Aussies in Hollywood Podcast: Jacki Weaver

Introduction:

A PodcastOne production.

Jenny Cooney has been a part of Hollywood for 30 years, reporting on all the Aussie stars, from Hoges to the Hemsworths, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and beyond. This is Aussies in Hollywood.

Jenny:  Actress Jacki Weaver is a national treasure in Australia. She’s known for her decades of theatre, TV, and Aussie movies. But in 2010, she became known worldwide after she played the matriarch of a crime family in the Aussie film Animal Kingdom. And this earned Jacki her first Oscar nomination. Propelled into Hollywood, Jacki got her second Oscar nomination only two years later, in Silver Linings Playbook, opposite Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. She’s been living in West Hollywood ever since.

We caught up recently nearby, at her publicist’s office, to talk about her favourite type of roles to act in, what it’s like to find worldwide fame later in life, and her upcoming Stan TV series, Perpetual Grace, LTD, with Oscar winner Ben Kingsley. Here’s Jacki.

Jacki: I still feel pretty overwhelmed, and it’s been nine years now that I’ve been – that I’ve been living in Los Angeles. But my – since Animal Kingdom I’ve done 25 films. And more than 50 hours of television.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: I can’t believe it myself. Yeah, a journalist said the other day, I’d made a handful of films. I think that’s a bit more than a handful.

Jenny: Really?

Jacki: Yeah. And yeah so, I’ve been in 73 plays, I’ve done altogether 53 films.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: And lots and lots of TV. I’ve never been in a soap, you know.

Jenny: I thought that was strange.

Jacki: Not ever.

Jenny: I was looking – reading up on you and I thought, ‘Wait, there’s no – never like a Cop Shop or a Home and Away or …’

Jacki: No – oh ‑

Jenny: Maybe the The Sullivans?

Jacki: Home and Away is a soap.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: But a soap, by definition, has to be on five days a week. The Sullivans was a series.

Jenny: Right.

Jacki: And so was Cop Shop. I’ve been – I was in Cop Shop. I was in Homicide several times. I was murdered several times on Homicide, as different characters. But they were once a week TV series.

Jenny: Yeah, right.

Jacki: But no – and Wikipedia entry about me – full of mistakes – but it said – it not only said I’d got my start in soaps, but it gave details. It said I was in The Box, and I was in Number 96, and it went on and on. And a young friend of mine, who knows how to do these things, changed it. And then someone changed it back again.

Jenny: What?

Jacki: And the same with a few other things about me. Like, for instance, there’s one thing that I find vaguely irritating is that it says that I divorced Derryn Hinch twice and married him twice. I didn’t do any such thing. I mean I’m not that stupid. We only got divorced once. But we did renew our vows, and I think people thought that was a second wedding that – but anyway, who cares.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: Not me. I don’t care.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: But now, I do feel ‑

Jenny:  I guess people love the idea that all the Aussies – whatever age you are – somehow you had to come from the soaps like Neighbours or something like that.

Jacki: Yeah, yeah. And a lot of the ‑

Jenny: And they just can’t believe it when you don’t.

Jacki: ‑ a lot of the best people did. And just briefly back to Wikipedia, I don’t mind what they say about me, but so many times I’ve been interviewed by journalists, and all their questions come from mistaken things about me, and I feel so sorry for the journalists.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: You know, because they think they’ve done some good research by looking up Wikipedia and it’s not very reliable at all.

Jenny: It’s certainly not. Well then, this is the good thing about a podcast, we get to hear everything in your own words, so nobody can go back in and edit that later, right.

Jacki: Yeah, that’s a good point. Yeah.

Jenny: So, let’s go back to the beginning. You grew up in Sydney, is that right?

Jacki: That’s right. I was born in Hurstville. And I spent most of my childhood – we moved around a lot because my dad was still at university. He was a lawyer. And there was a shortage in the early 1950s of housing. So, they rented all over the place. I’ve lived in more than 30 suburbs in Sydney.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: But my childhood mostly was spent in firstly West Kogarah or – Sans Souci was the first place. Are you from Sydney? Do you know ‑

Jenny: I’m from Melbourne ‑

Jacki: Oh, so you ‑

Jenny:  ‑ but I lived in Sydney for a year.

Jacki: Oh right.

Jenny: So, I know ‑

Jacki: You sort of know.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Yeah, well and then West Pymble. We moved to West Pymble when I was about nine.

Jenny: OK.

Jacki: So, the same area that Mel Gibson comes from, and that Hugh Jackman comes from, yeah.

Jenny: Wow, there’s really something in the water there then.

Jacki: There must be. All I wanted to do was act. And that was from – I was a toddler.

Jenny: So, tell me about that. What do you mean by when you were a toddler? You were – you were aware that you liked to put on a show, is that – or your mother told you, like I’m assuming, or?

Jacki: I like to tell stories, by pretending to be other people. And I like to be people as different from myself as I possibly could be. From the minute I could talk I was putting on accents and pretending I was from Italy or France or – no, I must have been a very odd child. And my parents were good about it. They just thought I was slightly eccentric.

Jenny: So, do you remember your first exposure to television or film? How old you were, and what you thought?

Jacki: Yeah, I first went to the movies when I was three. And I think it was a double feature. It was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Bambi. Two of the most terrifying films ‑

Jenny: Really?

Jacki: ‑ for a little girl to see. And I’ve been crazy about the movies ever since. I go to the movies as much as possible. And I prefer to be in a cinema. I would never watch a film on my iPhone or my iPad mini. If I can’t see a film at the cinema, I’ll watch it on our big TV screen at home with a screener. But I think – I take ‑

Jenny:  So, like Bird Box, which was a Netflix movie, you watched it on your – or you haven’t seen it, have you?

Jacki: Oh, I haven’t – well I didn’t want to see it, because I don’t like being frightened.

Jenny: Well, Jacki, you made me watch it because I was interviewing you. I’m still upset about that.

