tammyy2j
11-02-2011, 12:10
You might have heard about The Big C - the comedy's been critically acclaimed over in the US and it's just started here in the UK! Laura Linney plays Cathy, a woman who discovers that she has cancer and decides to live her life to the full. We caught up with Laura and John Benjamin Hickey, who plays her brother Sean, to chat about the show and find out about their characters...
Can you give us an overview of your characters?
Laura: "I think Cathy's someone who has functioned really, really, really well but has not lived well. And she's someone who now that she's realised she has a limited amount of time left, she has no idea who she is. And she's desperate to find out who she is."
John: "I think Sean is someone who has struggled with extremes and has problems - emotionally, mentally - that have brought him to where he is right now. But he's incredibly bright, and his passions are not necessarily misplaced or put in the wrong direction. The things he believes in are things worth believing in, that are worth standing up for - the world and the environment, conservation. He's also in many ways deeply conventional and that's his particular struggle, I think. It's very interesting."
How would you describe the relationship between Cathy and Sean?
Laura: "Well, we think they are Irish twins. We think they were born very close together, so that they grew up together very, very close, and then at some point there was a bit of a split where their personalities changed. I always had this image of them - you know when a family goes on vacation and the kids are in the backseat falling asleep? I always had this image of them in the back of a station wagon just wrapped around each other with books and toys and stuff all around them."
John: "Even though Sean is the older, I think they look after each other. They both take the lead."
Laura: "It's a seesaw with them."
John: "It's a cause for conflict too as we all have with our siblings. We all have competitive relationships with our siblings. When it was first written, the character of Sean was written much younger and Laura called me and said, 'I want you to meet the producers on this and read for it', and I was like, 'I'm too old for this part'. But she had a great point where she saw that her husband was a man-child, her son was being a brat, and she needed somebody - even though Sean's not the most dependable human being in the world - somebody that Cathy could look up to and have a potential shoulder or have a shoulder that had existed in the past to cry on."
Laura: "Someone where there had been a history, where he had saved her in the past. Someone who had picked her up when she was down. Someone who she did admire and who followed through. Someone who she needed in that way."
John: "I love that Cathy puts up with so much from Sean - he's her brother and she loves him. She's even blind to a lot of it - he doesn't always smell good as he's sitting at her kitchen table! I love that there's a part of Cathy that as much as she minds, she just loves having him around. That's just such a touching, interesting family dynamic. For better or worse - 'He's my brother, what am I going to do?'"
You went to Juilliard together and have worked in theatre together before - did that help you with the relationship between Cathy and Sean?
Laura: "Sure. It's just a relief... We've known each other for a very long time and we trust each other and we studied from the same people. We have a very similar way of working."
John: "You don't need a lot of explanations. When I saw the pilot - I'm very critical of my own work and it's very hard to watch yourself, but I was like, 'Oh, I do see that shorthand, I do see what we don't have to work on'. It was palpable, I could see it. It was a good feeling."
What attracted you to the show?
John: "Laura. I mean, I loved the script, but it was the idea of getting to work with Laura. Of course, I loved the character and I loved the challenge of the material. I just thought it was a very strong idea for a show that people would either love or hate. 'Cancer comedy' - I just thought how challenging it would be trying to make this work week after week, year after year."
Laura: "There were several reasons for me. First off, it sort of intersected with everything I had been thinking about on my own - really obsessing about - and I knew it would give me an opportunity to explore those ideas and themes about living and dying and time and ageing and stuff like that. I also thought it was an impossible task - how do you do this? How do we make this work? How do we use comedy to illuminate? How do we use comedy to get closer to truth and consequently then closer to discomfort and then maybe closer to relief? How do you do that? So it was the technical challenge that I found really compelling. It was the emotional exploration about the privilege of ageing, time, what you do with time, the choices that you make. And also the opportunity to executive produce is very nice."
Were you nervous about making a comedy about cancer, as it's such a sensitive subject?
Laura: "I think I would be, depending on how it was dealt with. The challenge always is to use the comedy to get closer to the truth. If it's just to make fun of or be superfluous... that doesn't do anything. That doesn't help me at all as someone in it and it doesn't help move the story forward. And as we're doing it we're learning more and more about how to pair the two together, so it's a process that's evolving. But I find it sort of fascinating to see when it really works and when it doesn't. When something gets a little cheap or when it really hits on target."
John: "But cheap laughs are great. I think the first season has been really brave in experimenting with tones. Sometimes things can get too this or too that but that's the privilege of getting to work on such an interesting subject. And I think part of what's so wonderful about getting to be on a premium cable show is that we have a really interesting, adventurous leading character... You have Laura Linney, who's a deeply sympathetic brilliant actress, playing a person who is diagnosed with this terminal disease. But I think one of the things that's great about the show is that she's not always sympathetic. She does things like we all do that make you want to hit her and make you want to say, 'Snap out of it'. I love that she's full of life and all that entails."
For you personally, what do you think The Big C is about?
Laura: "I'm not saying this is what the show is about, but for me personally it's about time - what we do with it, how we use it, and the privilege of ageing."
