Oscar nomination<\/a>. Warm and forthcoming, she apologized for her hoarse voice: \u201cWhen Paul\u2019s name gets called, I lose it,\u201d she said, referring to her joyful reactions to Giamatti\u2019s own Oscar nod and his recent wins at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. Has it been easier for her to process Giamatti\u2019s awards-season good fortune than her own?<\/p>\nYes, Randolph admitted. \u201cI\u2019m glad that I get to experience this with humble, kind people because when they win, it feels all the sweeter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.<\/p>\n
How\u2019s your day been?<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s so full. It\u2019s good. It\u2019s just, it\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n
Not enough time in the day?<\/strong><\/p>\nNo, uh-uh. I feel when I wake up, I\u2019m already behind the ball. But what do they call it, \u201cgolden handcuffs\u201d? These are very, very good problems to have.<\/p>\n
Despite all of the fantastic things that are happening right now, I would think there\u2019s a certain amount of reconfiguring that has to happen in your life.<\/strong><\/p>\nBro, it\u2019s unnatural. In the mass of four weeks, in a very otherworldly way, my entire world has changed. As a cause and effect, everyone around me has changed as well. Now I\u2019m having conversations with my parents and family: \u201cYou can\u2019t tell everybody all our business. People who we may think just want to chitchat may have other [motives].\u201d My parents are smart, they get it. But still, it was a moment where I had to realize, \u201cOh wow, this is also affecting you.\u201d It\u2019s wild.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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So how do you synthesize that?<\/strong><\/p>\nI give myself grace, I give them grace, I do a lot of deep breathing. And then it\u2019s just, OK, what do I actually need in this moment? What is of no service to me? <\/em>Because my world is bigger now, everything inside of me and around me is bigger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Can you still find those crucial small moments in between everything major going on?<\/strong><\/p>\nYes. And they\u2019re the most ironic of places \u2014 a plane ride, going to the bathroom. I\u2019ve become ritualistic with making it an event to go to bed, to put an importance and a value on my sleep and my self-care. I\u2019ll ask other people that are in this with me, Is this normal? What have you found that helps you?<\/em> And it\u2019s been a really nice community of people giving little tidbits. A lot of us are going through the same thing.<\/p>\nYou really bond with your fellow nominees during an awards season.<\/strong><\/p>\nOh, yeah. I\u2019m seeing them every weekend, basically. That actually is the best part, so I hold onto those moments. But yeah, it\u2019s a lot. You really do earn your stripes going through this award-season thing.<\/p>\n
Elaborate on that for me.<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s taxing. I can see why people feel neurotic or crazed or crying. I think when you\u2019re at an award show, there\u2019s so much feelings combating within you and banging up against your body, so in that moment you\u2019re just like, \u201cAhh, it\u2019s so much!\u201d But gems and beautiful moments erupt in the midst of the go, go, go. When someone stops you on the street to tell you how your current body of work has affected them, that\u2019s when I\u2019m like, \u201cChill out, Da\u2019Vine. It matters.\u201d And I know that, but it\u2019s a good reminder.<\/p>\n
That kind of thing is what awards season is meant to represent, right?<\/strong><\/p>\nAbsolutely, and I try to always go back to that. It helps root me, it helps me be able to traverse all of this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Has the Oscar nomination landed fully for you yet? Or are you still in the middle of processing it?<\/strong><\/p>\nVery much still processing, yeah. And that\u2019s OK. I\u2019m trying to give myself grace. I feel really guilty about it.<\/p>\n
About what?<\/strong><\/p>\nNot that I don\u2019t experience joy, but it just hasn\u2019t hit me yet. It\u2019s almost like when you\u2019re told that someone you love has passed away. It\u2019s at that stage.<\/p>\n
Have you watched it hit other people?<\/strong><\/p>\nSeemingly, right? The ecstatic joy. And I possess all that, but it\u2019s not showing up in that way yet. It\u2019s overwhelming, if I\u2019m being really honest.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been about two years since you started shooting \u201cThe Holdovers,\u201d right? What a long journey for a small film.<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah, truly. I just did it because the script was good and the character was complex. I never thought that it would amass to this.<\/p>\n
Why do you think it\u2019s clicked the way it has? Is it just the right film at the right time?<\/strong><\/p>\nI think timing and luck is always a component in this industry. I also think it\u2019s honest. Especially since the pandemic, we are begging for authenticity. People want the truth, they don\u2019t want smoke and mirrors anymore. Rip away the facade. That\u2019s scary, but it seems as if people need it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In one of the movie\u2019s key scenes, your character has an emotional breakdown in the kitchen at a Christmas party. What is it like to watch a scene like that, after you\u2019ve done something so vulnerable onscreen?<\/strong><\/p>\nI don\u2019t watch my stuff.<\/p>\n
You haven\u2019t watched \u201cThe Holdovers\u201d yet?<\/strong><\/p>\nI have seen the movie. They made me. They were like, \u201cThere\u2019s a screening room, everything\u2019s set up. You have to go because what are you going to talk about when you do press?\u201d I was like, I think I remember what my body went through, but fine.<\/em> So I sat there and watched it. Very uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Have you always avoided watching your work?<\/strong><\/p>\nI work from a place of reckless abandonment in my characters. I\u2019m very protective over them and I do a copious amount of work to create a foundation for the character. Then, when it\u2019s time to do the work, that\u2019s where I have my reckless abandonment, my freedom. When I\u2019m in pocket, the lines between myself and the character are blurred.<\/p>\n
So I don\u2019t watch myself because I trust the process. I don\u2019t want to analyze the natural occurrences because so far they\u2019re working. If I start watching myself, I know myself enough to know I\u2019m going to start judging myself. I love that I can actually work from a judgment-free zone. Most actors can\u2019t, so I\u2019m preserving it.<\/p>\n
How did you get through that screening? Did you disassociate or were you able to take it on your own terms?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Completely disassociated. I was quiet the whole rest of the day, I felt so naked. It\u2019s not natural, most people don\u2019t have a mirror up to them while they\u2019re in pain. But I get it, everybody has their own process. Some people enjoy it, and that\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a quiet, devastating moment where Mary unpacks a box with her son\u2019s baby clothes. Tell me about shooting that scene.<\/strong><\/p>\nAlexander filmed that for a very long time. I thought we were going to do it in five minutes but he really let me sit in those rooms, and it was beautiful because at a certain point my brain forgot and I was just in the space, getting lost in the tasks. But what I did was write soliloquies for myself. When a person seems lost in thought during grief, they\u2019re actually talking to themselves very loudly, rationalizing, trying to figure out how did it happen, where did I mess up? Or sometimes they want to comfort themselves and play back fond memories of when they were together.<\/p>\n
I wanted to show all the stages of grief because I quickly understood that they don\u2019t always happen in that convenient sequential order. There\u2019s so much fluidity in grief, and unpredictability. You\u2019re constantly negotiating: Do I let it swoop me up in its powerful wave? Or do I try to stand 10 toes down in the sand and let that wave crash and almost knock me out?<\/p>\n
Da\u2019Vine, are you describing grief or awards season right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n[Laughs.<\/em>] My friend, hey, who knows at this point?<\/p>\nOn the other side of all this, how do you hope your career changes?<\/strong><\/p>\nI must work at this level of proficiency, of excellence. I don\u2019t want to move backward. And a lot of that is dependent less on me and more on the jobs that I choose and the people I work with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n