Broadcast News for Iris Apatow by Sam Nivola

This week I sat down with the brilliantly talented, gorgeous and devilishly funny young actress Iris Apatow. Funnily enough, I tend to ‘sit down’ with her at least once a day, because she is in fact my girlfriend and we do in fact live in the same apartment. 

A few months ago was Iris’s birthday, and I got her a Broadcast News poster signed by James Brooks that I found on E-Bay. I put it in a pink frame, and she loved it. Broadcast News means everything to her. It’s the movie that got her into movies, and furthermore – acting. Every actor has one, and they often hold a sacred and even holy place in their hearts. 

My goal for this new series in the column is to talk to my favorite actors about their favorite movies, how those movies affect them, what they mean to them, and how their understanding of them has changed over the years. To be clear, this is not criticism; It’s an exploration of the personal bond that one forms with a piece of art that means the world to them.

Sam

Check. Excuse me? 

Iris

Hello? Hello? 

Sam

Okay. Okay. So thank you for sitting down with me to chat. Very excited to hear what you've got. Thank you. 

So I'm gonna cut to the chase. We’re starting a new section of the column where we're gonna try to include interviews with people we love and respect and who the world loves and respects about their favorite movies. And I understand and know your favorite movie is Broadcast News.

Iris

Sure is. It has definitely been my favorite movie since I was a little girl. 

Sam

So, basically, like, what we're trying to do with this is to talk about the impact that one's favorite movie has on them. People's favorite movies are often (obviously) the movies that they have from childhood. So as you said, it's interesting that Broadcast News was your favorite movie as a child because it's about such grown up themes. I guess my first leading question for you is, you know, you watched it again yesterday in preparation for this interview. If it’s possible, can you remember where you were when you first watched it or even how old you were and what was going on in your life at the time that made you love it so much. 

Iris

I was in my parents' bedroom with my friend Galen. My dad or my mom or both of them, would show us these kinds of movies even if we didn't understand them just to, like, have it in our heads what good movies look like. And I think James Brooks has such a talent for provoking, like, these warm feelings. Watching that movie feels like somebody is really understanding you. And I think even little kids feel that through his movies, and that's why he's such a great director; you feel seen through the characters he creates.

Sam

So, obviously, Holly Hunter's character, Jane, is a middle aged woman who's going through–

Iris

like, I think she's supposed to be, like, 30 in it. 

Sam

God my mom’s gonna hate me for that one. A fully grown woman who's struggling with her career and with her love life. You know, some big complex themes. What was it for young little baby Iris that felt seen in that? Like, what was the part of her performance that affected you the most despite the age difference between you and her at the time?

Iris

I think that when I was little, I felt a lot of stress and overwhelm and, you know, I had unidentified anxieties. And I think seeing that character who’s so, like, unashamed and emotional, and she just has so much ambition, but she feels things deeply and isn’t hiding from how challenging the world she's put herself in is, but she knows just where she is. And she's like a beast, but still is able to unload this emotional side. And I think that made me understand that, like, the world is really scary for a lot of people, but it doesn't, you know, stop everything. It just needs to be released sometimes. 

I think it's really great to see someone just be, you know, free with their emotions. Just completely unashamed and raw, like, that kind of thing makes people feel good. 

Sam

Do you feel like on this most recent watch of it, Holly Hunter in that movie was such a sort of role model for you as a kid and you were going through these issues and felt like, oh, this is who I wanna be, someone who is, of course, flawed in the way that humans are, but who can also push through and handle herself? Do you feel now, like, you've sort of become more of that kind of person and that you can watch it and relate to it even more for that, or do you feel like it's still an aspiration? 

Iris

I think she means different things to me at different times in my life as I grow up. I think it's changed, as I've gotten older, as the pressures in my life have changed. I think as a kid, it was just a feeling and an understanding. I don't even think I fully understood what the plot was. But I think now it's like, yeah, I do go back to my room after work and just let out a scream cry, and just that's exactly what that is. 

I think that's what it has shown me. You find yourself almost living out moments from your favorite movies because it's, you know, a big part of your education about the world and people and human emotions. 

Sam

But so long story short, you do feel like you're on your way to becoming more like her, but it depends on the day?

Iris

Well, I don't know if I would wanna be like her necessarily. I think she's hyper controlling, and anxious. And those are two things you don't wanna be (chuckles) completely, but you also love her. My favorite aspect of the movie is that Holly Hunter kind of gets swept off her feet by some handsome guy, but he's clearly nowhere near as smart as her, and he's attracted to all of her, you know, strange quirks because he knows he is in some ways limited by his perfection. 

He's just, you know, the handsome anchor, and it's all about these people who are just fucking hustling, but he blows past them because he's handsome and charismatic. But he doesn't have that same authenticity that they do. Because an audience will judge you if you are not a flawed person who's been through things and can be empathetic. 

