-Hello, Cynthia. How are you?
-I'm good, Seth. How are you?
-I'm wonderful. It's always good to see you.
I want to ask, you know, I'm coming up
on about 20 years of being a New Yorker.
You've lived here your whole life.
Has this time -- Has this difficult time
reminded you of other eras of upheaval in the city?
-I mean, New York, yeah.
I've been living here since I was born in 1966.
Our city goes through a lot of crises from time to time.
And I have to say, yes, it's been really reminding me
of the early days of the AIDS crisis, you know?
I feel like the same way Black Lives Matter protesters
have taken to the streets
and are completely changing our world,
I feel like that is what AIDS activists did,
what LGBT people did, founding ACT UP,
taking to the streets, disrupting traffic.
And because, similarly, you know,
there was an epidemic going on in their community
that the rest of the world seemed basically unaware of,
and in order to seize the world's attention
and demand an enormous change,
that's what LGBT people did then.
And that's what, you know,
so many Black Lives Matter protesters are doing now.
And I have to say, when Trump was elected,
I was so inspired by the women's marches
not only in this country, but across the world.
But I think now the estimate is
something like 20 million Black Lives Matter people have --
protesters have, across the country, participated.
And we've never seen a movement like that in this country --
every race of person, every ethnicity,
every age, every gender.
-You know, I think when you talk about these movements
that demand enormous change,
one of the most important things is just to educate, right?
Like, people aren't fully aware.
And I think that, you know, what you've seen
with just the last five years of how Black Lives Matter
is perceived as a movement,
a lot more people obviously think of it
in a more positive way as a necessary movement.
And I think that's also true in politics.
Last time you were here,
you were running on a progressive agenda,
you know, for governor.
And while you didn't win,
it does seem that a lot of what was maybe framed
as a little bit more left,
a little more, you know, out of the mainstream
has now been pulled into favor.
Do you feel happy about the fact that, you know,
while you did not, you know, obviously win the election,
it does feel like a lot of your ideas
are now viewed a lot more favorably?
-Yes. I mean, I was --
2018, there was an incredible blue wave in New York State
that is continuing.
And we took the New York State Senate back for the Democrats.
And we've been able to --
in just a couple of years,
we've been able to pass the Green New Deal for New York.
We've done major bail reform.
We've had driver's licenses extended to everyone,
including undocumented people.
We've updated our abortion laws.
We've passed the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act.
It just goes on and on and on.
And one of the exciting things
is that we're actually two votes away from a veto-proof majority
in the New York State Senate.
And so when that happens, God willing, very soon,
we will no longer have to be dependent on the governor
for passing all the progressive things
that we want to have in New York State and can have.
-You have been critical of both the governor and the mayor
in their handling, particularly the early days of the pandemic.
But you wrote an op-ed that you had a unique angle on,
because you are both in sort of the TV film production
that is so vital to the city,
as well as being a parent in this city.
This is true of me, as well.
Can you speak about sort of what you saw
and what led you to write this op-ed
about how we're valuing one a little bit more than the other?
-Yes. I mean, it was kind of a staggering thing.
I had both of these two phone calls in one day.
And the first was with the production
that I'm going to start shooting at the end of the month
and all the precautions that were being taken.
And the second was with my son's school
to hear about what precautions were being taken there.
And just the contrast could've not been more stark.
In our production,
they had an industrial hygienist walk through all the sets.
And they were reconfigured, and there were air purifiers.
And the ventilation system was redone.
An entire department was created for COVID safety.
In my son's school, which is not particular to him,
but to all the schools across the city,
I heard about how airflow was being gauged
by a piece of toilet paper
attached with a paper clip to a yardstick.
You know, in our production,
you get tested before you start work.
Our crew is tested one to three times a week.
Actors are tested every day.
People entering my son's school building,
whether they choose to be tested before they started work
was optional.
And then people entering the building
once school officially begins with kids,
even temperature taking is optional.
So the result is that even people who chose to be tested,
by the time they got the results back,
they had already started work,
and we have 55 schools and counting
in which at least one person is infected,
and they have now been exposed
to many other people in that building.
I mean, I could talk about this for a very long time.
But I just keep having this thought,
which is that starting on Monday,
the only restaurant you can eat at indoors with a mask off
is going to be a New York City public classroom.
-It was a really nice piece to have written
insofar that it brought so much attention to that,
because it is shocking when you realize
how we are able to do it when we want to,
and then we just make very selective choices
of where we want to.
I also want to ask about "Ratched."
This is the first -- I guess the first show you signed up for
after the election.
This is a prequel to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,"
the famous Nurse Ratched from that.
But, yeah, I would argue you do not need to have seen the film
or read the book to be able to enjoy this
as a freestanding show.
-Absolutely not.
And it's a Ryan Murphy production,
which means that the actors and the actresses in particular
are amazing and very varied.
It's Sharon Stone and Sarah Paulson and me
and Sophie Okonedo and Amanda Plummer.
And the list just goes on and on and on.
And I get to play Sarah Paulson's love interest.
And it is not very often that you get even one queer woman
playing a queer character.
But to have two queer women playing two queer characters
who are romantically involved with each other
just almost never happens.
-Well, it's one of the many great things about the show.
And it truly is an incredible cast.
And it's always great to see you on-screen again.
And thank you so much for being here, Cynthia.
It's always a pleasure.
-Thank you. Pleasure for me, too.