Claire Foy: We fashioned a very robust bond [working on the movie “Women Talking,” out this month]. It felt like so little time had handed because the shoot [in summer 2021], and the movie went down very well [at its New York Film Festival premiere in October], so it was an exquisite, cyclical factor to take pleasure in it collectively.
We uncovered lots about ourselves [at this dinner] and have been very sincere in our opinions — that’s simply the way in which we converse to at least one one other. However what occurs within the hayloft stays within the hayloft [where much of the movie, which takes place within an isolated religious community, unfolds].
Sarah Polley: This has all the time been a very enjoyable, imaginative, intellectually stimulating group of individuals. Claire is an actual fact teller; Rooney [Mara, who didn’t attend the dinner] does lots of connecting; Jessie [Buckley, who was away filming] is the life of each social gathering; Judy [Ivey] is extremely clever however holds that knowledge frivolously; Sheila [McCarthy] is a bridge builder and peacemaker; Michelle [McLeod] all the time sees the “humorous” in a second; Liv [McNeil] is an attuned observer; and Kate [Hallett] can think about how folks really feel earlier than they really feel it.
Our conversations weave fluidly out and in of very critical and light-weight issues — sharing issues personally and speaking in regards to the world at giant — which is, I feel, what teams of girls who’re shut do. I’ve been fascinated by how ladies in teams don’t end one line merchandise, resolve it, then transfer on to the following. It’s not a linear factor.
The attendees: All from the “Ladies Speaking” household, the visitor listing included its director, Sarah Polley, 43; its producer Dede Gardner, 55; and its actors Claire Foy, 38; Judith Ivey, 71; Sheila McCarthy, 66; Michelle McLeod, age withheld; Liv McNeil, 17; and Kate Hallett, 18.
The meals: The mushroom risotto at Lincoln Ristorante at Lincoln Heart took each Foy and Polley aback — Foy loved it regardless of being suspicious of fungi ever since watching the poisoning scene in “Phantom Thread” (2017), and Polley as a result of it was “the most effective I’ve ever had in my life.”
The dialog: All of them mentioned Hallett’s first go to to New York Metropolis (she’d by no means been) and Ivey’s 1992 activate “Superstar Jeopardy!,” the place, as Polley put it, she obtained “smoked” by Luke Perry. In line with a theme of “Ladies Speaking,” additionally they talked about sexism (Polley says that’s “in all probability one thing that comes up usually for ladies all over the place in teams”).
Polley has picked these songs for gatherings she’s thrown up to now:
Interviews have been edited and condensed.
Supply: NY Times