TONIGHT

• Home
• Video
• Podcasts/RSS 
• Archives
• Young Voices
• About the Show
• Tell Tavis
• Features
• Mobile

RELATED LINKS

• Article on Ms. Davis
• Proof
• Ms. Davis' bio

E-mail a friend

Tavis: So if you happen to catch a couple of movies this fall, there is a really good chance that Hope Davis will be in one of them. The talented actress has any number of films coming out between now and Thanksgiving. The 'Weather Man,' with Nicolas Cage, opens at the end of October. 'The Matador,' with Pierce Brosnan, hits theaters in November. Not bad company here.

Hope Davis: Yeah.

Tavis: But first up is 'Proof,' where she stars alongside Gwyneth Paltrow. Did I say not bad company here? Hope, nice to have you here.

Davis: Thank you very much.

Tavis: Are you about to be overexposed?

Davis: I don't know. I hear that happens for people. I don't think so. I don't think so. You know, they're supporting parts in the movies. I - it's just three, it's not six or seven, which people have been doing...

Tavis: Just three? (laughs)

Davis: Yeah. Just three.

Tavis: There are also some folk in this town who are looking for that one part.

Davis: Oh, my God, well, that's, yeah, that's me sometimes also. I understand.

Tavis: Yeah. Speaking of that, I read something somewhere, and I, you know, I always have to preface this 'cause I don't know that you actually said this, but it was attributed to you. You can tell me if you said it or not. But I thought it was fascinating. In an interview somewhere, you said that you didn't think that just because you are now 40 that you were being pushed aside. I'm paraphrasing your comment. That just because you turn 40 these days in Hollywood doesn't necessarily mean you're being aside. I found that fascinating, because I've talked to so many people who feel the exact opposite of that in this business, that this business isn't kind and fair to women, but I think that you feel a little bit differently.

Davis: Some days I feel that way, and some days I feel like I might be, I don't know, you know - it depends on what type of career you have. I generally play a lot of - a big range of kind of character parts, and, you know, it hasn't - dried up yet, but you never know when the last - I may have done my last job, I just don't know that yet.

Tavis: (laughs) If you did, you're going out with a bang.

Davis: Okay. I don't know what I'll tell my kids, but, you know.

Tavis: Going out with a major bang. Let me just walk through these, and so, this is - like the previews at the movies. So you'll get a chance to be the soundtrack here, what these movies are about.

Davis: Right, okay.

Tavis: So first of all, 'Proof' with Gwyneth Paltrow. What's the storyline?

Davis: And, Jake Gyllenhaal's in it, too, and Anthony Hopkins, so it's a really nice group of people.

Tavis: Great cast.

Davis: It was a play in New York. It's basically about two sisters, you just saw the clip of the two sisters, they've lost their father. Tony Hopkins plays the mad genius mathematician father. And it's basically about the girls, Gwyneth Paltrow in particular, wondering if she's gonna follow in his footsteps, in his genius footsteps, and is she gonna end up going mad like her father?

It's basically about, what is it that we inherit from our parents? What is, you know, what good traits and what horrible traits do all of us spend a lot of time trying to avoid as we, you know, turn into adults and grow up? And then there's a love story in there between Jake and Gwyneth, and that kind of thing.

Tavis: I have to ask, having never met your parents, but I have to ask 'cause you set me up so beautifully and so brilliantly for this.

Davis: Oh, my gosh.

Tavis: And I don't know if your parents are watching now, but...

Davis: Well, my mother loves PBS, so I gotta watch what I say.

Tavis: So your mom's probably watching right now. Hi, Mom. So, what did - you get from your parents that you're glad you got, now that you are a parent, and what did you get from your parents that you could have left.

Davis: Oh, jeez, that's - is there a couch here that I can lie down on and really start thinking about this?

Tavis: (laughs) I suspect when you get to be a parent you start seeing - you start seeing your parents in yourself, I'm told, a lot of times.

Davis: You do. You do. You know? I - tried - my mother was really great at some things. She's a librarian. She was a great storyteller, and we read a lot of books in my house, and, you know, listened to a lot of musicals and danced around and told stories.

Tavis: So she gave you culture.

Davis: Oh, absolutely. And dragged us to every museum in New York City. I grew up in New Jersey, and every Sunday my mother would drag us, whether we wanted to go or not, after church we'd go right into New York to go to a museum, do something cultural, see a, you know, a little play. And now I'm dragging my little ones around. Well, you know, it's good for them to be exposed to all this stuff.

So there's that kind of stuff, which is great. She did a lot of vacuuming, my mom, and a lot of dishes, and there I find myself standing in front of the sink at the end of the - telling my kids, you know, just a minute, just a minute, you know. So there's that kind of thing. But somebody's gotta do that stuff.

Tavis: Yeah, well.

Davis: My father is another interesting character, and, you know - we don't want to go there.

Tavis: We don't want to go there?

Davis: No.

Tavis: Well, we won't go there, then. Let's go, switch reels.

Davis: Okay.

Tavis: We will go to these two other films that you have coming out. The Nicolas Cage flick.

Davis: Yeah, 'The Weather Man.'

Tavis: 'The Weather Man,' yeah. What's this about?

Davis: This is a great movie. This is a really interesting story. It's a story about a local celebrity and what that's like. Nicolas Cage plays a weather man, a local weather man in Chicago. And the thing about being the weather man is everybody knows you, everybody knows your face, but nobody really shows you that much respect.

Tavis: Yeah. (laughs)

Davis: You know, and so it's kind of about what it's like to live, you know, everybody thinks they want to be on TV, and they want to be a celebrity, but what is it really about when everybody knows who you are, but, you know, doesn't think all that highly of you? And I play his ex-wife. He's messed up his marriage; his teenage kids are a mess. His father doesn't respect him. Everybody's just really down on him.

Tavis: I - guess it depends how you define respect. I mean, I get a lot of respect being on PBS, but I'm sure I don't make what Al Roker makes. So, I guess it depends on how you define respect.

Davis: Well, this is the thing is that, yeah, he makes a really nice salary in this movie, but people throw food at him, and, you know, stuff like that.

Tavis: That doesn't happen to me, so, at least not yet. So I guess I shouldn't complain.

Davis: So, yeah, exactly.

Tavis: I won't complain, then. So the Pierce Brosnan flick.

Davis: Yeah. This is a whole other, this is basically, this is a great - this is a great idea. It's basically, I think he's playing James Bond gone to seed type of character. The James Bond who's been taken off the high rent jobs and is now, you know, like, shuffling' around Mexico City knocking off this, that, and the other guy. And I play part of a suburban couple that kind of gets wound up into one of his hits. Yeah. Very funny and crazy movie.

Tavis: Well, you mentioned earlier today that you're playing, you know, you're doing supporting roles in these films. How do you go about choosing what you want to do? I suspect one of the ways - to not necessarily be overexposed is to methodically, to methodically and strategically go about picking roles where you are playing the right kinds of characters, supporting the right kinds of people, but it doesn't lead to overexposure.

Davis: Right. But that's assuming that you have a big bunch of choices sitting on your desk, scripts you're picking from, and it's never that way. You know, usually it's whatever comes along. Now I'm doing these kind of parts now, this is what's coming to me, and this is what's really fitting into my life. 'Cause I have two very little children.

And you know, Gwyneth Paltrow was talking about this the other day when we were doing stuff for 'Proof.' She said - how can she go away now for three months and work every day? You can't when you have little tiny kids. It's really hard. So this is working really well for me right now.

Tavis: How do you balance that? How do you manage that?

Davis: It's really tricky. You know, you get one kid asleep, you run out the door, you try to - and, you know, you - it's tricky, but, you know, it's a good problem to have. I have a really lovely, healthy family, and once in a while I have a job to go do. So I'm thankful.

Tavis: You mentioned earlier that you grew up in New Jersey. Did I read somewhere that you and Mira Sorvino...

Davis: Yes.

Tavis: Yeah. Tell me about this. You guys grew up across the street from each other?

Davis: We did, yeah. Mira, even though she was a little younger than me, she was kind of a great ringleader, and she convinced me to write and act in these plays, these, poor neighborhood, we dragged everybody in the neighborhood to sit and watch us do these plays. But that was, yeah, that's how I kind of actually first caught the bug, was in the backyard at Mira's house.

Tavis: Yeah. When did you know that you wanted to do this for a living, though? I mean, it's one thing as a kid - I was doing plays in school, and I...

Davis: Yeah, everybody's hopping around the living room.

Tavis: Yeah, but I figured out that wasn't what I was supposed to be doing. I mean, somehow I found myself on television, but I knew it wouldn't be as an actor. Somehow, though, you, in fact, end up being a real thespian here.

Davis: Yeah. I didn't, you know, you never know. I think in college I really got the bug, but I was so nervous, 'cause, you know, you take these classes and they say - you know, there's 40 kids sitting there and they say one of you is gonna work, and you think, well, it'll never be me. I just, I thought I would give it a shot, you know? I didn't, I really never expected to work. I feel very lucky that I'm still here.

Tavis: Yeah. Speaking of college, so you, how did it feel to go to the same school that your idol, I'm told, Meryl Streep went to school?

Davis: Well, you know...

Tavis: Attended.

Davis: Yeah. It was great. I mean...

Tavis: You went to Vassar

Davis: I went to Vassar College, yeah.

Tavis: That means you're really smart.

Davis: I used to be.

Tavis: Yeah. (laughs) And - what - happened?

Davis: My children have done me in. I don't think I'm gonna recover.

Tavis: So are you suggesting to me that kids make you less smart?

Davis: I don't know whether it's the books that I'm reading them, they're little. They're three and eight months. But I think the sleep deprivation's part of it, but I've been talking with other mothers, and they're telling me that it doesn't come back. So, but I'm happy.

Tavis: Once it's gone, it's...

Davis: Stupid and happy, yeah.

Tavis: But it's worth it, though?

Davis: I guess, yeah, yeah. For the kids, yeah. No, it's worth it. I mean, I'm more relaxed than I ever was. I'm just a little, it's a little dim up there right now.

Tavis: That sounds oxymoronic, but if it works, stupid and happy, then I'm glad you're stupid and happy.

Davis: Thank you.

Tavis: Nice to have you on the program.

Davis: My pleasure.

Tavis: Anything you go see - this fall, you're gonna see Hope somewhere in it, I'm sure. Nice to have you on the program.

Davis: Thanks very much.

Tavis: That's our show for tonight. You can catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. We will talk on the radio, I'm sure, at some point this weekend. And I will see you back here on PBS. Until then, good night from Los Angeles. As always, thanks for watching, and keep the faith.