Lizzy Kaplan. “There is something really interesting in erotic thrillers.”

A “chiaroscuro” object of desire. that’s how we can define Lizzy Kaplan in light of her recent roles. “Simple”, because the 40-year-old American actress gives her features and body to women who are not afraid to look their desire in the face, sometimes explore its contradictions and, above all, express them. “Unknown” because he knows how to keep his characters part of the mystery, an unsettling aura made of independence, seduction and vulnerability. From 2013 to 2016, Lizzie Kaplan played Virginia E. Johnson, who was in his early 60s, William H. Next to Masters, a pioneer in sexuality research. In the early 1960s, the two researchers studied the mechanisms of sexual arousal or orgasm in hundreds of individuals, including themselves. Until finally falling in love. Last year Anatomy of DivorceShe was Libby, the confidante of the love-disillusioned hero (Jesse Eisenberg), the couple and its programmed disintegration, with whom she questioned her life as a housewife.

This time, he takes on one of the most sultry roles in American cinema, Glenn Close. A fatal connection is now being adapted into a series, airing April 30 on Paramount +. His character, Alex, falls in love with a married man (Joshua Jackson, Michael Douglas-style hair at the time). When he ends their story, she refuses to step aside. And begins to make her ex-husband’s life a nightmare. Passion, crying, threats and a white rabbit (remember the fate of this poor animal in the film). the series takes the basic elements of the feature film while striving to shed a new, more complex light on the characters. And it shows that Lizzie Kaplan is a great actress, capable of playing the register of seduction, eroticism and madness with depth and wit. Meeting.

In the video: the trailer Anatomy of Divorce

New look

Do you remember the first time you saw it? A fatal connection ?
I saw it when I was a kid. I don’t remember exactly when, but I know I was very young. Of course, I saw him again when I shot the series. And in adulthood, you perceive completely different things.

How does the series give a new look to this slippery love story?
It brings a very different attitude. we’re addressing a modern audience, it’s not as Manichean as film. Alex, my character, is no longer the perfect villain, and Dan is no longer the good hero. Both of them are very complicated and have many shortcomings. That’s what I liked, the fact of being in this series, to spend more time with Alex, to understand the reasons for his behavior, how he got there. I know at the time Glenn Close worked a lot on this character’s mental health, while the movie didn’t require that much. When you look at it, you can see how involved she was, and it doesn’t surprise me that she had an instinct to protect Alex, who she didn’t just see as a monster. We had more space to explore that in the series.

How did you manage to “get close” to Alex?
He is a character who suffers a lot, so I had a lot of difficult moments on the set. Playing Alex meant exploring what was going through his troubled mind. But it was also a great lesson in compassion. more generally, there is always a reason behind people’s actions. And if you are patient, curious and empathetic enough, you can understand them. Another challenge for the series was also filming more violent sequences such as fight scenes. It was very difficult to interpret.

There are also many sex scenes. Did you use an intimacy coordinator on set?
Yes! Without it, there was no question of creating such a series. It’s definitely a new way of working for actors. Joshua Jackson and I were not used to this new element. We loved the intimate relationship coordinator that was present A fatal connection, a period of adaptation was required. But we are not the kind of people who necessarily need the protection and intimacy they provide. The ones who need it are the ones who can’t speak up if something makes them feel uncomfortable. Often it’s no one’s fault. You have to do your scene, get on a moving train, and you don’t want to slow things down or cause problems, especially when you’re a young actor. However, it is they who are most vulnerable and for whom an intimate relationship coordinator is a valuable ally.

Is it possible to play today? “femme fatale» without falling into outdated clichés, when we reconsider the representation of female sexuality in fiction.
I think so. We spent a lot of time exploring the psychology of psychopathic men and far less psychology of women, except for the femme fatale characters. There are other ways to approach this topic today. And I also think there’s something really interesting about erotic thrillers.

“Careerist” vs. “House Goddess”

By the way, feminists didn’t like the movie in 1987. They condemned the fact that once a powerful woman appeared on the screen, she must be mad…
Yes, Glenn Close’s performance is amazing. But it’s true, it was a bit “careerist” versus “house goddess”, one is evil, the other is good… I think times have changed a lot, but not completely. Unfortunately, there is always a kind of insecurity that hangs over ambitious women who are focused on their careers.

And on their wishes. All your last characters have this in common. they are women who are not afraid to face and express themselves. Is this a particularly important dimension for you?
Desire is very human. But it takes on a different meaning every decade. Think about what it represents when you are young and experience it for the first time. About his power, about what he means to you. The older you get, the more it changes with the pace of your life. It’s about figuring out how not to lose it, no matter the circumstances. To explore how sad and dead it feels when you feel it slipping away from you. I believe it is desire that makes us feel alive and shapes us more than anything else.

Is this vision of female desire evolving on screens?
Yes and no. In the USA, in any case, it does not take its direction. It will come back, but at the moment we are a little behind. Perhaps it’s because we live in a time where people are less focused on their own desires than on how they can make themselves desirable in the eyes of others through Instagram or other media. And I don’t think that’s a good way to establish your identity.

A fatal connectionBy Alexandra Cunningham, from April 30 on Paramount+