Pod Insights Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso Actor Rose Byrne: A Woman on the Verge About this episode Rose Byrne has taken many forms on-screen. In Mary Bronstein’s new film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You https://www.fandango.com/if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you-2025-241791/movie-overview, she delivers a career-defining performance as a Long Island therapist and mother slowly unraveling under the weight of her child’s mysterious illness.
We begin by discussing the maternal madness at the heart of this new film from A24 (6:30), the long, collaborative road to shaping the character (10:00), and what it was like to have Conan O’Brien as a scene partner (13:30). Then, Byrne reflects on her debut performance in Dallas Doll (19:45), the plays and poems that inspired her as a teenager (22:30), and a formative role in the cult classic Two Hands, opposite the late Heath Ledger (26:00).
In the back half, we unpack the sexism she faced in Hollywood in the aughts (32:40), her unexpected comedic breakthrough in Bridesmaids and Neighbors (37:15), and the fruitful collaborations with Seth Rogen that followed (39:50). To close, Byrne pays tribute to two of her enduring artistic influences—filmmaker David Lynch (45:00) and playwright Arthur Miller (47:00).
Watch this conversation on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klWJFQ3s2co&t=289s.
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected] .
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript 10,144 words · 7 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:02 Speaker 00 Lemonada.
0:21 Sam Fragoso? This is Talk Easy. I'm Sam Fragoso. Welcome to the show.
0:37 Sam Fragoso? Today, actor Rose Byrne. Byrne was raised in a working-class neighborhood in Sydney, Australia, where she began working as an actor at an early age. She was 13 on the set of her first film, Dallas Doll, starring opposite Sandra Bernhardt. We'll get back to that later. But the work and success didn't come all at once. For the better part of the early aughts, Byrne was on the edge of the frame, turning in steady supporting work in films like Maria Antoinette, Troy, and Ricker Park. It wasn't until she played a lawyer on Damages, which earned her two Emmy nominations, that people really began to take notice. One of those people being the director Nicholas Stoller, who cast Byrne in her first tried-and-true comedic role
1:21 Sam Fragoso? as a flamboyant pop star named Jackie Q in the film Get Him to the Greek. From there, Byrne became the celebrated comedic actress you've probably grown familiar with. Bridesmaids, Neighbors, Spy, TV shows like Mrs. America, Physical, and Platonic, none of which, by the way, will prepare you for what she does in this latest film, If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. In it, Rose plays a Long Island therapist and mother navigating a whole host of issues: her child's mysterious illness, an absent husband, clients with problems of their own, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist colleague, played by Conan O'Brien. Here's a clip from the trailer.
2:03 Speaker 02 We are out of time. I have another patient coming, so...
2:05 Speaker 03 Wait, now? What about the 10-minute warning?
2:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, I just wasn't paying attention.
2:09 Speaker 03 You didn't respond to the email that I sent you about my dream.
2:12 Speaker 02 I don't respond to my clients' dream emails.
2:17 Speaker 04 I know you have a lot on your plate, but she's getting better, and the rest of it is totally temporary. You need to be a team.
2:24 Speaker 03 I know. The problem with that logic, though, is that I'm not a housewife. I work too.
2:35 Speaker 03 I can see you now.
2:42 Speaker 03 You've missed the last few weeks of family sessions. I told you what happened. Our entire ceiling fell down, and we're living out of the hotel.
2:49 Speaker 05 Yes on these, but no on the white.
2:50 Speaker 03 But it isn't even two.
2:52 Speaker 05 It's 1:58. By the time I ring these up, it will be past two.
2:59 Speaker 06 Yo, crazy pants. I was gonna partake in surfing the web for some things that I'm into.
3:04 Speaker 03 What kind of stuff?
3:08 Speaker 03 I'm supposed to know how to fix this. I'm supposed to know how to fix her.
3:11 Speaker 02 What is it you think it's your job to fix?
3:15 Speaker 03 I'm asking you what I'm supposed to do. Can you hear me?
3:19 Speaker 02 I would like you to get a good night's sleep.
3:24 Speaker 03 Whatever. This isn't supposed to be what it's like. This isn't it. This can't be it.
3:33 Speaker 03 Everything is under control.
3:42 Sam Fragoso? That was from the new film, "If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You", written and directed by Mary Bronstein. The movie is now playing in limited release and goes wide October 24th. To see if it's at a theater near you, visit our show notes at talkeasypod.com. The film premiered at Sundance back in January and then played at the Berlin International Film Festival, where Bern won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance. And it's well deserved. As a New Yorker writes, "The film imagines motherhood as, quote, 'a kind of horror movie', in which the boogeyman isn't a killer with a chainsaw, but rather the pressures of middle adulthood." At the center of that is a career-defining performance from Bern, an actor who, I admit, I can never...
4:26 Sam Fragoso? Really put my finger on, which made walking out of If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You so disorienting. I felt so many things. Uncomfortable, of course, unnerved by Bronstein's depiction of maternal madness, obviously, but what I felt most of all was this kind of odd mix of being dumbfounded and a little bit frustrated with the fact that I had made the same mistake that most of Hollywood had made, which was to not fully see this tremendous, untapped talent hiding in plain sight. In fact, she's so compelling in this new film that I started to re-watch her earlier work like old game tape to see what I missed. And so, one of the big questions I had going into our conversation was, was this just
5:08 Sam Fragoso? an innocuous bit of oversight? Or was Byrne perhaps the byproduct of a Hollywood system in the mid 2000s and early 2010s that wanted their women to be a particular kind of way in a particular kind of movie? Movies I thoroughly enjoy, mind you. We get into that in Act Three of today's episode. But we begin with this latest revelatory role as a mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown. We talk about the humor and humanity of Bronstein's new film, the joys of acting opposite Conan O'Brien, and how she kept it together on set even while her character was slowly coming undone. In Act Two, we discuss her upbringing in Sydney, working with Heath Ledger as a teenager, and how her move to Los Angeles,
5:53 Sam Fragoso? which she did as a young 20-something, paved the way for the comedic renaissance that followed. This is Rose Byrne.
6:18 Sam Fragoso? Rose Byrne. Hello, Sam. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. I'm so flattered.
6:23 Speaker 03 And I'm very excited to be here.
6:25 Sam Fragoso? OK, I was talking to a friend recently. She's a mother to a young daughter. And she told me the thing that really bothers her is that when she goes out in public with her friends, her friends always ask before anything else, how's your daughter doing? In thinking about this film, I feel like the only place I want to start is, how are you doing?
6:51 Speaker 03 I'm doing, look, I'm doing good. I am.
6:55 Sam Fragoso? I love when someone goes, look.
6:56 Speaker 03 I know, it's such a tell. I'll tell you what's interesting about this experience. Is this film premiered at Sundance? And that's in January. And we're now October 1st. And I've never had that experience where you're shepherding a film from then to today where I sit with you. So, but I've also been doing this a long time. So I'm just like, I'm a one day at a time sort of person anyway. One thing at a time.
7:17 Sam Fragoso? So the film is called If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. And it's from writer-director Mary Bronstein. The two of you began working on the script during the actress strike in the summer of 2023, poring over all the details of the character, trying to get it right. How would you describe Linda to someone who hasn't seen the film yet?
