-Our first guest tonight is a talented actress
you know from her work on "Dawson's Creek"
and films like "Batman Begins" and "All We Had."
She produced, wrote, directed and stars in "Alone Together"
which is in select theaters this Friday and On Demand July 29th.
Let's take a look.
-This is, um, 34 Cherry Lane, right?
-34, yeah. Yeah, it is.
-My boyfriend booked this place on Airbnb for a week.
- hate to break it to you, but I -- I reserved this Airbnb.
-What?
-Yeah, my friend Jimmy hooked me up.
I-I booked the Airbnb.
I booked it yesterday.
-Oh, well...
we booked it on Sunday.
-Well, I don't know what to tell you.
I signed for this yesterday.
I got an email confirmation if you want to check it out.
-Please welcome to the show Katie Holmes, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome to the show.
-Thank you.
-You look lovely, and I really want to stress
for everybody watching at home right now that if we were
wearing our outfits that we have on, outside in the New York City
weather right now, we would be so miserable.
-Yes. -Yes.
This is very much the air conditioned studio.
Don't be watching at home thinking, New York must be
nice and cozy right now.
No, it's real bad.
-It's real bad right now, yeah.
-This is very exciting.
This is the second time you've directed a film?
-Yes. -And I'm wondering, did you feel
more confident going into it a second time?
-Yes, and also, because it came --
we shot a year after lockdown.
And the movie takes place during lockdown.
As actors, I think we all went through that moment of,
are we ever going to work again?
Are we ever going to be on set again?
So it was more about, oh, my God, there's tape,
there's a mark, we have lines, wow.
We can do it again.
So it was -- it was actually just --
it never gets easier because
there's always something to figure out,
but it was definitely, like, thank you, God,
for every moment, you know? -It's nice.
I mean, I think everybody felt very grateful to be able
to get back to work, to some sense of normalcy.
But in order to, you know, to start filming a film
a year into lockdown, that meant that you were writing it
sort of right at the beginning of it.
-Yes. -I think some people felt very
creatively stifled at that time.
Did you very early on in that time that we were all
spending alone think, "Oh, I'm going to actually sit down
and try to write something?"
-I mean, pretty much, yeah.
I mean, I went through the, you know, watching
a bunch of movies, and actually during that time,
I was watching movies that I grew up on.
Like "Manhattan," "Annie Hall," "When Harry Met Sally."
Like, movies that I knew the ending,
it was comforting, there was joy.
And so I thought, well, I've been -- I was reading a lot
about, you know, couples coming together, falling apart.
It was like, "I think with the threat of the world ending,
let's see a couple come together."
-Yeah, that's good.
So funny you say that.
I also feel like in early pandemic
I only wanted to engage with things where I knew
the ending, and it was -- you know, we were all
living this time where none of us knew what the ending was.
-Exactly. I was like, "I think
I'm gonna -- I am going to watch "Moonstruck."
You know what I mean? -Exactly, exactly.
And I watched that too, many times.
-That a winner, right? Yeah. -Ah.
-What kind of director do you find yourself to be?
And do you feel like you borrowed from the directors
you've liked over your career?
-Definitely.
I'm definitely...
I love actors, and some of the best experiences
I had came from working with Curtis Hanson,
Christopher Nolan and Ang Lee.
And then also doing "All My Sons" on Broadway.
Just that eight-week rehearsal experience.
I just felt so blessed because these directors
all just took the time to help, you know, create a character.
So I try to give my actors and myself the space to create
the characters and really play and improvise.
-You obviously are an actor as well.
Are you hard to direct?
-[ Laughs ] Always.
I mean, every day I struggle with that.
-Is it tricky, like, when you're in a scene
with another actor and you're also the director, obviously?
I mean, you're not the first person that's had to deal
with this, but I feel like the other actors in the scene
have to feel like you're paying attention
to them the same way --
-And I am. -Right.
-But what I didn't know until today,
because I was doing interviews
with Jim Sturgess, who plays Charlie.
-Who was in the clip there, yeah.
-Yes.
He's like -- I forgot --
but he's like, "Katie never yells cut."
And I forgot that, because I like to sort of,
what else you gonna do? You know?
And he was like, "Every day I didn't know
what was going to happen."
I was like, yeah, but that's the fun of it.
I mean, the script is sort of just there.
So I guess I'm unpredictable.
-That's good. -Yeah.
-That's a good thing for a director to be.
You wrote yourself as a food critic in this.
Do you think you would make a good food critic?
