-Welcome back.
Our next guest is an Emmy-nominated actress
you know from films such as "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
and shows like "Fosse/Verdon" and "The Leftovers."
She was nominated for both a Golden Globe and a SAG Award
for her performance in "Maid,"
which is streaming now on Netflix.
Let's take a look.
-The point is, honey, ah --
you know, I like being a gypsy.
I like being mobile, okay?
You know me. I'm scrappy.
-I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.
I can't afford to put you in a motel.
I can't bring you to the shelter.
I don't know what to do, Mom.
-I am not your problem, Alexandra.
-Yes, you are.
-No, I am not.
I'm your mother. -No, you're not.
-Yes, I am!
I am.
-Please welcome to the show Margaret Qualley.
[ Applause ]
♪♪
Welcome to the show!
-Thank you so much. -I'm so happy to have you here.
Now, that was your real mom.
-So, yeah, she says, "You're not my mom," but she really is.
-In real life. -Yeah.
-Andie MacDowell is your mom. And this is -- you --
Obviously, a very accomplished actress,
but you helped get her this part.
That's a big deal. -I know.
How crazy lucky am I, right? [ Laughs ] Yeah.
-So did you suggest to the producers,
"Hey, you know who'd be good at my mom?
My mom." -My mom. Yeah.
There's no real argument for that, you know?
Like, what are you going to say? "I don't believe that"?
-Yeah, she's not a believable mom at all.
Do you remember the first time as a kid
seeing your mom on screen?
Was it weird?
-Um, it certainly was. Yeah.
I, um...yeah.
I think the first time I really remember it is actually,
it's a pretty vivid memory, because my mom was going on
"Sesame Street," kind of on my behalf,
because it seemed like a sweet thing to do.
-Sure. -Yeah, so sweet.
But the way that I interpreted it as a four-year-old --
well, she was playing -- she's from the South.
I am, too.
[ Laughing ] 'Cause she's my mom.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-Anyway, so she was playing a Southern belle
stuck in a bell tower on "Sesame Street,"
but she was away from home while she was doing it,
and my four-year-old mind was just like,
"My mom's stuck in a bell tower."
You know? Like, "This is awful."
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
Those muppets, that can backfire on you.
Yeah. -It was terrifying.
-It could be terrifying, yeah. Very much so.
You are nominated for a SAG Award.
Congratulations very much on that.
-Thank you. [ Cheers and applause ]
Thanks.
-And, you know, obviously a very exciting time for your career.
I'm also aware that you had a very tragic loss recently.
-I did, yeah. -Someone who was incredibly
supportive of your career and integral to it.
-Yeah. Yeah.
You know, to be honest,
I probably wouldn't be here if it w--
I lost my manager a couple of weeks ago.
He took his own life, and it's just awful.
And I probably wouldn't be doing something like this,
but I think that like, because he's my manager, you know,
he'd be really pissed off if I weren't doing this.
[ Laughing ]
So, but...
But yeah, his -- his family actually started
a foundation on his behalf with NAMI,
the National Alliance for Mental Illness,
so if anybody wants to donate to that, that's amazing.
But another thing to do is just to tell the people that you love
that you love them, and just if you are suffering, to seek help,
because there's people out there that really want to help you.
And there you go.
-Well, thanks for being here. -I've been great.
[ Laughs ]
-I can only imagine how proud he was of you and your career.
And I also have heard that he was also very supportive
on your behalf on social media.
-Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, he was.
I mean, everybody loves Chris.
He's one of those, like, real-life angels.
Anybody that ever was in his orbit just made --
he made them feel like they were family.
But with me, he's had my back for the past 10 years,
but his Instagram presence was particularly special
because he would -- you know, sometimes people --
people on the internet aren't that nice sometimes.
-No, they're not, no. -Shocking.
But when people would say mean things
on a photo of me on Instagram,
he would personally go through each comment
and then attack them
and like, go so far as to provide his location
like, "I'm on the corner of La Brea and some other street
in Hollywood, and I'm driving this car and this is my outfit."
Like, "Come find me and I'll tell you
what kind of a person Margaret really is."
[ Laughter ]
So, yeah.
-Well, that is quite a presence. -Really sweet.
-This show is a really special show.
You have a -- there's an actor
who's not your actual four-year-old.
You've got your real mom, but not your real four-year-old.
-Yes, I haven't had one of those.
-But a four-year-old actor who's wonderful in it.
-Yes. -But I would imagine,
especially for a show like this that's so dramatic,
how do you keep a four-year-old's attention
over the course of a day of shooting, which are long days?
-It was hard.
I love her so much, Rylea. So, so great.
But, and you know, to be honest,
the thing is that I would just like --
I would really use the crew in kind of like a mean way.
I mean, I love the crew so much,
this group of incredible people up in Vancouver Island.