7:37 Speaker 03 Well, the audience is very much dropped into a crisis in the film and not much is explained about her. Very little, like, nothing is explained about her. Your hand is not held throughout this film. There is no sort of establishing dialogue about, well, when I lived in blah, blah, blah, or after I graduated from here. Or nothing is spoon fed, nothing is given to you.
7:56 Sam Fragoso? It begins on a close up of your face.
7:58 Speaker 03 Begins a close up of her, a very, very tight close up on this character Linda. And she's slowly revealed to us through the film. But she is an agent of chaos, absolutely. And yes, it was really was, obviously, my job to figure out who she was.
8:11 Sam Fragoso? How did she change in that script-writing process when the two of you were poring over her details?
8:16 Speaker 03 She didn't so as much change as she came to life more and more and trapped with this sort of character as it can be one note. She's in a crisis and it only gets worse. And how do we avoid the pitfalls of just hysteria in every scene? And my obsession was, who was she before? You know, everyone responds very differently to a crisis. So that was my job, yeah.
8:37 Sam Fragoso? So crisis-wise, she's a mother and a therapist. She has a child with a mysterious illness, patients who have their own problems, a husband who's away on work and fairly absent. And then she has a therapist of her own, played by Conan O'Brien, who doesn't seem to be able to help her at all. How do you hold it together in a 30 day shoot and mon talk, trying to keep everything at bay?
9:02 Speaker 03 Well, Mary Bronstein, the writer-director, was very protective of the performance and of what I had to do and my job. And an independent film is chaotic and one day is not the same as the next. You know, we did this in 27 days on not much money, and it was ambitious. There's ambitious sequences in this movie. So I felt that, I felt that when I was doing it. But really also after I was doing it too, I realized how much she had cocooned me in a way, in the best possible way, that I wasn't too.
9:31 Sam Fragoso? She shielded.
9:32 Speaker 03 Yeah, she did. And we had this great rehearsal period, and I think without that I would have been pretty untethered. But she was my touchstone. We were very much in lockstep throughout the whole thing.
9:41 Sam Fragoso? I read that at night.
9:43 Speaker 03 At night? You started taking drugs?
9:45 Sam Fragoso? Yeah. Which is, I think the performance got better once you started taking drugs.
9:50 Speaker 03 Always does. Look at the great, look at the great performances.
9:53 Sam Fragoso? Do you want to name some of them?
9:54 Speaker 03 Dennis Hopper? Let's just go for the obvious.
9:57 Sam Fragoso? So that was a little bit of a life informing the performance.
10:00 Speaker 03 Yes, that's true.
10:01 Sam Fragoso? Yeah, I'm not really sure he knew when the cameras were on and when they were off.
10:04 Speaker 03 I worked with him early in my career in Australia, and he, he was actually very charming, as you can imagine, but he didn't, he didn't like rehearsal. He didn't want to rehearse. He didn't even, we barely got through a read through of this very strange little movie we did. But in any case, yes. Dennis anecdote. I digress.
10:22 Sam Fragoso? When you're on this set and then you go home at night, I read that you would send Mary long and passionate text messages. What was the inner monologue coming out in those text messages?
10:34 Speaker 03 Just my neuroses.
10:36 Sam Fragoso? Right, let's get it out here.
10:37 Speaker 03 Oh, hope you got this. Was that okay? Am not sure. Miss you, lol. You know, just like that kind of things. And did we get this? And was that enough? And how did that look? And how did this go? You know, what, how did the, you know, checking in about that stuff? So I was protective of it. I was just protective of what we were doing and, yeah.
10:54 Sam Fragoso? You told Vanity Fair, "My main goal was to quote, 'not fuck it up.'"
10:58 Speaker 03 Not fuck it up. I didn't want to fuck it up.
11:01 Sam Fragoso? And what do you do to not fuck it up?
11:04 Speaker 03 Text a lot.
11:05 Sam Fragoso? Okay.
11:05 Speaker 03 Don't sleep.
11:06 Sam Fragoso? That's part of the process.
11:07 Speaker 03 That's part of my process.
11:09 Sam Fragoso? This is a church and state question. Do you think actors should have the cell phone numbers of their directors during production?
11:16 Speaker 03 Oh, so fascinating.
11:20 Speaker 03 I do, but I know that that can always not end well.
11:24 Speaker 03 I'm sure you've had people sat in this chair where it didn't end well. So it could be a gamble, but I don't know how you, particularly with something like Legs, I'm not sure how you could get around it without having the cell number.
11:37 Sam Fragoso? My last character question, you went to the Atlantic Theatre Company.
11:40 Speaker 03 I did.
11:41 Sam Fragoso? Studied with David Mamet.
11:43 Speaker 03 Well, he wasn't there, but it's his school. We had Macy came in and taught us. It was a summer program.
11:49 Sam Fragoso? He's, I wouldn't say he's a friend of the show, but he's maybe a foe of the show, or he's certainly been on the show.
11:55 Speaker 03 Yeah.
11:55 Sam Fragoso? But I'm curious, I can separate art from artist, even if artists compare me to Hitler. I'm gonna do it.
12:02 Speaker 03 What a reference, eh? If you say that, good lord.
12:05 Sam Fragoso? For this character in this film, how would you explain the human impulses behind her behavior? Because that seems to be at the heart of some of the teachings at Atlantic Theatre Company.
12:17 Speaker 03 I love that. Well, her impulse is to escape. She's just trying to escape. She's trying to escape constantly. She cannot be where she is. She can't see anything in front of her and she can't really hear anything either. She's very disassociated and she's also self-destructs throughout the film physically as well. She's not sleeping and she's drinking and doing drugs and that sort of to add on top of the trauma of what's happening. Yeah.
12:42 Sam Fragoso? The child in the film, it's basically a disembodied voice. You don't see the kid for 99.9% of the movie. When you read the script, did you think it was more like a horror film or a documentary?
12:55 Speaker 03 It had some like horror tropes in it for sure. And when I saw the film, I really recognized that and have been in films like that. But there's also some straight, straight drama in the movie and I think big comedic set pieces in the film for my money. So it really does defy genre in a kind of punk rock way. It's been great to now have people see it and everyone has a different experience. I'm still discovering things about the movie.
13:21 Sam Fragoso? I have a lot of feelings about the movie.
13:23 Speaker 03 I can't wait.
13:23 Sam Fragoso? We will come back to that at the end, but before we move on, why don't we play a clip from one of those drama comedy set pieces?
13:30 Speaker 03 Yes, please.
13:31 Sam Fragoso? Where you're straddling the line. This is you in a therapist's office with your therapist, played by Conan O'Brien.
13:38 Speaker 03 You didn't respond to the email that I sent you about my dream.
13:41 Speaker 02 I don't respond to my clients' dream emails.
13:45 Speaker 03 Okay, so if you don't bring it up, then what is the point?
13:52 Speaker 02 Okay, you got me.
13:54 Speaker 03 I had a dream, and I need to talk about it today. And I didn't get any time because you didn't give me a warning.
14:01 Speaker 02 We can discuss the dream you emailed the next session.
14:06 Speaker 03 Well, it's actually a different dream.
14:07 Speaker 02 Well, I don't really...
14:09 Speaker 03 About you.
14:13 Speaker 02 Okay, quickly.
