Column: Judy Greer, now in ‘Another Marriage’ at Steppenwolf, talks movie roles and the pleasure of forcing Michael Shannon to listen to Beyoncé before he’s had his coffee
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Lots of actors work hard at their craft, and appear to work as constantly as possible.
Then there’s Judy Greer, in a class by herself. Her performances in TV (”Arrested Development” to “Archer,” and that’s only the A’s), film (”The Descendants,” the recent “Halloween” movies, dozens and dozens more) and, currently, on stage in the world premiere of “Another Marriage” at Steppenwolf Theatre add up to nearly 200 gigs across a quarter century of what she calls “luck, and hard work.”
Widely admired for her wily comic timing and stealth dramatic versatility, Greer turns 48 in July. She was born outside Detroit and attended DePaul University’s Theatre School before landing in Los Angeles.
“Another Marriage,” Kate Arrington’s affecting comedy-drama, is about a lot of things: work, writing, marriage, divorce and paths diverging onto other, unforeseen paths. Last month at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, Greer won strong notices for the film version of the Chicago-launched Brett Neveu play “Eric LaRue,” in which Greer plays Janice, the shaken mother of the boy behind a fatal school shooting of three classmates.
Watching it — Michael Shannon’s feature directorial debut is currently seeking distribution — Greer’s work in low, medium and high comedy seems worlds away. Her career has careened from the killer-in-the-woods movie she made the year she graduated DePaul (”Stricken,” 1997) to massively budgeted franchise products with words such as “Jurassic” in them. Everybody seems to enjoy and admire her work, and working with her. For the next few weeks, with the Screen Actors Guild strike looming, she’s fulfilling a college dream.
“When I got to Chicago,” she says, “I zeroed in on Steppenwolf pretty immediately. It’s hard not to, if you’re studying acting. It seemed like where the cool kids did theater. And now I’m here, and it only took me 25 years!”
Our interview is edited for clarity and length.
Q: What was your first year or two out of DePaul like? How soon did you move to LA?
A: A weird thing happened when I was still in Chicago. I did Molière’s “School for Wives” at the Court Theatre, and my memory is that I had to sort of re-audition for my role. The director (László Marton) was from Hungary, and the production was cast without him by the artistic director. And when he got there, he wasn’t exactly super-sold on me.
Q: But then you super-sold him?
A: I super-sold him, right. It all worked out fine. I mean, I’d already auditioned and gotten the role. It was a bit of a bummer, I guess. But I thought: “This is going to be my whole career. Proving myself to people. If you’re not down to do that, pretty much every day, don’t be an actor.”
After that, less than a year after graduation, I was sofa-surfing and auditioning in LA. I got “Kissing a Fool” with David Schwimmer, which shot here. Also got an episode of “Early Edition,” which at the time was like “Law & Order” for Chicago actors. The “Kissing a Fool” LA premiere coincided with TV pilot season — I don’t know if we even have a pilot season anymore — so I went out, met an agent at the DePaul graduation showcase, auditioned like crazy for two weeks, got a movie and a TV pilot. And decided to stay.
I admittedly was lucky. I also worked really hard, and I saved a lot of my money, so I didn’t have to get other jobs. I was careful. I wish they would teach artists about money. We need so much help in that department, and you have so much more freedom when you’re not broke.
Q: So the Screen Actors Guild strike looks like it’s happening —
A: I know! I had to work today. I had to record some (voice tracks) for “Archer.” I hate the idea of the strike, but I think it’s necessary. And I’ll be picketing here in Chicago.
Q: The work on “Eric LaRue” must’ve been intense. You’d worked with Michael (Shannon, the first-time director and prolific Oscar-nominated actor). I think you and he have racked up the most credits in a quarter century in the history of the Internet Movie Database.
A: I know! Next time I see him, we need to just look at each other and practice saying the word “no” (laughs). On “Eric LaRue,” I drove him to work every day. We were shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina. We all stayed at the same Marriott. It felt like making movies when I was younger. Nowadays everyone scatters and gets their own Airbnbs. But there, we’d all go get coffee in the morning, and Mike and I would talk through what we were shooting that day. I really enjoyed it when Beyoncé's “Renaissance” dropped, because I think I was the first person to have the pleasure of forcing Michael Shannon to listen to Beyoncé before he’d had his coffee. It’s a highlight of my career.
On set, directing a scene, he’d come and sort of talk to us quietly on our own, “C’mere, c’mere,” and just talk through the emotions and some ideas about leaning in harder, or maybe not so hard. He always claims he didn’t really do anything. But he did everything. He’s tenacious, and once he’s happy with a scene, he’s not going to move on until you’re happy.
Q: And you worked with Shannon’s wife, Kate Arrington, who wrote “Another Marriage,” on that shoot.
A: Right. Kate did a staged reading of her play in Chicago right after filming. Mike emailed me and said Kate wanted to send me her play.
Q: Watching “Another Marriage” and seeing “Eric LaRue,” it hit me that both roles, different as they are, are all about watching and listening. They’re central roles but not flashy.
A: They feel like real people to me. Different as they are, they’re challenging to play because in some ways they can be unlikable. And in some ways, they’re heroic. I feel like I know them.
Janice in “Eric LaRue,” she’s going through so much and tries so hard to find some salvation. It’s heartbreaking. And at the end, we don’t know what she’s going to do next. We watch her walk away. It’s the middle of her story, not the end.
“Another Marriage” continues through July 23 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted St.; www.steppenwolf.org
The film version of “Eric LaRue” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is seeking distribution.
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
Twitter @phillipstribune
