There’s always that key to every character that lets you go to those places you need to go to. No matter how much you might hate the character, it makes you understand it.
BETH GRANTThere’s always that key to every character that lets you go to those places you need to go to. No matter how much you might hate the character, it makes you understand it.
BETH GRANTI was so frustrated with my whole life that I walked up this hilltop and screamed at the heavens. It was very dramatic – but then again, I am an actress – and I said, “Fine! I’ll be a character actress! Just tell me what you want me to do!” I was so angry at the universe.
BETH GRANTJessica Tandy. Nice company! And Ruth Gordon. They worked all along. She didn’t really get any big star recognition until Driving Miss Daisy. So what if it takes me that long? Slow and steady wins the race, right? Better a tortoise than a hare.
BETH GRANTI grew up around people, so I know ’em, and I do like playin’ ’em. I’m not religious, but I am kind of a spiritual fanatic, so maybe I understand them in that way.
BETH GRANTHe’s such a comic genius. I hate to use that word, because everyone throws it around, but Steve Carell is channeling something.
BETH GRANTI love smoking. I miss it every day of my life. If I found out that it didn’t cause cancer, I would go out and buy, like, eight cartons right now.
BETH GRANTI thought Sissy Hickey should be really skinny and leathery and have one of those really husky voices, but Del Shores kept saying, “I wrote this part for you.” He took me to his house and showed me pictures of all his Texas relatives, and they looked exactly like my family.
BETH GRANTI had a very hard time accepting myself as a character actress, because I wanted to be glamorous and a leading lady like everybody else. I looked in the mirror and thought I looked pretty good, but casting didn’t ever see me that way.
BETH GRANTThe Coens both give you direction, and then it’s up to you to kind of figure out the music of what they’re saying.
BETH GRANTMy agent says, “You have an audition for the next Dustin Hoffman movie, playing a pioneer woman.” And I go, “All right!” I passed Barry Levinson in the hall on the way into my audition, and I saw him do a double-take. I think I looked so determined that I got the job right then.
BETH GRANTThere are several things iconic about Sissy Hickey character – even just sounds. Like, “Awww.” People love that sound! “Awww.” I actually didn’t want to do the role, because I didn’t think I looked like a smoker – even though I used to be a smoker.
BETH GRANTAs much as I love being an artist, I love being a mom even more.
BETH GRANTI built a career on my archetype, and I’m grateful, but I’m trying to stretch.
BETH GRANTMy husband and I can’t get through dinner without being defensive. We’ve been married 24 years, and I love my husband to death, but sometimes I say, “What are we? Two injured creatures who can’t talk to each other without going, like, ‘Ahhh!’?”
BETH GRANTI never have compared myself to Jessica Tandy in any way, and that’s such a great role model for me to look at. I’m seriously going to put pictures of her in my dressing room and commune with her from now on, I think.
BETH GRANTMaybe the actors that used to turn down William Goldman’s scripts – where he wanted them to stretch and grow, and he was mad at ’em, and said, “Why won’t they be a real actor?” – maybe they just knew their audience. It’s too bad.
BETH GRANT