14:14 Speaker 03 Okay, I was in a hospital day room, or a recreation room, or something. And I knew my daughter was also in the hospital, but far away, another part. And it didn't look like the hospital she was in last year, though. When everything happened, it was different. It was weird. And I was waiting for Charles to come get me so we could pick her up. But instead, you were there, and you wanted to sit really close to me. And I was inching away from you on the bench, and you kept inching closer. And I got my phone out to text Charles because I was nervous he'd come in and he'd see. And then you tried to grab the phone. And then you started to tickle me to try to get me to drop it. And I was like...
15:01 Speaker 03 I was really enjoying it, but I was so scared that Charles would come in and he would see.
15:08 Speaker 02 All right.
15:13 Speaker 03 Okay?
15:15 Speaker 02 All right, you got to tell me. We'll talk about it next time.
15:21 Speaker 03 We won't talk about it next time.
15:24 Speaker 03 You know that. There's no thread. There's no thread at all.
15:31 Speaker 03 Oh my god, it's so dumb. That scene to me is about his regret that he said, "Tell me your dream." It's so funny. The regret playing out so beautifully on Conan's face is just, to me, hysterical. That, to me, is the comedy of that beat, is his deep, profound regret. "I've gotta listen to this bitch talk about her fucking dream. Kill me." And her, again, oblivious delight in telling the story. To me, that's the love story in the movie, is between those two.
16:04 Sam Fragoso? The two of them.
16:05 Speaker 03 Yeah.
16:05 Sam Fragoso? You know, when we show clips to most actors.
16:08 Speaker 03 Oh god, what do they do?
16:11 Sam Fragoso? They're not as excited about it as you are.
16:14 Speaker 03 But it's my nerves. It's my nerves, Sam.
16:17 Sam Fragoso? Is your nerves watching it together right now?
16:20 Speaker 03 Of course.
16:20 Sam Fragoso? What are we nervous about?
16:21 Speaker 03 Feeling self-conscious. It's a cover up, for sure. Obviously, feeling a little self-conscious to watch myself, but I'm a good audience. And to me, Conan in that scene is really...
16:30 Sam Fragoso? You are a good audience. You have a good laugh.
16:31 Speaker 03 Thank you. I'm a good audience. Yes, my children are constantly making fun of my love.
16:35 Sam Fragoso? How do they make fun of it?
16:36 Speaker 03 They just imitate me. Ha, ha, ha, ha. And they do an imitation. And I'm like, all right. Okay, okay, got it.
16:42 Sam Fragoso? Have you ever had a therapist like the one Conan is playing there?
16:46 Speaker 03 No, I have not. Like, this is the love story of the film. And it's at the bitter end where it's really bad. Like, he's doing a bad job. They're misbehaving and it's like awkward and it's, you know.
16:59 Sam Fragoso? Are you a laying on the couch kind of patient?
17:01 Speaker 03 I've done the couch, lying down, and that was one thing. Yeah, it's one way to go.
17:06 Sam Fragoso? I don't like that.
17:07 Speaker 03 Hmm, yeah.
17:07 Sam Fragoso? No, I like it for you. It's your therapy. You do what you want to do. I get very uncomfortable.
17:13 Speaker 03 It's, well, it's supposed to be, right? Isn't it?
17:16 Sam Fragoso? I feel it's a little bit of a hat on a hat. Like, therapy is already vulnerable.
17:19 Speaker 03 Yeah.
17:20 Sam Fragoso? I don't want to be horizontal with someone I'm paying.
17:25 Speaker 03 I appreciate that. I felt like, well, it just feels like a cliche, doesn't it? You also feel like you're in a Woody Allen movie. Exactly.
17:35 Sam Fragoso? Look, I don't want to play the role of the therapist, although the show sometimes feels therapeutic.
17:40 Speaker 03 I'm sure it does. Good lord, yes.
17:41 Sam Fragoso? But I am interested in your childhood.
17:44 Speaker 03 Oh, god.
17:44 Sam Fragoso? I'm sorry.
17:47 Sam Fragoso? Growing up in a suburb of Sydney, as the youngest of four, your mother, a primary school administrator, your father, a statistician by day, racetrack gambler by night. Your brother George said once of you, "You were always a performer."
18:03 Speaker 03 Oh, god.
18:03 Sam Fragoso? Rose was, quote, "very cute and trying to impress us by being a clown." She was also a bit of an attention seeker.
18:12 Speaker 03 Oh, my goodness. Well, he was there, I guess.
18:19 Speaker 03 There's got to be some truth. But at the same time, I was also shy. So I was a bit of both, which is a weird thing for an actor. People are like, actors aren't shy. But there's an element, I think, of that in a lot of actors who can be shy and find performing like what a great escape. You're allowed to be somebody else in this that's not shy. And it's a weird, it's a license that you get, so.
18:39 Sam Fragoso? What were you shy about?
18:40 Speaker 03 I think I was just shy, trying to fit in, not the most vivacious socially type thing. I was more of a backseat observer.
18:47 Sam Fragoso? Is that because you were the youngest?
18:49 Speaker 03 I'm sure it's got something to do with that, right? Birth order, all those sorts of things. But youngest of four was kind of fabulous, too. Like, what a great... We always had such a chaotic, lovely house of people coming in and out, and it was very open. And we were in a really great neighborhood where we're friends with all our neighbors. Yeah.
19:06 Sam Fragoso? Your older sister had a friend named Rosie, I believe, who said, "I think Rose should start acting." Why did she say that?
19:15 Speaker 03 Well, she was an actress and she was going to the Australian Theatre for Young People, which was a youth theatre that had great programmes for young kids. And I loved it. I was a ham. I remember putting on shows. I played Mary Poppins in the school play. Like, I was absolutely a ham. And then going to drama class, I just loved it. I loved it.
19:35 Sam Fragoso? Did it make sense to you from the jump?
19:38 Speaker 03 It did in as much as a little kid can make, you know, as a child. Like, I remember reassessing, like, later on, going to uni and stuff, like, do I really want to do acting? Is this just because I've done it for so long? You know, like, is it habit or is it love? You know, what is it? So that was something I wrestled with later. Yeah.
19:53 Sam Fragoso? What was your first paid job?
19:55 Speaker 03 I did a film called Dallas Doll, opposite Sandra Bernhardt, about a dysfunctional family and this American woman, this interloper, comes in and has an affair with my mother and sweeps off her feet. And I was the daughter. It was a supporting role.
20:09 Sam Fragoso? You're like a young girl who's obsessed with UFOs, right?
20:12 Speaker 03 Yes, that's right. Oh, my gosh. I remember my lines now. That's right.
20:17 Sam Fragoso? You know what? We don't even have to remember the lines because we have them here.
20:21 Speaker 03 This is like punked.
20:22 Sam Fragoso? I thought we could kind of perform
20:25 Speaker 03 Oh, my goodness.
20:26 Sam Fragoso? one of these early scenes together.
20:29 Speaker 03 This is my audition scene.
20:30 Sam Fragoso? This is audition scene?
20:31 Speaker 03 Yeah. Wow, that's so... This is like a full core body memory moment. That's so weird. My first audition, I remember.
20:40 Sam Fragoso? That's amazing.
20:41 Speaker 03 I remember learning it.
20:42 Sam Fragoso? You played the young girl. Her name was?
20:44 Speaker 03 Rastus.
20:45 Sam Fragoso? And I guess I'll play the Sandra Bernhardt part. The scene in the film is set outside in a, like, cornfield or something.
