Julia Louis-Dreyfus On Broadway, Annie Leibovitz, and Why Chloe Should Go To Therapy With Her Mother

The Run-Through with Vogue

Julia Louis-Dreyfus joins Chloe Mao on 'The Run-Through' to discuss her upcoming Broadway debut in 'Other Desert Cities,' her journey with s

Key takeaways

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is embracing her Broadway debut after a 40-year hiatus from theater, finding deep emotional and mental engagement in the process.
She openly discusses her ongoing struggle with self-doubt, especially at night, and how she's working to release it through conscious effort.

Main topics

Broadway debut in 'Other Desert Cities'
Self-doubt and mental resilience

Notable quotes

"I woke up inexplicably at 3 o'clock in the morning, and that's when the self-doubt parade comes marching through my brain."

"It's scary to have your picture taken, but I didn't have that anxiety [with her]. I felt confident in her."

Conclusion

Julia Louis-Dreyfus shares deeply personal reflections on growth, family, and the

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:05) This is The Run-Through. I'm Chloe Mao. And today, I am sharing a very special conversation with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I have to say, this was a very important interview for me. I have been a huge Julia fan for several decades. I always felt an affinity with Elaine Bennis. I've been accused of doing the Elaine dance at weddings. And recently... On a flight, I was reminded of how much I love Julia because there's this unique dance you do with your children where you're excited that they want to watch their own shows on a flight, but also have to, like, manage all of their show watching. So I feel like I can never really get into a movie when my kids are watching. So I just watched Veep. And while Artie was toggling back and forth between Wild Kratts and whatever other things he was watching. And even going in and out of Veep, I was laughing so viscerally that my six-year-old asked me what was wrong with me. I just, no one makes me laugh like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and it was such a pleasure to have her in the studio and talk about, frankly, a lot of things that weren't that funny, but I was really thrilled to be able to discuss with her. And the top line of that was her... debut on Broadway, which I was sort of shocked by because I feel like I think of her as such a New Yorker and a thespian. But she is going to be making her Broadway debut in Other Desert Cities, which goes into previews end of September. You know, it's interesting because a few years ago, Julia launched this podcast, Wiser Than Me, in which she speaks to older women who share their life wisdom. And I am someone who is a huge fan of older people, especially older women. I'm constantly trying to seek wisdom from older women in my life. And so I have loved really delving into Julia's podcast, and it was a treat to turn that around with her. So we talked about what it's like to be heading to Broadway, her failed journaling practice, and also we commiserated about both losing Well, my mother's home and her home in the Palisades fires two years ago. And I also was inspired by her going to therapy with her mother and wondered if I should try the same. Anyway, here is my conversation with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I can't wait for you to listen and for me to start going to therapy with Candice. One of my favorite things about doing... this podcast is that it introduces me to other podcasts. Speaker 3 (2:47) With Speaker 4 (2:48) you, it was like this treasure trove because of your podcast. Oh, yeah. And so I've been driving back and forth to Connecticut because my kids and my husband have been there all month. And so I've just been deep in getting wise. Good. And it was on the New York Times podcast that you said one of the things that these wise women have taught you is to work on letting go of self-doubt and shame. And... Yeah. I feel like as a parent, I'm constantly doubting and panicking. And I wonder how your no self-doubt quest is going. It's going. It's ongoing. What is something right now that you feel you have a lot of doubt, self-doubt around? Speaker 3 (3:33) How long is this podcast? We Speaker 4 (3:35) have time. Speaker 3 (3:37) I would answer that question by saying it sort of depends on the time of day and the frame of mind. And, you know, like, for example, last night at 3 o'clock in the morning, I woke up inexplicably, and I was up from 3 to 4. And that's when the, I would call it the self-doubt parade comes marching through my brain. I think it's good to, certainly good to have, to question yourself. But the self-doubt at releasing it is definitely something that we could all benefit from to a certain extent. You know, women in particular, I have to say. When Speaker 4 (4:15) I heard you say that, I said, wow, that is a noble goal that I'm far from. Speaker 3 (4:18) Well, I'm Speaker 4 (4:18) still working on it. You are going to be on Broadway for the first time ever. Is there more? Doubt? The parade of self-doubt at 3 a.m. for doing