- "Barkskins" takes place in the late 1600s in New France
which has settled in northernmost America.
What really attracted you to this project and to this story?
- Oh, that's such a great question.
Annie Proulx, I love her writing.
She wrote "Brokeback Mountain."
She wrote "Shipping News."
And she's so eloquent and pens a really great tale.
So I was reading that anyway.
And then when I heard that Scott Rudin and Nat Geo
and Elwood were doing the show, I mean,
I don't know if the word beg would be appropriate or not,
but I literally was like,
And they introduced me to Mathilde
who's a really fantastic character.
And she's from France and with all of the people
she comes over to this new world
and battles with everybody in this story
to create a life there.
And I have kept my ears open as you have asked.
I don't know what you and Mr. Cooke are up to,
nor do I care, but I will have my payment now.
(cane bangs)
And it's interesting because women's most valuable asset
was their sex, that they could not just provide sex,
but that they could have babies,
that they could provide a community, create a community.
And she can't, right?
She's done, her kid died and she's done with that.
And so then you go,
what value is a wise woman in a community?
What value is an older woman if it's not
in this community about producing babies?
She has to be canny.
She has to be conniving even at times.
And she becomes I think a protector to a degree as well.
- A lot of the feminist themes that are obvious
within "Barkskins" such as reproductive rights
and agency that are really still relevant today.
Why do you think that was so important
to showcase in this show?
- You know, it's interesting
because those things would have happened quietly, right?
But I think that those issues are universal and timeless
is what Elwood has been able to put into the writing.
He was very clear about not wanting
to have marching feminists
because we wouldn't have been that.
I think it's interesting to go back and see how
but then you have that sharp contrast
with the native, I think it's the Wendat community
where the head of the community is the wise mother
the wise woman in that community.
And Elwood's kind of beautifully woven it
'cause you don't want it to be a banner, right?
That we've made women's rights an issue in the 1690s
and people are like, "I don't think so."
But they were always an issue
just how did you approach them would be the question.
- [Man] Soon the peace will be broken
and the English and French will go back
to the way things have always been.
- How has your day-to-day life changed during this crisis?
- I'm gonna tell you the positives,
is that I feel so much closer to my two kids who are here.
They're teenagers and I just feel
really, really close to them.
We spend all the time together.
We've been baking.
We've been making soaps.
I literally feel like I'm running the Grand Inn
here at my home right now.
I do all the shopping, all the cleaning,
I'm the one who goes out in the mask to get things.
They turned 16, we had a honk-by party.
Our life is that we're blessed to have a home
and our life isn't near as tough
as so many other people who are dealing with this
so I want to say that really clearly, I get that.
We're lucky.
- There are obviously people experiencing
different levels of strife right now
and everyone's going through something different,
but I also think, as you point out,
kind of all struggle is valid.
- When have we, in this world,
gone through something as collectively,
devastating personally together?
I don't know.
Because I can think, well 9/11 or other world events
that were devastating, but those are events
that affected that country, it was trickle-down.
But this is every single family in the world
is kind of dealing with how to deal with COVID.
That's a really profound moment for all of us, I think.