-Welcome back. -So nice to be back.
-I'm thrilled to have you back.
Now, last time you were here, you were about to host "SNL."
-Yes. It was the last time, yeah.
-With U2. And you were talking about how
you had taken your mother to see "Lady Bird" in the theater.
-Yeah. -And you were very nervous
about getting recognized, and no one recognized you.
-No one recognized me. No. Nobody.
[ Laughter ]
-And yet here you are. It did not get to you.
That did not sink your spirit.
-No it's not -- it's not a big deal.
-Yeah. You just pushed right through.
-Yeah. I'm fine. Um, I'm fine.
-That's good. I can tell.
But now, have you taken your mother to see this film yet?
Have you taken her to see it?
-I took her to the New York premiere of this film,
so everyone had to recognize me. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Why take chances? -Do you know what I mean?
-Yeah. -There were posters everywhere.
I would, like, stand next to them.
"That's me in that."
So it really impressed her, I think.
-There's a -- There's a lot of wigs and a lot of --
I always feel bad, because this is obviously --
You're playing -- you and Margot Robbie both
are playing these really powerful women,
but because of the age it takes place, so much wigs.
So many corsets. -Yeah, a lot of corsets.
And when you've been wearing them, like we did, for months,
you take them off at the end of the job,
and, like, your shape has changed.
-Really? -Yeah.
Like, I didn't have any curves before.
And then I took it off,
and for about a month, I was like, "Oh."
-Wow. -"Wow, look at that."
-And then is about a month when it goes back to --
-Yeah. -Okay, gotcha.
-Went back to... -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Yeah, there you go. Wow.
It never occurred to me that it worked.
-Yeah, because it's squishing you're insides.
-Yeah. -And it's on --
Like, we'd have it on for, you know, 12 hours a day.
-Yeah. -And it's tight.
Corsets are tight. So when -- yeah.
And so it actually does change your shape for a little bit.
-I don't know.
This has turned into a weird advertisement for corsets.
-Yeah, I feel like -- Yeah, don't -- don't wear them.
Don't do it.
Stay in school. Don't do corsets.
[ Laughter ]
You obviously have an incredible co-star with Margot Robbie.
-Yeah. -And there --
Really late in the film is the first time --
You know, obviously, it's based on history,
but you guys don't meet until very late in the film.
-Yeah. -And it's very powerful,
because these two, you know, women we've seen
throughout the film, we haven't seen them meet.
-Yeah. -And do they actually --
Did you guys put some thought into how much time
you should interact as actors before that scene, yeah?
-Yeah, we didn't have any interaction at all.
So we both decided in rehearsals --
Like, I had heard -- We've all heard about actors
staying apart for the whole thing
or being in character and staying method and all of that.
And I've never really felt the need to do that, necessarily.
but with this I just thought --
For Margot and I, we knew each other a little bit.
We knew that we sort of worked in a similar enough way.
And we could -- we could kind of go for it.
So we rehearsed separately.
We shot separately.
She did all of her stuff first.
And then, her last day was my first day,
and it was that big scene.
So we stayed apart for the whole first half of the scene
where we're sort of hidden behind these sort of sheets
in a -- in a cabin in the woods that we're in.
And -- And then when -- Or, you know,
physical appearance is finally revealed to each other.
That was actually the very first time
we saw each other in character.
So I had never seen Margot with the red wig
and the Golden Age makeup.
I hadn't seen any of it at all.
So the first take was us just being like, "Oh, my God!"
and, like, really emotional.
-Well, there was a moment, for those --
You drop the accent, and you just say, "Holy [bleep]"
-Holy [bleep]
"Jesus, Margot!" -Yeah.
-"What's wrong with your face?" -It's jarring.
I will say, it's a really --
-It takes you out of it for a sec.
You won't notice it, really, though.
Once you watch it again, you don't know.
-Yeah, but the first time, you do have a moment of like,
"Did she Irish and call her 'Margot' right there?"
[ Both laugh ]
-And it really speaks to how good you guys are
that you immediately go right back into it.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -She's Australian.
And then she's like, "Hi, mate. How's it going, Mary?"
[ Laughter ]
-You -- So, you obviously --
You had to have a Scottish accent for this.
"Lady Bird," you -- you know, you're from California.
Your accent -- this -- You came by this very honestly.
Is it true that you developed your skill
and your ear for accents because your dolls
all came from different places? -Yeah.
-Yeah. -So I am -- I'm an only child.
[ Laughter ]
Obviously. "Aww." Someone just went "Aww."
[ Laughter ] Yeah, we thought that, Saoirse.
And I would, like --
Basically, I would visit my dolls every evening
like a soap opera.
So there would be episodes, so I'd come back every day,
and I'd be like, "What's Polly Pocket been up to today?"
And I had this mini figurine of Woody from "Toy Story"
back when, you know, fast-food stores
used to give out really good toys.
And this was when -- And I still have him,
and he was Polly Pocket's boyfriend.
[ Light laughter ] And he -- he was American.
He was, like, generic American. She was from the South.
And she lost her arm in a car accident.
-Really?
[ Laughter ] -Because in real life,
I actually broke off her arm by accident.
-Got it. -So I had to rewrite that.
-Yeah. You had to rewrite in a way
where you weren't culpable. -Right. Exactly, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
It actually worked out really well...
-Yeah. -...for the grit of it all.
-Yeah, of course. I mean, I think when you --
Obviously, when you're making a doll soap opera,
you need things to happen. -You need the drama.
-Yeah. -And I wanted people to know,
like, this is real life. This --
You know, people lose their arms.
Yeah. Because that's the thing about dolls.
They live such sheltered existences.
-They do. Plastic, if you will.
-They could go their whole life,
and they don't even leave the house.
-With two arms. -Yeah, exactly.
-They have two arms their whole lives,
and then every other doll is like,
"Oh, I'm always gonna have two arms,"
and that's not the case. -Yeah.
And so, if anything, it was a cautionary tale for the other --
And I think that you've said, none of your dolls
ever went out driving again after that.
-No. No. -Yeah.
-It was -- I'm glad I could just give something back to them.
So, go see "Mary Queen of Scots."
[ Laughter ]