Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Alexandra Daddario

Episode Date: January 8, 2023

Alexandra Daddario's career has taken her from soap operas, to blockbusters, to dramatic performances that have made her one of Hollywood's brightest young stars. Her latest role comes in a series based on the supernatural novels of the legendary Anne Rice. Daddario and Willie Geist got together in her native New York for a Sunday Sitdown. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Got a great one for you this week with Alexandra Didario. You might know her most recently from season one of the HBO sensation, The White Lotus, where she played a newlywed on an nightmare honeymoon in Hawaii. Before that, though, fans really got to know her as an actress in the Percy Jackson movies. Then she starred in some big budget stuff, San Andreas, Texas Chainsaw. She was in the Baywatch movie with Zach Efron,

but she's also proven she can do heavier work, not just the popcorn stuff. White Lotus is the prime example, but she also was in True Detective. She played a great part in American Horror Story as well. She's really good actress and now starring in an AMC series called Mayfair Witches based on the Anne Rice novels, where she plays a doctor, a neurosurgeon, who learned she is the heiress to a dynasty of powerful witches. Alexandra grew up in New York City. Her parents were prominent attorneys, but she knew it about the age of 10.

She wanted to be an actress and kind of chipped away at it, did commercials, was on all my children, the soap opera, and has steadily built her career. Really smart, really fun to talk to. I think you'll enjoy a conversation right now with Alexander Dodario on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Thanks for doing this, Alex. Nice to meet you. You too. Thanks for having me. Is it nice as a native New Yorker to be back in your home city? You've sort of become a Californian, right?

But now you're here back home. It's getting a little cold. You're getting to feel seasons again. You like being back? I love it. I love it. I move to California like, oh my gosh, this is this amazing dream where I'm going out and I'm going to make it as an actor. make it as an actress, and then I'll move back to New York, and I'll have a family there, and I'm never going to live in L.A. I'm a New Yorker, and I sort of, I'm in L.A. now. I don't think

I'm moving back here, but I love coming back home, and I love New York. I like the seasons and the weather, and I feel really good about hopping back and forth more now. Maybe you don't have to choose. You get a little of both, right? You get the best of both worlds. It's a good way to do it. Well, I want to ask more about. growing up here but I want to start by asking about Mayfair witches which is amazing. I told you I watched some of it last night the opening episode sets the stage for what we're going to see here for the rest of the season. It's an Anne Rice novel that all this is based on, a series of them actually. Did you know anything about these stories when you

were handed the script or pitched the idea? I didn't actually. I hadn't read Anne Rice growing up so I started reading the book while we were shooting. I read the script But I do feel like reading the book helps you figure out deeper aspects to the character that maybe aren't on the page. And I was reading the book and, you know, I was like, this is crazy. And I think Anne Rice had this incredible imagination and she would delve into sort of the darker aspects of human nature in this very entertaining way. I mean, interview with a vampire does the same thing, and it's dealing with all the things that we deal with, but in this beautiful fantasy that just makes it insanely intense, and I think it makes for great TV. I imagine just hearing the name Anne Rice, before you know anything about it, you sort of perk up and go,

this could be fun, this could be good, just because of the worlds she creates. Oh, absolutely. I mean, Anne Rice is, she's an incredible writer. I learned a lot about her. I read a lot about her and I read a lot of her interviews. I was really interested in who she was as a person because what she writes about is, I mean, she had a whole series of romantic novels.

So she really, she would, but she would dive into some really complicated topics. and I was curious why she was interested in those topics. And she came from a very religious background. She lost a daughter at a young age, and she had a son. She's extremely close to her son, and she was sort of dealing with her relationship with the church in relation to some things in her life. And she put that all into her novels with vampires and witches,

and she made for a very sort of complex story in the Mayfair witches that also is incredibly entertaining. We don't want to give away too much because we want everybody to watch the series, but can you kind of set the stage for who your character Rowan is and where we're headed with all this? So Rowan is a surgeon, brain surgeon. virgin, and she basically finds out that she's related to a family of witches. And all these crazy things start happening, and then she goes and meets her family.