something you've never done before? Speaker 3 (4:30) Yes, sure. And I'm just attacking that vigorously. Okay. With work. Speaker 4 (4:36) Okay, that makes sense. What is the scariest thing about doing something new like Broadway? Speaker 3 (4:43) What feels different is that there's an enormous amount of time to really explore the material. Speaker 4 (4:52) That's Speaker 3 (4:53) interesting. And that process is arduous. It's a lot of mental energy. I said to my husband yesterday, what it feels like when I come home after we're only a week into rehearsals, but currently it feels like I was taking an exam for six hours straight, and now I'm—and my brain is tired. Right. But it is that kind of demand and focus. Speaker 3 (5:22) like proper focus, you know, there are less distractions. And it's not like television and film is a walk in the park. I mean, it's a different deal. But this is definitely, I haven't done theater in 40 years, and I loved it back in the day in Chicago. I love it again now. And I have this incredible blessing, we, all of us have this incredible blessing, of the playwright is with us. I was thinking that that must make it a different experience. Oh my gosh. I mean, and this work is so, you know, we're just peeling back layers of an onion that has... seemingly infinite layers. And for people listening who don't know, The Onion Speaker 4 (6:15) is Other Desert Cities, and the playwright is John Robin Bates. Bates. Yes. And how would you describe the story? Because I was about to describe it, but I'll let you do it instead. Speaker 3 (6:26) I'll describe it cryptically because there are a few twists and turns that are fun to discover in the moment. hopefully in the audience. But it is a story of a family in Palm Springs in 2004 on Christmas Eve, and they have come together for the holiday. And it's a mother, a father, their two adult children, and the mother's sister. Okay. And the daughter in this family. and in our case being played by the wonderful Lily Rabe, has written a book. And she's a novelist. And she has come home with this book. And that's really what I'll say. But it's packed with an enormous amount of drama and an enormous amount of comedy, which I Speaker 4 (7:25) love. I love that in the Vogue article in the September issue, Adrian Miller wrote that... the play is wonderfully and wickedly funny, but that it's a different type of comedy because it's pinned under tragedy. There's tragedy underneath it. Did it feel like playing funny in a different way? It definitely feels loaded. Speaker 3 (7:48) Yeah. The way that anything funny can seem under horrible circumstances. And I've done, you know, the tone of this. I've danced around this in my career with movies I've made with Nicole Holofcener, for example. But this has a river of gravitas underneath that Speaker 4 (8:10) is, for me, it's very moving. You play Polly, who's the matriarch, who's a sort of... conservative, wealthy woman of Palm Springs. Do you have any Polly's in your life? Did you grow up with Polly's that you thought of when you were thinking about this? I did. I certainly did. I'm Speaker 3 (8:27) sure. I grew up in New York. Originally, I was born in New York. But then when I was, oh, God, how old was I? Like eight or nine, we moved to Washington, D.C. A town riddled with Polly's. Yes. So I Speaker 4 (8:44) knew from Polly's. Okay. Speaker 4 (8:48) I have to say, I'm so excited. I've never seen this play. It was at Lincoln Center Theater, you know, 20 years ago, but I didn't see it. But I am so drawn to this subject because I, memoirs are one of my favorite things to read. Autofiction is one of the types of writing I find most fascinating. And I'm constantly thinking about the effects of authors' books on their families because there are so many different versions of people's memories. Yeah. And I wonder, I have to say, listening to your podcast, Many Episodes in Succession, one of my top line thoughts was, I wonder if Julia has written a memoir. I Speaker 3 (9:26) have not. Speaker 4 (9:27) Because you do such wonderful personal sharing at the beginning. I know. I sort of regret it, but yeah. But it Speaker 3 (9:35) doesn't Speaker 4 (9:35) feel invasive. It just is. Beautiful writing. And I wonder if you've ever thought about writing a memoir, if anyone in your family has ever written about you or anyone you've worked with. Do you ever read things about yourself and think that that's not the version I remember? I guess. Have you ever written a memoir? Yeah, it's in a drawer because I don't want to hurt my mother's feelings. Oh, Speaker 3 (9:57) for Speaker 4 (9:58) real? Speaker 3 (9:59) Yeah. Okay. Speaker 4 (10:04) She wrote a memoir and just dropped it on me and my stepfather's doorstop and went to L.A. to shoot something. And we both read it together and were like, oh, my God. Was it at that point published? No. No, but it was, I mean, Speaker 3 (10:20) it was basically in Galley. And was for you to make comments on? And then did she make Speaker 4 (10:24) a... Sort of. I mean, she felt it was a love letter to both of us. We both... You know, one never reads a story quite like that.