The Daily Beast has a new interview with Oscar nominated actress Melissa Leo, 50. Leo is considered the frontrunner this year in the best supporting actress category, having been nominated for The Fighter. (She was also nominated in 2009 for Frozen River.) She ran some goofy ads recently asking Academy members to consider her and they looked more like glamour shots than a legitimate Oscar campaign. Leo even admitted that the ads were her idea, telling Deadline “I took matters into my own hands..I knew what I was doing and told my representation how earnest I was about this idea. I had never heard of any actor taking out an ad as themselves and I wanted to give it a shot.”
As the Huffington Post points out, Leo backtracks a little in her interview with The Daily Beast, and at first makes it sound like someone else advised her to do those bizarre ads, for which she was widely criticized. She does admit a little later that it was her idea and that she thought it was fun. She also talked about her role in The Fighter, saying that she wasn’t on board with it at first because it “didn’t feel appropriate” to play the mother of Mark Walhberg’s character, as he’s just 11 years younger than her.
On her start in acting
In 1983, she got her first acting work, with a recurring role on All My Children. It led to a respectable career as a working actress, doing everything from off-Broadway plays to forgettable TV movies. In the mid-’90s, she found greater success as the tough detective Kay Howard on Homicide: Life on the Street, the critically acclaimed NBC drama. After Homicide, there were other jobs but nothing that would ratchet up her profile further. “There were mountaintops and deep dark valleys,” she remembered, her voice cracking a bit. (“I’m a little verklempt,” she admitted.)
On her role in The Fighter
At first, Leo hesitated at the idea of playing Wahlberg’s mother Alice. At 50, she is just 11 years older than her would- be celluloid son. (His crack-smoking sibling onscreen is Christian Bale, 14 years Leo’s junior in real life.) “It didn’t feel appropriate at all,” she said. Still, she wanted to meet Russell and keep the door open for future projects—and Leo quickly overcame her misgivings. “David is like a magical child,” she said. “His excitement is contagious and palpable and he was quite convinced that I should be his Alice.” (Oddly enough, the two met at the same karma-packed restaurant that brought Leo together with this reporter.) By the end of two hours, Leo was sold. “I left and called my people and said, ‘I really want to do this film.’ ”
On her Oscar ad campaign
And as for that ad campaign that Hollywood isn’t sure what to think about? Truth be told, Leo said, she’s mystified. “I’ve been busting my ass, trying to get the movie sold and seen, and now I show up where they ask, get put into hair and makeup that they pay for, so I can promote this thing [and campaign]. So I’m a little confused. I thought this is what we’re doing. This is what all the girls are doing.” Leo adds that she conceived the ads before she was nominated—and if she had known she would wind up in contention for Best Supporting Actress, she might have done things differently. “It didn’t seem so nomination oriented,” she said. “It was fun.”
On her future
With awards season drawing to a close, Leo said she’s looking forward to getting a little time off. “I do feel like I can step back just a bit and make some decisions now about the work I do, rather than the work simply choosing me,” she said. Then she paused, and reconsidered.“But I don’t want to get too choosy about shit. I just love working. I have to work.”
[From The Daily Beast]
I have to admit to not knowing much about Leo prior to this. She comes across as vulnerable yet jaded in this article. That just could be due to the way the piece was edited though. It must be hard to be a little-known working actress for decades, and to make a few missteps once you’re in the spotlight. She’s definitely earning accolades and roles now and hopefully things will go easier for her. She also deserves some credit for not jacking her face up. She’s 50 and it doesn’t look like she’s had anything done yet.
As an aside, I learned in that Daily Beast article that Leo used to be on the soap “All My Children” in 1984. Here’s a link to a video with her character.
Photo credit: WENN.com
