Buckley: Mariche scared me sometimes. I didn’t realize it at the time, but afterwards I was like, Geez, that was an intense experience. I can’t afford to bring that home. I have to leave that at the door and do something completely normal after.
Foy: I really felt that Salome’s anger and rage was completely justifiable, considering what she and her daughter, sister, and mother have all been through. Her anger is also a catalyst for her to be able to keep going and not give in to despair—that could very easily happen given the circumstances.
Do you have to do anything in particular to step away from such fiery characters?
Buckley: I went straight into [a West End revival of] Cabaret four days after that, so I didn’t really have time. [Laughs.] I really value normal things as much as the worlds that we get to step into as actors. I love cooking, going home and gardening, going for walks, and seeing my friends who’ve got nothing to do with this. For me, coming back and doing something really nurturing is just as important as being prepared to go wherever you need to go emotionally when you’re working.
Foy: It’s an incredible thing what these women are doing, trying to imagine a new world and rebuild their lives. It was really inspiring, so I took a lot of it with me. We only finished shooting it last summer, so it feels very present still, and we’re all still very close as a company of actors. So I don’t think I want to let it go, to be honest. There’s a lot of positive that I’ve taken from it.
What was it like to work with Sarah Polley?
Foy: She’s really generous and vulnerable and curious and brave and engaged and respectful, which are not attributes that you necessarily associate with directors. Directing could be quite an egotistical profession from the outside and could be seen to be the most powerful role on the film set. But Sarah was engaged with every single member of the crew and the cast and was so considerate.
Buckley: She’s such a force. The thing I’ve learned the most from her is how she led with this powerful vulnerability, which is quite unusual as a director. One of the reasons why I wanted to do this was her [2012] documentary, Stories We Tell, where she similarly takes a personal experience and manages to hold the most intimate relationships and not have favorites or judgment but really let all of that complexity and chaos exist so that something can be moved through. She’s just insatiably curious, and that curiosity is what fuels her strength. I just feel incredibly lucky to get to work with female directors like her and Maggie [Gyllenhaal, director of The Lost Daughter] and [Women Talking producers] Fran [McDormand] and Dede Gardner, these titans. They’re not telling a story that’s been told before; they’re piercing the sides of something that hasn’t been allowed to be spoken of. Even this press tour, the conversation between all of us and the audiences is like being fed something that you didn’t know you were hungry for.
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