Jacki: Isn’t it scary?

Jenny: Oh, my goodness.

Jacki: It’s very well made.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Terrifically well made.

Jenny: Oh yeah.

Jacki: Susanne Bier, she’s a wonderful director.

Jenny: She’s a great director.

Jacki: And Sandra Bullock’s fabulous. Everything Sandra does is good. And I’m nuts about Sarah Paulson, I love her.

Jenny: Oh, me too.

Jacki: And she’s only – I won’t give it away because a lot of people might not have seen it – mind you, I think everyone in the world ‑

Jenny: I think by now it’s OK to do plot spoilers. It’s been five months.

Jacki: Yes, it – but I did see it because my manager forced me to go to the opening night. But I did spend a lot of time with my eyes shut. But I had fun making it. It’s funny that, isn’t it. I’ve done a few sort of scary films, and I have fun doing them. Because when it comes to fake blood, I’m a bit like a 15-year-old boy, I just – I love wearing squibs and I’ve been shot in the stomach by John Cusack, I’ve been – that lovely Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from ‑

Jenny: Game of Thrones.

Jacki: Game of Thrones, I was his mother in something called Small Crimes in Montreal and I got shot in the neck, and there was blood all over the floor. I loved it. And, yeah, I’ve – and of course in Bird Box, that was good fun doing all that bleeding stuff. I’m a bit of a sicko hey.

Jenny: That’s great. Well if that’s what you want to do, you want to – if you want to act, you want to really go into that other world.

Jacki: Yeah. Well I – I made a film last year called Grudge which is pretty scary. I won’t be watching that one. Nobody’s going to make me watch that. But, gee, I think it’s going to be good. For people who get their thrills out of being scared, I think they’re going to love Grudge.

Jenny: It’s coming out this year?

Jacki: I’m not sure. I think so. I think so. Yeah, I – way back I did a film called Haunt in Utah, and I never saw that. But I did enjoy – there was a bit where I cut a young woman’s throat.

Jenny: OK, maybe you are a sicko. There’s one thing for people when they’re young and they remember seeing movies, or watching TV, but it’s another thing to realise it’s an actual job, and maybe one day you could have that job.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Do you remember at what point you – it became that, for you?

Jacki: Yeah, well my parents used to take me to pantomimes at the Tivoli Theatre. They had very big, lavish productions. And they started – my grandfather – who was English, and you know pantomime is such an English tradition – and they used to take me to see pantomimes. I think they were the first things I saw on stage. And I realised they were people pretending way back.

And I saw – there was a legendary – they used to have women playing the hero, the principal boy. And – I know, it sounds really odd. Well not so much now where everybody’s ‑

Jenny: I guess Peter Pan was played by a girl.

Jacki: I’ve played Peter Pan, yeah. Yeah, I flew through the air at the Independent Theatre. I love that play. But I was – I must have been about six – five or six – oh probably five, you know – and it was Jenny Howard. She was just wonderful. She had these fabulous legs, and she was tiny and full of vim and vigour, and she played the principal boy. And it was Robin Hood. And she was Robin. And she was in green satin with these green satin boots, and she was a knockout.

And I thought, ‘I want to do that. I could do that’ I thought. And my first professional job – from then on, my parents used to send me to children’s theatre groups, and elocution lessons, and I got involved in a few amateur shows when I was very young. But my first professional job I was Cinderella onstage in a big professional production.

Jenny: In Sydney?

Jacki: In Sydney, yeah.

Jenny: How old were you?

Jacki: I was 15. And that was 1962. And in a couple of weeks I’ll be 72. So that’s 57 years I’ve been getting paid to make a dickhead of myself.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: Yeah, that was the moment.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: And then something nice happened. Many years later, when I was in my 40s, Maggie Blinco, the actress, she said, ‘I’ve got something I think you’d like, and you can have.’ And it was the green satin boots that Jenny Howard wore when she played Robin Hood. So, I’ve still got those, but they’re a bit worse for wear – my dog chewed them. Yeah, so that was ‑

Jenny: How cool.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Wow. Were you doing school productions as well? Did they have them at your school?

Jacki: They’d never let me be … I always wanted to be the boy, or the tough girl. But I was so little, and I always had such a baby face. I remember being heartbroken when they didn’t want me to – I wanted to be – you know, in the Taming of the Shrew – I wanted to be Katarina, you know, who’s got a lot of – because I’ve been a feminist since I was – could talk. Because my mother was such a feminist.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: And I wanted to be the tough girl. But they made me be Bianca, that milk soppy one. Because you – you know, your physical statement goes against you when you’re young. I was still playing children in my 30s. I used to get so frustrated.

Jenny: Well see, you’re only just hitting your stride now, and you’re getting to play some of those tough guys.

Jacki: And I’m 72.

Jenny: You know? Animal Kingdom was pretty ‑

Jacki: Yeah. I’m getting paid back now. Yeah.

Jenny: But I’ve read that you were actually offered a scholarship to university and turned it down. Is that right?

Jacki: I was going to do social work at university, but I got offered a TV series shot in the outback, all on film and – rather than videotape – and it was directed by Ken Hannam who went on to direct some really good stuff. He directed Sunday Too Far Away, a great legendary Australian film.

Jenny: Oh yeah.

Jacki:   And it was such a great opportunity that my parents said, ‘OK, you can do the series, and go.’ It was called Wandjina.

Jenny:  Oh that was the indigenous ‑

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Yeah, right.

Jacki: And it was set in the outback – Coopers Creek. And I said, I’ll go to university next year, and I never did.

Jenny: Well it’s good that they were so supportive and didn’t force you.

Jacki: I think it was a foregone conclusion that that’s what I’d do for a living. They didn’t – they weren’t – she was never a stage mother, and neither was my father, but they just kind of thought this was inevitable really.

