Marjorie Prime may finally send Lois Smith, 87, to the Oscars
BEVERLY HILLS — Will Lois Smith’s most futuristic role to date send her to the Oscars?
It’s certainly her year. The renowned 87year-old actress has served up two audacious film performances: this summer’s critical hit “Marjorie Prime” (available on demand and digital platforms now, streaming on Amazon Prime Dec. 4) and the stunningly reviewed “Lady Bird,” a coming-of-age tale now in theatres locally at Cineplex Cinemas Ancaster, SilverCity Burlington and Cineplex Cinemas Oakville.
Smith steals the screen in “Lady Bird,” playing a charismatic nun at a Catholic school attended by insolent teen Saoirse Ronan. “When they first called, one of my agents read it and said, ‘I was afraid it was going to be an awful nun, but it’s not! It’s a nice nun!’” she laughs.
But it’s “Marjorie Prime” that could earn the Broadway, film and TV star a best supporting actress Oscar nod. If she won, she’d be the oldest actor in history to take the trophy. (Christopher Plummer holds the record for his “Beginners” win in 2012 at age 82.)
In the thoughtful futuristic drama, Smith plays Marjorie, a one-time violinist who lives with her skeptical daughter Tess (Geena Davis) and Tess’ doting husband, Jon (Tim Robbins). Together, the trio explores a new technology called “primes,” which grapples with the process of grief via “smart” holograms of the deceased.
The hologram they conjure is Marjorie’s late husband, Walter, played by Jon Hamm. (The widow, who suffers from dementia, chooses to remember her husband in his, er, prime.)
“It’s true that she’s failing in some ways and forgetful,” says Smith, who originated the role of Marjorie in stage productions in Los Angeles and off-Broadway. But “she’s interested in this thing. She’s able to partake of it both as a curiosity and as an aid. And as she declines, she’s willing to lean more on it.”
The prime grows smarter as Marjorie engages with it, in the spirit of Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa. But this is nuanced A.I.: The suave “Walter” apologizes when he says something atypical of the real Walter. “I’ll remember that,” he’ll nod.
Ultimately, Marjorie is destined to play a “prime” of herself, for Tess.
With a career spanning six decades (her first film was 1955’s “East of Eden” with James Dean), Smith is juggling no less than three plays on or off Broadway in the next year.
“Lois Smith is one of my very favourite actors of all time,” says Lady Bird writer/ director Greta Gerwig. “She is funny and tough and empathetic and seems to carry her own key light with her. Lois literally glows. I knew she could, with just a few scenes, create an unforgettable character.”
When asked about the current climate of sexual harassment in Hollywood, Smith says she can’t recall any incidents during her storied career. But she does remember a manager who would grab at her in the back room of the deli she worked at as a teen “and snuggle up and see if he could kiss me,” she says. “I just tried to put him off, that was all. It wasn’t particularly scary. I didn’t really feel like I was in danger. But of course, you try to avoid it.”
In today’s climate, she says, “I think it’s wonderful that people are being saved from harassment, from violation.”