by Amy Sohn
“And what did you think of what Ryan had to say?” she asked Steven on the phone.
“It didn’t surprise me very much. He’s never married, he’s thirty-four, and he grew up in Berkeley.”
She laughed and realized it had been a long time since he had made her laugh. “I know you didn’t grow up in Berkeley,” she said, “but do you think you could ever do something like that?”
“Maddy,” he said, “I’m from a different generation.”
On a sweltering day in August while she was with Jake on Governors Island, Maddy got an email saying that Pinhole had been accepted into Toronto. When she opened it, she screamed, jumped up and down, and called Zack. She felt that her years of slaving over the script, and all her hard work as an actress, had finally paid off. Whether it won anything or not, she would be going to Toronto with a project she had generated from her own mind, out of the story of a complicated woman’s life.
Steven offered to take care of Jake in his Gramercy Park apartment so she could be completely focused during the festival. She paid for their cast and crew to fly over, and rented a huge house near the festival headquarters so everyone could stay together.
The first screening of Pinhole was at eight on Friday night, a prime spot. The theater was already packed when Maddy walked in with Deborah and Zack.
Maddy took her reserved seat next to her cast and crew. Lane Cromwell’s daughter, Jean, had flown in and would be watching the film for the first time.
The lights went down.
The opening shot was a point-of-view from a 1920s camera snapping photos. The shutter closed, and the next frame was Maddy as Lane, posing for a slip ad. The flash popped again and again, and you could see by Lane’s expression that she was uncomfortable and out of her league. The photographer in the film called out directions off camera and she vamped, and then there was a freeze-frame and the screen went to black. Over a gypsy-jazz song, the credits appeared in simple, stark, white-on-black. Maddy’s title card was the last before Deborah’s. When she read the words “written by Maddy Freed,” they felt like a prediction.
There was a panel discussion following the screening and she trotted up to the stage along with the cast and crew. After a few questions about her writing process and discovery of Lane’s story, a heavyset bearded guy with black-framed glasses raised his hand. “This is the first film you’ve written since your divorce from Steven Weller, isn’t it, Maddy?”
“Just to clarify, it’s the first film I’ve written,” she said. “Ever. I collaborated on some things before, but this is my first solo screenplay.”
“I was thinking as I watched it that Lane kept trying to find her happiness in men, but it didn’t work. Is that something you relate to personally? Would you say this film is on some level about your anger at your ex-husband?”
There were whispers in the audience. People seemed to get that the guy was putting her on the spot, or maybe they wanted her to say something buzz-worthy and scandalous because her divorce had been all over the news.
“You know,” she said, “I would never write a script out of anger. It’s hard enough as it is to get independent financing.” The audience laughed, and her crew did, too. She could feel the support of Deborah, Victor, and Zack around her. “Filmmaking is first and foremost about storytelling. That’s what gets people into a theater. That’s why we’re all here. To me, this film tells the story of an artist who tried to make work that was meaningful, and at the same time really struggled with her personal happiness. In part because of the sexism of her time.
“But beyond that . . .” The theater was quiet even though there were twelve hundred people in it. “I don’t regret my marriage, not in the slightest. I learned so much from Steven. I learned things I never expected to learn.” The house lights were bright, and she shaded her eyes. “I guess you could say . . . you could say that Steven Weller made me the actress I am today.”
And then someone asked a question about camera lenses, and Maddy exhaled and faced her cinematographer.
Acknowledgments
In inventing the life of Maddy Freed, I found the following books influential and essential: Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?: Women’s Experience of Power in Hollywood, by Rachel Abramowitz; Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier; The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Natalie Wood: A Life, by Gavin Lambert; In Spite of Myself: A Memoir, by Christopher Plummer; and The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830–1980, by Elaine Showalter.