20:54 Speaker 03 Yes, I think you're right.
20:55 Sam Fragoso? It's nighttime.
20:55 Speaker 03 I think you're right. Yep. Are we gonna do this?
20:57 Sam Fragoso? Yeah, I'm gonna do it. All right. What you looking for, Rastus? Charlie tells me you think you could find a UFO.
21:03 Speaker 03 Charlie's got a big mouth.
21:05 Sam Fragoso? What do you do if you see one?
21:06 Speaker 03 What's it to you?
21:07 Sam Fragoso? Just curious. You spend a lot of time out here. I just want you to know something. If there's anything on your mind, you can always talk to me.
21:14 Speaker 03 There is something. How long you staying?
21:16 Sam Fragoso? You've got a lot of aggression in you, Rastus. I gotta tell you something, honey. There's no such thing as UFOs.
21:22 Speaker 03 Bullshit. It's proof anyway. Circles in cornfields and photos.
21:26 Sam Fragoso? And frauds. Two old Englishmen went around making the cornfield circles. Didn't you read about it? They owned up to it. Said they'd been going around making them for years.
21:35 Speaker 03 Yeah, well, even if it is bullshit, at least it's my bullshit. Rather swallow that than your crap.
21:41 Sam Fragoso? Your mom wants you in for bed.
21:43 Speaker 03 Scene.
21:46 Speaker 03 Wow.
21:48 Sam Fragoso? You said this was a core memory.
21:50 Speaker 03 It really was. Like, I remember that my intonation reading it and like, I remember like, working on it and her defensiveness and, you know, like, she's got to be aggressive in the scene and I, yeah.
22:01 Sam Fragoso? Did you feel after having made the film, you're like, okay, I think I could do this?
22:05 Speaker 03 I mean, in that blissfully ignorant way, absolutely.
22:08 Sam Fragoso? How long does the blissful ignorance last?
22:11 Speaker 03 About, um, six months, I think. And then probably I continued to audition and then obviously didn't get parts. And then ended up doing a soap opera when I was 15. But, you know, I went back to school and that's like, you just go back to reality and you're not in that. So. And my parents were incredibly like, down to earth people who were always sort of going, well, let's see, you know, no, it's hard. It's, they didn't know anything about the business, but they were always trying to be practical about it.
22:36 Sam Fragoso? So you go to high school and you have a teacher there named Sharon Roberts.
22:42 Speaker 03 Yeah, at Bradford College, yeah, in year 11 and 12.
22:44 Sam Fragoso? She describes one of your performances as a cockroach scuttling about, which she said wasn't a particularly inspired choice.
22:53 Speaker 03 Well, I mean, she's entitled to her opinion, but yes.
22:57 Sam Fragoso? But the monologue that she developed for a 1997 HSC regional competition. Apparently was very good. So what, what was this? Cause it seems like a kind of turning point.
23:11 Speaker 03 It was an amalgamation of a few things. I'm not going to remember it correctly, but some of it was from, this is going to sound ridiculous, because it is ridiculous. Some of it was Blanche Dubois from Streetcar Named Desire. And some of it was some poetry that my sister was studying at university at the time. And I can't remember the poetry, so I won't try to make it up. And then I think a little bit of free form writing.
23:32 Sam Fragoso? Of your own?
23:33 Speaker 03 Of my own. Self devised piece. Ridiculous. Yeah, it was like a self devised piece with all of those things. It sounds insane, and I think it was insane.
23:43 Sam Fragoso? And yet the insanity won.
23:45 Speaker 03 Sharon Roberts clearly has.
23:47 Sam Fragoso? She has held on to that performance.
23:49 Speaker 03 She's held on to it, and the cockroach.
23:50 Sam Fragoso? You said the blissful ignorance went away after six months.
23:52 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:53 Sam Fragoso? As a late teenager thinking about going to America and acting, what was your ambition? What did you think you wanted to do?
24:00 Speaker 03 Hmm, I was very aware by that point. And look, I had a completely regular, I was at high school. Like, I had a regular childhood. I wasn't a child celebrity like some other actors who started very young. But I did audition. I did this short lived soap opera, so I was working. And then I finished school and, like all good Aussies, I took time off and like went backpacking and stuff and went to uni. But I loved acting and I continued to do it. I auditioned for all drama schools. Like, it was, I did a TV show called Wild Side, which was pivotal. I worked with this coach called Nico Lathorus, who introduced me to practical aesthetics. So that took me to New York. So I was, I was on a journey of creativity, for sure.
24:40 Sam Fragoso? As a student, how would you explain what practical aesthetics are? For people who've studied under Mamet?
24:45 Speaker 03 It's the words, right? On the most simple level, like, practical aesthetics is very writer driven. And it's really like, in the driest sense, it's like words on a page. There is no character. You just say the words and that's it.
24:56 Sam Fragoso? I asked David Mamet, what makes a good actor? And he says, well, they, they can act.
25:01 Speaker 03 Which I kind of love. Like, I kind of like, I love that.
25:03 Sam Fragoso? And I was like, well, how do you know when they're good? And he's like, well, because you watch and they're good. I think his quote was, they just say the fucking lines.
25:11 Speaker 03 That's kind of it.
25:11 Sam Fragoso? But can I say, people just watched the two of us, quote, say the fucking lines. And it's really clear.
25:21 Speaker 03 That I was terrible, me, Rose.
25:22 Sam Fragoso? No, it's really clear, one is good at it and one is reading lines on the page. Cause you're not really just reading lines on the page.
25:31 Speaker 03 And there's the nuance, it's very nuanced and there is a whole series of steps to the process. And there's many books to speak to this and obviously the whole program there at Atlantic. But it very much spoke to me and it became a sort of cult in Australia. This, it took off and it was brought over by this wonderful actress Melissa Bruder. And she's started to bring teachers out to Australia. In any case, I ended up studying, yeah, at a summer program at the Atlantic, which was so fun.
25:57 Sam Fragoso? I think it's around this time that you star in this now like cult classic of a film called Two Hands. It's with late Heath Ledger and I want to watch a scene from that.
26:08 Speaker 03 Oh my God, okay. Oh God, good Lord. Should I just lie down?
26:11 Sam Fragoso? Yeah, we're getting close to therapy, so.
26:15 Sam Fragoso? And so this is Rose using all the practical aesthetic education here in this scene. Let's take a look.
26:24 Speaker 04 So you're from the country, eh?
26:26 Speaker 03 Yeah, pretty much.
26:28 Speaker 04 Hey, what's it like out there?
26:29 Speaker 03 I don't know, less buildings, more cows.
26:34 Speaker 04 You got a horse, you'll ride?
26:35 Speaker 03 No.
26:38 Speaker 04 Then what do you do?
26:40 Speaker 03 Oh, not much really, just muck around, you know, it's pretty boring.
26:48 Speaker 03 So you're like a strip club guy, hey?
26:50 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, no, no, I've been doing that for a while, yeah, but um, I got a new job. And you could say I'm moving on.
26:56 Speaker 03 Yeah, what are you doing?
26:58 Speaker 04 I'm um, yeah, I'm doing, I'm waiting for a guy, you know, just doing odd jobs here and there, that sort of thing.
27:06 Speaker 03 Right, it's like a handyman?
27:10 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah. Hey, what about you, got any photos?
27:13 Speaker 03 No, not really.