Jenny: And so you didn’t apply to go to – drama schools were around then – NIDA or ‑

Jacki: Yeah, NIDA was there. I’m a contemporary of Helen Morse, and Kirrily Nolan, and Jeanie Drynan, and Kate Fitzpatrick. We’re all much of the same age. And I was already doing plays at the Old Tote Theatre, which was annexed to NIDA. And I didn’t even apply for NIDA. I was a bit scared I wouldn’t get in, after I was already – I already had a career and I had a bit of a reputation already.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: And I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be terrible if I didn’t get in.’ I’d already done a lot of classes at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney, and private lessons, and things. So I never wanted for tuition. But I didn’t go to NIDA. But what they used to do in those days, the NIDA students used to understudy us, and we – I was doing a lot of plays at the Old Tote Theatre, and they’d get the NIDA students to understudy us which was a funny thing.

Jenny: That’s great.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: So, you ended up, in the beginning of your career, doing a lot of theatre. That was where ‑

Jacki: Oh yes.

Jenny: ‑ was that by choice, or …

Jacki: Yeah, I was crazy about the theatre. I always had been, since I was a little girl. And I was in heaven, yeah. And I started out doing ‑

Jenny: You liked just being able to get up and act every night and ‑

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: ‑ see what happened that night?

Jacki:   Eight shows a week. And I was doing, you know I was doing George Bernard Shaw and classics, Molière, and Pinero, and Noel Coward, and yeah …

Jenny: And Chekhov and all those kinds of …

Jacki: Yeah, I was getting plenty of serious work to do. But I did, you know, I did the odd television. Like I said, I got murdered a few times on Homicide, and Division 4. Yeah.

Jenny:  So, I think the classic movie, Stork, was the first ‑

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: ‑ breakthrough film role for you, wasn’t it?

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: In ’71. And you got nominated for an AFI Award for that.

Jacki: I won it.

Jenny: You won the AFI Award. I stand corrected. First nomination, and you won.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Wow. What are your memories of that time and that film?

Jacki: Actually, in those days Hoyts used to give you $500 as well as a trophy.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: They should bring that back.

Jenny: Exactly.

Jacki: What was your …

Jenny: What were your memories of that film, and that time?

Jacki: Oh right – well I remember it very clearly. I was very fond of Tim Burstall, he was a terrific chap. And Dave Bilcock, the editor. And Rob Copping, the cinematographer. And it was great fun to do. And Bruce Spence was adorable. It was made on a shoestring. And it was probably the breakthrough film of that renaissance of Australian movies. Because it was ’71.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: And I had just had a baby. I got offered – I was in the hospital – the Sanatorium at Wahroonga – the Adventist Hospital – and I’d just had my baby and I was sitting up in bed with the baby, and I got a phone call saying, ‘Tim Burstall wants you for this film called Stork, written by David Williamson.’ And I said, ‘I’d love to do it, but they want to start shooting in six weeks.’ So they provided a nanny for the baby. I took the baby to Melbourne and it was great fun.

Jenny: Well, that’s ironic that it was called Stork. You just had a baby.

Jacki: It is funny, isn’t it? Named after – Bruce Spence was the character called Stork, which was sort of based on David Williamson’s own experiences. And David Williamson’s six feet eight, and Bruce Spence is six feet seven so it was – and there was a lot of humour out of the difference in heights, because I’m under five feet, which is about 149 centimetres I think.

Jenny: Did you feel, when you won that AFI Award, that it meant something to you, or …

Jacki: Oh, I was thrilled. Awards are great. I love getting them. But I never feel – but that’s a kind of bonus.

Jenny: Yeah, right.

Jacki: That’s the icing on the cake. It’s the, you know, it’s great that ‑

Jenny: You don’t need that for the validation, you’re ‑

Jacki: Not really.

Jenny: ‑ it’s just nice occasionally to have …

Jacki: Oh, it’s great to have …

Jenny: Well, we’ll get to the Oscars later, but you know. And you – I mean you won a second – did you win, or you got nominated for Caddie?

Jacki: I won it.

Jenny: Oh OK. See, I just didn’t want to say win, in case I was wrong. Worse than Wikipedia I am.

Jacki: No, that’s fine. I don’t mind.

Jenny: So that was a second AFI Award for Caddie?

Jacki: Yeah, yeah.

Jenny: That was only what five years later?

Jacki: I think I’ve got six AFI Awards.

Jenny: I know – we haven’t got to the rest yet.

Jacki: But that was with the beautiful Helen Morse. I love her. She’s still one of my very, very favourite Australian actresses. She could have had a huge career in America, but she chose to stay working in the theatre. She’s still doing great work. She’s fabulous, I think.

Jenny: Well, there are a lot – people like Mel, some of those people from movies of that time – they ended up coming to America and doing pretty well.

Jacki: Mm-hmm.

Jenny: Did you come over here at any point back then or ‑

Jacki: No, never.

Jenny: Really?

Jacki: No, never had the ‑

Jenny: Did anyone suggest it, or you didn’t want to, or you didn’t …

Jacki: Sometimes people would ask why I hadn’t – journalists as well as friends and strangers would ask why I didn’t go to America. And I always used to, quite honestly, say I’m happy with what I’ve got here. And I didn’t want to start all over again in America, and slog away and people – and get rejections all the time – when I had a really prosperous career in Australia.

It was, much as I loved American films and – and America, I love America – I just – it wasn’t on my agenda, you know.

Jenny: Do you remember the first time you came here, and whether you had any of that sort of excitement about actually being in Hollywood?

Jacki: No, I never – I never fancied Los Angeles. I started going ‑

Jenny: That’s funny.

Jacki: I started going to New York – well you’d know, most of the films aren’t made here anymore. It’s pretty sad.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: I go all over America, but hardly ever anything gets made here. But I started going regularly to America in 1972. But it was only to go to New York and see theatre. I used to go for about a month and see as much theatre as I could. My best was I saw 30 shows in three weeks, on one visit.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: Because you can do seven nights and three matinees.

