TV Ate My Wardrobe

In this week’s New Yorker there is an extensive Claire Danes profile which explores her desire to act from an early age, the inherent contrasting elements of the characters she plays and how she got the lead roles on Homeland and as Angela Chase. It’s not surprising for anyone that reads this blog or who has read any of the My So-Called Life discussions over at This Was TV as to how much this show and character mean to me. It came along when I was the same age as Angela and connected in a way that no show had done in the past and this will surpass the time limit on this current spate of ’90s nostalgia.

The casting process for My So-Called Life and how it was kismet that Danes walked into the audition room and blew them all away at the age of 13 is not something I have previously seen discussed. It was down to Danes and Alicia Silverstone and Silverstone was emancipated and so could work long hours, something that Danes couldn’t do. Despite the advantages of Silverstone’s availability they went the other way and instead turned Angela’s parents Patty and Graham into more central figures; a move that increased the storytelling spectrum of the show. Even though I hated Patty when I originally watched the show, now that I am not a teenager there is something very special about the portrayal of this mother/daughter relationship.

One defining aspect of this profile is the repetition of the dichotomy that Danes possesses in her acting as she consistently plays characters with dueling attributes and she can manipulate her acting style for a multi-layered performance. When they talk about why she was chosen over Alicia Silverstone they mention that Silverstone was too pretty and that “You can’t put that face in what’s been written for this girl.” Alternatively with Danes “her face could transform in an instant from beautiful to ordinary.” The relationship between creator Winnie Holzman and Claire Danes developed from this place Richard Kramer (who worked on MSCL) remarks “Winnie wouldn’t be Winnie without Claire. And Claire wouldn’t be Claire without Winnie. There was something mythological about their meeting.”

There’s another aspect of duality when it comes to Claire Danes and Angela Chase as Danes was experiencing the very same teen issues as her character. Quite often someone who is much older plays a teen role (generally this is due to the legal working hours) and so it is rare to find a teen character played by a teen actor – there are exceptions of course such as Aimee Teegarden of Friday Night Lights and Taylor Momsen on Gossip Girl. This allowed Danes to channel her bad experiences through Angela “I remember being so relieved that I had an opportunity to voice my complaints about my time at school so perfectly and so eloquently, with the right amount of rage and humor.”

Homeland returns for season 3 in a few weeks and the “tsunami of emotions” that Danes brings to Carrie Mathison will be back in full force. The article reveals that Homeland creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa had seen Danes in Temple Grandin and were impressed that she “walked the razor’s edge between competence and unbalance.” This was something that their heroine required and the timing was perfect as Danes was suffering a slump in the projects she was being offered (this reiterates the point she made in her recent Vogue interview).

Dealing with personal and professional problems is at the heart of who Carrie is and her interactions with Brody are an extreme version of this. Carrie is constantly being second guessed and while at times she is completely unreliable, she is also incredible at her job. It’s about the marriage of both of these things and there is a reason why Danes has won so many awards as she gives such a believable and heartbreaking portrayal of a character teetering on the edge of oblivion. While Homeland had a dip in form last season, Danes has always been consistently brilliant. There is no holding back when it comes emotional intensity and this can be seen throughout Danes’ career; it’s why she can deliver a variety of striking performances that have the ability to make your soul hurt.

One final contrasting element that you might not expect from someone who picks such intense characters is that Claire Danes loves arts and crafts. This never fails to makes me smile especially when you factor in who her husband is and picture Carrie Mathison and Will Graham creating exotic Easter eggs together.

To read the rest of this extensive profile head here.

Tags: Claire Danes, Homeland, My So-Called Life, New Yorker, Temple Grandin, Winnie Holzman