A novel about an actress provides an opportunity to watch and rewatch great films. In particular I drew inspiration from Don’t Look Now, directed by Nicolas Roeg; Gaslight, directed by George Cukor; Inside Daisy Clover, directed by Robert Mulligan; Rebecca, directed by Alfred Hitchcock; and Repulsion, directed by Roman Polanski.
For research assistance, thanks to Howard Abramson, Angie Banicki, Gisela Baurmann, John Connolly, Annette Drees, Sara Gozalo, Detective Nils Grevillius, Lillian Hope, Franklin J. Leonard, Terry Levich Ross, Jennifer Levy, Sara Memo, Kelly Bush Novak, Lateef Oseni, Victor Pimstein Ratinoff, Brian Savelson, and Jamie Yerkes. For detail work and production assistance, thanks to Melissa Kahn, Sarah Nalle, and Ed Winstead. For productivity assistance, thanks to Fred Stutzman and Freedom for Productivity, the Brooklyn Writers Space, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Cambridge Public Library, and the Writers Guild of America East Writing Room.
Thanks to Rebecca Gradinger for inspiring this idea over tea at University Restaurant. Thanks to Ernesto Mestre-Reed and Will Blythe for being great critics and great friends. Thanks to Richard Abate for being my consigliere, reluctant driver, and tireless advocate, and to Jonathan Karp for believing in The Actress and seeing it to fruition. Special thanks to Millicent Bennett for deep thinking, attentive editing, structural help, and an extremely kind manner.
Most of all, thanks to my husband and my daughter, whose encouragement, patience, and laughter allow me to do what I love.
Reading Group Guide and Author Q&A
The Actress
Amy Sohn
Introduction
Maddy Freed is a young actress who will do almost anything to be able to work. At the Mile’s End Film Festival, her starring role in the small independent film I Used to Know Her attracts the attention of Hollywood super-manager Bridget Ostrow. Soon Maddy is catapulted from her hipster life in Brooklyn with her long-term director boyfriend, Dan, to film festivals in Europe, high-profile meetings with legendary directors, and a starring role in the much-anticipated film Husbandry opposite Steven Weller, one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Maddy quickly finds herself thrust into the spotlight and falling madly in love with Steven, and before she knows it, they are married in a secret and romantic ceremony.
Back in Los Angeles, Maddy’s new role as Steven Weller’s wife sets her career into high gear as plum roles and opportunities seem to fall into her lap. Maddy and Steven grace magazine covers as Hollywood’s number-one power couple, but their fairytale life isn’t as perfect as the paparazzi photos would lead the public to believe. The whispers about Steven’s sexuality grow louder by the day as an alleged lover comes out of the woodwork seeking money and fame; behind the closed doors of their palatial mansion, Maddy and Steven’s marriage begins to crumble under the pressure. As Maddy’s star rises, she becomes increasingly aware of how little she truly knows about the man she loves—and increasingly uncertain of who she is. But with her own success intertwined with her husband’s, she isn’t sure just how many questions to ask herself, including the most important: Is my marriage real?
Topics for Discussion
1. The Actress is primarily the story of Maddy Freed, a young actress who ascends from obscurity to become one of Hollywood’s leading ladies—a feat that would have been impossible to achieve without her marriage to blockbuster movie star Steven Weller. Discuss Maddy’s journey throughout the novel. How is the novel a story of Ma
ddy’s move toward independence, and how is it a story of becoming trapped by her choices? How does being Steven’s wife impact and develop Maddy’s sense of self? What does it mean to be “Steven Weller’s wife”?
2. Were you surprised at how prevalent homophobia is in Hollywood as depicted by the novel? Why are producers so fearful of the rumors of homosexuality that surround Steven, and why does his team go to such measures to tamp down rumors of his dalliances with other men? What does the gossip about Steven’s sexuality indicate about perceptions of masculinity on the screen and what audiences want from movies?
