‘I learn from my mistakes’ Fosse/Verdon starts Sun., May 26 at 8.30pm AEST on Fox Showcase
The actress opens up about her daughter, love and surviving Hollywood
Preparing to play iconic actress and Broadway dancer Gwen Verdon in the miniseries Fosse/Verdon, Michelle Williams had a powerful ally in her camp – her alter-ego’s daughter, Nicole Fosse. “I don’t know what I would have done without her,” Williams tells WHO of the actress and dancer she now calls a friend. “Just from the littlest things like … ‘This is my mom’s colour of lipstick,’ or ‘My mom would hold her breath like this,’ really, really small details that she’s put in my hands and given to me as help.”
Those pivotal details made all the difference to the four-time Oscar nominee’s portrayal of the brilliant, flame-haired wife and muse of legendary choreographer and director Bob Fosse (played by Sam Rockwell). The miniseries chronicles the tempestuous relationship between the creative-powerhouse couple, whose marriage crumbled beneath Fosse’s extramarital affairs and substance-abuse issues. “She was a woman who wanted a different life for herself, yet they had an indestructible bond – he died in her arms,” says Williams, 38, of Fosse, who died in 1987 and Verdon, who was 75 when she passed away in 2000. “But there came a point that she no longer wanted to live with that kind of infidelity. She couldn’t figure out any way to live inside of it so she had to break free.”
The former Dawson’s Creek star says there is much she, too, has come to figure out, having long thrived in an industry known for devouring young talent. The secret is “to keep my own counsel”, she sums up. “For me, I have tried to live without being attached to any specific outcome to youth or age, or
success or failure. I just live my own life without really thinking about it from the outside so much,” says Williams, who earlier this year split from her husband, musician Phil Elverum, 40, after less than a year of marriage. “Maturing in this business, starting from when I was 12, I have always made choices that feel inherent to who I am, not who somebody wants me to be … But really just trying to live my own life by my own standards, as much as I possibly can.”
Watching and learning from the sidelines is her daughter, Matilda,
13, whose dad was the late Heath Ledger. “My daughter’s really involved in everything I do. She, like, cheers for me,” says Williams, who lives with Matilda in New York, where the pair often go out on the town. “She loves musical theatre,” says Williams, whose own career in showbusiness kicked off in musical theatre when she was a child. “She wants me to do my best and to do well and she’s proud of me in the same way that I’m proud of her when she stretches herself.”
The in-demand actress has never been afraid to challenge herself. Since wrapping Fosse/Verdon, she has six projects in the works, including roles as troubled rock star Janis Joplin and US teacherastronaut Christa McAuliffe, who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster. How does she discern which parts to take on? “I just make decisions based very much in the moment, based on who I am at that present time and what appeals to me,” she explains. “I don’t really think so much about what’s coming up ahead or what’s behind me.”
Her philosophy seems to have contributed to that Hollywood rarity – an A-list performer refreshingly free of baggage. “I believe in a mistake-based learning process,” reflects Williams, who looked relaxed in New York on May 1, the first time she was spotted out since news of her divorce from Elverum became public. “As painful as the mistakes are, I treasure them and I’m able to sort of put them on a string and look at them and see what they can teach me about myself, professionally and personally.” The star says self-belief and a willingness to “work really hard” have led to the well-rounded woman and mother she is today. “I just never, ever give up and that has informed my relationships, my parenting and my career,” she says, as the accolades pour in for her performance in Fosse/ Verdon. “I just don’t stop until I make something the way I want it to be.”
“I’m trying to live my own life by my own standards”