Regardless of a long time of acclaim as an actress, Mia Farrow went into her position within the Broadway play The Roommate final fall with some trepidation.
“I’m not a supremely assured particular person. From what I’ve discovered of life, confidence is nearly all the time misplaced, in any space you care to look,” Farrow stated.
“I do have self doubt, however I’ve discovered to stay with it. I’m capable of kind strut round feeling supremely assured,” she continued.
That confidence paid off as Farrow obtained her first Tony nomination for her position because the initially meek homebody Sharon within the play by Jen Silverman, which ran on the Sales space Theatre on Broadway from September via December 2024. Farrow starred within the two-hander, reverse Patti LuPone, who performs a Bronx grifter renting a room in Sharon’s Iowa farmhouse. That pairing opens up Farrow’s Sharon to the world, together with the world of felony actions, which she takes to with stunning enthusiasm.
Farrow, identified for her breakout position within the movie Rosemary’s Child, beforehand appeared on Broadway within the 1979 manufacturing of Romantic Comedy, reverse Anthony Perkins, in addition to two subsequent staged readings on Broadway and regional productions. She was satisfied to do the play, partly, by her son, journalist Ronan Farrow, whose voice was additionally featured on a voicemail within the play, when Farrow’s character receives a name from her personal son. Farrow stated she plans to carry Ronan together with her to the Tony Awards on June 8 and to different Broadway productions, together with Oh, Mary!, earlier than then.
She spoke to The Hollywood Reporter concerning the feeling of returning to the stage, what’s she’s on the lookout for in her subsequent venture and her plans to see the opposite Tony-nominated reveals.
What did you assume if you heard you have been nominated for a Tony Award?
I had no expectation of being nominated in any respect. It’s not like I figured I wouldn’t be and subsequently I used to be pre-disappointed, it merely by no means crossed my thoughts.
After I hung up the telephone with [the show’s publicist], it started to happen to me that I used to be a Tony-nominated actor, among the many better of one of the best, in the neighborhood I so deeply respect. And that I might be amongst them for this honor was simply so huge. My subsequent thought was, “I wish to inform someone.” And my subsequent thought was, “You possibly can’t simply name someone and say, ‘Hey, guess what I received.’” It’s out of the query. After which my ideas went to my mother [actress Maureen O’Sullivan], who would have been so glad and so proud. She was, all through my life, in my nook, and she or he would have been the one which I might have needed to share that second with. I simply began crying, frankly, as a result of I miss my mother, and in addition it will have been the second, aside from me having my youngsters, one of many massive moments of my life. She would have been tremendous pleased with me and happy with me and so forth. In order that was my stuff I went via. And subsequently, no matter gatherings which were held to do with the play and to do with this honor, and I simply received to fulfill the folks that I love a lot and simply to be counted amongst them for this time solely. I can’t let you know how a lot it’s meant to me and the way deeply honored I’m.
Had you been seeking to come again to Broadway?
No, I’m an individual who’s really very glad alone. I’ve a brand new pet. It was Jack O’Brien, an outdated pal and fantastic director, who stated, “I’ve received this script that I really need you to learn and to think about doing.” And I really had learn that script some six years in the past once I was on the Lengthy Wharf [Theatre] with Brian Dennehy, however I used to be not it one thing I may do on the time. However rereading it, I used to be reminded the way it had simply extraordinary issues in it. And in the meantime, Jack O’Brien despatched it to my son, Ronan, who he’s been mates with since Ronan was a baby. And Ronan known as me and stated, “You must do that. That is actually good, and it affords you actually good scenes.”
I do know that Jack had already supplied it to a different actor, not my half, however the half that may be performed by Patti. And the opposite actor had turned it down. After which he stated, I’m sending it to Patti LuPone and Patti’s been a pal of mine for a very long time, a long time. And I although “Oh my gosh, that may be unbelievable if she would do it.” So I simply stored my fingers crossed.
Was it the character you have been drawn to?
Sure, it was. These days the rehearsal interval is simply three weeks, so it isn’t lengthy sufficient to, in a play of that complexity, actually get it the place you need it for opening evening. I didn’t invite anyone [to opening night]. In fact, I by no means do, concern of disappointing and so forth. However I simply thought, what a pity we’re opening now and don’t have one other week or two, as a result of we positive may use it. Patti and I have been actually nonetheless within the strategy of discovery, and that course of lasted, in all probability, till virtually the top. However before that we received it within the space that we have been essentially the most comfy, and clearly she’s only a pleasure to work with, as a result of we have been on the identical journey, her character, my character, and the way they work together on all these ranges. For me, it was the arc of being an individual who considered herself a method, in a really restricted manner. After which via the looks of Patti in my life, as that character, doorways opened, and I found issues because the character, Sharon, about herself, and within the course of, discovering a life that’s significant and a love that’s significant, and the invention of all that via the exceptional phrases of Jen Silverman. So I used to be virtually sorry when it was over, as a result of we had reached a degree that we felt we have been doing our very best.