3. What lies does Maddy have to tell herself in order to ignore the rumors that Steven is gay? What other lies does she have to tell herself to be happy in Hollywood? Do you think that she believes the lies she tells herself? What would you do about your marriage if you found yourself in Maddy’s shoes?
4. How are New York and Los Angeles depicted in the novel? How are the people Maddy meets in each city different, and where does she feel the most comfortable? How does Los Angeles change her, and how do her relationships with her New York friends evolve after she moves to Los Angeles?
5. From the start of their relationship, the paparazzi and the media are an omnipresent reality in Maddy’s life with Steven. Why is it so important that they maintain an image of a being a happily married couple when they are anything but? How does the pressure to maintain the façade of the perfect wife impact Maddy and her relationship with Steven? Think in particular about Maddy’s appearance on Harry, when she confronts the tabloid story about Steven’s sexuality head-on.
6. Discuss the major films that Maddy shoots over the course of the novel: I Used to Know Her, Husbandry, The Hall Surprise, and Pinhole. What is Maddy’s relationship with Steven like during the production of each of these films? How do the plots and themes of each film reflect her mental state and romantic feelings toward her boyfriend or husband?
7. Steven appears extremely knowledgeable about art and he surrounds himself with the finest of everything. Why is it so important for Steven to live among beautiful things? How does he mold Maddy into another object to place on a pedestal and admire? How does Maddy’s refusal to stay silent about the issues in their marriage disrupt Steven’s desire for a perfect-looking life, and how does it reveal who he truly is?
8. Bridget and Steven are wealthy beyond measure, and yet both are always striving for more: more starring roles, more money, and more power. Why are they driven to achieve so much, despite all their accomplishments? Is it merely money, or do you think they are attempting to fill some sort of void in their lives? What makes Steven’s bond with Bridget different from his bond with Maddy?
9. Maddy’s father looms large in her life and her memories, and it pains her deeply that he passed away before he was able to see I Used to Know Her. How does Maddy’s grief for her father impact her relationship with Steven? How is her father similar to Steven, and how is he different?
10. How does Steven use Maddy’s paranoia about his cheating and his sexuality to convince her that she is mentally ill and she needs to seek therapy? Do you think Maddy truly needs psychiatric help, or are Steven’s seemingly altruistic actions merely a means for him to control her further?
11. Maddy begins the novel as a screenwriter when she co-writes I Used to Know Her with Dan. By the end of the novel, she is a writer once again when she options Lane Cromwell’s life rights and writes Pinhole. How is being a writer central to Maddy’s character, and what does writing do for her self-confidence and independence?
12. Do you think that Steven ever truly loves Maddy, or is he acting as if he’s in love with her to preserve his reputation? Do you believe his sexuality can be separated from his love? Do you think that Maddy ever truly loves Steven, or was she just caught in the whirlwind that comes with being on his arm?
13. Were you surprised by the revelations about Steven’s sexuality that emerge by the end of the novel? Why does he decide not to make his announcement at the Oscars? Do you think that Steven will ever go public with who he truly is?
14. Maddy is clearly “the actress” referred to by the book’s title. What do you think is the greatest role in her career so far—Ellie in Husbandry, the role for which she was nominated for an Oscar; Lane Cromwell in Pinhole, the role that she crafted for herself based on her passions; or that of Steven Weller’s wife? What does she mean when she says, “You could say that Steven Weller made me the actress I am today”?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Cast the movie version of The Actress! Who would play Maddy, and who would play Steven?
2. Steven recommends that Maddy begin her Henry James education with the novel The Portrait of a Lady. Read The Portrait of a Lady and discuss it as compared to The Actress, particularly the similarities between Maddy and Isabel Archer, and Steven and Gilbert Osmond.
3. Bring copies of Hollywood gossip magazines like People and Us Weekly to your next book club meeting, or visit websites like TMZ.com or RadarOnline.com. Try to guess which stories are true and which stories might be planted by publicists and rival agents. Discuss the narratives the magazines craft about single celebrities, male and female, and how they are similar to or different from each other.
