Claire Danes covers the March issue of Town & Country to promote the eighth and final season of Homeland. I’ll be real: I thought Homeland was over a few years ago? I stopped watching it when you-know-who was killed off (no spoilers, even though it was years ago). For some reason, I thought the show only continued for a year or two more. Guess I was wrong! Anyway, this T&C piece is actually quite good – the interview was conducted by Claire’s dear friend Zac Posen, whom she’s known for about twenty years. They knew each other before social media, before celebrities had “brands” and before every single thing went to hell. So the interview has a lot of ‘90s and early ‘00s nostalgia, which I don’t mind at all. Some highlights:
Her childhood in Soho: “In Soho during the ’70s and ’80s you had to prove that you were an artist to live there. So it was like a little commune; it was a real gathering of a certain kind of mind. I remember the factories were actively closing when we lived on Crosby Street. There was a factory that’s now MoMA’s store, and they were hemorrhaging all their gear. My mom took these chairs on wheels—they’re still her dining chairs—but I was embarrassed because I thought we were stealing them. I still love [Soho]. It’s really quiet in the morning, before the stores open, and it feels reminiscent of what it was like. But that’s how New York works, so I don’t begrudge it. It’s not ever yours, it’s everybody’s. That’s why it’s great.
Filming Homeland in Morocco: “We were in Casablanca. We also filmed in Morocco about three seasons back, when [my son] Cyrus was around [my younger son] Rowan’s age now. Both boys learned to crawl in Morocco, which is weird, because they’re five and a half years apart. I was there for about six months. Cyrus went to school there, and he really will remember it. He’s been dragged all over the planet, and those memories are in there somewhere, but I think he will actually be able to recall this.
Cyrus loves being on set: “He likes the attention that he gets on set, the snacks from craft services…. When he was around four and he would get mad at me, he would bark and say, “Back to one, Mommy”—“Back to one” meaning back to your first positions. So if I was waking him up for school and he didn’t want to: “Back to one, Mommy.”
How people her age romanticize the pre-social media age: “How could we not? That’s what people do. But I recently dropped out of social media. I felt this incredible pressure to participate, and it was fun until it stopped being fun. It was starting to encroach a little bit too much onto my intimate mental space. You know what I mean? I would think, “Oh, is that Instagrammable or not?” I was starting to see everything through that filter, and I didn’t like it. It just got to be too loud.
Fashion & Hollywood: “Fashion and Hollywood started to merge in a serious way when I came of age. Armani started it; he partnered with certain actors. I won’t name all the people… And there were no stylists. You did your own styling. You got a dress, and you did your own hair and makeup. There also wasn’t this proliferation of award ceremonies. It wasn’t an industry, and now it is. I remember, for Romeo + Juliet, Baz Luhrmann—who is a visionary and very interested in aesthetics—partnered with Prada, so Miuccia Prada did all my clothes for that press tour. That was amazing… It feels antiquated now. But we’re evolving, and that’s always a good thing.”
If you read the whole interview, it’s clear that Zac Posen truly misses that pre-social media time and would really love to find a way to go back. Claire is more forward-looking and pragmatic about it, like “it is what it is.” I loved the part about her sons both learning how to crawl in Morocco and Cyrus going to school there. Cyrus sounds like a pistol – “Back to one, Mommy.” He grew up around that non-stop. Also: Claire was on red carpets in the 1990s. When stars went to big award shows, they didn’t do their own hair and makeup! It wasn’t that lowkey!! Now, for premieres, maybe. But not for, like, the Oscars!
Photos courtesy of Victor Demarchelier for Town & Country, sent from promotional T&C email.
She’s not my favorite but I get it. I pop on Facebook once a month for a day or two and then shut it back down. I dislike Twitter so I don’t have it. I use Instagram mostly to look at and take interesting or memorable photos. The world feels meaner these days and I often fall in to the trap of responding unkindly (we’ve seen it here on this site – I’m not gonna pretend I haven’t been a real b word sometimes). And I don’t like that it can sway me so easily and make me into a really garbage version of myself. So I’m with you C-Dawg
So true. There is a corner for everyone on social media/internet to confirm whatever biases or opinions we hold. When you have others backing you up, you can fall into a trap of feeling justified to criticize people and excusing it as “observations”, but coming away I realise that basically I just had a good old ‘b***h. Worse, you can feel as though you need a good wash after participating, particularly where you sense real venom and nastiness from commenters. I gave up FB and Twitter for Lent..but in honesty I find Twitter a more purposeful social media platform than FB ever will be. In this day and age of incredibly biased news I find that Twitter can be a medium to access the unpopular truths and news that mainstream media is not reporting.
@Greendress I see what you mean about twitter being more useful and agree. I use Facebook because I’ve had it since it started and was only for college peeps. And so I have lots of photos etc. stored on there. Plus more of my friends etc. use it for keeping in touch. So I pop in and pop out. Upload photos etc. and gtfo lol
This is pretty much the only place I post anymore. I quit FB, IG, years ago. Never liked Twitter enough to join, but I like reading comments from to time (I read more comments on YouTube lol). And noisy is a good way to describe always being on. I have three excellent besties and my family who can catch me any second, any day. Oh and my son’s school lol.
I love her in Homeland. In fact I can’t look at her without thinking of that character. She looks quite striking in these pics.
@mabs yes! God my life is much quieter now. I love saying no to people. They don’t know how to handle it. I used to be super volunteer mom at the school but new school this year and more work for me gave me a chance to reinvent myself. Am I friendly? Yes. Making friends? No. Making money? Yes. Volunteering? No. I send in what I can to help and let it ride. Someone who I thought was a friend in what I call my “past life” was really awful to me when I tried to confide in her about feeling alone – poor shaming was involved – and still tries to get together with me. She hasn’t figured out that I don’t wanna hang out anymore because of what she said. Which looking back she was always like that. But anyway I literally told her I was done and she didn’t get the message. Talk about zero self awareness. Point of story is I got sick of nicely saying no via text to her invitations so I blocked her number on Wednesday. It was the last thing to do and I feel so free for it.
I got rid of my Facebook and Twitter. Best decision ever.
I made an instagram account and I look at it every so often.
Social media is very draining but it can be uplifting sometimes
I’ve always loved her. I stopped watching Homeland after the first 4 seasons but may have to go back. I totally relate about SM. I only have FB and IG, but my participation has decreased on both platforms, especially FB. IG still takes up way too much of my time, but I can’t quit! I am in awe of those who totally disconnect.
People most definitely were doing their own hair and makeup in the 90’s. The bigger stars werent. But the younger ones and not so famous ones? Absolutely.