“How is it that we have only just met each other?” Julia Louis-Dreyfus remembers asking Nicole Holofcener the first time she collaborated with the writer-director, on 2013’sThe two instantly bonded during that shoot, like long-lost friends who’d finally reunited, Louis-Dreyfus tells Bazaar.com on a recent phone call. “It felt as if we had an immediate like-mindedness, as if we’d known each other all our lives. We’ve been dying to get together ever since to work on another movie.
is always the best policy. So yes, of course I believe in honesty, but there are circumstances in which there’s a nuance to honesty. And by the way, I’m talking about subtle things, not big things. There’s tons of room to improvise. That said, the movie is well-written and we certainly followed a script; but on top of the script, there was ample opportunity to do other bits and inject notions, lines, physical movements, and jokes, frankly. And Nicole is very collaborative, which is another reason that I love working with her. So she’ll be the first to be delighted if I’ve got a pitch for a scene or a suggestion for a scene.
Well, I’ll start with Michaela Watkins. Michaela and I have known each other now for many, many years. We’ve worked on a bunch of different projects together, which is just extraordinary. We have always gotten along really well, and I consider her a friend. Originally, the film was written so that Beth and Sarah [Michaela’s character] were just friends. But because Michaela and I knew each other really well and look alike, Nicole decided to make [them] sisters, which was stone-cold genius.
It does. I think the future of the film and television business is very much on shaky ground right now. Having said that, it’s not like it's going to go away, and people always have the need and cultures have the desire to create and entertain. But what form it takes remains to be seen. And of course there’s a big strike right now, and these issues of streaming and compensation are very much at play.