Jenny: And matinees.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: JAnd that’s all I cared about. And I used to be such a snob about Los Angeles. I used to think, ‘Oh, I’m not interested in going there. Much as I love films and American films, I don’t want to – I’m not interested in Los Angeles.’ All the clichés about – and I always thought New York was the best city in the world. I still do, I think. But now, after nine years here, I really love Los Angeles. I think it’s a wonderful city. I love it. I love California. I love California chardonnay, it’s the best in the world. It tastes like the sunshine.

Jenny: So then of course Animal Kingdom, in the movie world, was the film that everybody in America finally really got to know you because of, can you talk about the journey leading up to that movie, how you got involved, and did you know – while you were making it – that this could be a game changer for you?

Jacki: See I think every film I do is going to be terrific. Not a game changer. But I go into everything thinking, ‘This is going to be great.’ And I’m never sure until – and I’ve been in things that didn’t do that well that I thought were fantastic.

Jenny: Yeah. Well no – as what do they say, nobody sets out to make a bad movie.

Jacki: No, true. Although I don’t know about The Room. But anyway – yeah, I’m sure what you say is true about that too.

Jenny: Oh, that’s right. And you worked with James Franco on the ‑

Jacki: On The Disaster Artist, yeah.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: But going back to Animal Kingdom, David Michod sent me a script 10 years before we started shooting.

Jenny: No.

Jacki: And that’s how long it took him to get it up. And he said, ‘I don’t want anyone to play it but you. If you don’t play it …’ – and nobody’s ever said that to me – ‘… if you don’t play it, I’m not going to make it.’ And I thought, ‘Well I’m definitely going to do it.’ And when he finally got the money, I thought, ‘Oh, maybe he doesn’t want me anymore, maybe I’m too old.’ He said, ‘Yeah, of course I still want you.’ And somebody at my agency, in Sydney, actually said, ‘You don’t want to do this, do you?’ Can you believe it? It’s true. I said, ‘Yeah, I do. I think it’s a great script, and I think it’s a great story.’

The script had changed considerably from the first draft, but that’s par for the course, that always happens. And then when we were making it, I thought – I loved making it. I thought everyone in it was so good. Ben Mendelsohn, what a genius actor. And Guy Pearce, isn’t he a doll? I love Guy Pearce.

Jenny: And so many people in that movie ended up coming over here, just off that film too.

Jacki: Mm-hmm. But Guy was already quite a bit deal.

Jenny: Oh yeah, he was.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: But Joel Edgerton, and ‑

Jacki: Yeah, oh yes all of those chaps are wonderful.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Anthony Hayes, that was in it, and he came all the way from London to do his bit and ended upon the cutting room floor, even though he was brilliant. But that happens with a lot of films.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Really good performances, but if something about the story and the pace doesn’t work, they end up getting cut. But I thought the film was going to be good. And I loved working on it. But it wasn’t until the first crew screening in Melbourne, and I thought – you weren’t at that, were you, the cast and crew screening?

Jenny: No.

Jacki: It was a knockout. And we all thought, ‘Gee, we’ve made something really special.’ And the audience was gobsmacked. And then it just steamrolled after that. And Sundance Festival picked it up, and it won the Jury Prize and then Sony Classics bought it. And then I won a whole lot of awards. I think I won about nine. And I was nominated for a whole lot of others, all around America. And then the Oscar thing happened.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: So that was pretty incredible.

Jenny: So, did you go to Sundance? With the film.

Jacki: Yeah, we did, yeah.

Jenny: Was that your first experience ‑

Jacki: We had to pay our own way because we were so broke. Yeah.

Jenny: Was that your first experience going to America with a film?

Jacki: Yeah. Yeah, it was.

Jenny: It really was, wow, and it was Animal Kingdom and Sundance.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: What do you remember about that?

Jacki: I remember a lot of snow. Trudging around in the snow. I didn’t see any of the screenings. I remember the publicity junket was pretty gruelling. It was really hard work. Not as hard as Toronto. I was telling someone just recently, the most – I did on – this Friday just gone, I did – for the junket – I did 41 interviews. But the most I’ve ever done in one day – I mean I’m not special, most actors go through this – but the most I’ve ever done in one day was at Toronto Film Festival and I did 68.

Jenny: No. Really?

Jacki: And that was for a film that – yeah, truly – because you know on that junket some people get three minutes, and it’s like a production line.

Jenny: Yeah, the TV interviews can be like – yeah – a sausage factory we call it.

Jacki: Yeah, it goes – yeah – and you go almost catatonic, it’s really strange.

Jenny: Well, there’s so much coming up for you ‑

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: ‑ this year, and the series that Stan in Australia has.

Jacki: Oh yes. Perpetual Grace, LTD. It was originally called ‑

Jenny: It was Our Lady and I got – yeah.

Jacki: Yeah, I think the network changed the name from Our Lady of Perpetual Grace, LTD because they thought it sounded too much like a religious programme and people … so they changed it ‑

Jenny: So now it’s Perpetual Grace, LTD?

Jacki: Yes.

Jenny: With you and Ben Kingsley, wow.

Jacki: And Jimmi Simpson ‑

Jenny: And Jimmi Simpson from Westworld.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: And Damon Herriman.

Jacki: Yes, that’s right.

Jenny: From Australia.

Jacki: Wonderful Damon Herriman, who’s just played Charles Manson twice.

Jenny: I know.

Jacki: Yeah he’s really – he’s really ‑

Jenny: Well we have him coming up on the Podcast too, so.

Jacki: Oh right.