27:18 Speaker 04 Hey, let me take one of you.
27:20 Speaker 03 Day one. Look, I promise you, I'm not gonna run up with your camera.
27:34 Speaker 03 You gotta do something. What do you want me to do? I don't know, something.
27:41 Speaker 03 Oh, kids, just kids.
27:44 Sam Fragoso? What do you make of watching that one?
27:45 Speaker 03 You know, it's obviously very, you know, there's a sadness to it. It's like, that's interesting, just watching Heath's performance. He was such a natural and could hit every beat, you know, without you realizing or without seeing any homework. Just very, I don't know, he had a self-possession about him, even though he was also quite shy. Yeah, there's a nostalgia for sure.
28:09 Sam Fragoso? Hmm.
28:09 Speaker 03 Yeah.
28:09 Sam Fragoso? I feel like even in that scene, I can hear it, but also looking at you, some of the moves you do now are already there.
28:17 Speaker 03 Sam, good. Blow up my spot.
28:24 Speaker 03 Oh, God, really? I feel self-conscious in that scene. I don't think I'm particularly good.
28:29 Sam Fragoso? But the character's self-conscious in that scene.
28:31 Speaker 03 Well, that's fair enough, yeah, I suppose.
28:33 Sam Fragoso? This is a woman who likes to be behind the camera.
28:35 Speaker 03 Yeah, a young girl.
28:37 Sam Fragoso? A young girl.
28:37 Speaker 03 Really, barely a woman. It's a sweet scene, yeah.
28:40 Sam Fragoso? You know, that film really did a whole lot for you.
28:43 Speaker 03 Hmm.
28:43 Sam Fragoso? Like, basically, you start coming to America after that. And there's this period that I'm like fascinated by. You're in your early twenties in Los Angeles, going out to auditions. And I read somewhere that during that time, you also take a creative writing class.
29:01 Speaker 03 Yes.
29:02 Sam Fragoso? At UCLA.
29:03 Speaker 03 Good lord, I am gonna lie down.
29:06 Speaker 03 I did. Uh, I didn't finish it. I did not finish it, but I did, I did a creative writing course, yeah.
29:11 Sam Fragoso? You said, quote, "I have to do something with my mind while I'm here, and I like writing short stories. Also, being on university campus makes me feel young again."
29:20 Speaker 03 I was young, what was I talking about?
29:21 Sam Fragoso? I don't know.
29:22 Speaker 03 I was like 21. But those things are true. I was like a jobbing actor, I was trying to get jobs. It's a weird town. I was, yeah, a roommate recommended it. And I do love university campuses. All those, all those things is true.
29:35 Sam Fragoso? This is not a true or false interview.
29:37 Speaker 03 It's not? It is for me.
29:38 Sam Fragoso? You're not under arrest. This isn't an investigation. I can't tell if you think we're in a therapy scene or like a scene from Law and Order.
29:45 Speaker 03 Or a Law and Order, yeah. I'm like the defense attorney for the young Rose Byrne.
29:50 Sam Fragoso? Mariska Hargitay is gonna come in anytime.
29:52 Speaker 03 Benson.
29:53 Sam Fragoso? Ten on, ten on, ten.
29:53 Speaker 03 Come on, iconic.
29:55 Sam Fragoso? The best show. The reason I brought it up was not just to embarrass you. Actually, it wasn't meant to embarrass you at all. I found it very interesting that a young actor was like, I actually also wanna do creative writing.
30:07 Speaker 03 I think at that, and I deferred university at that point, but I was always an English literature major. I always loved to read. I was a nerd and I was trying to not fall in the trap of those sort of young actor tropes of just driving around Hollywood and losing your mind. And not that I was like partying or anything, but just more trying to keep inspired.
30:26 Sam Fragoso? What was the culture and the audition process at that time? Cause I feel like in my head, it's the audition scene from Mulholland Drive.
30:37 Speaker 03 Oh, gosh, it was neither of those things. And I, you know, I was really, I didn't have any horrible casting couch stories. And I know that that's legitimately, I've, you know, a lot of, obviously that's been, I've totally exposed and about time to talk about that, but I didn't, I didn't have any of those. It was generally, you know, the usual humiliating kind of things of not getting the part or being dismissed of. The worst is when you have to wait, when you have to wait for over an hour and you're stuck in the room with all these other actors going in and that, that can be, that's pretty miserable.
31:05 Sam Fragoso? How were you in those like touch and go periods? Cause it wasn't until damages that it was consistent. How did you deal with that?
31:11 Speaker 03 Up and down, up and down. I always wanted to finish my degree. I was constantly returning to Australia. I would work in Australia.
31:17 Sam Fragoso? This finishing degree thing, in almost every interview, you talk about this guilt of not finishing the degree. What's that about?
31:26 Speaker 03 Well, let's unpack it. What, what is that? I don't think it's exclusive to me, but there's some sense of achievement or accomplishment or legitimacy that I can finish a degree, that I have some proof of it and that I have knowledge of other.
31:39 Sam Fragoso? Was it for your parents?
31:40 Speaker 03 I'm sure there's a subconscious thing of my parents, but they were never pushy. They're not.
31:44 Sam Fragoso? They were supportive?
31:45 Speaker 03 They were very, very supportive, but I was chatting about it with someone too the other night about, I never finished my degree either. And we were like going back and forth with theories and then talking about now how like a lot of people don't even go to college and what do you tell your kids? You probably should get them to learn a trade because AI is gonna take everybody's jobs anyway. So we should be, you know, blah, blah, blah. But I'm sure it's some sense of like legitimacy of having a, having some, some knowledge outside of just being self-taught or self-educated or whatever.
32:17 Sam Fragoso? We'll be right back with actor Rose Byrne.
32:37 Sam Fragoso? I think the best clothes you own are probably the ones you spend the least amount of time thinking about. They're just there when you need them. The sweater that goes with everything, the perfect pair of pants or the tee you always reach for first. That's what I've always liked about Quince. They focus on everyday staples made with premium materials like organic cotton, merino wool, and 100% Mongolian cashmere. Their cashmere sweaters start at just $60 and everything is designed to be versatile enough to work with what you already own. And now that the temperatures are starting to drop, they also have premium down jackets and classic wool outerwear, easy layers that can carry you through the fall and into winter. I've had a few of their merino wool all-season
33:18 Sam Fragoso? tees for just over a year now, and they've really become my go-to in my wardrobe. The quality was the thing that surprised me when I first tried them out. They're comfortable, easy to layer, and after a year of wearing them regularly, they've held up remarkably well. I use them all the time and would absolutely recommend them. Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen, which allows them to price everything 50% to 80% less than similar brands. So you're paying for the quality of the materials rather than a big brand markup. It's not just clothing. Quince brings that same approach to hotel-quality bedding and bath, kitchen essentials, and thoughtfully designed furniture, well-made pieces for everyday living. Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince
34:02 Sam Fragoso? app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. You can get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns, now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Talk Easy. It's really the best way to support the show. Enjoy.
34:21 Sam Fragoso? MUBI is a global film company bringing great cinema to the world and to you. Everything at MUBI is handpicked with an emphasis on visionary filmmakers and movies worth discovering. One new movie is called Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, from writer-director Jane Seanbrin, who made the film I Saw the TV Glow. The film stars Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson, but follows a young director tasked with resurrecting Camp Miasma, a once-beloved slasher franchise that after years of sequels has fallen out of favor. Looking for inspiration, she visits the reclusive actress who starred in the original film. But what begins at attempt to revive the franchise soon pulls the two women into a blood-soaked world of desire, fear, and delirium.
