I have long been a fan of US acting talent Julianne Nicholson, who has long been one of those ‘faces’ that you recognise in a plethora of incredible roles but don’t really know the name of… just that you think she’s bloody amazing.
That has all changed over the last couple of years though, with the actor popping up in some of the most quality series to hit the small screen in quite some time now. One of her latest roles is as troubled mother Jean Jensen in ‘The Red Road’, a Sundance TV series premiering on Rialto on Tuesday, November 4 at 8.30pm.
She stars alongside our own Martin Henderson, megahunk Jason Momoaand Tom Sizemore, in a story that revolves around a sheriff struggling to keep his family together, while policing two clashing communities – the small town he grew up in and the neighbouring Ramapo Mountains, home of the Romapo Mountain Indians.
They are currently shooting the second series in Cartersville, Georgia, and I spoke to Julianne (in a shamelessly breathy fangirl voice) about the series and one hell of an amazing couple of years.
I have long been a fan of US acting talent Julianne Nicholson, who has long been one of those ‘faces’ that you recognise in a plethora of incredible roles but don’t really know the name of… just that you think she’s bloody amazing.
That has all changed over the last couple of years though, with the actor popping up in some of the most quality series to hit the small screen in quite some time now. One of her latest roles is as troubled mother Jean Jensen in ‘The Red Road’, a Sundance TV series premiering on Rialto on Tuesday, November 4 at 8.30pm.
She stars alongside our own Martin Henderson, megahunk Jason Momoaand Tom Sizemore, in a story that revolves around a sheriff struggling to keep his family together, while policing two clashing communities – the small town he grew up in and the neighbouring Ramapo Mountains, home of the Romapo Mountain Indians.
They are currently shooting the second series in Cartersville, Georgia, and I spoke to Julianne (in a shamelessly breathy fangirl voice) about the series and one hell of an amazing couple of years.
I read that you were the very first person cast for the series, which is pretty damn rare for a female role. How often does that happen, seriously?
It never happens, like really never happens! In my experience they always like to cast the man first then match them up with a nice lady… I felt very excited that they wanted to start with me and then find the other guys when they did.
How did that come about?
I was sent the script and I just fell in love with it. I went in and met with [producers] Aaron [Guzikowski] and Bridget [Carpenter] and had a chat about it. I just made it very clear that I loved the show and would love to be part of it.
How long ago was that?
It must have been May or June last year, and then we started filming in August.
Do things normally happen that quickly in your industry, it seems super fast?
You know what? It can happen even more quickly, there is just no norm anymore. To have a month or even two before filming is amazing, I have had calls with much less lead time when they know a show is going into series and then they tell you that you’ll be starting next week.
But clearly a rather short amount of time when you’re set to play such a complex, mentally fragile character as Jean Jenson. How do you prepare for a role like that?
I actually felt that a lot was revealed to me just in the pilot script, I got a lot from the first episode when I read it. Then I read up about schizophrenia - both from the point of view of someone who has a form of the disease to the point of view of those who have loved ones with schizophrenia. I wanted to explore what the outside experience of it was and the inside experience as well. So really it was a lot of talking and reading, and trusting Aaron’s words.
Was it hard not to fall into a caricature of a schizophrenic person, the Hollywood route of just pretending to hear voices in the shower? It feels like you really do play her as a mother first and foremost, and a woman with a mental illness second.
I wanted it from the beginning to be a part of her, rather than the only thing that she was. There are many other aspects of her life, we just find her in a particularly difficult period for her. I just tried to make her as believable as possible without pushing any idea of what a schizophrenic would look like in that situation.
You’ve played so many brooding, dreadfully sad characters. Do you ever just want to get out there and ham it up?
I am desperate to! I keep telling my people ‘please can I not be dying, or suffering from mental illness or in love with a sibling… please make me laugh!’ I am very much open to that and hope something like that could happen in the next job or two. I would love to do a comedy again, I was in ‘Ally McBeal’ (in the role of Jenny Shaw) many years ago and just had such a blast in that show, we were literally on set just laughing all the time - both on and off camera. Having said that, even though ‘The Red Road’ is on the darker side there is a lot of laughter and fun when the cameras aren’t rolling and that feels good.
I just finished watching the recent series of ‘Masters of Sex’ in which you’re starring as Dr. Lilian DePaul and it just wrung me out watching the damn thing, it was so intense and sad. Was it like that on set as well?
You know, I just love Lizzy Caplan (who stars as Virginia Johnson) and we adore being around each other, plus she is super funny. We would be having a great time off set but that role just made me so sad, especially the last couple of episodes. People come up to me even now and start talking about it and I have to actively try to not cry… although it may be bad taste to keep crying over your own character! It was so moving to play her and I fell in love with that character, we got to know her so much better by the time that we lost her but also saw all of the things that you were never going to get to know, as well.
You have had a lot of scenes with very strong male actors over the years, this time around Kiwi Martin Henderson and Jason Momoa, who as a Hawaiian is pretty much an adopted Kiwi.
I love them both, and you know I think they are going to some New Zealand rugby match in Chicago together this weekend. My ‘Red Road’ men will hopefully be celebrating together afterwards, which will cause quite a commotion!
Both guys have acting styles that are quite different, is it a breath of fresh air working with talents that aren’t intense Americans or schooled up Brits?
They’re very different people and have very different styles, but each brings so much to their role. They are so interesting separately but then even more so when you get to bring them together, and are both incredibly present, which I love.
They are also both very, very good looking in very different ways, which must be nice to be around.
Yes, it’s not hard to look across a table at either one of them, that’s true!
‘The Red Road’ is now onto season two, was that a relief seeing as you were there from the very first episode? You’ve joined a number of successful series later in their run, like ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and ‘Masters of Sex’.
We didn’t find out that the show had been picked up for a second season until after the first season aired here, but I was very happy when I heard. It’s very nice to come back to Atlanta - where I live when I’m not on set - and seeing people that I really enjoy working with again. That includes Martin and Jason but also Debbie who does my makeup and Deborah who is my wardrobe person on set. The cast and crew are all such lovely people that worked so hard to make this thing happen, you start off already comfortable after having history with such a great team.
Like a family?
Totally like a family. When you’re spending fourteen or fifteen hours a day with them you definitely get to know them.
Lastly, this has been a huge year for you, what else have you got in the works?
I have done a bunch of great stuff this year, starting off with wrapping a film adaptation of a book called ‘Ten Thousand Saints’ with Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini directing. I finished ‘Masters of Sex’ and then did a movie with Johnny Depp called ‘Black Mass’, where he plays famous Boston gang Whitey Bulger. I’m from that area so it was exciting to go home and tell that story. Now I’m working on this and then for the first time in years I don’t know what’s coming next, which feels both exciting and terrifying.
The Red Road Tuesday nights at 8.30pm starting November 4.