Jenny: Yeah. He was excited working with you, finally, so. But let’s go back to Animal Kingdom. You went to Sundance. You had that whole experience.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: And then it just ‑

Jacki: I always say ‑

Jenny: ‑ caught fire, right, I mean it just ‑

Jacki: It did catch fire. I mean it was still a little indie film – art film – that wasn’t seen on the big circuits. So not a lot of people saw it. You had to be a real film buff to see it, I think. It didn’t get a huge release. But still enough for me to get all that attention. And I always say that Michael Barker and Tom Bernard from ‑

Jenny: Sony.

Jacki: ‑ Sony Classics, changed my life really. It was then buying the movie and then the Oscar that was …

Jenny: So, tell me about the morning of the Oscar nomination.

Jacki: Well, I was in the Beverly Wilshire. They’d put me up for the – for all the other awards and things, including the Golden Globes.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: And I was trying to stay awake for the 5 o’clock announcement, but I fell asleep. So, my phone rang and it had already been announced, and it was Derryn Hinch who told me, ‘You’ve got the nomination.’ So he told me the first one. But the second time ‑

Jenny: The Silver Linings Playbook?

Jacki: Yeah, I saw it on the TV, and I wasn’t expecting it. Because I didn’t get any other awards, the same way that I did for Animal Kingdom.

Jenny: Right, yeah.

Jacki: So, I just wasn’t expecting it. And didn’t mind really. And I just watched it to see if my good friends Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro, to see if they got nominated. And, sure enough, they got nominated, and so did I. And I just ran around the room screaming expletives. I was so overwhelmed. Because I knew, this time my life would really change. Because, you know like an old journo said to me, ‘Your second Oscar nomination proves the first one wasn’t a fluke.’

Jenny: But at this point – at that point in your life, surely you knew you were beyond a fluke?

Jacki: Well, you know, Oscar nominations can be a bit of a fluke. They can be a – you know, a flash in the pan.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: But this was fantastic. An interesting bit of trivia, that was the first time in 30 years that all four acting categories were in the same film – nominated in the same film. The previous time that happened was Reds – the Warren Beatty film.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: So, Jack Nicholson, and Warren Beatty, and Annette Benning, and Diane – Diane Keaton – they all got nominated for Reds.

Jenny: Well, that was an amazing experience. Because you look at the cast in that movie with you, and the first one, Animal Kingdom, you’re all kind of unknown and it was coming into it in a different way. When you were nominated for Silver Linings Playbook, there you are with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: I mean it must have felt ‑

Jacki: Well, Jen was still pretty, you know ‑

Jenny: She was still ‑

Jacki: She was – because I did the first Oscar circuit with her for Winter’s Bone, and she was still very new. And so, I got to know her on that circuit a bit. Because, you know, you cross paths a lot when you’re doing the same campaigns – same time. So, yeah. But Bradley – what about him directing A Star is Born, as well as acting in it.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: I thought that was such a feat.

Jenny: Amazing.

Jacki: Deserved enormous praise, I think.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: He’s a lovely chap. I love him.

Jenny: And how was De Niro?

Jacki: Oh, just a god. He’s wonderful.

Jenny: Well, you might have – you must have seen him on stage at some point over all the years you were in New York, did you?

Jacki: I never saw him on stage, no. But I’ve seen all his films.

Jenny: But you knew – yeah, right.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: I noticed you did a smaller role – I think a year later – in Stoker ‑

Jacki: Oh yeah.

Jenny: ‑ with Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska, which is funny that you were in the middle of – I don’t know, where were you, somewhere in Tennessee or somewhere?

Jacki: Yeah, we were in Nashville.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Yes.

Jenny: With two other Aussies, just coincidentally.

Jacki: Isn’t that funny? And all being American. And Matthew Goode had to strangle me in the phone box.

Jenny: That’s right.

Jacki: And we – and director Park ‑

Jenny: The Korean director.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Yeah director Park had a translator all the time. And he was such a gentleman. And he would politely give the directions. And when – and the translator came over to me – we’d done a couple of takes of the strangle scene – and he said, ‘Director Park would like you to make the sound of an orgasm when you are being strangled.’ I said – and the camera crew thought that was hilarious, so I obliged. And they said, ‘Now we know what you do.’ Isn’t that funny?

Jenny: That’s great. Did you know – I mean coming out of Animal Kingdom, and coming from all those Australian productions, you must have known a lot of the Aussie actors who’d come over here. I mean I don’t know if – did you know Nicole? Did you know Mia? I mean, how soon did you sort of get connected with that ‑

Jacki: No, I didn’t know those two, no. I, of course, knew who Nicole was, and I’d met her back in the 80s when she was just starting to take off – or 90s whenever. I remember Ben Mendelsohn when he was 14. I’ve actually known him that long.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: He’s about my son’s age. A bit older than my son. So, I’ve always had a really maternal thing about Ben. And I remember Nicole coming to a party once in Bondi, and she was about 15, and she’d already done – I think she’d already done BMX Bandits, and she was terrific and such a lovely girl – and I said to my husband, ‘See that girl, I think she’s going to be a big star.’ And I feel really proud of myself for knowing that.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Did you ever tell her that later?

Jacki: I did, but I think – I’m sure a lot of people tell her that. She’s such a sweet girl too. She’s very kind.

Jenny: Yeah. Did you have fun working with Woody Allen? You did Magic in the Moonlight.

Jacki: Yeah, well he is a genius filmmaker. He was – I had a great time, yeah. I really enjoyed that. Especially as we shot it too in the south of France. And French film crews insist on a two hour lunch break, and they – there’s wine served with lunch. They couldn’t do that in Australia, nobody would go back for the afternoon.

Jenny: You’re right.

Jacki: Well, that’s not true actually, film crews in Australia are very, very good.

Jenny: They’re very hard working.

Jacki: Oh yeah.

Jenny: But, yeah, who knows if you gave them two hours’ worth of beer.

Jacki: Yeah. I think I’d be the same.

Jenny: The performances would be hard to keep track of, wouldn’t they, from the morning to the afternoon?

