We are in the presence of greatness this week with Celia Weston, an incredible actor who joined us remotely despite not even having the internet. Can you believe? You Might Know Her From Dead Man Walking, In the Bedroom, Junebug, Alice, The Talented Mr. Ripley, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Igby Goes Down, Far From Heaven, and The Village. Celia, one of the truest embodiments of the premise of this show, talked to us about bringing improv to Jody Hill’s set but not being encouraged to do so on Nancy’s Meyer’s The Intern, working with auteurs like Todd Haynes and M. Night Shyamalan, sinking her teeth into accents whether Staten Island or Bavarian, and the complexities of joining the sitcom Alice in its fifth season. There was just so so much. 

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Celia Weston IMDB

Charlotte Raines (daughter of Ron Raines and Dona Vaughn, Celia’s goddaughter) facilitated our interview, shout out to her. 

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress Indie Spirit  Award for Dead Man Walking

Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen Prejean was very generous during their filming

Had extremely emotional scene opposite Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom (2001, Todd Field)

Directed actors turned directors: Jodie Foster (Little Man Tate), Diane Keaton (Hanging Up), Todd Field (In the Bedroom), Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking).

Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) was a tribute to Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life) 

Female directors: Poms (Zara Hayes), The Intern (Nancy Meyers), Jodie, Diane

Improvised with Anne Hathaway in The Intern (Meyers not into it)

Loved working with director, Jody Hill (Observe and Report). He also directed her in an excellent episode of Vice Principals with Danny McBride where she gets fired and destroys the office. 

Joined the sitcom Alice in season 5 as Jolene Honeycutt. Was almost in the Private Benjamin tv series but ultimately landed on Alice. Sitcom money paid for her UES apartment. 

Nancy Walker directed many episodes of Alice, and once came over and told her she was “a real lady.”

Matthew McCounaghey’s character in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was originally supposed to be from Staten Island. 

Has performed Bavarian (Snow Falling on Cedars) and Czech (The Invasion) accents

M Night Shyamalan put the cast of The Village through a 19th century bootcamp so they could get that authenticity right

Cast as Tom Cruise’s mom in Knight and Day (she’s 10 years older than him)

Plays Lady Ambrosia on a crazy episode of The Blacklist. If she fell down a well in real life and could only call one person from the cast of Poms, she’d call Diane Keaton.

Did not read The Secret but co-starred in the film. 

Plays Cate Blanchett’s aunt in The Talented Mr. Ripley and was in the opera scene when Matt Damon had to produce a single tear. 

While on Alice, she competed on Battle of the Network Stars (1984) and her CBS team beat ABC and NBC