result of Mickey didn’t admit it to me, as a result of he stated it wasn’t true, and he was such a loyal human and [someone] who I believed was the very best father — I noticed how a lot it harm him within the second of me confronting him.
It was like an oath that I took, and I by no means even entertained it. As soon as he stated, “It’s not true, you’re Hungarian, you appear like my father. You’re my daughter,” I bear in mind feeling like that was the second that I turned an grownup. That was the second that I went, “Oh, I like you greater than my ache. I like you. I’ll by no means betray you, since you by no means betrayed me.” I felt, on a visceral degree his ache, and I stated, “I’ll by no means contribute to your ache like this.” That’s what it was about.
And once I met Nelson, that’s what I stated to him — “I’ve a father. I need nothing from you. I simply wished to know. That’s it. We’re not going to be household now.” Then, you already know, issues evolve and develop, and I feel all of us have to keep up an open coronary heart and thoughts. However as time went on and issues got here extra into perspective, I noticed nothing might take away my dedication, devotion, respect, and loyalty to Mickey. So a part of this can be a love letter to him.
Giovanna Sardelli, Pietra Sardelli and Mariska Hargitay in My Mother Jayne.
Courtesy of HBO
I’m additionally curious how your relationship together with your sisters on the Sardelli aspect of your loved ones has modified since making the movie.
It’s been so extraordinary for me to have either side of my household collectively, and all of us to be in Carnegie Corridor [the film screened there as part of the Tribeca Festival]. The primary time everybody was collectively was at my sixtieth birthday. I invited them each. Clearly, they at this level know one another, however I’m profoundly grateful to my sisters for placing my ache and have to maintain this a secret first. I’m so struck by the extraordinary selflessness that they went, “OK, that is how she desires it. You realize, she will’t deal with it.” But it surely was so troublesome for them to be secrets and techniques, and to not have the ability to declare our sisterhood. We now have all the time been very shut from the minute we met. It was a rare act of selflessness and an act of affection and generosity. I feel now they’re simply so glad, and all of us really feel so free. To see the 2 households work together now could be only a reward.
From what we see within the movie, in addition they look like a enjoyable hold.
They’re an actual enjoyable hold. From the minute we met, we went, “Wait, all of us have very same persona.” There’s a shorthand. It’s bizarre as a result of we’re so related, and we giggle and have the identical humorousness. It’s been so liberating and wonderful and therapeutic. I can’t imagine all of the presents which have come from it. This concept of breaking the generational trauma was so essential to me, and to enter this very uncharted territory and actually not know what you’re going to seek out — documentaries are laborious and sophisticated for all completely different causes, and I didn’t know what the end result was going to be, clearly. This has surpassed my wildest goals, and that was my hope. This can be a very particular movie. A really particular story, a really private one. And but unbelievably common. That has been the most important suggestions that I’ve acquired. So many individuals have stated this resonates with them.
Jayne was famously, infamously, nevertheless you wish to put it, pigeonholed as a intercourse image. Clearly there was much more to her, and he or she strained towards that picture later in her life and profession. Once you had been beginning out, whether or not it was aware or not, had been you on guard towards being typecast?
Utterly. I didn’t wish to do it like that. I didn’t wish to be pigeonholed. I believed I used to be going to finish up being a comic — and my mom was very humorous. One factor that my dad advised me on a regular basis is that who she was at residence was very completely different than who she was out on the planet, this persona. Comedy and a humorousness is without doubt one of the issues I worth probably the most — actually, how we are able to get by life with out it? However that was very laborious for me once I used to stroll into rooms and folks would say, “Oh, I used to be anticipating a blonde” or “Oh, I used to be anticipating this.” It was so obnoxious, and so short-sighted.
But in addition, the truth that anyone would say that — even at 20 years previous, I used to be like, “Actually? That’s what you bought for me?” I couldn’t stroll into any room [with a] clear slate. There was a self-consciousness that I carried with me, and I couldn’t simply be free. I bear in mind being so jealous of people that have anonymity, who had been free as an artist to strive something, to enter completely different pockets, and experiment and see the place inventive spirit took you. I felt like individuals had been judging. They’d already decided about me — “Oh, it’s Jayne Mansfield’s daughter” — and I hated it. I hated it.
I actually did insurgent and went into completely different [kinds of roles]. I imply, I performed an ex-con on certainly one of my first collection [laughs]. And God is aware of what number of cops I’ve performed — which is so humorous, as a result of I’m from Los Angeles, born and raised, and I maintain getting forged as New York Metropolis cops, even earlier than SVU. However at the same time as a child, I was requested, “Are you from New York?” Individuals thought I had a New York vitality. I used to be requested as a child, are you Italian? As a result of I gesticulate — I can’t assist it, I’ve all the time been like this. I get in hassle on SVU. They’re like, “Sit in your palms.” However these had been the issues I used to be requested — am I from New York, and am I Italian? And now have a look at me [laughs]. Sure to each.
Lastly, I wished to ask how your perceptions might need modified over the course of constructing this, from analysis to filming to modifying, and now that you simply’ve seen the completed product and it’s about to exit into the broader world.
All the things has modified. This has been an excellent and stunning and actually mind-blowing expertise. Cathartic is the phrase I might use, and there have been so many epiphanies. But in addition to be settled in my identification is one thing I’ve actually struggled with for thus lengthy.
Are you asking me as an individual or filmmaker?
Each, I suppose.
As an individual, it’s been so extraordinary to undergo one thing I used to be so fearful of, after which come out the opposite aspect and obtain so many presents — the miracle of peace, identification, the closeness that I’ve achieved with my household; the intimacy and forgiveness. There are such a lot of themes within the movie, however the way in which I describe it’s that I’ve a lot extra inner house. After we’re residing our fact, we have now readability, but additionally inner house. I used to be so filled with this lie. Or individuals would say, “Oh, you’re Hungarian,” and each time I’d be like [she recoils]. It’s like your cells react to it. Residing this pricey loyalty the place I used to be betraying myself. I wished to get myself out of that jail, after which it turned out to be the best factor ever.
As a filmmaker, it’s been extraordinary what I’ve discovered — and what I discovered that I already know from my expertise on SVU, though there’s nothing extra completely different than directing narrative and a documentary. I went in with such openness and curiosity, but additionally [the attitude that] I’m going into the unknown. I’m committing to my vulnerability, however apply what you preach, child, as a result of I’ve all the time stated that my vulnerability is like my superpower. In reclaiming my identification, my true identification and my fact as an individual, I received extra inventive house again and was courageous as a filmmaker to strive issues.
It was deeply, deeply fulfilling to work with this group. Everyone would simply work and work and have a deep dedication. I’ve been on SVU for a very long time, and why I’m nonetheless there’s as a result of I’m extraordinarily invested. It’s not simply me, it’s everybody. And if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be there. I care about that present like I did the primary day. To work with all these administrators, to study a lot — though it’s so completely different [with a documentary] — to see all this stuff, I understand how a lot I’ve discovered. The boldness now at this age, and with every thing I’ve carried out, to have the insistence of your individual imaginative and prescient, to belief in your individual imaginative and prescient is such a present. I couldn’t have made this film [earlier]. However I belief myself now.
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My Mother Jayne premieres at 8 p.m. ET June 27 on HBO and Max.