From interviews firstly of the play, I’d learn that you just weren’t totally believing your performing skills.
I imply, I’m not a supremely assured particular person. From what I’ve discovered of life, confidence is nearly all the time misplaced, in any space you care to look. I’m riddled with self doubt. It’s enviable, when you’re not. And for those who aren’t, God bless you. And for these which are, you’ll perceive what I’m saying. I do have self doubt, however I’ve discovered to stay with it. I’m capable of kind strut round feeling supremely assured. I imply, what are we assured about, you recognize? I hoped that I may get the place I needed to be within the play. I didn’t learn evaluations, however Patti does, and she or he stated, “We did properly. The folks preferred us.” There have been some reservations concerning the play, and that was about intestine punch as a result of I really like Jen Silverman’s work, and I really like what she’d written. However, apparently many individuals did love the play. And my goodness, it was vastly properly obtained by the audiences. I’ve by no means had such a response when it comes to the laughter and a puff right here and there. There was by no means an evening with out a standing ovation for the play, for the best way we had introduced it. So, it was a pleasure, and it was a pleasure to share it with the audiences. I’ve not had a greater stage expertise in my life.
Simply when it comes to performing, or the viewers?
By way of performing to an viewers. It was a pleasure and privilege every evening, additionally terrifying, earlier than the present terrifying, after which the supply of the present to the viewers was an immense pleasure and privilege.
Did the fear go away?
The terrifying half is earlier than you step out. And I don’t know if each actor feels that manner. However sure, it does get much less terrifying, however I believe an quantity of terror appears applicable given the duty forward. So many issues can go fallacious, and there was numerous dialogue. It was 90 minutes of speak and simply the 2 of us, and so the duty was a giant one. There have been numerous issues that might go fallacious. But additionally there was anticipation and the “I can’t wait feeling,” and our final phrases to one another earlier than we’d stroll on stage have been, “Let’s have enjoyable.”
Do you wish to do extra Broadway now?
I might like to. In fact, now my requirements are very excessive, as a result of I might not wish to do a venture that was lower than what I simply did. You hope for that, anyway, all actors in any respect levels, to be requested numerous. It doesn’t all the time occur, and also you’ve received to make a residing, and so typically you do issues that ask little or no of you, they usually really feel like that, and it’s, ultimately, meaningless, nevertheless it’s a residing. However for these tasks that ask a substantial amount of you, I believe each actor is admittedly grateful when a kind of comes alongside and also you’re capable of make investments all of your self in areas that haven’t usually been requested of you.
I noticed that you just simply noticed John Proctor Is the Villain on Broadway. Are you making an attempt to see the opposite reveals in your class, or simply reveals typically?
Sadie [Sink] and the forged and everybody was fantastic and welcoming. I’m a fan of Sadie’s, and I’m a fan of everybody in that forged.
And I’m going to see Cole [Escola’s] play. I wish to see Oh, Mary! It’s not that I’m competing with Cole in any manner, however I’m vastly admiring of them, and I’m 1,000 % respectful. And I can’t wait, as a result of I hear essentially the most fantastic issues concerning the present, and Ronan is coming with me – although he’s seen it earlier than, he stated he may completely see it once more. So I do know it’s a kind of issues I don’t wish to miss. I wish to see Jonathan Groff. I’ve gotta see Audra. There are issues I wish to see that I haven’t seen but. I used to be going to see George Clooney’s present, however because it’s going to be televised stay, I assumed “sensible.” I simply so respect him. He’s doing a public service with that. He doesn’t must be on Broadway, however there’s a purpose, given the content material of the play and its relevance now. Hats off to George Clooney, and it was fantastic that he was nominated too.
Are you aware what your subsequent position shall be?
I’ve received a few very good folks inviting me to hitch in a venture, and actually good actors, however I’m simply ready to see if there’s one thing that I had that feeling about, that I can actually make a contribution, and that contributes to me as an actor and as an individual, a journey of a form, any kind that’s significant. So I’ll simply see. I might like to be on stage once more. And I did uncover that I really like being on stage greater than being in a film or on TV. It’s simply far more, for me, anyway, extra gratifying. So as a result of I get to do all of it, it isn’t lower into items. You get from starting to finish, after which the privilege of getting an viewers there, there’s nothing prefer it.
This interview has been flippantly edited for size and readability.