-[ Voice cracking ] Our first guest tonight is an Emmy, Golden Globe,
and Academy Award-nominated actress.
You know her best from her roles in "Unfaithful,"
"Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Justice League."
She's currently starring in the final season of "House of Cards"
which begins streaming in its entirety on Netflix this Friday.
Let's take a look.
-Whatever Francis promised or did is buried with him.
-No, I-I know.
We all need to let him go,
start from some kind of scratch.
Though, it must haunt you,
the fact that he died next to you in bed?
-Please welcome to the show Diane Lane, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Thanks so much. This is so nice of you.
Oh, that's great. This is your "I Voted" sticker?
-Yes, and I wanted to ask you where I should put it.
-I would go right there. I would go in the part that goes --
-My daughter said so. too. -Yeah. There you go.
So you've already...
[ Cheers and applause ]
That's great. -I'm psyched. I'm psyched.
-I feel like that's the undiscovered country that everybody has to realize,
is you got to vote early because you avoid the lines,
it's such a better scene.
-Yes! -And now get it out of the way.
You have nothing to worry about. -And you have time to read
all the propositions and measurements
and to have your say in the future.
-Yes. All right. Great.
And, also, thank you for my cough drops.
-They were handed to me. I'm not a sponsor.
-They were handed to you. Okay, gotcha.
So, this is really cool
that you are on the last season of "House of Cards."
But obviously this is a show
that there was a lot of uncertainty as to what was
going to happen moving forward based on things that happened
outside the realm of the show.
-Yeah, we had a little more zeitgeist than we --
Yeah. -Than we...
-Yes. -...anticipated.
Get your hand caught in the machine.
That's what I call that, when you suddenly
become part of the hashtags and movements and headlines.
-Yes. Maybe. Yeah. Right at the beginning of that, really.
But what was the -- When you showed up --
Obviously your first year was this year.
What was the tone like when you arrived?
-It was -- Well, it was interesting because for me
I didn't want to be an interloper.
I mean, I'm a fan of the show.
And to be allowed in, I had to cram and catch up.
And it's sort of like being a kid
on the first day of school in a new school.
You just want to seamlessly sneak in
and not draw too much attention to yourself, you know?
But that was unavoidable, because Robin and I were like
two cobras hissing at each other whenever the camera's on.
So much fun. -You also --
One of your co-stars is Greg Kinnear.
You guys play brother and sister.
-I like you in puberty. This is adorable.
-What's that? -Isn't it great?
-I mean, it's pretty sexy. -It's working.
-Yeah. How do I keep it? -So, Greg Kinnear --
-You know what? I do not want these.
[ Laughter ]
So you guys are sort of wealthy brother and sister...
-Yes.
-...who are trying to control politics.
Very evocative of some people who are in the news.
Was that a fun thing to play?
-Well, power is fun, especially for girls.
-Yeah. Sure. Yeah. -We know what to do with it.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-No, it was --
That seems to me what will be
the most interesting dynamic of this season.
-Yes, and I made a few jokes
about voting for Robin for president.
I mean, Claire frightens me, but Robin's great.
-Yeah, well, I want to ask this
because you're also in Matthew Weiner's show, "The Romanoffs."
-All in one week. 18 months of my life in one week.
[ Cheers and applause ] Pretty amazing.
-You are primarily known for film work,
but it does seem in recent years,
a lot of film actors have found their way to television.
Is it just the quality of the work?
-Well, I think it's good to walk through the open doors.
And there's a lot more opportunity
in terms of the quality of writing
and the diversity of experience that women are allowed to have
on the small screen.
And, you know, it's nice to be invited.
And such talented people. My gosh.
I mean, if you're going to start in television, go big.
I mean, I don't even call it television.
Because it's -- Once Netflix introduced
binging through "House of Cards,"
it was a game changer for everybody.
And so now with Matt Weiner's new show, "The Romanoffs,"
it's appointment television again.
-Yeah. -So we're going retro.
-Right, 'cause it is. Yeah.
-I mean, to go back to that, it's fun.
-"The Romanoffs" episode you're in takes place in New York.
You used to live here.
-Yeah, I grew up here. Born and raised and bred.
-You grew up here, born and raised.
-PS 59. -PS 59. Wow.
-Yeah, yeah. -And so how has it changed?
Like, when you come back,
are you blown away by how different it is?
-Oh, yeah. My school is now a Whole Foods.
-Wow.
-My first kiss was in the produce section, I guess.
Now, well -- Yeah, New York has changed a lot.
There's a book I wanted to get for you today
because I knew I was going to want to mention this to you.
There's a book by E.B. White called "This Is New York."
Do you have it? -I don't. No.
-It's mandatory reading for us New Yorkers
because New York betrays its most devoted, loyal lovers
of the city because it can't help but change.
It must change. And we all feel --
This book was written 70 years ago, by the way,
and it's very timeless and still true.
-It changes quickly. -It must.
-Yeah, so, growing up here, on Halloween, I have to ask --
Because I grew up in the suburbs.
My parents would have to drive me in a car from house to house.
-Ohh! You had trees. -Yeah.
Like, trick-or-treating was a drag.
-Lucky. That was the fantasy of every city kid.
-Yeah. It really is not that great.
-We would just go to the richest girl that we could find
and be her friend for Halloween
and say, "Can we go to your building for trick-or-treat?"
And we'd just go to the top floor
and work our way down the stairwell and...
-See, that's so much more fun than what I had to do.
-...come out with two years' worth of candy in one building.
-Yeah, I would take like four hours,
and I would get, like, a Kit-Kat.
-You earned it. -I did. I earned it.
-What was your favorite costume? -What was my favorite costume?
I actually remember when I was really young,
I said that I wanted to dress like a pile of trash.
[ Laughter ] -That's different.
-And my dad did this excellent --
made me an excellent costume, and I still think to this day
it's the best costume I had. Did you have a favorite?
-Well, I got to have my revenge on my daughter
when it was her turn.
I got to make her the costume I always wanted,
which was to be a mermaid. -Oh, wow.
-Which is tricky, 'cause you have to kind of waddle around.
-Yeah. -You have to really be invested.
-How does it actually work?
You just put the two feet out of the bottom?
-You make a little hole for your feet in the tail, kind of.
-It feels like you wanted her to get less candy.
That feels like the plan.
-I wanted to be able to keep up with her.
-Just slow her down enough. -Speedy McGee.