Although she did not grow up with her parents in the entertainment business – her father was a goods businessman, while her mother was a teacher – Julia Louis-Dreyfus wanted to become an actress from an “early age” – as was the case very early.
“I would even perform during nap time at nursery, so I remember very clearly standing on top of my blanket dancing and hoping people would watch me — which they did, by the way,” she recalls.
Louis-Dreyfus’ eyes have been on her ever since, and countless people are focusing on the legendary actress this week when she just arrived in Cannes for the world premiere of her selected film at the festival. EntanglementIt is an animated film in which she starred and produced alongside Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren Miller Rogen. Ahead of Thursday night’s world premiere, Louis-Dreyfus sat down for an exclusive conversation Thursday morning with Hollywood Reporter Executive Awards Editor Scott Feinberg for the award-winning podcast, Awards talksIt was recorded live at Meta House inside the Majestic Hotel in Cannes.
As always on Awards talksengaged Louis-Dreyfus in a conversation that spanned her career, which opened with her time in nursery school and concluded with the emotional reason she is here in Cannes. Highlights included her time at Northwestern, becoming the youngest female talent ever to earn a spot Saturday Night Livemaking history again with the famous sitcom Seinfeldcementing its legacy through beloved shows such as The New Adventures of Old Christine and Vice President Dramatic turns followed in Nicole Holofcener’s films and she eventually became a breakout star through the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
The event kicked off with brief remarks from Meta’s Head of Global Creative Strategy, Ricky Van Veen. “We’ve been informally involved in filmmaking for a while, of course, through conversations happening on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp about films and emerging filmmakers showcasing their work on the platforms. It’s good to make that official this year. We’re really honored to host this conversation at Meta House. I’m personally very excited about it,” he said of his company’s notable impact this year at Cannes.
Then it was Feinberg’s turn to get things going by welcoming Louis-Dreyfus to the spotlight in the blue-hued room complete with a collection of Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses and VIP guests from the international film community and industry insiders.
Speaking about her time at Northwestern, Louis-Dreyfus noted that she was still focused on becoming an artist, but wanted to study at a university that had a lot to offer. “It was an opportunity to get a liberal arts education at the same time as I was studying theater and acting. But ironically, all I focused on was theater and acting and then I eventually left after three years because I had a job to be in.” Saturday Night Live. “So I was like, ‘I’m out of here,'” she joked.
Her jump to SNL It was a big leap, in many ways. “With my boyfriend then and my husband now, but still my boyfriend [Brad Hall]we were playing a show that was a huge hit in Chicago actually, with sold-out shows every night. “The SNL producers were asked to check this show out, and they did,” she recalled. “It was like one of those things that really sounds like fantasy and doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen in real life where they came backstage after the show and said, ‘We want you all to come to New York and be on Saturday Night Live.’ We didn’t even audition. We were just offered this opportunity. It was so amazing.”
In another surprise, Feinberg noted that Louis-Dreyfus, who was 21 at the time, was a member of the cast alongside soon-to-be comedy greats Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal and others. But it was not an easy period. She said it was an “incredibly competitive” environment with actors “always rushing to be seen and heard” by a “heavily male-focused” cast. Oh, and lots of extracurricular activities going on behind the scenes.
“There were a lot of drugs. I was too naive to realize it. We were reading the table and one sketch was 17 pages long, which is a very long time for a sketch, and the writers who wrote it were like this: [grinding teeth]. And I say, “Wow, they have a lot of energy.” “It was a topsy-turvy time.”
But she found future companionship Seinfeld Co-creator Larry David, who joined the staff during its third year. “So we spent a lot of time happily miserable together.”
A few years later, after moving to Los Angeles and working on some network shows, she read a script David had written called Seinfeld Chronicles. “[Elaine Benes] It wasn’t in the pilot and NBC didn’t want to do the show, but then a guy named Rick Ludwin, who ran special programming at NBC, decided to keep that show afloat somehow and put the late-night programming budget into these four episodes. God loves Rick Ludwin, he passed away, but he was an incredibly wonderful man, and we really have to thank him,” she noted.
