Patti LuPone is ready for her close-up. The Broadway icon has won hearts and Tonys with her turns on stage in productions of Gypsy, Company, and Evita. But now, Ari Aster has given her what she calls "the best role I've ever had on camera" with Beau Is Afraid. In it, she is a force of nature, glorious and dangerous.
In an interview with Mashable, LuPone dove deep into Beau Is Afraid and how thrilled she was to play a role that is not "a wimpy mother" or a "duenna," or similar parts that offer "some version of a woman that America thinks exists, which is just not true." Instead, Mona Wasserman is described in the film a "super-businesswoman," but above all else, she is a mother. And if you thought Aster's collaboration with Toni Collette led to an intense depiction of motherhood in Hereditary, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Patti LuPone: Justice for Mona Wasserman
In the film's third act, middle-aged mess Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix) finally reaches his mother's house. But far from a warm reception, he is battered by not one but two monologues by Mona about her resentments, and they're each as enthralling as they are enraged. While some actors might have been intimidated by these long and intense speeches, LuPone said, "When you're given the opportunity to dig into a monologue like that, you'd be a fool not to take it."
Asked what it was like to perform these scenes, she boomed with excitement. "Great! Are you kidding? Give me more!" She laughed, "When I read it, I'm like, 'Oh, wow. Finally, finally, I get to act — on camera!"
She went on to praise Aster: "Ari wrote an incredible character, and it was my joy to develop it, to bring it to life. And, you know, I didn't have to call on deep-seated trauma in my life to play the character. I just relied on technique and his words. But I was thrilled to death to have been given the opportunity to speak those two monologues." She also noted, "[Mona] has deep feelings that she's not afraid to express."
While some might decry Beau Is Afraid's menacing matriarch, LuPone is protective of Mona. "She's someone who loves her son and could be overly protective and worried about him," LuPone said, "but I don't think she's a monster. And I think she has created an empire around her son, in protection of her son. And he is pathologically indecisive, and he constantly disappoints her, but I don't think she's a monster at all."
LuPone's presence in the film feels titillating and terrifying in the way of femme fatales of Hollywood's Golden Age, but she didn't pull influence from other films. "The only reference point I have is that I'm a mother," she said, noting she's a method actor. "I care for my kid all the time. That is just the life of a mother. Unless the mother doesn't care, we worry about our children. So operating from that disappointment is easy. And he's constantly disappointing her."
Patti LuPone on Ari Aster
Her real-life son is who first clued her into Aster's work. Some members of the cast of Beau Is Afraid became aware of the emerging filmmaker from buzz around his sophisticated but scary debut, Hereditary. Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan, both of whom aren't fond of horror in general, held off on watching the film until Beau Is Afraid came their way. Parker Posey first saw the movie on a plane, then watched it again when she landed. LuPone hadn't seen the film ahead of meeting Aster but was told by her 32-year-old son that he was "a brilliant filmmaker and spoke to his generation."
Over the night shoots in Montreal, LuPone relished working closely with Aster and Phoenix. "It was great to develop [the relationship between Beau and Mona] with Ari," she recalled, "in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, and in that fabulous house. It was incredible. It was an incredible experience...We couldn't believe we were making this movie."
Patti LuPone on Patti LuPone
Over decades of performing on stage and screen, LuPone has awed audiences with her sharp wit, stupendous singing voice, and her refusal to suffer fools. But what does she think audiences and colleagues expect when she's on a production?
"I'm an ensemble player, right? And I am a director's actor. I just want to do the work," she began. "But I know that when I sing a song, I'm gonna get a reaction. I just know that, because how many times does that have to be proven?"
From there, she shared a memory. "It was interesting, because the first time I sang 'Ladies Who Lunch,' I sang it for Stephen [Sondheim] when it wasn't even in the show," she said referencing a Company number she would go on to sing to the delight of musical lovers. "And Stephen said to me, 'Oh, I'm surprised you understood it.' Just because I'm from Long Island doesn't mean I don't understand. I'm an actor. But it was such an insult, because he's famous for that."
LuPone brushed the insult away, explaining, "Over the years, people have said to me the effect my voice has. I don't know that. I'm just singing, right? I know the effect it has on me. I mean, I know that when there's...I mean, I'll cry, not at my voice, but the music. And the lyrics...So I understand that people want that feeling. And I understand that I can deliver that feeling."
LuPone concluded simply but strongly, "You know what? It's a gift to give away."
Beau Is Afraid is now in theaters.
