Wrestling with desperation
Finds out why playing an out-of-work actress wasn’t much of a stretch for Glow star Alison Brie.
Andrew Murfett
For an actor, the line between successful career and abject poverty is surprisingly nuanced. Take Alison Brie, the lead player in Netflix’s buzzworthy new 10-part series Glow.
As Trudy Campbell, she played an indelible – at times intrinsic – part in arguably television’s greatest series, Mad Men. She spent 110 episodes on the surreal, cult-favourite sitcom Community and then amassed roles in a handful of notable films.
But landing the lead role of Ruth Wilder in Glow, playing a perpetually struggling actress stuck dealing with the impact of a maelstrom of poor decisions and, well, bad luck, is a character that undoubtedly rings true for the 34-year-old Californian.
The vivacious series, set in the 1980s, focuses on the construction of a female wrestling troupe by a coke-addled television producer.
Much of what seems certain to render Glow a surefire hit for Netflix – the dynamic energy of the mostly female cast, the clever storytelling and the nostalgia-soaked soundtrack and imagery – is obvious.
Yet a subtle element of Glow’s appeal is Brie’s depiction of an inauspicious scrapper desperate to succeed as an actor. Although her character’s travails are often played for laughs, Brie’s deft performance equally elicits empathy.
Unable to pay her rent, she is forced to make embarrassing and humiliating requests of friends and family. Repeatedly rejected by casting directors, she becomes so dejected by her own situation it leads her to a horrific decision that devastates the marriage of her best friend, played by Betty Gilpin of Nurse Jackie and Elementary fame.
‘‘For so many working actors [life is] a constant struggle,’’ Brie says. ‘‘I have a past and present of struggling. As soon as you finish a job, you have no idea if you will ever work again. The terror in that is very real.’’
Tellingly, it was not until the fourth season of Mad Men – and the second season of Community – that Brie felt financially secure enough to move out on her own. ‘‘I still lived in my mother’s house, because I wasn’t sure if I would continue to get work on these things. So it was very easy for me to tap into those emotions.’’
The mistake Brie’s character makes actually sets in play one of the key narratives for the entire series. It also leads to an enormous confrontation in
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the wrestling ring that convinces Sam (played by Marc Maron), their acidic, drug-addicted wrestling coach, that his budding female wrestling troupe may actually be a semi-lucrative venture.
As it goes, compared with the female cast members, who spent five weeks training with professional wrestlers and stunt co-ordinators, Maron – who has previously noted his battles with addiction – got off relatively lightly.
‘‘I just had to relearn how to do coke and smoke cigarettes compulsively,’’ he says, with a wry smile. ‘‘I did have to get acquainted to a few pairs of cowboy boots. That took a few weeks to lock into.’’
With an elongated career in standup, four seasons of his own namesake cable series and an exceedingly popular podcast he hosts out of his garage, the acerbic 53-year-old is now a big name in comedic circles.
‘‘I hadn’t done much acting as someone who wasn’t me,’’ he says. ‘‘But I immediately related to this guy. I knew he was enough like me I could probably handle the role, but different enough that he wasn’t neurotic or lost in his own trip like I am so much. His flaws are interesting. It was a nice part to sink into.’’
The world of wrestling and its fandom also captivated Maron.
‘‘I learned wrestling is very cathartic for people to work through all sorts of Newton) is under intense pressure from her superiors to apprehend a serial murderer after months of fruitless investigation. ‘‘Less than 10 minutes in, and I’m a wreck. He likes to start a series using jump leads and a defibrillator, does LoD creator Jed Mercurio,’’ wrote The Guardian‘s Sam Wollaston.
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emotions,’’ he says. ‘‘There are regular characters they grow to love and that context is so pure. [The fans] know it’s not reality, but you get emotionally attached to these characters and this spectacle can provide some relief.’’
The 10-episode series, which was produced by Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan, was inspired by a real-life women’s wrestling TV series from the late-1980s that was also called Glow – it stood for ‘‘Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.’’
Brie says she watched a handful of classic Glow episodes after she landed the part. The characters were outlandish, the sketches silly and there was even some rapping. ’’It was very cool and exciting to watch and understand what it was,’’ she says. ‘‘But after watching a bit I needed to remove myself from it. All of our characters are fictional and I wanted to give myself over to what our show was and the stories we would tell.’’
For Brie, much of her Glow experience was empowering.
‘‘There were moves I never thought I’d be able to do,’’ she says. ‘‘But after the training you realise what you’re capable of. It was exciting and not as dangerous as it seemed. Also, I didn’t wear much make-up. I didn’t feel like I had to look beautiful for everyone and flirt with everyone to keep my job or remain interesting. You could just give a compelling performance. Your looks didn’t really have anything to do with it.’’
Glow
'For so many working actors [life is] a constant struggle. I have a past and present of struggling. As soon as you finish a job, you have no idea if you will ever work again. The terror in that is very real.' Alison Brie
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2015 French-Canadian drama about a nun determined to keep her convent school in rural Quebec open. ‘‘A good dose of inspirational uplift without ever seeming to reach for it in the obvious, expected ways,’’ wrote Variety‘s Dennis Harvey.
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