John: "I think it's a real existential comedy. I think it's about the opportunity to really look at your life and the choices you make and ask the really big questions like, 'Am I doing what I want to do? Am I in the right place? Am I really living fully?' And they are questions that are so worth asking."
The Big C airs Thursdays at 11pm on More4.
Can you give us an overview of your characters?
Laura: "I think Cathy's someone who has functioned really, really, really well but has not lived well. And she's someone who now that she's realised she has a limited amount of time left, she has no idea who she is. And she's desperate to find out who she is."
John: "I think Sean is someone who has struggled with extremes and has problems - emotionally, mentally - that have brought him to where he is right now. But he's incredibly bright, and his passions are not necessarily misplaced or put in the wrong direction. The things he believes in are things worth believing in, that are worth standing up for - the world and the environment, conservation. He's also in many ways deeply conventional and that's his particular struggle, I think. It's very interesting."
How would you describe the relationship between Cathy and Sean?
Laura: "Well, we think they are Irish twins. We think they were born very close together, so that they grew up together very, very close, and then at some point there was a bit of a split where their personalities changed. I always had this image of them - you know when a family goes on vacation and the kids are in the backseat falling asleep? I always had this image of them in the back of a station wagon just wrapped around each other with books and toys and stuff all around them."
John: "Even though Sean is the older, I think they look after each other. They both take the lead."
Laura: "It's a seesaw with them."
John: "It's a cause for conflict too as we all have with our siblings. We all have competitive relationships with our siblings. When it was first written, the character of Sean was written much younger and Laura called me and said, 'I want you to meet the producers on this and read for it', and I was like, 'I'm too old for this part'. But she had a great point where she saw that her husband was a man-child, her son was being a brat, and she needed somebody - even though Sean's not the most dependable human being in the world - somebody that Cathy could look up to and have a potential shoulder or have a shoulder that had existed in the past to cry on."
Laura: "Someone where there had been a history, where he had saved her in the past. Someone who had picked her up when she was down. Someone who she did admire and who followed through. Someone who she needed in that way."
John: "I love that Cathy puts up with so much from Sean - he's her brother and she loves him. She's even blind to a lot of it - he doesn't always smell good as he's sitting at her kitchen table! I love that there's a part of Cathy that as much as she minds, she just loves having him around. That's just such a touching, interesting family dynamic. For better or worse - 'He's my brother, what am I going to do?'"
You went to Juilliard together and have worked in theatre together before - did that help you with the relationship between Cathy and Sean?
Laura: "Sure. It's just a relief... We've known each other for a very long time and we trust each other and we studied from the same people. We have a very similar way of working."
John: "You don't need a lot of explanations. When I saw the pilot - I'm very critical of my own work and it's very hard to watch yourself, but I was like, 'Oh, I do see that shorthand, I do see what we don't have to work on'. It was palpable, I could see it. It was a good feeling."
What attracted you to the show?
John: "Laura. I mean, I loved the script, but it was the idea of getting to work with Laura. Of course, I loved the character and I loved the challenge of the material. I just thought it was a very strong idea for a show that people would either love or hate. 'Cancer comedy' - I just thought how challenging it would be trying to make this work week after week, year after year."
Laura: "There were several reasons for me. First off, it sort of intersected with everything I had been thinking about on my own - really obsessing about - and I knew it would give me an opportunity to explore those ideas and themes about living and dying and time and ageing and stuff like that. I also thought it was an impossible task - how do you do this? How do we make this work? How do we use comedy to illuminate? How do we use comedy to get closer to truth and consequently then closer to discomfort and then maybe closer to relief? How do you do that? So it was the technical challenge that I found really compelling. It was the emotional exploration about the privilege of ageing, time, what you do with time, the choices that you make. And also the opportunity to executive produce is very nice."
Were you nervous about making a comedy about cancer, as it's such a sensitive subject?
Laura: "I think I would be, depending on how it was dealt with. The challenge always is to use the comedy to get closer to the truth. If it's just to make fun of or be superfluous... that doesn't do anything. That doesn't help me at all as someone in it and it doesn't help move the story forward. And as we're doing it we're learning more and more about how to pair the two together, so it's a process that's evolving. But I find it sort of fascinating to see when it really works and when it doesn't. When something gets a little cheap or when it really hits on target."
John: "But cheap laughs are great. I think the first season has been really brave in experimenting with tones. Sometimes things can get too this or too that but that's the privilege of getting to work on such an interesting subject. And I think part of what's so wonderful about getting to be on a premium cable show is that we have a really interesting, adventurous leading character... You have Laura Linney, who's a deeply sympathetic brilliant actress, playing a person who is diagnosed with this terminal disease. But I think one of the things that's great about the show is that she's not always sympathetic. She does things like we all do that make you want to hit her and make you want to say, 'Snap out of it'. I love that she's full of life and all that entails."
For you personally, what do you think The Big C is about?
Laura: "I'm not saying this is what the show is about, but for me personally it's about time - what we do with it, how we use it, and the privilege of ageing."
John: "I think it's a real existential comedy. I think it's about the opportunity to really look at your life and the choices you make and ask the really big questions like, 'Am I doing what I want to do? Am I in the right place? Am I really living fully?' And they are questions that are so worth asking."
The Big C airs Thursdays at 11pm on More4.