You might have noticed Lola Kirke as the motel resident who befriends and then robs Rosamund Pike’s Amy Dunne in Gone Girl last fall. You might also have seen her as Hailey the oboe player on the new Amazon Video series Mozart In The Jungle, which streams in Canada on Shomi.
But her role in Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America makes her visible in a very different way. As Tracy, a college freshman who falls into the orbit of her older, more sophisticated stepsister-to-be, Brooke (Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the film with Baumbach), Kirke gives the movie’s farcical elements some gravity while still nabbing solid laughs for herself. We spoke over the phone during a press day in Washington, DC.
So, audiences saw you smack Rosamund Pike around in Gone Girl and maybe they’ve caught you on Mozart In The Jungle, and now here you are as the lead in a Noah Baumbach picture. No pressure.
This was the first movie in which I ever had a substantial part, let alone a lead part – and beyond that, the pleasure of being directed by Noah and delivering lines written by Noah and Greta, which is a really special thing to behold as an actor [laughter].
Tracy is the sort of character we’ve seen before, in that she’s an idealist who exists in the story to be disillusioned by the real world. But that’s not exactly where Mistress America takes her. It’s not really a coming-of-age story.
Totally! But I think there’s something a little bit more optimistic than that. I agree, “coming of age” sounds a little short of what I think the film does, and “coming of disillusionment” feels a little more cynical, because ultimately this character just comes into power. And in spite of the cracks Brooke is revealed to be wrought with, she comes into her own kind of power as well.
How much freedom did you have with the character?
I was on a long leash, so to speak. We didn’t go off script at all it’s very much a word-perfect film. There was definitely a modicum of control that both Greta and Noah had. But beyond that they were pretty good at ensuring that Tracy was mine, and they made me feel confident I was doing well. We did so many takes of everything that there was a chance to do [a scene] the way maybe I conceived of it, and then to do it the way Noah or Greta conceived of it.
Did you relate to the character?
Ultimately, Tracy’s life is a reality for me. Posturing as somebody else and then becoming that person or realizing that the person that you’re trying to be is flawed… that kind of self-discovery is something I’ve been through countless times. I think people who are impressionable – or inspired easily, as I like to call it [laughs] – will go through that multiple times in their lives.
It is an essential step in forming your own identity – you try on characteristics you like and see what fits.
Totally! And then meeting people that you think are so wonderful that you just kind of, you know, develop their affectations and start dressing a little bit more like them.
I did notice that Tracy starts doing a thing with her shoulders about halfway through the movie, sort of taking a behaviour from Brooke.
That’s interesting. Yeah, yeah, she definitely does. She starts speaking her mind a little bit more [too]. She’s strong in her stance, and that’s why I think she’s such a cool character.
You said you did a lot of takes of everything. How long was the shoot?
We shot it over 60 days. A really long time. I think that also accounts for the comfort most of the actors felt with their characters.
That’s a really long shoot.
Noah’s methods are extreme, but I certainly think they pay off. I really love this film. It’s really special to me.
What’s extreme about Baumbach’s methods? And I’m aware I’m talking to someone who’s worked with the notoriously exacting David Fincher.
As I said, Noah and Greta are not only a director and an actor, but they are writers. So there’s an intense attention to the language itself that is not common in a film environment – it’s definitely something that belongs more to the stage. But I come from a stage background, so that was an easier adjustment. But also the number of takes we did was very abnormal.
Fincher did lots of takes also, and I was so grateful to Noah for beating that mindset into me throughout the course of our shoot, because otherwise I would have just, like, flailed on Gone Girl. It’s a lot of takes it’s long hours and a long shoot. And the way we could afford the long shoot time was by having a very small crew.
Sam Levy, our amazing DP, was the person doing my makeup every day. And by “makeup” I mean prodding my pimples with a brush and making them disappear [laughs]. There were no amenities, no craft table. It was really about making the film, cutting the fat you might see on another film set. Getting rid of the divisions of labour that are also on other film sets.
That’s not to say that I ever, like, lit a scene or anything, but it was a very close-knit set.
How did that set-up compare to other films you’ve made?
Most indie films shoot over 21 days, if that, and there’s a lot of fat on them still. There’s people that maybe don’t need to be there [laughs]. I mean, it’s such a pleasure to work with an auteur. I really don’t – there were definitely moments on set where I would just realize, “Holy shit. This isn’t nothin’, Lola. You are working with somebody who’s, like, a canonic filmmaker.”
Check out our review of Mistress America here.
normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner
