Edie Falco has a “very strong visceral sense” of what’s next for her, whether it be starring in blockbuster franchises or heartwarming small indies, such as Brendan Walsh’s “I’ll Be Right There.”
Premiering at last year’s Hamptons International Film Festival, the film follows single mother Wanda (Falco) as she grapples with a full plate of a pregnant daughter who is struggling to fund her wedding, a son who can’t decide if he needs rehab or a stint in the army, a chain-smoking mother who thinks she’s dying, and a love life where neither her long-term boyfriend or short-term girlfriend make her heart sing. But let it be known, Wanda wouldn’t have it any other way: “I just live for my family and, you know what? I love it! It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Reuniting with Walsh, who directed several episodes of “Nurse Jackie,” Falco told IndieWire that she “poached him” to direct this after getting the script. “The script was sent to me,” she said during a recent interview. “I feel lucky in that sometimes scripts get to me from places I don’t expect. I think that might be what happened with this. I read it and I thought, this is really lovely and I would love to have it. You know, a lot of times scripts come to me before anything is actually happening with them. I think they even said, ‘Do you know someone who might direct it?’”
Though in this business there are a lot of things that are out of her control, Falco is sure to express her interest in something no matter how it may work out. “I’ll read something and really want to do it, but it’s not set up and then it falls apart and then the director drops out and then someone else comes in, you know, whatever. I know better than to get too attached to anything,” she said. Sometimes, she does gets lucky. “I’ve been blessed that I have been able to pop all over the place wherever work is being done that interests me,” she added.
While the specificity of Falco’s role in “I’ll Be Right There” is unique to the role, the sentiments and musings it inspires are universal. Sometimes your daily plate can feel so full that you feel like you’re drowning. Like Wanda, it’s important to stay happily grounded, reminding yourself that this is the life you’ve chosen and you wouldn’t have it any other way. Falco tells me that that sort of sentiment is the exact messaging she hopes audiences take away from this film.
“If you learn to listen to your insides over the years, they will never steer you wrong,” she said. “You’ve got to learn to recognize what healthy impulses are, because I think a lot of us have struggled with unhealthy ones, but you start to recognize the difference between the two. It may seem like you don’t quite know what the hell you’re doing, but you keep getting this impulse, and if what you’re getting is that you don’t necessarily want to change the world, you just want to kind of be there for your kids, [for example], then that’s what you should be doing. I don’t think that in a world as fast-moving as ours, as fast-paced, it feels like you should want something bigger or more grandiose than that. Frankly, I think to want to be with the people you love is probably what it comes down to.”
As far as a franchise return, Falco will be seen in “Avatar: Fire and Ash” again as her character General Frances Ardmore next year. I asked her whether she has any interest in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I have two kids who have dabbled in watching it. I think it would be great fun. I could play a badass, I would enjoy that very much,” Falco said. “[But] it’s not a world in which I am well-versed in.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that “Nurse Jackie” would be returning for a sequel series at Amazon. Is it possible we’ll see another reunion between her and Walsh? Falco says that she “would love it if Brendan was available to direct some” of those episodes. When asked if the ball is still actively in motion for the series, she told us, “No, not really. I mean, right now, a lot of phone calls and Zooms with people. Everyone’s excited but, like, you know, they give me a script and I do my job. What goes on before then, I completely don’t understand, and that’s what’s going on right now.”
Falco recently returned to the stage this August in Marin Ireland‘s “Pre-Existing Condition,” directed by Maria Dizzia. “I’m still floating to be honest with you, to do a play in a little space in the East Village,” she said. “It’s how so many of us started and everyone assumes that we want to get away from that and get into the real world. Where the real world happens is in these little spaces with intimate audiences.”
“I’m a huge fan of Marin Ireland, who wrote the play, and I got to know her a little bit through this process,” she continued. “I loved it, loved it, loved it. I can’t say enough good things about it.”
During the performance, Falco actually holds the script in her hand the entire time. “It was a bit of a give and take there with wanting to make sure I’m looking at the script and actually consulting it and at the same time, feeling present in the scene,” she said. “But, you know, why not challenge myself? I’ve been lucky enough to do so many things, so this was such a delightful way of trying something new.”
Though no release date has been announced yet, Falco will be seen alongside IndieWire favorites Brian Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and Parker Posey in Max’s “The Parenting.” “It’s a horror film, but it’s also comedy,” she teased. “It was a very strange genre, but there are a lot of great people in it. I so enjoyed working on that and we still have a text chain that we’re still in touch with each other. We laughed our heads off making that movie.” With a laugh, Falco added, “It feels like about 45 years ago [we made that].”
A Brainstorm Media film, “I’ll Be Right There” opens in theaters on Tuesday, September 6.