35:05 Sam Fragoso? It's a world-expanding, genre-bending movie from one of the most distinctive filmmakers working today. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is now streaming exclusively on MUBI. You can try MUBI free for 30 days at MUBI.com/talkeasy. That's MUBI, M-U-B-I dot com slash talkeasy for a whole month of great cinema for free.
35:39 Sam Fragoso? I will say, you know, post-damages and in between you turning into this like comedic actor that people seek out, the way the press described you, it was very odd. It was very like of a 2000s moment.
35:53 Speaker 03 Fascinating. Tell me.
35:54 Sam Fragoso? Well, I'll tell you that all the women on our team were reading the quotes and all of them had the kind of like ick emoji. And I want to pull one piece up from Esquire.
36:05 Speaker 03 Oh.
36:06 Sam Fragoso? This is from 2008.
36:07 Speaker 03 Okay.
36:08 Sam Fragoso? And I want to hold it because it feels like it's 1987 and 1997, but it was like this is from 2007, 2008. And I just want you to see this piece from Esquire.
36:21 Speaker 03 Wow, funny joke from a beautiful woman. Wow. Oh, my God, that is, that's ill. It's ill, isn't it? It's ill.
36:27 Sam Fragoso? So it was a recurring series from Esquire called Funny Joke From A Beautiful Woman.
36:31 Speaker 03 Wow, isn't that amazing? Oh, my God, hopefully you couldn't do that now.
36:35 Sam Fragoso? You'd think that's like from the 50s.
36:36 Speaker 03 You do.
36:37 Sam Fragoso? That's not that long ago.
36:39 Speaker 03 And like the tragedy of like feeling like I had to do that. Like that is like what I call into question of like, I hope now actresses are not put through that because it is so humiliating and like.
36:52 Sam Fragoso? Did you feel like you had to do it?
36:53 Speaker 03 Of course. No, you think like it's such a window and I'm not going to get work and this and that. And like, obviously it's a harmless joke and a thing like I, but I hope people aren't having to be put through those ridiculous, reductive sexist, you know, articles like that. That's really.
37:12 Sam Fragoso? It's like, it's true. Like that's, it's just one small piece in a magazine.
37:16 Speaker 03 Yes, yes. It's amazing. You know, I played Gloria Steinem in Mrs. America. And revisiting what she went through in the press and what, there was this extraordinary interview with her on some like television show where she's been followed around, like they're filming her ironing and doing her hair and paint like this like bizarre sequence of like establishing this beautiful woman as also a, as a thinking man's crumpet, like this sort of like, and it's so wildly dated and insulting and he's so sleazy, this reporter, and she's just tolerating this thing. And, and that's sort of a version of that in, in a different way, but it's the same thing of being put in this uncomfortable position by a man
37:59 Speaker 03 to seem funny and behind Gloria Steinem's eyes, she's just steely, you know? But it's this performance that women are asked to do.
38:09 Sam Fragoso? That's like these small concessions.
38:11 Speaker 03 Yes, this quiet tolerance, these small concessions.
38:14 Sam Fragoso? Being asked every day.
38:15 Speaker 03 Yeah. And it was still going on in 2008.
38:17 Sam Fragoso? When does that change for you?
38:19 Speaker 03 I think I aged out of it pretty quickly in the sense of like, I'm uncomfortable. I don't want to do that again. I don't want to do that anymore or, and it's different for everyone. I mean, like of when that would happen, but I think it was pretty soon after, was that 2000?
38:33 Sam Fragoso? 2008, 2009.
38:34 Speaker 03 I feel like it must have, I, I hope.
38:35 Sam Fragoso? It's around that time that you auditioned for Get Him To The Greek.
38:38 Speaker 03 Mm hmm.
38:39 Sam Fragoso? And we do have that audition here.
38:40 Speaker 03 Oh, my God. Is this what you did to Mamet?
38:44 Sam Fragoso? That's why I walked out. No, I'm kidding. You walked out for a lot of other way worse reasons.
38:50 Speaker 03 Okay, okay. Are you drunk?
38:54 Speaker 03 Well, I had this party on the condition that you wouldn't be getting an evening. No, I know that, but I thought to myself, I just turned twenty five and, you know, fuck it. I want a fucking drink, so now I'm drunk. But you could have warned me. Well, I'm drunk. There. Now, you've been warned. That's not really supportive. Well, I'm a bit sick of supporting you. You know, you're fucking bragged that you kick your addictions, but you haven't at all. Instead of being hooked on smack, you're hooked on me. And if I wasn't around, you'd go straight back to doing drugs. Do you have any idea what sort of pressure that I'm under? All right, I'll come out. I am a prisoner to this man. This is like a fucking kidnapping, you know, I'm like a fucking concubine. He gets locked up in this castle like bloody Rapunzel.
39:41 Sam Fragoso? When you go about pivoting out of that moment and you're in this decade of big budget American comedies, I guess I'm curious, like, big picture, what did you want to do in those films, like Neighbours?
39:53 Speaker 03 Well, I mean, to start with, I think I was very lucky in that role in Getting to the Greek was like outrageous and wildly like, you know, self-absorbed pop star who was on a bend to sort of self-destruct and as the sort of female counterpart to Russell Brown, but a great satire, you know, and a take on that type of character that you see in the media. But then I think working on Bridesmaids and with Paul Feig, he's such a lover of women and such a lover of actresses. And I was so lucky to have that exposure early on in in broad comedy where it is obviously historically written and directed and devised by men.
40:26 Sam Fragoso? Most of the women basically are given nothing to do.
40:28 Speaker 03 Yeah, and I'm not saying anything new here. Look at the history of Saturday Night, you know, wherever, like, you know, constant conversation around that and women in comedy. And I don't want to speak to it too much because I'm not that educated about it compared to like someone like Amy Poehler, who's certainly seen it, or Tina Fey, or the greats like that.
40:42 Sam Fragoso? But your work did subvert that conception.
40:44 Speaker 03 And that was really early on because I was so lucky that I had Paul Feig as a sort of mentor at that point. And then with Neighbours, we were really trying. There's so many tropes of the wife in these comedies and that they're the nag.
40:56 Speaker 03 It was a very conscious decision intention to create a couple that were sort of as silly as one another and as dysfunctional as one another. And one of them wasn't trying to drag the other one down. And it was like very much a comic duo, which we then obviously went on to like explore further with Platonic and stuff, Seth and I, yeah.
41:11 Sam Fragoso? I guess to go back to like thinking about the kid who left Australia, moved to America, very quickly became a pretty successful dramatic actress and then pivoted into comedies in this great big way. Were you happy to do something that was funny? Were you relieved to show something else?
41:29 Speaker 03 I really was. I was very happy to. It was liberating. And like any actor, you know, you may have success in one role and then immediately get 12 scripts playing like the same part in different versions. And you quickly learn, oh, if I can have some agency over what I'm choosing next or what I go for next, where will I go? But it was totally liberating. It was totally liberating after, you know, quickly realizing you can get typecast and how to, how to find people who want you to pivot, who can be your, you know, who can facilitate that.