Jacki: Yeah, I think so. I get sleepy with daytime wine. I need a little nap. Like the Spanish and the Italians, they have a siesta.

Jenny: Yes. It’s a good idea. Did you have a bucket list of things you wanted to do here, people you wanted to work with, filmmakers, actors?

Jacki: Well, I love – I love fancy directors. You know, I’d love to work with Quentin Tarantino. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. And I love to – I’d love – I’d love Martin ‑

Jenny: Well, you’ve heard it here first. Quentin Tarantino.

Jacki: He’s – he knows me, and he’s always lovely to me, and tells me he likes my work.

Jenny: Oh, that’s good. Well look, he hired Margot Robbie, so …

Jacki: Yeah, there you go. I really like – I’ve always loved Martin Scorsese, that would be heaven. I don’t think that will ever happen. Yeah, there are quite a lot that I admire, and if I ever get to work for them, I’ll be really thrilled. But it’s not as though I’m – I still get offered so much interesting stuff that I’m not hankering.

Jenny: So that’s what I find amazing, that you could sort of have your so-called Hollywood break later in your career ‑

Jacki: At 63.

Jenny: OK. You said it, I didn’t want to …

Jacki: No. I don’t –

Jenny: But yet – but it feels ‑

Jacki: ‑ I don’t mind being 72.

Jenny: ‑ it feels like you’re getting some of the best roles of your life, and ‑

Jacki: Well you see that would be to overlook quite a distinguished stage career.

Jenny: A lot of – yeah.

Jacki: I did do some ‑

Jenny: Unfortunately, we’ll never get to revisit those performances.

Jacki: That’s the sad thing.

Jenny: That’s the sad thing, yeah.

Jacki: Ephemeral. They disappear into the ether.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Instead of onto celluloid.

Jenny: So we can only go by everything we’ve seen on screen.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Which, you know, a lot more of it seems to be now from over here, because it’s sort of been the focus. Do you miss the stage?

Jacki: Not really. I’ve been offered a lot of stage work since I came over here. And some of it’s been very tempting. But doing eight shows a week for – and my manager here, and my agent, they all say, ‘We don’t want you out of the loop for six months, going back to Australia to do a stage play.’ And my feeling is, as long as I’m getting film work here, I’d rather do that.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Seventy-three plays is quite a lot. I should be satisfied.

Jenny: Yeah, you don’t have anything to …

Jacki: I should be satisfied with that.

Jenny: Well, you have your new film Poms with Diane Keaton.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Which is just so precious. I loved it.

Jacki: Oh good.

Jenny: Just the whole dynamic ‑

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: ‑ of these wonderfully inspiring, so called senior citizens in a retirement community forming a cheerleading squad ‑

Jacki: Yeah. And I think – I’ve seen it twice now, I think it’s quite beautiful. I think Zara Hayes has done a fantastic job, because there’s more to it than just a silly comedy about old girls being cheerleaders. I think it’s got a lot to say about female empowerment, about friendship and love, and yeah I think it’s got substance.

Jenny: And ageism, sort of ‑

Jacki: Well, yeah, ageism.

Jenny: The whole high schoolers thinking they can’t learn anything from a ‑

Jacki: Yeah and staying relevant after a certain age.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Yeah. And my husband, who’s a stern critic, he laughed a lot at it and he shed a few tears, so.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: And a lot of the men I know who’ve seen it said it made them tear up a bit. Because it’s a – my favourite kind of films are the ones that make you laugh and make you cry as well, because that’s a true reflection of how life goes.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: You know?

Jenny: Yeah. Absolutely. I think it’s wonderful that you can feel – you know that’s why we go to the movies.

Jacki: Yeah. To be moved in your head, in your heart, and in your visceral tummy.

Jenny: Yeah. So, you did that one and then – and working with Diane Keaton must have been great.

Jacki: She’s adorable, she really is.

Jenny: So, you went – well you have Woody Allen at one point and then Diane Keaton.

Jacki: Yes, isn’t it funny.

Jenny: I mean you’re crossing over with all kinds of amazing people, right?

Jacki: Yeah, I’ve been so lucky. And I’ve worked all over the world. I’ve made films in Budapest, and Berlin, and Montreal, and yeah, I’ve been all over the place. And several states. We shot Poms in Atlanta, Georgia. We shot Out of Blue down in – that’s the Carol Morley film – we shot that down in New Orleans. What a great place New Orleans is. Yeah, so I’ve seen a lot more of America than I ever dreamed I would.

Jenny: Wow.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: So talk a bit more about Perpetual Grace, LTD. It’s a series.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: It’s on Stan in Australia and …

Jacki: And it starts on June the 2nd. And they’re hour-long episodes. And I think there will be one released every week, from June the 2nd. Ten episodes.

Jenny: And you shot that in New Mexico, right?

Jacki: We did. In Santa Fe. We were there for five months, in the winter. It’s freezing cold. Freezing cold. A lot of the stuff we were actually shooting while the snow was coming down.

Jenny: I remember you and I were collaborating on a print story, and you were texting me in the middle of the night in below zero, freezing temperatures.

Jacki: Yeah, getting up sometimes at 3:30. But Steve Conrad ‑

Jenny: And they think it’s so glamorous, don’t they?

Jacki: Oh, it’s not. But I didn’t – I loved it. I loved every minute of it. Steve Conrad, what a brilliant man he is. Yeah, and it was great working with Ben Kingsley. He’s everything that he’s cracked up to be. He’s extraordinary. We play husband and wife, and we’re kind of a bit dodgy. Actually, the film – everyone in the film is a bit of a scoundrel. But Steve wants you to still like everyone in a film. There’s a lot of eccentrics, a lot of really odd people.

Jenny: I thought it had a little bit of a Fargo feel to it.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: In that it was very quirky and kind of could be violent, but you’re not quite sure what’s coming around the corner, right?

