frances Mcdormand
On her standout role in Three Billboards
‘I thought I was too old for the part of Mildred in Three Billboards’
What appealed to you most about the character of Mildred in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri? For one thing, it was a lead role, which is hard to find at my age. But it was also very important for me to play a woman who gets to drive the story – the kind of female character we rarely see in terms of standing apart from male characters. You’ve said you initially didn’t want to take the part – why was that? When I first read it, I loved it. I thought Mildred was amazing and I was flattered, but then I said, “I’m too old.” At the time he [director, Martin Mcdonagh] offered it to me, I was 58, and I was concerned that women from this [working class] socio-economic strata did not wait until the age of 38 to have their first child. So, we debated that for a while, and then finally, my husband said, “Just shut up and do it.” How did you approach Mildred’s grief over the loss of her daughter? It’s a devastating experience and hard for people to truly grasp. When you lose a spouse, you’re a widow or widower; when you lose your parents, you’re an orphan. But, when you lose a child, there’s no word in the English language for that place you’re left in. We rarely hear about you when you’re not promoting a film. Do you like a quiet life? I’ve been acting for 35 years, but for much of that time, my main job has been looking after our house and our son. I’ve also developed some good skills during that time – travelling, finding the right schools for my son, organising dinners and parties, furnishing houses, and helping my husband [producer/director Joel Coen] on some of his projects. Do you miss not having your son, Pedro, in the house any more? Yes, of course. And I was so glad that I was busy working on Olive Kitteridge around the time Pedro was moving out, because I didn’t have the time to wallow in my grief! But he only lives a few blocks away from us in New York, so that makes it a lot easier for us to see him.