41:59 Sam Fragoso? I want to play a scene from Bridesmaids. This is you and Kristen Wiig doing a wedding toast.
42:05 Speaker 03 Lilian, you're my best friend.
42:09 Speaker 03 And I'm so proud of you.
42:13 Speaker 03 And Doug Lee, I'm sorry, inside joke.
42:20 Speaker 03 You better not keep my Lil on a leash because I still need my drunken Saturday nights at Rockin' Sushi, okay? Everybody, raise your glasses to the couple of the decade, Doug and Lilian.
42:40 Speaker 03 Have a great night. Dessert wine is out. Dessert wine, yummy.
42:45 Sam Fragoso? Coming back, you know, it's funny watching that and really any of these films. Neighbors, the sequel, Platonic to some degree.
42:54 Speaker 03 Spy is a great.
42:54 Sam Fragoso? Spy, yes, yes, yes. But you really perfected this like very confident woman with a breezy exterior that completely obfuscates this interiority that's coming undone. I wonder if you see the link between those and what you end up doing in this new film of yours.
43:13 Speaker 03 Oh, wow, to thread a needle.
43:15 Sam Fragoso? Because in Legs, you just get to play. The woman who's coming undone.
43:20 Speaker 03 Mm hmm.
43:22 Sam Fragoso? Like, you're not really putting on any airs.
43:25 Speaker 03 Yeah. She's given up.
43:27 Sam Fragoso? It seems like this is the film that if they had like a second camera crew at the end of shooting one of these movies and you were like, hey, we're gonna stay all night, we're gonna make another film, this is gonna be like the B side of, this is the B side of Neighbors.
43:41 Speaker 03 I think it's a radical take and I kind of love it. I suppose I'm in it, so I don't have the power of sort of being able to fully see.
43:49 Sam Fragoso? Okay, let me phrase it better.
43:50 Speaker 03 Okay.
43:51 Sam Fragoso? Like, you hadn't been offered something like this.
43:53 Speaker 03 Mm hmm.
43:54 Sam Fragoso? And I'm sure there's a part of you that went, I'm ready to do this. Is that fair?
44:00 Speaker 03 That is fair. I think it's also fair that I was terrified. Like, I was like, I know I keep saying I didn't want to mess it up and that, all those sorts of things, but.
44:07 Sam Fragoso? What were you terrified of?
44:08 Speaker 03 Of messing it up. This is Mary Bronstein's personal story, something that happened to her. This is a, well, you know, an abstracted version of that. As an actor, you're waiting for the balls to get thrown, you know, you're waiting a lot. And to have that opportunity with the bat, it is a big feeling. And yeah, I've had, gosh, a myriad of roles, like small roles in big films, big roles in small, you know, the gamut of things. And this is, this was, I felt like such a, of course, an incredible opportunity.
44:38 Sam Fragoso? Hmm. It's funny, one of the reasons she cast you, she said, is because audiences have a lot of affection for Rose Byrne. There's a lot of goodwill there. When you finally got to watch your performance in the film, what do you understand about the movie and story now that you didn't when you were making it? Like, now that you see it all put together?
44:56 Speaker 03 I think I just see it as this extraordinary creative expression that Mary Bronstein had to get out, she had to get it out, she had to tell this story. And it's not even a linear thing, it's a lot of it is very abstracted and Lynchian. And I see that, I see beyond me in it, and that's wild. That's like, that's not always the case. You can get hung up on this and that. And film itself is such a clear, wild, angry expression of a feeling that I feel. That's my takeaway.
45:24 Sam Fragoso? This is a strong angry impression.
45:26 Speaker 03 Yeah.
45:26 Sam Fragoso? And I mentioned earlier, I had strong feelings.
45:28 Speaker 03 Yeah, I'm curious.
45:29 Sam Fragoso? Well, here's one. If you're in a relationship and you and your partner have been debating having kids. This is the film for you.
45:38 Speaker 03 I don't know about that.
45:39 Sam Fragoso? It's a perfect date film for people in the early stages of a serious relationship. And I'll tell you why. Because like most things made by smart women, it is a test of sorts.
45:50 Speaker 03 I love that, Sam. I think that's wonderful. I think that is razor sharp.
45:54 Sam Fragoso? It's a litmus test. It also sometimes feels like a dare ad for the dangers of procreating. Like, I've always wanted to have kids. I've never had more doubts about having kids.
46:05 Speaker 03 Oh, my gosh.
46:06 Sam Fragoso? Than after watching this movie.
46:07 Speaker 03 But can I say, 99% hopefully of parents will never go through this. This is such a isolated, very specific situation that this family is in. So just for all those people out there who do want to start families.
46:21 Sam Fragoso? But, but the heart of my dumb joke.
46:23 Speaker 03 Yes.
46:23 Sam Fragoso? You're a mother of two kids.
46:24 Speaker 03 Yes.
46:25 Sam Fragoso? This film really gets at it in a way that's like, oh, man, talk about feeling seen.
46:30 Speaker 03 Yeah. I had a girlfriend who saw it recently, a mother of two children. And she said, this, I feel invisible every day. Because mothers are both revered and ignored. It's like a study in contrast. It's the truth. It's both things are true.
46:44 Sam Fragoso? Yeah. It's like the thing I said at the beginning about my friend. She's a full person, asked about the kid.
46:48 Speaker 03 Yes. And that is, that's the reality. And she just said, I feel so seen. I feel so invisible every day. And oh, my God, she was like screaming to me on the phone and I was dying. But she's not letting you off the hook. Mary Bronstein is not letting you off the hook. And she does it in very clever ways, very cinematically with the way she's at the camera and the sound design. And, you know, it's very clever.
47:08 Sam Fragoso? By the time the film ended, you said, quote, "I was physically and emotionally bruised."
47:15 Sam Fragoso? One, is everything okay?
47:17 Speaker 03 Oh, gosh, that's so wildly. It's so funny. Australians don't take themselves so seriously. I just sound so serious in that. And it makes me so uncomfortable because I am like.
47:27 Sam Fragoso? I'm sorry.
47:28 Speaker 03 You know what it is? It's your adrenaline is so high. It's as simple as that. There's a crash. There's just a crash after. And it can come mid shoot. It can come at the end. It can go. And it just at the end, I just did crash because it was physically, obviously, a lot. And then subconsciously, of course, draining. But it's also so fun. Like, all those things can also be fun. So I stress that.
47:49 Sam Fragoso? On the other side of the crash, now that we're here. What do you want to do? Like, what kind of work do you want to make? Because I know for a long, long time, your favorite filmmaker was the late David Lynch.
48:00 Speaker 03 Yes. Yes.
48:01 Sam Fragoso? This is the kind of performance, I think, that offers a kind of pivot moment. The same way you got to pivot after damages into comedy. Now this-
48:10 Speaker 03 Thank you.
48:11 Sam Fragoso? Into this film, like, what do you want? And this doesn't, you can be as serious or not serious as you like.
48:18 Speaker 03 I am, okay, I know what I'm doing. I'm doing a play and I'm really thrilled about it. I haven't been on stage for five years. I revere theater actor. I've done plays, but I've definitely-
48:27 Sam Fragoso? Your partner does a lot of plays.
