Carrie Coon on ‘The Liberation,’ Life After ‘White Lotus,’ and Why Hollywood ‘Places Limitations’ on Actors — ‘Screen Talk’ Podcast Interview

One thing I know is true: You want Carrie Coon on your podcast. The Emmy-nominated “White Lotus,” “Gilded Age,” and “The Leftovers” star has made plenty of impact on TV playing strong-willed characters. But she’s also a magnetic presence on the big screen, from films like Sean Durkin’s sizzling ’80s marriage satire “The Nest” and Azazel Jacobs’ Bergmanesque sibling drama “His Three Daughters” to her latest film, Guy Nattiv’s “The Liberation.” In this film, she’s more vulnerable onscreen than ever. But as dark as Coon can go — in the ’80s-set “The Liberation,” she plays a repressed, PTSD-addled Holocaust survivor brought under the sway of a hypnotic cult leader played by Lily James — she’s a delight to chat with. No topics are off limits. She joined this week’s episode of IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast to dive into “The Liberation,” but also to talk about life after “White Lotus” as an actor who is (her joke!) “top of the B list.” “What I mean is if there are five films coming out in a year that have female leads, we know the five actresses who will be asked to play those parts,” Coon said. ‘And they’re warranted, they’re very talented, they deserve to be in that position. That just means, though, because there are so few, there aren’t very many left over for the rest of us to take a crack at. So it is unusual for me to get this opportunity. I had an opportunity to play the lead in a mainstream film, which was ‘The Nest’ … and it came out during COVID, and nobody saw it. And so it didn’t necessarily open the doors we hoped. Showing I could carry a film, that didn’t really happen for me with ‘The Nest.’ And so it was just very flattering to get a script [for ‘The Liberation’] like this come into my inbox.” This time, though, Coon’s extraordinary performance in “The Liberation” could open the doors “The Nest” didn’t. (Distributor Bleecker Street is launching a qualifying run next week.) Coon also talked about co-starring with her real-life husband Tracy Letts, who plays her “Liberation” character Rita’s husband in Nattiv’s film, and Letts’ infamously obsessive physical media collection — and how that’s trickling down to their two kids’ intrepid viewing habits. Though first up, hear banter from me and my co-host Anne Thompson about our time at the Virginia Film Festival, awards season updates, and more. Listen to the episode below or on your preferred podcast platform.