But you know, late at night after 12 hours of work
and you want to go home
and Rylea just has one line to say that's like --
Okay, one time, it was at the end of,
I don't remember the episode, seven or something like that,
and the line is like, "Best day ever, Mommy."
And she wouldn't say it. I guess she didn't have
a good day, and she was like, "That's not authentic."
[ Laughter ]
But we were all just, like, really trying
to get her to say "best day ever."
And so we would enlist various crew members
to do just ridiculous things.
I remember calling Jess over, who's a sound guy,
to dance for her,
and just anybody to do absolutely anything.
Special man C-- Um...
I just called him "special man Cam", but that was his nickname,
was the second AD's nickname.
I mean, really, it was -- kids are [bleep]
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
Yeah, no. -Like, don't work with them.
-Why I asked that question,
'cause I have a kid who's almost 4.
-Yeah. -And the idea that I could get
him to say something... -Right.
I mean, the amount of power
that they have on a set is outrageous.
-Yeah. Or, by the way, everywhere else.
-Right. That's true.
That's true. -[ Laughing ] Yeah.
-In the beginning, she was such a sweetheart,
and then by the end of -- it was nine months up there,
she realized that, like,
everyone had to do what she wanted.
-Yeah. -You know? I mean, I love her.
Bless her. Bless her, bless her, bless her.
-No, no, that's coming across, how much you love her.
Yeah. [ Laughter ]
I mean, she's a power-mad tyrant, but she's --
oh, my God, she's my heart.
[ Laughter ]
We have something in common.
We adore Adam Sandler.
-Oh, yeah, I do.
-And I thought, as Adam Sandler fans went,
I was right at the top of the list, but you...
-And then you met me. -I met you.
Well, I didn't meet you as much as I heard that you're --
basically, like, this is what you get for Christmas presents.
-Yes. Yeah.
-So this is, by the way, not a signed photograph
from Adam Sandler. -No, it's not.
-You got his co-star.
-Mr. Larson. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
So, people in your life knew
that this would be an appropriate Christmas gift.
-Yeah, my boyfriend's sister, Rachel, gave that to me,
and I'm getting it framed right now.
It's very exciting.
And yeah, it was.
It was a really great gift, but it didn't stop there.
-Okay, yeah, no, this was... this is a T-shirt.
-My boyfriend gave me that. -Okay, that's beautiful.
-Yeah, yeah.
-So, you did really well for yourself.
-I did really well. -That's quite a haul.
-It was a really exciting Christmas, 'cause I got those,
and then I also gave some
"Happy Gilmore" paraphernalia, as well.
I gave some Subway shirts out, you know?
-Yeah.
-If you're a hard fan, you'll know what I'm talking about.
I think I might name my first child --
hopefully, they're not an [bleep] --
-- "Sonny."
-Sonny? -I don't know. Yeah.
-It would at least make it funny if they were an [bleep]
-Right, but I was bringing it back to the Rylea thing.
-Yes, of course. Of course. No, no, I knew.
I know you're not just like, out of nowhere,
just saying, "Kids are [bleep]" -Yeah, yeah.
-You've established. You've laid down proof.
Hey, you put this on Instagram,
and this is not your pet, this photo, right?
-No, that's not my pet. -Okay, but it looks like
you allowed it to get a lot closer
than I would allow this animal to get.
So, where is this and why did you let this happen?
-I mean, I was at the park.
-Okay, you're at a park in New York City.
-I was at the park in New York City.
-Yeah, no, but the question is, why didn't you move your foot?
-I mean, to be honest, I thought about...
Oh, why didn't I move my foot? Well, I want to be close to it.
Of course! -You did want to be close to it.
-Of course.
-Okay, so I think that's the story here, Margaret.
-I know, but I feel bad, because the end of this story --
well, I've never really told anyone this,
but the end of this story is that the poor little guy,
like, wanted to be my friend, but I didn't really --
like, I could have picked it up or something,
but I thought maybe it could have rabies.
-It 100% has rabies.
[ Laughter ]
What are you talking about?
You know, I mean, I think that's the first thing,
like, when you land at LaGuardia,
they're like, "Don't take the squirrels home."
-Yeah, no, but it kind of followed me.
Like, I left and it was following me,
and I just felt bad because I was like, maybe the squirrel
needs something from me, maybe it's ask--
But I didn't pick it up because of the rabies thing.
-On behalf of all of us, thank you for making
the right decision when the moment of truth came.
But we do have a very special surprise for you.
The squirrel's here.
No, I'm kidding. -Oh.
God, I really thought Adam Sandler was gonna walk out.
Terrible day. -Yeah, exactly.
-Sorry about that. Yeah, we really blew it.
But can you please, just before we go,
can you say, "Best day ever"?
-[Childlike voice] Best day ever, Mommy.
-See, there you go. Margaret Qualley, everybody!
"Maid" is streaming now on Netflix.