Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 2 June 2017
Melissa Leo: seriously great in

a drama about scoring laughs

FRAZIER MOORE the groundbreaking NBC plays. She says she rec-
AP Television Writer cop drama, “Homicide: ognized her calling even
NEW YORK (AP) — Dying is Life on the Streets” in the before she knew what to
easy. Playing the owner of 1990s. call it.
a circa-1970s L.A. comedy Over breakfast on a re- “I’m a very uncomfort-
club — THAT’S hard. cent rainy morning at a able human being who’s
“But when I say that it boutique hotel on Man- learned to socialize, to a
was hard and that it was hattan’s Lower East Side degree, mostly through
a reach for me, I mean: — that once-scruffy neigh- my work,” she says. “My
This image released by Showtime shows Melissa Leo as Goldie Those are the things that borhood where Leo spent interest in my own image,
in the new series, “I’m Dying Up Here,” about a circa-1970s L.A. interested me as an ac- her formative years — she my own self, has always
comedy club. tor,” says Melissa Leo, who is clad in the casual attire been about creating oth-
Associated Press
stars as Goldie, the tough- of her current upstate New er characters.”
love gatekeeper to fame York habitat: jeans, flannel No wonder she identifies
and fortune for a rising shirt and, on her head of with the compulsions dra-
wave of standup comics cascading red tresses, a matized on “I’m Dying Up
on “I’m Dying Up Here,” knit cap. Here.”
which premieres Sunday And no makeup. “Everybody has known a
at 10 p.m. EDT on Show- “I don’t wear it in my life. class clown or someone
time. God forbid I meet some- acting crazy at the of-
The 10-episode sea- one and then wake up in fice. And it isn’t hard to
son dwells on a swarm the —” she cringes and see they do it because
of young comedians laughs at the idea of her there’s so much pain in-
(played by Ari Graynor, partner’s morning-after side, they feel compelled
Michael Angarano, Clark disillusionment. to do something for atten-
Duke and Al Madrigal, Both on and off the screen, tion, to get a response.
among others) whose pil- she seems free of vanity. The standup comic gets
grimage to stardom — a In contrast, “Goldie is a onstage with all that great
career-launching spot on lady,” says Leo, leaning pain and shares the depth
Johnny Carson’s “Tonight hard on that word. “She of it, and the audience
Show,” then a sweet TV or knows how to use her fem- sees themselves reflected
movie deal — has first led inine qualities, her sexual- and laughs. But you don’t
them to Goldie. But dying ity, to get what she wants. get that laugh from them
is easy. Landing 15 minutes That was not something unless you’re sharing the
on Goldie’s stage is hard. I was brought up with. worst part of you in the
Goldie is no pushover. To play Goldie, with her funniest ways.”
“So much storytelling asks makeup and bleached- Tapping into that unfunny
women to be somebody’s blond hair, I had to act like side for laughs is a large
something — somebody’s a girl, and that was, oddly, part of what her series is
mother, somebody’s wife, the reach for me.” about.
somebody’s sidekick. Dave Flebotte, the series’ Another component is
Goldie is not like that,” creator and an execu- what Goldie represents: a
Leo says with satisfaction. tive producer, says Leo’s reality check on perform-
“She is allowed to be her reach was unequivocal. ers who aren’t ready yet,
own character. She is a “There’s a no-nonsense, no matter how much they
CHARACTER!” As in: odd, shoot-from-the-hip, I’m- crave the next level and
eccentric or noteworthy the-devil-you-know kind think they’ve earned it. If
person. “And I like playing of attitude with Goldie they aren’t ready, Goldie
CHARACTERS.” that Melissa embraced, does them a favor by tell-
Through a three-decade- and then really embod- ing them no, Leo says.
long career, Leo, 56, has ied and took off with,” Fle- “This afternoon, I’m going
declared independence botte says by phone from to meet with a director,”
and wholeness for her Los Angeles. “There was so she says by way of expla-
characters in such films much stuff we didn’t have nation. “I came within a
as “Frozen River,” ‘’21 to do with exposition be- hair’s-breadth of playing
Grams” and “The Fighter” cause Melissa plays it. She a lead in her very success-
(for which she won the can do something with ful film back in the ‘80s. But
best supporting actress a look that might have SHE is not who stood in my
Oscar), and on TV proj- saved two lines of dia- way by not giving me that
ects including “All the logue.” role. Now, I’m meeting
Way” (playing Lady Bird From early childhood, Leo with her again.
Johnson to Bryan Cran- felt the need to embody “I’m using what I’ve
ston’s Lyndon Johnson), other people. As a tot, she learned through the years
“Mildred Pierce,” ‘’Treme” helped make puppets for to play Goldie: my knowl-
and, in the role that first a Greenwich Village ex- edge that the only person
brought her attention, as perimental theater, then who can get in your way is
Detective Kay Howard on began appearing in its yourself.”q