Jacki: Yeah. It’s full of unexpected turns of events. And great dialogue. I love his dialogue. It’s the kind of dialogue you read it and you can’t wait to say it.

Jenny: We were talking before about Poms having something to say about ageism. And I’m wondering, you’ve been through so many different eras in Australia and here with the industry, and people talking about Times Up and Me Too, and also ageism.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Which was, you know there’s a lot women who say that their career stopped when they turned a certain age. I mean it’s been the opposite for you, but did you struggle in any of those areas in your career?

Jacki: Not with ageism. I mean I do think it’s a bad thing, it’s prevalent in our society because we, for the past few decades, it’s been a total youth worshipping culture. And some cultures revere their elderly, you know, especially some Asian cultures that are – they keep them living with them until they’re 98 years old, and they have them on a pedestal and they defer to them.

Doesn’t happen so much in our culture. My mother used to say, ‘Old people are the same as young people, they just got there earlier.’ Which I think’s pretty good. A lot of my friends are in their 20s and 30s and we get along fine. It’s, yeah …

Jenny: Yeah, I think – no I think most people don’t – I mean the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realised that you don’t actually change on the inside at all.

Jacki: No. You just stop looking in the mirror.

Jenny: Just suddenly you look like an old lady.

Jacki: Yes.

Jenny: So that kind of makes sense.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: But have you ever – have you experienced the – Teresa Palmer’s husband, Mark Webber, just posted a tweet this morning that he was just re-cast out of a network show because they told him he wasn’t handsome enough. So, they were talking about the industry truths and the way Hollywood can be so brutal to people. I mean it sounds like you’ve been ‑

Jacki: I wouldn’t want to be in a show where the producers thought like that. How stupid.

Jenny: Yeah. But you came in on a high with something that was so great that everybody wanted to work with you after that. So that must be nice to not ‑

Jacki: Yeah, my position’s kind of unusual. It’s hard to generalise from my point of view, because what happened to me is kind of unusual. In fact, I can’t think of it happening to anybody else. The incredible luck that I’ve had.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: Because a lot of it’s luck, you know. There are really good people out there who just never seem to get a break and …

Jenny: Yeah. But you know, you were in your 60s when you got this break.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: And then you would have – but you had done very well in Australia. We all know you’re considered a national treasure back home. And, you know, I think ‑

Jacki: And a gay icon. Don’t forget that.

Jenny: Is that why you live in West Hollywood?

Jacki: The smallest fag hag in the world, that’s what my gay friends call me.

Jenny: Oh yeah that’s right. That’s why you live in West Hollywood, right?

Jacki: Well, yeah. My mother always said the only straight – I only knew four straight men and it was my father, my brother, my son and my husband. Which is fine by me.

Jenny: I think the one question that I love to ask everybody in the podcast is, everybody has a theory about why so many Australians – and it’s such a small country comparatively speaking – have had so many people in the arts come to Hollywood ‑

Jacki: It’s great isn’t it.

Jenny: ‑ and make it really big. Not just actors, but cinematographers, and filmmakers, and sound editors, and everything.

Jacki: It’s great isn’t it.

Jenny: And I wonder, do you have any theories ‑

Jacki: Do I have a theory? I think, in the case of actors, I think we have to diversify a lot because the industry is so much smaller. And I think most of us are theatre trained and – but also, you know, it’s great training – soap opera training – having to learn so much dialogue and be camera ready as soon as you hit the studio is very good discipline and I – and they love that in America. If you arrive on set and you’re completely prepared. Because not all actors are.

Jenny: No.

Jacki: Some actors come on set not knowing their lines and being a bit sort of offhand. Most of us can do American accents because we’ve been listening to American television all our lives. I grew up on Mickey Mouse Club. My son grew upon Sesame Street. And now my grandkids are growing up watching Dora the Explorer. So we kind of hear – we’re saturated with the sound of American voices from a very early age. And you do have to have an ear, to a degree.

Jenny: Yeah.

Jacki: But if you’ve got an ear, and you’ve been bombarded with that all your life, happily you can probably usually do it. And also I’ve played a lot of Americans on stage.

Jenny: And yet you’ve still got very strong Aussie.

Jacki: Yeah, I still sound like an Aussie. I mean ‑

Jenny: Do people over here all know that you’re Australian when they meet you, or …

Jacki: No. I’m always meeting Americans who are really shocked to hear me speak, because they expect – because all the characters I’ve played here, on film, have been American, except for one – Emily Blunt’s mother.

Jenny: Oh in the Five Year Engagement.

Jacki: In Five Year Engagement, yeah. In fact, I’ve heard a few stories about people arguing about – somebody – I heard of someone saying, ‘Of course she’s American. I know for a fact she’s American.’ Which I was tickled pink. I was really flattered and thrilled.

Jenny: You got to work last year with Steve McQueen in Widows, with that incredible cast.

Jacki: Oh I love him. I love him, yeah.

Jenny: And funny enough playing Elizabeth Debicki’s mum.

Jacki: Yes, how about that. And she’s six feet three. They couldn’t get us in the same shot unless she was sitting down. She is a beautiful actress, such a great actress.

Jenny: But that was an amazing ensemble cast. That must have been a really cool empowering, female driven, sort of experience, right?

Jacki: Pretty good, yeah. Yeah. I like that film. Steve is wonderful. He runs a silent set. Nobody talks above a whisper on the set. It’s fantastic for the actors.

Jenny: Really?

Jacki: Yeah. It’s the first time I’ve ever encountered it. A few people do that apparently, but he’s the only one I’ve – and it’s wonderful when you’re trying to focus and concentrate on your acting, to have no yelling around you.

Jenny: Do you – I’m sure you’ve had every kind of director.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: But what kind – what are the ones that work best for you?

Jacki: I try to keep an open mind. I honestly haven’t worked with a director I didn’t like, here in America.

Jenny: Oh, that’s good.