48:29 Speaker 03 You know, Bobby's church is the theater. You know, that's his first love and we have date nights at the theater. Like, we're a couple of geeks. So I'm doing a Noel Coward comedy and I'm, I'm really excited. I'm very nervous. It's, there's no one with that razor sharp, extraordinary writing and wit. And it's, uh, when you read it as an actor, it's like reading Chekhov. And it's a weird comparison, but it, it feels very easy. And then when you've actually tried to get it on its feet, you go, oh my gosh, this is, this is wildly a tight, this is a tight rope. And that, to me, is very exciting.
49:09 Sam Fragoso? After one last break, the end of my conversation with Rose Byrne.
49:27 Sam Fragoso? I think a lot of us are gonna spend the next few weeks looking for gifts online. And while I like finding something thoughtful for the people in my life, the process can get a little ridiculous. You've got a dozen tabs open, you're comparing prices and you're trying to remember which store had that one thing you saw that has a deal and you flagged it and you saved it and now you can't find it. Anyway, that's what I like about Shop. Shop brings all kinds of stores together in one place. So you can search for what you're looking for across different brands while discovering new ones along the way, plus tracking all your orders without jumping in between websites. And just in time for the holidays, they're celebrating the all new shop.com with a pretty extraordinary giveaway. 1,000 shoppers will win $1,000 in Shop Cash.
50:12 Sam Fragoso? That's $1 million in total, which you can put towards gifts for other people or maybe something you've had an eye on for yourself. You don't have to buy anything to enter the giveaway. Enter to win the $1 million Shop Cash giveaway from now until November 1st. Just go to shop.com. There are so many ways to win and that's shop.com. Shopping designed around you. No purchase necessary. Restrictions apply. Official rules available at shop.com.
50:54 Sam Fragoso? My last question.
50:55 Speaker 03 Yeah.
50:56 Sam Fragoso? To bring it full circle. Do you remember that day? You were 16 years old and you went to go see an Arthur Miller play.
51:03 Speaker 03 Oh, yes. Clearly, I remember what I was wearing.
51:05 Sam Fragoso? Did you tell us the story of that?
51:07 Speaker 03 I went to see A View From A Bridge with one of my best friends, Nadia Townsend, who's now my dramatog. Now we work together in that capacity and she's brilliant. And we went to see A View From A Bridge and I was a student. I was 16 and it was a production that was really very famous in Australia, starring the late Marshall Napier. He was extraordinary, the wonderful Essie Davies. And it was just thrilling, thrilling in a core memory sense of the great Greek tragedy of it, the drama of it, the humor in it. Yeah, it was one of those core kind of moments.
51:41 Sam Fragoso? And any part of that 16-year-old think, okay, I'm going to do that. I'm going to be here.
51:47 Speaker 03 No, of having dreams of that.
51:48 Sam Fragoso? Now you're in New York.
51:49 Speaker 03 Yeah, and it was that feeling too. You know, when you see something or you read a book or you see something and you have to tell everybody? Like that thing of like, you've got to shout it from the rooftop because you cannot believe what you've just experienced. That was that feeling of chasing that kind of feeling, I guess, is some kind of subconscious thing I'm doing.
52:07 Sam Fragoso? Well, I'm glad you've chased it and I have to say, I felt the same thing watching this new film of yours.
52:13 Speaker 03 Oh.
52:15 Sam Fragoso? It's hard to make a good movie.
52:16 Speaker 03 It's so hard.
52:16 Sam Fragoso? And I think this one is a very special one.
52:19 Speaker 03 Thank you, Sam.
52:20 Sam Fragoso? And to close, I know your father is a betting man. He used to be racing. Tracks. Now, I think he uses a site called Betfair.
52:26 Speaker 03 Betfair.
52:29 Sam Fragoso? I don't know if they have odds for best actress nominations, but if they do, um, I think you should make the bet.
52:36 Speaker 03 Awesome. You're lovely. And dad loves to crunch the numbers.
52:41 Sam Fragoso? I'm just trying to have your father make some extra money.
52:44 Speaker 03 I appreciate that.
52:45 Sam Fragoso? Um, I hope you bet on yourself, too.
52:49 Speaker 03 Always, constantly.
52:50 Sam Fragoso? Okay, good. Um, Rose Byrne, thank you for the time.
52:52 Speaker 03 Thank you.
53:25 Sam Fragoso? And that's our show.
53:28 Sam Fragoso? If you enjoyed today's conversation with Rose Byrne and want to help us out a little bit, the best thing you can do is to share the program with a friend, a family member on social media, tag us at Talk Easy Pod. If you want to go above and beyond, you can leave five stars on Spotify, a review on Apple. All of this really does help us continue making the show each and every Sunday. I want to give a special thanks this week to the teams at Narrative PR and A24. I also want to thank our friends of the show, Ione Sky and Ben Lee, and of course, our guest, Rose Byrne. To listen to more episodes with other great actors, I'd recommend Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, and Viola Davis. To hear those and more Lemonada podcasts, listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen.
54:14 Sam Fragoso? You can also subscribe to Lemonada Premium for exclusive bonus content and ad-free listening. Just hit the subscribe button on Apple or head to lemonadapremium.com. If you want to purchase one of our mugs, they come in cream or navy, visit talkeasypod.com/shop. Talk Easy is produced by Caroline Reebok. Our executive producer This is Janix Bravo. Today's talk was edited by Lindsay Ellis and Corey Etad. It was mixed by Andrew Vastola. Our music is by Dylan Peck. Our illustrations are by Kresha Shanoy. Photographs today come from Sarah Schneider with research assistance from Kiki Giorgio. This episode was made in partnership with the good people at Lemonada Media, and I'm Sam Fragoso. Thank you for listening to Talk Easy.
54:56 Sam Fragoso? I'll see you back here on Wednesday and Sunday for two brand-new episodes. Until then, stay safe and so long.
55:15 Speaker 06 History gets written, then rewritten, sometimes by scholars correcting the record, sometimes by committees deciding what a generation of kids will and won't learn. The version that makes it into the textbook isn't always the only story. It's the one that won out. That's the kind of thing Ground News was built for. It shows you how outlets across the spectrum tell the same story, side by side, so you can spot the shading for yourself. Ground News gives each outlet a factuality rating, so you know how much weight to give the source, and shows you who owns it, so you know what's behind it. The Nobel Peace Center called it "an excellent way to stay informed,
55:58 Speaker 06 avoid echo chambers, and expand your worldview." So go to groundnews.com/rz. That's G-R-O-U-N-D-N-E-W-S dot com slash R-C for 40% off unlimited access vantage plan. Get it yourself or gift it to someone who'd rather know than not. Use my link, groundnews.com/rz, so you get the discount and they know I sent you. If you're a fan of learning all sides of history, then Ground News is for you. One more time, groundnews.com/rz. I'm Dan Heath. On What It's Like to Be, I interview people about their jobs.
56:41 Speaker 06 Here's a married couple that drives a long-haul truck together. We backed up and they loaded.
56:46 Speaker 00 Fresh dead rats. I mean, how many rats would you guess were back there? There were 32,000 pounds of them. 32,000 pounds of frozen dead rats.
56:59 Speaker 06 Find out what it's like to be a long haul trucker, a couples therapist, or an FBI agent, all on the podcast What It's Like to Be.
Previous A Cup of Coffee with Director Benny Safdie (‘The Smashing Machine’) Next Does Fashion Have a Future? Designer Gabriela Hearst is Threading the Needle. Page updated November 1, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated