-Our next guest is an Emmy-nominated actress
and writer you know from her work in "The Big Sick,"
"The Plot Against America," and "Olive Kitteridge."
She stars in "She Said," which is in theaters November 18th.
Let's take a look.
-What is it exactly that we're looking at here?
-We're looking at extreme sexual harassment in the workplace.
These young women walked into
what they all had reason to believe were business meetings
with a producer, an employer.
They were hopeful.
They were expecting a serious conversation
about their work or a possible project.
Instead, they say he met them with threats and sexual demands.
They claim assault and rape.
If that can happen to Hollywood actresses,
who else is it happening to?
-Please welcome back to the show our friend Zoe Kazan, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back!
-Thank you. -Congratulations on the movie.
But more importantly, congratulations.
You and your partner, Paul Dano, had another baby four weeks ago.
-We did.
-You look amazing. -Thank you.
-You seem amazing.
I don't know if this is all a facade,
but you overall look like you're doing okay.
-Thank you. About five minutes ago,
I was in your dressing room with, like, breast pumps in.
So, uh, I feel great.
-Okay, good.
I know you have a 4-year-old, as well.
Accepting to the new sibling so far?
-She's very, very sweet to him.
And she's, like, really expressing her emotions to me.
-Oh, interesting.
So anything -- any problem she has with it,
she's bringing to you, as opposed to taking it out --
-Yeah, which is fair, 'cause he's 4 weeks old and I'm 39.
-Yeah, yeah, you're probably --
If she's judging who's the best one to bring the complaints to,
very sharp kid.
So this movie obviously is based on
an incredible piece of reporting both that Megan and Jodi did
and then their book "She Said."
You had obviously read the book.
What was it like the first time you got together --
you and Carey got together with the people you're playing?
-Yeah, so Carey and I have been friends for 14 years.
So, like, we were going into this together.
And we were incredibly nervous.
We had, like, a four-way Zoom because this was, like,
I don't know, the spring of 2021.
And we, like, all popped on together
and we're like, "Surprise!
Like, this is your life.
We're going to be you."
Um, I was really intimidated.
They're, like, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists.
But they were so nice and so generous with us
and, like, let me ask all the nosy questions
that I secretly want to ask everyone.
-That's great that you got to do that.
It also was surreal, I heard,
because you were shooting in Brooklyn.
They live in Brooklyn.
So you actually ran -- like, they ran into you
while you were on set playing them.
-Yeah, like, Jodi literally ran into us.
She was out for a run in Prospect Park,
and we were, like, shooting in Prospect Park.
And she texted me, being like, "This is gonna sound weird,
but are you shooting in my neighborhood?"
And I had to be like, "Yes, come on in!"
So we have, like, you know, sweaty selfies on set.
-What did you learn about by doing this
the way stories like this are reported
that you maybe didn't know?
-Yeah, I mean, okay, so I had a kind of, like, I think,
naive vision that, like, an investigative reporter
would, like, seek out the truth, learn the truth,
and then, like, publish it in a newspaper.
Turns out it's a lot more complicated than that.
Like, they just needed, like, verification for everything,
like, three sources for everything.
I think, like, I had to, like, dismantle my, like,
LEGO version of being a "New York Times" reporter.
Yeah. -One of the things that was --
I mean, the worst possible reason
for "The New York Times" building to be open
for you to shoot there is there was a pandemic
and none of the reporters were there.
But you did get to shoot in the "New York Times" building.
-Yeah, we're the first narrative film
to shoot in the "New York Times" building,
and the reason is because
no one was allowed to be inside of there.
Jodi and Megan hadn't been there for like 18 months
when we were shooting in there.
So it was a little bit like being in a building
where everyone had been raptured.
Like, there was, like, you know,
Valentine's Day candy on people's desks
and, like, their heels under the desk
and, like, you know, memos that were dated,
like, March 9, 2020.
-Yeah, that say, like, "Call me. It's important."
-Yeah, ASAP.
"Something's happening in China." Yeah.
-You mentioned you met Carey 14 years ago.
Was that professionally? Did you guys work?
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Yeah, we were in a play on Broadway together.
And we shared a dressing room about the size of your desk.
-So, I'm so glad you --
I feel like this is the great unknown thing
when people go to Broadway shows.
'Cause they're so grand and palatial rooms.
But I'm always blown away by how tiny the dressing rooms are.
-Yeah, I mean, literally we had, like, our desk --
Our, like, desk where we put on our makeup was this big.
And we would put our, like, sleeping bags underneath it
and snuggle up together and both take a nap between shows
under truly about this size.
So, you know, like, if we didn't become friends,
we definitely were going to become enemies
in that situation.
-Well, it's certainly -- it's certainly nice
that it worked out this way. -Yeah.
-And it must be also nice,
obviously, telling a story like this
that has been, you know, both told in the press
and told via book form --
it's great to do it as a film, as well.
And are Megan and Jodi --
are they happy with how you've gone about doing it?
-I mean, if they aren't happy, they're really acting happy.
They're doing a great job convincing us.
No, no, no, they're being so kind.
And we've all been so concerned about --
You know, this is a very delicate subject matter.
And I think that there's stuff about the film
that's really entertaining, but at the end of the day,
it's also, you know, very, very heavy
and sensitive subject matter.
So my eye has been so much on, like,
are all these survivors happy
or do they feel okay about their representation,
that I kind of forgot about Jodi and Megan.
Then I saw them at the premiere and was like, "Hey!
Hope you think I did a good job!"
-I'm sure they did.
It is always so nice to see you.
Thank you so much for being with us, Zoe.
-Thanks for having me. Thank you.
-Zoe Kazan, everybody!
"She Says" is in theaters November 18th.
We'll be right back with music from Paolo Nutini.