Edie Falco is a woman trying to build her own life while caring for her family inI’ll Be Right There. Having first broken out with a recurring role in HBO’sOzand her Emmy andGolden Globe-winning work onThe Sopranos, Falco has explored a large variety of genres throughout her career. More recently, Falco earned her fourth Emmy win for her role on Showtime’sNurse Jackie, while also having a main role in Pete Davidson’sBupkisand supporting turns in Charlie Day’sFool’s Paradiseand James Cameron’sAvatar: The Way of Water.
Falco leadsI’ll Be Right Thereas Wanda, a woman with her hands endlessly full, in large part due to her family, which includes her eight-month pregnant daughter preparing for a wedding, her aimless son struggling to figure out the right path for his future, and her elderly mother who always thinks she is dying. As her family becomes more chaotic, and she begins having trouble with her long-time boyfriend and a woman she is seeing who wants her to move to Boston with her, Wanda tries to come to terms with what she wants from life.
Every Movie Coming To Theaters In September 2024
September 2024 will see the return of Beetlejuice, a new Transformers movie, Francis Ford Coppola’s latest project, and a lot more.
Alongside Falco, the ensembleI’ll Be Right Therecast includes Oscar nominee Jeannie Berlin,Ozarkalum Charlie Tahan,Mrs. America’s Kayli Carter,Justified’s Michael Rapaport,Mayor of Kingstown’s Michael Beach,The L Word: Generation Q’s Sepideh Moafi andGet Out’s Bradley Whitford. Reuniting Falco withNurse Jackiedirector Brendan Walsh, the movie proves to be a funny and moving slice-of-life story.
Ahead of the movie’s release,Screen Rantinterviewed Edie Falco to discussI’ll Be Right There, how she bonded with the cast during production, how improvising boosted the movie’s scenes, the family-driven themes of its story, and why now is the right time for theNurse Jackiesequel show.
Falco Loved The Movie Was About Families “Taking Care Of Each Other”
Screen Rant: I watched the movie earlier, and I just loved it so much. It’s such a great slice-of-life movie. What was it about Jim’s script that sparked your interest to be a part of it?
Edie Falco: I think, what you said, that it really was not plot-driven so much as just families, people, taking care of each other and loving each other, which is motivation enough for a person to want to go through their life. That’s kind of what it’s about, is family, that was the feeling I got when I read it.
Falco Bonded WithI’ll Be Right There’s Cast Quickly
I love that message, that it’s okay to just want to be there for your family, especially post-pandemic, it’s even more pertinent. I’d love to then hear what it was like building the individual dynamics with your family cast in this movie, since you all have different relationships throughout the story.
Edie Falco: I think once Brendan nailed down the cast, a lot of that stuff is just inherent. These were seasoned actors, even the young ones, they knew what they were doing, and none of it felt like so much of a stretch that we had to put a lot of work in, or research, or any of that stuff. It came pretty easily. I can’t speak for them, of course, but for me, it certainly came very easily to be able to fall into a parental role, especially with the two kids, because these are good actors. These are really good actors.
Was there any one scene in particular where you really found that easy connection came through all the more fluidly as you went into it?
Edie Falco: Well, I think with the mom and the daughter at the ice-cream parlor, just sitting around gabbing like the way people who are so familiar with each other, the way they do with a second-nature knowledge of the way each of them comports themselves, the things about them that you find charming, the things about them that you find ridiculous, and how it can all roll into a simple conversation. I enjoyed that one, particularly.
I love all of those ice cream parlor scenes in the film. I’d love to also hear about your working with Michael Beach on this film, because you two have such a sweet will-they-won’t-they rekindling. What was it like finding that rhythm and dynamic with him?