And what really is entertaining about it is it's a dysfunctional family, but everyone has these powers and jealousy and anger and all this crazy stuff, and Rowan is thrown into this, this wild world. It goes out saying that it's eerie because Anne Rice wrote the books. Do you like doing those kind of supernatural horror, I guess you could call it some combination of those two? Do you like doing those kind of series? I do. You know, my career, I've never expected to do the kinds of things that I've been able to do.

And I've been able to do a lot of really off-the-wall things and a lot of green screen. and I just thought I'd be doing theater in New York my whole life. So fantasy and being able to do work with visual effects and these fantasy stories that really there's a groundedness to them, but then there's sometimes not, and that really makes it fun, and you can go crazy with the characters and really, really push it. Do you think, are you a strategic thinker about projects

when they come through like, okay, I just did the White Lotus, people know me from that, let's swing the pendulum back a little bit, or do you just take the best job that comes up in the moment? I've heard it both ways from actors who are like, no, I just want to work

with a good director. Some people are like, no, I just did an action. Let's try something else right now. I think that for so long in my career, I was like, I just need to work. So if there's something entertaining about this to me, either the character or the director, or maybe another actor or maybe where it's shooting,

like I would go do a movie just based on the location it was in because I just said, okay, I just need to keep working. As long as I keep working, then I'm still a working actress and I'm still in the game, then I'm still doing it. And I've had highs and lows to my career, and White Lotus was obviously a great high, and I was able to sort of have more opportunity and have more choice.

But there was still part of my... brain from years and years of doing this, like just work. So there was a moment where I really sat with myself and I said, I'm going to do something that really feels like something that I love. I'm just going to go with my instincts. And I'm going to say no to the things that don't feel that way, which is really hard for me to say no. And there's a power in no. And I really, I in general have difficulty saying no in my personal life. And with what? because you know you want to work. And Mayfair witches came along and I had that feeling about it.

Between the Anne Rice, my interest in her as a person, my interest in why she wrote the stories that she wrote, and everyone involved in the show. It also shot in New Orleans and I'm obsessed with New Orleans, so that was another benefit, but I just went with my gut on that. Anne Rice, you knew it had to be in New Orleans, which, as you say, is a nice advantage. So what is a shoot?

like that. I'm always curious, it's supernatural, there's a little bit of horror, people walking around at amazing prosthetics and makeup and all that. Like, there's definitely a vibe to the show. What are those sets like exactly? They were, we shot in some of the old houses in New Orleans, which are, which are beautiful. And then, you know, they built, they built sets that were these old, old New Orleans style houses. So I've been on a lot of sound stages and seen a lot of big sets. And this set had, it captured perfectly the feeling of New Orleans, the creepiness of the books and the show. And yeah, it was just massive. They were massive, massive sort of New Orleans style rooms. you'd go lay in one of the rooms on one of your breaks and feel like you were in a house in New Orleans.

New Orleans has a mysticism to it anyway, so it's such a good setting, setting for all that. It's really, people are going to love the show. It's fun. It's obviously, it's dark and scary and all those things, but it's really smart. It's really fun. It is. Really fun. And a lot of the actors, everyone is so talented, and they knew exactly what to do to bring humor and fun into the fantasy and into all the metaphors. fours and into everything that Anne Rice was trying to say. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Alexandra Didario right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Alexandra DeDario. I'm so curious going back to your New York roots about how you became an actress,

because you come from a family of prominent lawyers, both of your parents here in New York City. You grew up here. but it seems to me just reading everything I could about you, you knew at a pretty young age that performance was it for you. You probably weren't going to be an attorney, even if your parents maybe were suggesting it. Where did that idea come from for you? I think it was really just being in New York.

I mean, New York gives you so much opportunity to do different things. It has everything. There was a girl in school who wanted to go to an acting class, but I think her mom called my mom and said, you know, this girl is, she's a little shy. She doesn't want to go alone. She wants to go with one of her friends. So I went along with her.

And I remember in one of the classes, we did this exercise where we had to think of something sad and cry. As a kid. As a kid. Yeah, I was probably 10 or 11. And I, you know, had no idea how to do that. Cry in front of people or come up. with something. And then my friend, the girl who was too scared to go, was crying about, she had tried to teach her hamster to swim. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, no. Yes. It didn't end well. Oh, no. And she broke down.

I shouldn't laugh. I know, no, it's not funny. But she broke down crying and I will never forget. I was like, oh my goodness, this is, you can take a moment from your real life something that is, even at a young age, I realized that there was something therapeutic, I think, in that. Like, there was something really interesting about that to me, diving into putting your real experiences on camera or experiencing them in front of people and using them to tell a story. And so I got really into it. And I was also like a cute little kid. It was before my awkward face.

So then there were like agents that came to the acting class and they wanted me to do commercials. So I signed with an agency and I went and did commercials sort of as an extracurricular activity. And so began your hand modeling career in Asia for Barbie. That's right. That was the big moment, wasn't it? Yes, that's the story. I remember, I don't know why I did that. I wanted, I was hired as the hand model because I was, they thought I was too old to be the, I think I was,

I was maybe big for 11 or something. Already aging out of parts at 12. I know. I mean, come on. But I was trying so hard to get my face in the shot. Like I thought that if, and I remember this nice man coming over. And, you know, when you're a kid, everyone's so nice to you. As an adult, you know, people are like, stop doing that.

Right. As a kid, you know, are like, are you comfortable in that position? Like, they knew what I was doing. And I had a nanny at the time who I believe ended up doing. finishing the hand modeling job for me, they sent me home. Oh, is that right? Yes. So my, my opair, I think, got the job over me.

I ended up getting fired. You got fired from your first game. Well, I didn't know I was fired, but I was. They politely asked you to leave. They said, it's late. Go to bed. That's a very nice way of getting canned from a job. So as this progresses, you do more commercials and you're kind of getting more serious about it.

What is your family saying? because this is new in your family, I take it, right? It's not your siblings later became actors as well, but were they supportive of it, or do they think maybe this is a phase for you? You know, people ask me that all the time. I don't think that they had, it wasn't, they weren't not supportive.

I think they were supportive of all my extracurricular activities. I was ice skating and playing sports and all kinds of stuff. You know, and my parents worked a lot. and there were three of us, so I think they were glad that I was happy doing this extracurricular activity. They were very supportive in that way. And then as I got older, it started to affect my schooling, which I think was confusing. Right. But I wouldn't say that they were, you know, they certainly weren't stage parents.

But there was actually, I have to say, say everything that I did in this business I did it was my own decision I was never led into it I was never encouraged one way or the other I really I am really glad that um because I had to make hard decisions about school and um it was tough but it just showed me that I really really wanted to do this because I was making decisions that weren't typical and so when then does it become this is what I'm doing. Like this can actually be a career. It's a way I can make money and pay a rent.

And when did you decide I'm all in on this? Let's do it. Well, when I was 16, I booked a soap opera. All my children. All my children. And then they signed me to, it's funny because they hadn't signed me to a contract. I think it was like five episodes or something. But even though it was only five episodes, I was like, somehow I knew.

I was like, I need to leave rarely. I need to leave my school. I'm going to be working all the time, which is crazy now in retrospect because there was no way for me to know that. But then they did sign me to a contract that I ended up getting let go up after a year, but I was on it for a year.

So I switched schools, and I was like, oh my gosh, I can make money and I can actually do this. Certainly between getting fired from the soap at 17 and booking my first big movie at 22, there were many tears and, you know, I'm quitting, I can't do this. Because, you know, I would work in between. I definitely did some stuff and lots of Law & Order and horror films and little parts and stuff.

But I was, it was scary. I didn't know if it was going to work out. So was it all the way until Percy Jackson, when you feel like I've made it? I'm headlining a big budget movie. I think I can settle down a little bit now? Yeah, well, the second I booked that movie, I was like, going to, well, of course. I was like, I'm going to L.A., and this is done, and I was ready.

That was when I really knew there was no turning back, and I wasn't going to try to go back to college again. I kept trying to go back and forth and leaving college and going back. But with Percy Jackson, I was like, great, I'm going to use this to, to go make it in L.A. And you did? I guess so. What did that movie mean to you?

What did it do for you? How did it change your life? Oh, I'm so grateful to everyone. I hope that the producers and the director, Chris Columbus, know how grateful I am to them because I know they fought for me and they saw something in me and they plucked me out of obscurity.

And I even think that Chris said, you know, something like he was like, There's this crappy little tape, and it wasn't filmed well, but your eyes off the screen, and they called me in for a screen test based off of my tape and gave me the job. And yeah, it completely changed my life. The movie wasn't, it was a big movie, but it wasn't, it wasn't like I was an overnight star, but for me, it made an incredible difference in my career and the opportunities. I had just monumental.

So I'm so grateful to them. And they were so kind to me. And I don't even think I was that great of an actress. And I was quite nervous. I get quite nervous. I get staged for it sometimes still. Do you really? Sure, yeah.

But back then, back then it was, you know, it was all so big. And I, you know, I got to meet all these really incredible people. when I was a kid, and they were so nice to me. They were wonderful, so I'm very, very grateful. I'm thinking as you're talking, we had Daniel Radcliffe on the show two weeks ago. Chris Columbus saw him on the BBC and said, we're starting this movie about these books, Harry Potter. And like the same thing, obviously changed his life, too.

Chris is a good man. Good man. Yeah, he's really great. Very funny. And an eye for talent, clearly, clearly. I like to think so. Stick around for more of my conversation with. Alexandra Didario right after a quick break.

Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Alexandra DeDario. You know, you do a bunch of other big budget stuff. You're San Andreas, Texas Chainsaw, Baywatch, which must have been a blast to sort of resurrect. I don't know if you might not be old enough to have watched it in its original run, but to sort of resurrect that, was that a bunch of fun to do that as well? Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And Baywatch didn't work.

I mean, that's not a secret. It didn't really work. It was still made a little money, I think, and did. But it was still, again, huge for me. Because I was booking jobs. That was one experience where I booked that job. And I think because it was Dwayne and Zach Ephron and the name Baywatch, I was booking jobs off of just booking that job before we even came out,

which usually everyone in Hollywood waits to see how something does. but it made a it made a big difference for me and yeah it was a blast so back to that career career calculus now you've done those big budget movies you've done all that stuff what are you thinking post Baywatch about like do I need to do something darker or something heavier something more serious or are you still in that mode of like just give me what you got well after Baywatch I said well Baywatch didn't really work I don't know how easy it is going to be to get a studio film now, which I was correct about.

You know, it wasn't awful, but it just was a little segue that you didn't, you know. So I started trying to do very different things, yeah. And I was interested in just trying, having a different experience. you know, it was part of my learning curve, too, about what works. And because there's all these different business models for making film and television and who's in charge. And so I learned a lot about the studio system versus independent filmmaking and how to get financing. And there would be films I started to do that we were getting financing as we were going along some of the time. you just could tell something was going on that I had never really experienced starting my career doing all of these studio films.

And I always just tried to focus on the art and on acting and on, you know, that aspect of it. But I also was, you know, picking up on the business side of it too. Yeah, in some ways, can to the extent Baywatch didn't work can be a blessing in some way where it's sort of like you recalibrate. You ask yourself what you want out of a project, what you want out of your work, who you want to work with, and all those things. And that did happen for you, which brought you later, but ultimately to White Lotus, which was such a great show. And I remember watching the first episode and being like, I don't think I like any of these people, but I can't stop watching it. We ultimately got to like you because we understood what you were going through. That was a pandemic show for you.

So where were you, what was your headspace when that idea came to you, when that show was pitched to you? Shooting Hawaii doesn't hurt, I imagine. But what else did you think when you heard about it? Well, Mike White. I also could tell how, you know, agents, they're not supposed to, they can give you kind of guidance, but they're not really supposed to tell you what to do. But I could tell, you know, there was no hesitation in their voice. They were like, we're doing everything possible to get you this job.

So they were, they were, it was a very, very good job, yeah. And especially being in Hawaii. And sure, you have no idea what something's going to do. And at that point, I was having issues in my career with what do I want to do next and my limited opportunities as far as what I wanted to do and what was actually coming in and the auditions I was able to get. And I, you know, then the pandemic hit. And I wasn't thinking so much about career strategy at the time.

I was just like, that sounds great. Good people. It's Hawaii. It'll be great. And then it ended up being sort of everything I had been looking for for a while. Why do you think, Alex, it's so registered with people. It became such a thing. And did you see it last night?