Jacki: Yeah. They’ve all been fantastic. And they all differ. They differ enormously.

Jenny: Just the actors that you won’t tell me who they are.

Jacki: No, I won’t. I might tell you one day when we’re having a drink.

Jenny: OK.

Jacki: But I’m not going to say it publicly.

Jenny: But it’s amazing that you’re working as hard as you are.

Jacki: It is.

Jenny: I mean you – I can’t even keep track of ‑

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: You know you went back to Australia and – I didn’t even remember you’d done that movie. But then before that you did Bloom, the TV show with Bryan Brown and Phoebe Tonkin.

Jacki: That’s right, yeah.

Jenny: And then you did Secret City, which won a Logie, and a second season with Anna Torv and …

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: And that’s all going on back there while you’re doing all these big movies and five months shooting in New Mexico.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: So what keeps you sort of fit and ready to go?

Jacki: Sometimes I get a bit tired. But it’s the work. I like the work so much, that, you know, energy begets energy they say. And I think that’s what happens. You get so stimulated with the work, you – and like I said, with Steve Conrad’s dialogue in Perpetual Grace, LTD, every new script we would get so excited to get a new script. And as soon as I saw the dialogue he had written for me, I couldn’t wait to say it.

Jenny: When I talked to Damon Herriman for the podcast, he said that he’d never worked with you before, but he met you when he was 10 years old. Is that right?

Jacki: He was a bit of a stalker. He was a stage door Johnny. I hope he hears this. No, he was a child actor, you know, he was in The Sullivans. He started even younger than I did. And he came to see me in that musical that I did for nearly 600 performances, They’re Playing Our Song. And he came to see that. And he came around backstage and there’s a lovely picture of us together.

Jenny: Do you remember that?

Jacki: No, I don’t.

Jenny: But you’ve seen the picture.

Jacki: But I saw the picture, yeah.

Jenny: Yeah, I saw the picture, it was very, very cute.

Jacki: Isn’t it sweet. I think they used it as props dressing on Perpetual Grace, LTD, because I’m his mother in Perpetual Grace, LTD.

Jenny: Oh right. Oh, that’s great. So we’ll have to look out for that in the show.

Jacki: I think so. I hope it’s there.

Jenny: The photo somewhere there of you two.

Jacki: Yeah.

Jenny: Wow. The other thing I love is that sometimes I see a movie and I don’t even know that you’re in it until I’m watching the movie.

Jacki: That’s good isn’t it. I love that. Yeah.

Jenny: Like it happened with The Disaster Artist.

Jacki: Oh right.

Jenny: I had somehow missed the casting announcement, and I was watching the movie and I was like, ‘Whoa, wait a second’ like ‑

Jacki: I love the bit at the end with the credits and we’re both doing the same scene – the cast from The Room and our cast.

Jenny: Oh yeah.

Jacki: And we’re trying to make it exactly the same. We watched and watched it so we could get it right.

Jenny: And you obviously got along well with James Franco, because you did another move with him after that, right?

Jacki: Yeah. Zeroville. Actually, was Zeroville before The Disaster Artist or after? I can’t remember. But I’m dying for Zeroville to come out. I think it will be really interesting. I love James, I think he’s great. He said to me, ‘I want you to do this film, and here’s a DVD of the worst film ever made called The Room.’ And I said, ‘Oh OK.’ So I took it home and I said to my husband, Sean, that, ‘Tonight we’re going to watch the worst film ever made.’ And Sean said, ‘I don’t believe that. I’ve seen some pretty bad films in my day. I can’t believe it’s the worst film ever made.’ Anyway, we watched it and he said, ‘That’s the worst film that’s ever been made.’ It’s pretty bad.

Jenny: Well I guess there’s some fame in making the worst movie ever because he’s quite ‑

Jacki: And it’s become a cult.

Jenny: Yes. And it sounds like you have another juicy role coming up with Lucy Liu, Stage Mother. That sounds like an amazing story.

Jacki: I’m dying for that one. I’m dying for that one to come out. Tom Fitzgerald.

Jenny: Look at this, we can’t even fit in all the movies you’ve got coming out.

Jacki: I know.

Jenny: Well, it’s hard to say, do you have any advice for young actors today, because your journey has not been ‑

Jacki: Not typical.

Jenny: ‑ a typical one, but if you could ‑

Jacki: But I would say to young actors is, one small thing, don’t worry about your appearance so much. Don’t get obsessed with the way you look. I mean even though you told me the story about someone getting sacked because they weren’t handsome enough – who’d want to be a show where they say that. You’ll find that people that obsess about their looks are usually perfectly alright. I mean I spent too much time obsessing about my appearance when I was a young woman, and I look back now and think, ‘You weren’t so bad.’

But also try and keep going. Try and don’t let the disappointments discourage you to the point that you give up. You know most people go for say one or two job interviews every five years. We go for 20 every year. And rejection after rejection can really be dispiriting. But you’ve got to just take it on the chin, pick yourself up, stay cheerful and just keep trying to get better.

You know there was a period when I was a young actor where I kept getting down to the last two, and the other gal would get it. And that can be really disappointing. But that’s the nature of the work. Nobody’s going to make it just like that. Even the best people get disappointed.

Jenny: Yeah. Well, Jacki Weaver, you certainly made it. And you’re such an inspiration. And I’m so lucky that I got to hear you tell your story. Thank you.

Jacki: Oh, thank you.

Jenny: Listening to Jacki I was struck by the fact that there are so many different ways an Aussie can make it in Hollywood. And it’s great to see that at age 72, she’s never been busier. Until next time, that’s all from Aussies in Hollywood.

Aussies in Hollywood was presented by me, Jenny Cooney, and produced in collaboration with PodcastOne Australia. Audio production was by Nick Slater, and executive producer was Jenny Goggin. For more episodes go to podcastone.com.au, download the app, or look me up on iTunes.