Edie Falco: I would like to tell you we put in a lot of time working on it, but that’s just not true. [Chuckles] With indie films, you set up the camera and you roll it. None of them are scenes you would want to do with someone just starting their acting career. They know how it works, and you’re looking at the other person, and you’re taking them in, and the way they’re saying their lines, and that will, of course, inform the way you say your line. It’s just acting, it’s acting with people who are talented, is what all that was. And Michael Beach is particularly so, so the stuff with him was really easy. There was not a person I didn’t feel that way about on this movie.
Falco Really “Understood Where” Wanda’s At InI’ll Be Right There’s Story
With this being an indie film, what would you say was one of the biggest keys for helping you get to the heart of this character in order to be able to play her on such a quick schedule?
Edie Falco: I don’t know, I read it, and I understood her, I understood where she’s at. As the parent of two kids myself, I know what that feels like, and I know the constant balancing act that parenting is, and how so few people actually talk about it when they get old enough to move on to their next chapter. How does that feel for a parent? All that stuff is stuff I’m in right now, as a parent. You spend a lot of your day thinking about it, but it’s not social media fodder. You know what I mean? So, here was a movie talking about this stuff, and I was moved by that.
Wanda’s Lesbian Relationship Comes From Her Wanting “To Explore” Other Options
It does tackle a lot of really great themes, and one of them, which I love, is your relationship with the English professor. That is something I don’t feel like we see often enough in films, a middle-aged woman trying out dating another woman. What is it like getting to explore that relationship in this film, both with that actor, as well as just in general?
Edie Falco: You know, it’s all the same, relationships are relationships, and acting is acting. The scenes I’ve had to do with people that I’ve just met over the years, you know, it’s a crazy career choice that I have. My job is to make it feel real to an audience. Sometimes, I do it by making it feel real to myself, but that’s not my job. My job is to tell a story, and it all works out the same way, and in a perfect world, which is I felt like what we had, the person you’re working with is game. They’re able to roll with what you’re putting out there, and vice versa. So, yeah, we got very lucky with the casting of this across the board.
Why do you think Wanda wants to be with a woman at this stage in her life?
Edie Falco: You know, I was thinking for the amount of time I spent thinking about that specifically, which wasn’t a ton. I feel like she got married, she had her kids, that part of her life is done. She’s no longer married, and it’s kind of time for her to figure out, “Well, what’s out there? What are the potential lives I could have? And there is no reason I can’t just try out everything that has occurred to me, or everything that presents itself and in the moment seems interesting.” There’s nothing holding her back, like, “What do I want at this point in my life?” And that was one of the things she wanted to explore.
Falco Thinks “There’s Never Not A Right Time” For ANurse JackieSequel
I see I’m almost out of time, I have one question aside from the film to ask you. I’m really excited you’re coming back fortheNurse Jackiesequel, and I’d love to hear what it is about now that feels like the perfect time for you to jump back into that universe?
Edie Falco: Oh, gosh, I feel like I should have a more pertinent answer for that. [Chuckles] I think we’re in danger, as a culture. People are largely unhappy, there’s a lot of mental health issues going around right now, and the use of drugs is an ever present topic. I don’t think there’s ever not a right time to be talking about it. It’s real, and it’s dangerous, and it’s heartbreaking. And I think Nurse Jackie did a fair amount of exploration of all that stuff, and I’m hoping that that’s what will, at least partially, continue. It’s in a lot of people’s lives, and I think they probably want — at least, from the comments I’ve heard, they’re finding some comfort in seeing it portrayed out in front of them, to realize they’re not the only ones going through whatever hell it is they’re going through in regard to opioids and the like.
AboutI’ll Be Right There
Wanda has her hands full: her 8-month pregnant daughter wants a wedding which her ex-husband is flaking on paying for, her mother thinks she’s dying, her wayward son is either going into rehab or the army, her long-time boyfriend doesn’t excite her, but her new girlfriend doesn’t either, and she barely has time for herself, not that she would know what to do with it anyway.
I’ll Be Right There
Cast
Wanda tries to keep her own life together while simultaneously taking care of everyone else around her.
