-Welcome back! -Thank you!
-So happy to have you here. -I'm happy to be here.
-I want to talk about this wonderful film,
but I would be remiss not to ask you this,
because I know we talked about "The Sopranos"
last time you were here. It's just been announced
David Chase is going to make a prequel movie to "The Sopranos,"
called "The Many Saints of Newark."
Is that as exciting to you as it is to me?
-That's already more than I knew.
-Really? -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] I didn't know the title.
-So I should have said, "Spoiler alert."
-Yeah. -I feel like I didn't realize --
-A little late for that. -[ Laughs ]
-But -- No, I just found out about it like everybody else.
It's, you know, the story, I guess, of Tony's parents
and Uncle Junior when they were kids.
-So, there's no baby Carmela? You don't have to worry about --
-You know, I put in my picture and résumé.
That's all I can do. -Okay, that's great.
[ Laughter ] This is a wonderful film.
This is -- you play a high school teacher
who is helping an ex-student get out of jail.
-Right. -And doing advocacy work
despite the fact that you have
your own family and your own job.
What drew you to a role like this?
-I worked with Jay Duplass -- sort of worked with him --
on a movie called "Landline."
We weren't in scenes together, but I met him
and he's just charming and darling and sweet.
-And a wonderful actor, yeah. -And a fantastic actor.
They said he co-wrote it and was starring in it,
which was amazingly great.
And then I read the script,
and it's the way people really talk
and it seemed to be the way people really live.
And that's the kind of stuff I respond to,
so that was it. -That's fantastic.
I know one thing that it had that you don't love is
you actually had to go to Washington state to shoot it.
-Yes. Big challenge for me.
-Because you love being in New York, right?
-You know, I would like to say that's what it is.
I think it's more that I don't like being somewhere else.
-Okay, gotcha. That -- [ Laughter ]
-I mean, i just don't like leaving home.
And I have a family and a life here.
And it's different from when I was a little kid
and it was like, you know, "Pack your bag,
and we're going to shoot a movie in, you know, Timbuktu.
And it's just those days are gone.
-Right. You like being home. You like being in New York.
And you have been in New York for a long time.
-Long time. -I read an interview with you,
and I was thrilled to hear the way that you used to
get around New York City, which is rollerblades.
-Oh, yeah. -Is this true?
-For many, many years. -Wow, wow!
-Rollerblades and chain smoking. -Wow, that is --
-It really was like... [ Laughter ]
Seriously. Seriously. -I feel like there was, like,
a day where both of those became outlawed in New York.
It was, like, the same day.
-And it didn't matter to me at all, though.
It took me many years to stop both of them.
-I was going to say, it seems dangerous
to rollerblade in New York.
But if you were already smoking a cigarette, like...
[ Laughter ]
You were obviously looking death in the eye.
-Some sort of a death wish, I guess.
-Yeah, for years I did that. -And now a Vespa.
-Is that active? Are you still...
-Oh, yeah, yeah. I used it this afternoon.
I use it all the time.
It's the best way to get around the city.
You're in and out of appointments.
You pull between two cars, you know?
It's just great. -And you -- your kids --
Was there a time in your life
when your kids would ride on the Vespa with you?
Would you have a kid on the back?
The time was -- Today, this afternoon, in fact.
-Oh, wow! That's great. -Yeah, it is great.
I love it. You don't go -- You never get to go really fast.
-Right. -You know?
-You must have a great relationship with your kids
if they're willing to jump on the back of the Vespa
with their mom. I think that's a very...
-Well, they don't do it willingly.
-Okay, gotcha. [ Laughter ]
-Mind you.
No, they actually get a kick out of it.
-Well, I just feel bad 'cause they probably get
all the cigarette smoke, right? [ Laughter ]
-That's funny. -Oh, thank you.
-I'm just sayin'.
-So, do they -- they're 13 and 10?
-Yes. -Son's 13, right?
-Right. -Acting bug?
-Not at all, no. -Really?
-I don't know even know if they know that's what I do.
[ Laughter ]
You know, I just have weird hours,
and I come home and i have a lot of makeup on.
-But they don't ask, you know. -Uh-huh.
-They saw me on a bus once, and they were a little suspect,
but they didn't pursue it. -Gotcha.
What do you think it is that they pursue?
What are the -- At those ages, what do they want To be?
-My son wants to be a soccer star.
I'm not entirely sure he won't. He's very good.
-Okay, that's exciting. -I dare say.
My daughter wants to be a pop star and a veterinarian.
-Oh, that's nice. -So...
[ Laughter ]
By the time she's of age,
those two things may somehow be combined.
I don't know. -You're a dog lover.
-I'm a big animal lover, yeah. -I have a dog, as well.
You took your dog to a dog psychic.
-No! -You didn't?
-That would make more sense. -Okay.
-I spoke to a woman on the phone
who was in, I'm going to say, North Dakota.
-Okay.
-And I think I had to send her a picture first.
-Okay. -And that's what we did.
-Oh, wait, so, she told you what your dog was thinking
off a photo? Why didn't she just --
-Can i just tell you?
This dog was a little teeny dog I had rescued.
-Okay. -And she was sick all the time.
And it turned out, I found out later on,
that she was pregnant,
because she had been a mommy in a puppy mill.
So, anyway, it was a long, ugly story.
When I asked the woman, she said, "Wait,
she's saying to me, 'They're taking my babies,'
your dog is saying." Which she knew
that my dog had been a mom, like, many times.
It was crazy weird that this woman knew these things.
-Yeah. -I don't know.
I mean, I totally bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
[ Laughter ]
-I didn't pay. I didn't pay anything.
-You did-- Okay, well, now, that --
-None the wiser. I mean phone bill.
-So, this person just is, like,
running a terrible business where...
[ Laughter ]
-I don't think it's her business.
It might just be, like, a little side thing he does.
I don't know. -How did you find her?
-It was at somebody's -- like a -- I don't know --
a baby shower. -Uh-huh.
-And a woman said, "Oh, I know a dog psychic."
And it went like that. I don't know.
[ Laughter ]
-There was nothing up until that point?
Nothing came up before that? -You know, I barely remember
my children's names, so give me a minute.
It was something like that. -Gotcha.
-Yes.
-One thing that obviously keeps you in New York
is when you do stuff -- stage stuff here.
-Yeah.
-I know you've done a lot in the past.
Do you have anything coming up? Is that something
you'd like to do again? -I do, in fact.
I'm going to be doing a play with the new group
in September, called "The True." -That's exciting.
-And I don't even know if I'm supposed to say that yet.
-Oh, that's exciting! -But i just did, so...
-There you go. -There you have it.
-Now it's out there. -Yeah.
-You know who...
[ Cheers and applause ]
I actually already knew about it,
because I talked to this woman in North Dakota.
[ Laughter ]
I sent her -- Just before I interview someone --
-Sent a picture of me. -I sent her a picture of you.
-That's so good. [ Laughter ]
She's like, "I don't know about the dog,
but Edie is doing a play." [ Laughter ]
"That much I know." -Thank you so much
for being back. -So happy to be here.