That scene is, of course, carefully choreographed, but I know there were other moments where you were able to improvise. Tell me about those.
Even though I had never acted before, Paul loved it when I followed my gut. If I could add something that would make people laugh, that would excite him. So the end of the Shabbat dinner scene is one example. What was supposed to happen originally was that after Lance refuses to make a prayer on the bread, I take him to his car and I cry. I say, “How could you do that?” I physically could not do it [laughs]. I did it four times and it just came out so angry. Paul was like, “You have to lose this battle and we have to see what happens when she loses.” But when I came out, I was like a bulldog. Finally, Paul was like, “I should let you run free.” I said I had an idea but I didn’t tell anybody what it was. I walked out and said, “What does your penis look like?” In the distance, I hear Paul laughing hysterically. I said, “Is it circumcised?” Lance said yes and I said, “Then you’re a fucking Jew!” I looked over to Paul and he had tears in his eyes.
I had ideas for other scenes, too. In the bit towards the end when Gary and Alana argue at his house, we did the scene a couple times and Paul said we could try things. I said to Cooper, “You’re talking about pinball machines. I’m a politician!” Paul laughed so much. There’s also a slap that was my idea and not in the script. Cooper was completely caught off guard.
Cooper is brilliant in the film. Did you meet for the first time on set?
I actually met Cooper when he was 14. My sisters and I were trying to convince Paul to do a music video for us but he had no time so he was like, “Come to the editing house for Phantom Thread and maybe we’ll figure something out.” He got called away and Cooper [the son of Paul Thomas Anderson’s frequent collaborator Philip Seymour Hoffman] was there. Paul was like, “Can you do something with Cooper? He’s hungry.” We didn’t grow up with brothers, so we were like, “What do we do with you? Do we take you to the park?” We tried to be cool older sisters so we took him out for sushi and Cooper was Gary. He was so charismatic, so engaging, ordering for us and asking us questions like, “What are you guys doing with your life?” We were like, “Who is this kid?” So, when Paul was trying to find Gary and said, “What about Cooper?” I was like, “Of course!”
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