4. Host an awards show party for the Golden Globes, Oscars, or Emmys. Get dressed up in gowns and jewels, drink champagne, and place your bets on which actors and films will win the prized statuettes!
Author Q&A
After writing so many novels set in New York City, what made you decide to write a book set primarily in Hollywood?
I loved writing about Brooklyn, where all or part of my first four novels were set, but it was time to get out of the borough. I have always been both drawn to and repulsed by Hollywood, where I’ve traveled at least once a year for the past decade or so. I was excited by the idea of plumbing the depths of a Hollywood marriage. Hollywood marriages are over-the-top, with high stakes, but like any marriage, they are also an intimate, complicated dance between two people. One of my favorite writers is Nathanael West, who wrote the extremely dark Hollywood novel The Day of the Locust. The town is a rich setting for novels about materialism—and manipulation—and The Actress is about both of those things.
What research did you have to do to make the world of movies, paparazzi, agents, and film festivals so believable?
I had already been to a bunch of film festivals and had been a theater actress from age twelve to twenty-three—so some of my research was already done. For extra help, I called friends in representation, development, production, PR, and entertainment law. I watched a lot of movies, DVD commentaries, and DVD extras. I read Hollywood biographies, nonfiction books, and old issues of Vanity Fair. I also asked my own manager/literary agent a hundred questions about agenting and managing. The manager-client relationship is symbiotic and also very codependent—both ways. Thankfully, I have much better relationships with my talent representatives than Maddy does with Bridget by the end of the novel.
Did you have any real-life celebrities in mind when writing about Maddy and Steven? (If you can’t say, what attracted you to writing about a relationship between a young actress and a much older star with secrets to hide?)
I’ve always been an avid follower of what’s going on in Hollywood, but these characters are their own inventions. The book will certainly be accessible to readers who may not be as obsessed with Hollywood gossip as I am. I was attracted to the idea of writing Maddy and Steven because I have always been intrigued by May-December relationships—a woman of innocence matched with a man of worldliness and wisdom. It’s such a great recipe for hot sex, but it’s also made more complex when the woman tries to assert her own ideas in the company of a powerful, narcissistic man. It’s a well-told narrative, particularly in film: a talented woman whose husband feels competitive with her even though he may have begun the marriage wanting the best for her. In case you are wondering, I have seen every ve
rsion of A Star Is Born. I am also a fan of Inside Daisy Clover starring Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, and Christopher Plummer. It’s such a bleak view of Hollywood at a time when the studio system exerted a frightening level of control over young stars’ lives.
Do you like to read Hollywood gossip? Why do you think we are so drawn to magazines like People and Us Weekly and TV shows like E! News and Access Hollywood? How do paparazzi photos and constant celebrity coverage impact how we watch films and view movie stars?
I love Hollywood gossip. We both admire and revile celebrities. We admire them for being more beautiful and fabulous than we are, and revile them for the same reason. When we’re struggling in our own relationships, we look to celebrity marriages to console us. Their dramas are often so ugly and jarring that we can tell ourselves they’re worse off than we are. At the same time, the acting-out is something we wish we could do. We get to live out our own desire for torrid extramarital affairs, Caribbean vacations, naked yacht sunbathing, and hot younger men, merely by flipping through the pages of a celeb-focused magazine.
How did your experience as a dating and relationship columnist influence the storyline of the novel?
Having chronicled some of the bleaker aspects of my own single life in New York Press for many years, and other people’s, in New York, I learned early on not to judge people for their romantic problems. I learned that very few people act rationally when it comes to the heart. Maddy is often headstrong and foolish, and as you see her jump into this new relationship, throwing caution to the wind, you feel protective of her but probably remember some time when you did the same thing. A twentysomething in love cannot listen to advice from anyone.
Talk about the works of fiction and film that influenced you in writing The Actress, in particular Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.”