Sam

It's interesting you say that because that brings me to my next line of questioning, which is about the end of the movie. Of course, when you're a kid, the main thing you see when you watch a movie is the characters because they're role models. They're people that make up a kind of adult life that you don't know. 

But what you don't necessarily think about as much as a kid versus when you're an adult (who has seen a million movies and works in the movie industry) is the plot structure and the storytelling and what the director is necessarily trying to say with the movie, which is a totally different can of worms. So when I rewatched it in preparation for this, I was really struck by the ending because it's not a classic rom com ending. If it were, Jane would end up with Aaron, and she would be living happily ever after with the nice guy. Instead, she sort of chooses herself. I mean of course, she does have a boyfriend at the end, but it’s a completely new side character that isn’t one of the ones she’s choosing between for the whole movie.

So now that you're grown up, how does that color your interpretation of the film? What do you think he's trying to say with that? Is he trying to devalue love and romance, or is it not that deep? 

And how does it relate to your own life and your understanding of your relationship with men and with your career? 

Iris

I think that it's an important ending because it makes you, you know, realize they'd all be better off without each other. The best thing Jane could have done for all three of their sakes is to release both of them. And she was always gonna care about the work more. She cares the most about honesty and authenticity. And the second she realized Tom wasn't that, it wouldn't have made sense for the story because they built this character who is at the end of the day most passionate about her work. 

And it's not negotiable for her, which is why it's such a great movie because it's not an easy ending. And so I never really think about the ending because I think just everything before it is so important. It makes sense, like, she's not gonna just go off with some guy who's, you know, faking it on live TV. Like, it wouldn't be true to the character. It wouldn't make sense. 

Like, in When Harry Met Sally, they should have fallen in love again, and that's what happened. Rob Reiner was falling in love with his wife at the time, and it and it all made sense. And with this movie, it would have been, you know, taking the cheap route out I guess? 

You have to truly care about all these people in order to be fully invested. The ending isn't truly the end if you're invested. The ending is only what you're given but you can imagine much much more. Basically I’m trying to say that because her character is so strong that the ending just leaves you imagining how brilliant her future without these guys is gonna be.

Sam

Which I think is also such a cool message for James Brooks to be saying at that time as a male filmmaker, no less, it's quite a feminist message, wouldn't you say? 

Iris

Yeah. I mean, I don't even think it's that feminist. I mean, of course, it's feminist in some ways. The whole concept is that she runs, you know, a tight ship. 

She's, like, so empowering, but, you know, she's a nervous wreck as well. I think that is definitely it but it's more just about, I think, the message is to stay true to who you are and not let getting sidetracked by people. How disappointing would it be if she ended up with the kind of phony guy, OR with Albert Brooks' character. You don't want her to end up with him either because he's not the coolest she could get. And those people will be better off without her too!

Sam

Yeah. Yeah. In a funny roundabout way, it is a happy ending for everyone despite the fact that it doesn't end in a wedding.

Okay so what was it about Broadcast News as opposed to all those other rom coms from that period, like, When Harry Met Sally and some other James Brooks movies and even going later to some Hugh Grant movies, that stands out to you as being the best within that genre or at least the most pertinent to you within that genre? 

Iris

I think that Holly Hunter is probably the reason. I think the scenes where she has her breakdowns are probably the reason. They're my favorite. I guess Terms of Endearment is also kind of similar, but the story of Broadcast News is so pure and such a strong story that I just don't think anything can really beat that. The acting is so funny. It's a perfect movie in my opinion. There's no weird off moments.

Sam

If you could give a word of advice to the version of yourself that watched the movie for the first time with Galen and your parents about how to become someone with as much passion for life as Holly Hunter’s character Jane, what would you say?

Iris

I'd say life is just as horrible and funny as the movie, and that should be taken as a good thing. Because you do laugh hard at your own mistakes and other people's, you know, weird habits and ways. And that's the reason to love life: it's all those weird complexities and all the strange people around you and how important their roles in your life are. And I think yeah, life is as interesting as that movie. It gives you kind of a peek into these people who are messing up and succeeding and messing up again and humiliating themselves, and that’s life. 

They're having these really dark moments and really exciting relief moments and, you know, succeeding in what they're on the track to do. And then there are  heartbreaking moments where everybody gets let go, and Albert Brooks is sweating through his shirt. Like, that is life and all the horrible, amazing things that happen in it.

Sam

Well, thank you so much for your time, Iris. I should probably take this time to plug your shit because that's what people do on these things. So I'll say Iris is a lead in the upcoming thriller movie Pretty Lethal, which will be out on Amazon on- 

Iris

I don't think it's announced yet. 

Sam

Okay. It'll be out sometime. And she's also featuring heavily in the latest season of Tell Me Lies which is coming out now week by week, as well as a fantastically dressed role as Proserpina in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, along with other shit that you can't even know about. So look out. Thank you for reading.