Because I don't think I would be a good food critic.
-Um, I would enjoy it.
I mean, I love Ruth Reichl and I mean, going in with a wig
and that would be kind of fun.
-Oh, this is -- right.
I mean, that's a real -- -They can't -- they can't
know you're there, so you get to disguise yourself.
-But I feel like...
I mean, what a great job.
-Yeah.
But I wouldn't -- I imagine the best meal
you've ever had, right?
Would it be worse if you had to wear a fake wig?
[ Laughter ]
Like, that would be my thing. -I know, right?
I'd always be worried my fake moustache
would fall into the soup. -Exactly.
And do you have to pretend it's not --
Yeah, you have to, that it's not the best meal.
-Right. -I'm not good at that.
-That's the thing. I feel like most of the time
I'm just super happy at a restaurant
like when the food gets there.
I feel like if I was a food critic,
I'd always be like, "Another a-plus.
I ordered it, I ordered it, it came, I ate it."
-Yeah. Your -- your opinion would probably --
probably lose the value there.
-How -- like, when you write, who are the people that you
sort of show your work to over the course of the process?
-My poor friends.
And I bug them until they read it.
-Okay. -Sometimes I make them read it
over the phone with me.
But yeah, for this, I actually reached out to my friend
Dito Montiel, who did "Guide to Recognizing Your Saints."
I love that movie.
And we worked together on "The Son of No One."
And he helped me out a lot.
And then Derek Luke and Jim Sturgess,
we wrote a lot of it together.
I mean, they signed on, and then it was like, you know,
I do have some thoughts here and some thoughts there.
I was like, "Great. Let's do that."
-That's very nice. You're very collaborative.
That's the right kind of person to work with.
-Yeah.
I mean, I always think that it's just, yeah,
it's going to make it better. I don't know.
I mean, my ideas are fine, but I'm sure --
I know there's a lot better ideas out there.
-Do you like shooting in New York City?
Because obviously you've done that a lot.
-I do.
-Do you feel like New Yorkers are excited
when they see something shooting?
Or they're already over it?
-Most people are already over it.
-Yeah. -I always feel like in New York,
I think everybody thinks they're a celebrity.
You know what I mean? -Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
-Everybody thinks where they're going
is more important than where you're going.
-It's so true.
But I'm the exception, because I'm always --
I get excited when I see a movie truck.
-I do, too. -I'm always like --
I try to find the one person that might tell me,
because they're not supposed to. -Sure.
-So usually they'll be like, "It's a student film."
-I'm like, "I've used that excuse.
Come on. What is it, what is it?"
-Do you think they're like, "Katie Holmes
is sniffing around this movie set?"
-I don't know. I don't know.
Maybe I have a reputation.
-I walk by and I'm like -- I'll see trailers
and they'll have like a star on the door but not a name.
And I want to walk up and be like, hey, there's a high
likelihood I know who's in there.
-Yeah. -So why don't you go
tell them I'm here.
-Yeah.
Yeah, it's kind of -- it's kind of humiliating.
-It's really humiliating. -Now that you mention it.
-Also there's times where I'm walking by,
and I feel like -- even though I'm --
I feel like they somehow think like
I'm there creeping on the film set.
And I'm like, what do they think?
That I'm like out looking for guests?
Like -- [ Laughter ]
That I'm like, "Oh, we don't have anybody for Thursday.
I'll go hang around the trailers."
-Yeah, exactly.
You have the list of, like, New York locations.
But for -- we did a movie this fall called "Rare Objects"
that I also directed, and we shot
like a block from where I live, which was fantastic.
And we also shot up in Queens, and so we --
it was a real love letter to New York,
and such a great experience, to, you know,
just shoot all over the city.
And -- and so, yeah, it was -- it was quite fun.
I mean, to go back to your original, like, yeah,
I love shooting in New York. -It's nice.
It is really nice to be able to present New York City.
I mean, again, those movies you were talking about early on.
You know, those are -- those -- a lot of those films
are the reason why I wanted to come
to New York City in the first place.
-Me, too. -It looks really good
on a big screen.
Anything you can do to make people -- remind people
what a great place it is to come to visit,
especially at this weather.
-Especially, come now.
-You've got to come now. -Yeah, come now. It's fabulous.
-Thank you so much. Congrats on the film.
-Thank you. -It's such a delight to see you.
You guys, that's Katie Holmes.
"Alone Together" in select theaters
July 22nd and On Demand July 29th.
We'll be right back with Joe Pera, everybody!