She also noted how unique the text was for its time. “Sitcoms on TV had a familiar beat to them, and I’m not saying anything negative, it was that way. But this show wasn’t like that. And this show was kind of an anti-joke in a way,” she explained. “I realized the difference on the page, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is weird. It’s like my friends got into the system and scammed everyone.’
Louis-Dreyfus detailed one particular fight that came out in a 1991 episode called “The Deal,” saying, “There was a big controversy about that because Jerry and Elaine sleep together in that episode and they come to an agreement about it. There was tension between the creators — actually, it was Castle Rock and Larry — about whether they should turn this into a will or not, right? Larry was furious. He didn’t want anything to do with the idea of romantic, sweet, sexy.”
Feinberg then asked Louis-Dreyfus how she was dealing with the show’s ending after nine seasons and 180 episodes. “I felt very sad,” she said. “When you give your life and your mind and your heart to a project for a long period of time, to say goodbye to it, even if the timing is right to say goodbye, which it was, there is a deep sadness and loss.” “I really felt that with any long-term project I happily worked on. But I was also a young mother at the time. I had a 5-year-old and a 10-month-old. And so doing the show and having those kids at the same time was very difficult, as any mother who works outside the home knows. So I was keen to get back home.”
Louis-Dreyfus had success on CBS with The New Adventures of Old Christinea show that ran for five seasons and 80 episodes on what Feinberg referred to as “a pretty male-centric network,” to which she replied, “I think it still is.” The network pulled it before it reached 100 episodes, making it ready to syndicate, and Louis-Dreyfus has previously said that CBS didn’t treat them well. “Like shit,” she added today. “They deceived us.”
Louis-Dreyfus then made her way to HBO in partnership with Armando Iannucci Vice PresidentShe plays Vice President Selina Meyer. Feinberg asked how growing up in Washington, D.C., helped determine the choice.
“In Hollywood and show business, you’re selling a brand. The brand is yourself and you’re trying to stay relevant over time. Like, here I am with you right now trying to stay relevant,” she joked. “And in politics, it’s exactly the same. As a woman who’s getting older in the business world or getting older in the Washington, D.C., world, it made a lot of sense.”
She added: “I did too I did a lot of political work and later still do — behind the scenes, meeting with politicians, etc. — and I grew up in Washington, D.C., or spent part of my childhood there. The inner workings, as I say, within the Ring Road and the culture there, I certainly understood in my bones.”
What was new for her was blockbuster work in the MCU in films like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Lightning strikes*.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s quite the machine,” she said. “What’s so exciting about being part of this universe is seeing it in action, seeing the support department, the skills they come to carry, the care and intelligence it takes to do this job really well… The amount of people they hire and find to work on these films is amazing.”
It also requires a lot of signatures, she said. “You sign a non-disclosure agreement every three and a half minutes. It’s like working for the CIA or something.”
To close the conversation, Feinberg and Louis-Dreyfus turn their attention to the film directed by Lea Nelson Entanglement. The story revolves around a young woman who is forced to return to the small, conservative town where her eccentric family lives to care for her mother as she battles Alzheimer’s disease. The voice cast includes Louis-Dreyfus, Rogen, Bryan Cranston, Pamela Adlon, Beanie Feldstein, Sarah Silverman, Abbi Jacobson, Samira Wiley, Wanda Sykes, Adam Shapiro and Bowen Yang.
The subject turns out to be approaching the home of Louis-Dreyfus.
“Lauren Rogen sent it to me, and there is Alzheimer’s in my family. My grandmother died from it and my mother-in-law has it now and I understand the disease very well and the toll it can take on a family. I’m living it as we speak,” she said. “This project immediately interested me because it was based on this unusual graphic novel and the idea of tackling this topic through adult-oriented animation was very interesting to me.”
When asked what she hopes audiences will take away from the film, Louis-Dreyfus said it is an urgent and timely message. “Ultimately, this movie is definitely about connection, being present in the community, and the value of family. All of that is so needed right now, certainly in our country, and globally, you could say. I hope that this movie, when people watch it, may gain a new way of being close to the people they love during difficult moments.”
Stay tuned Awards talks To follow the full dialogue and watch an exclusive clip of the incident Entanglement here.