Oh, my God. Can't believe what. happened. There was something about every one of those characters was compelling, I think, but man, it was such a talker. People were so into that show. What do you think it was about it? Well,

I mean, it was, people said it, I mean, it put them at, it didn't put you at ease. It was a very uneasy show, but you can't, you're, and I think it was really weird. And one of the things that I love about, that I've always been drawn to the really strange and weird, I think that

human nature, I think human being are really, really weird and very strange and angry and jealous and into themselves, but also kind and also loving. Like we're such a combination of all these things, and a lot of us are very strange. And being alive is very odd. And this show wasn't as weird as some of the stuff. But there was a sense of not, it wasn't an easy show to watch, but you also loved watching it.

And combining the humor with the weird and with this social commentary, I think it, you know, you couldn't keep your eyes off of it. And it had great music and the actors were all great. And Mike really knows how to capture a moment. What did you like about your character? Who, as I said, we became close with as viewers. We sympathized whether we felt what she was going through. What did you like about her? I really saw in that character someone who she was sort of helped.

And I sort of, I think I was able to draw a little bit from myself and some aspects of trying to always make everything. It's going to be okay and getting carried away with things. And also I think there was a fantasy. Her character, she's sort of innocent in a way. She had an idea of how things were going to be. And I think we can, I can do that sometimes. And I think that's caused me some success and caused me some failure. I mean, the fantasy of things are what caused me to, you know, empty out my bank account and move to L.A. at 22 with no college degree and say, I'm going to go make it, or 23.

And so it can be beneficial, but it can also be detrimental, as we see in the White Lotus. I think she has a fantasy of how things are going to be with this man and in her life. And she's realizing as she's going along that that's just not, it's not what she can. thought it was going to be. And for some reason on this honeymoon is when it really all comes to a head. And I was really fascinated by that idea of our fantasy and then how we've sort of tricked ourselves into going along with something that's not really good for us. And it's crushing to watch because she's a week into her marriage and she realizes, oh my gosh, this is what it's going to be the rest of my life. And she makes her decision to stay because it's too hard to think of the

alternative. She's still having a fantasy, even though she knows in her heart, she's still at the end holding on to this idea that it's all going to be okay and she can change it. And there's something so heartbreaking to that and relatable for me. Have you watched any of the new season? You know, someone asked me this the other day and I'm the absolute worst. I haven't watched anything. I've been so busy and traveling so much. I haven't been able to sit down and watch what I should be watching, but I'm going to binge it. is pretty good. I think I might still take Hawaii, but it's close. You did well. You also had some great news over the pandemic and that you met and married your husband. Congratulations.

Yes. I mean, what's that been like for you? Is it? Thank you. It's been great. He's a wonderful man and, you know, I go through these periods of dating and, but I've been, but I've been, always wanted to be I've always wanted to be a mom and be married. I think from when I was young. I've never been scared of monogamy or settling down or anything like that. And it just clicked with Andrew. He's like he's just a he's just a really wonderful person and very funny and we also just it just clicks. So another unexpected thing to come out of the pandemic. And you guys bumped into each other right on the streets, right out here somewhere.

That's right. Or some version of that. We were talking earlier. I mean, I told Vogue that, you know, and you called me out. He said, that sounds like a Nora Ephron movie. And again, it's a little, I did add a little romantic twist to our meaning, but we did actually have our first date right next door at the Greenwich Hotel and totally locked down for COVID. I think we were the only people, maybe one other person was staying in the hotel and we had the whole, right by the fireplace, the whole downstairs to ourselves.

And then on our second date, we did the same thing at the hotel because there was nowhere to go. And he'd come into town and stay there. And I brought my dog and the dog wandered into the kitchen. and the people working in the kitchen just sort of were like, oh, hey, here's your dog. We just took over the Greenwich Hotel. So it really is a Norafron movie, the dog wandering in the kitchen. Well, that did happen, yes. Okay, who did that?

That part did it. Well, congratulations, and congratulations on Mayfair. It's really fun. Thank you. It's great to talk to you. Thank you so much. Thanks. My big thanks to Alexandra for a great conversation.

You can check out Mayfair Witches on AMC. And my thanks is always. to all of you for tuning in again this week. If you want to hear more of these conversations with my guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget, of course, to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.