LAURA DERN, EDGE,
Dern steals scenes as divorce attorney in ‘Marriage Story’
In Noah Baumbach’s buzzed-about divorce drama “Marriage Story,” Laura Dern has won praise for her portrayal of memorable, scene-stealing Nora Fanshaw.
Nora, sleek, streamlined, successful, is LA’s foremost feminist divorce lawyer, who represents Scarlett Johansson’s character, actress Nicole against her husband, Charlie (Adam Driver), a New York theater director.
“These two people, who are wrestling with dissolution and trying to be good parents, have tried to figure out how to do this,” Dern said last week. “Enter my character! She helps Scarlett’s Nicole find a sharp left turn to, yes, get what she wants. But also in a way that means a win for Nora.
“Inevitably, I think it does become about the lawyer and what they think is best — and not necessarily what they think is best for the family. It’s so complicated.” Dern has a major big scene when Nora lets it all out. “There’s no more delicious Christmas present than Noah giving you that specific monologue.
“Even more delicious,” Dern said, “is she’s stealthy and manipulative and going to be a winner and everything she is saying is definitely the truth, which makes her more complicated. Noah wanted a guide, a character to personify the business of divorce. It’s different than any I’ve ever seen. In this business, the theatrics is to present yourself as the baby friend.
“Their job is to say, ‘Let me tell you your story and I’ll win you what you want. Even if you’ve never said that.’
“You think Nora is one thing and then, at the end you learn there’s something incredibly self-serving about her. It’s just, pretty amazing.”
For Dern, 52, “Marriage” comes with a career revival that includes an Emmy and Golden Globe for HBO‘s “Big Little Lies” and on Christmas, a new “Little Women” that filmed in Concord.
“I’m so blessed that filmmakers who were so inspiring were asking me to play very bold characters. That’s the real gift.
“My father” — Oscar winner Bruce Dern, currently in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” — “said to me when I was 14, ‘You want to play complicated characters. Trust me, when you’re older you’ll be able to find those characters and have the career you’ve always longed for if you just continue to stay true.’
“As usual, he was right. I’m grateful for his advice but it was hard.”
(“Marriage Story” opens Friday.)