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HBO
What about 'Tell Me You Love Me' attracted you?
AW
The writing is what drew me to the project. I'd heard a lot of things about the show, that it was very risqué. I had a script lying around for like three months. I didn't even look at it, and then one day I was just kind of bored enough to read it. And I was like, "God, who wrote this?" The writing was so beautiful and so eloquent and just really economical. It was just something that I thought would be cutting edge... This kind of thing that people don't talk about, how couples kinda drift apart and go in and out of intimacy.
HBO
But the sex scenes scared you off at first?
AW
It had a reputation, and I've never done nudity or anything like that. But, it wasn't gratuitous. When I read it, I just thought, "Eh, this is just part of the story." It's not bad, my part especially. I always say the younger guys have to do all the heavy lifting. But the scenes were integral to telling the story.
HBO
How difficult was it to imbue those small moments, like laying out a patio or shopping for school supplies, with enough emotion to tell the story?
AW
I think whenever you do really simple, fine work, you have to really be locked in, and you have to not be thinking. This is not an English heiress who's dating someone in the 18th century in the drawing room, or a profiler, or a Texan. There is no accent, no clothes; there is nothing to hide behind. You have to be completely immersed in the story, and that's where I think the writing comes in.
HBO
Katie and Dave aren't having sex at the start of the season. How did it feel to be the only couple not shooting a barrage of sex scenes?
AW
Really good. I don't want to do a bunch of sex scenes. If they're part of the story, I have to fulfill the expectations of the job. I agreed to do that. But yeah, man, I don't want it. I mean, I am a middle-aged woman, and I don't really want to run around in front of the camera nude. I've had three kids. I have a hard time getting to the beach – you know what I mean? If I was to be really candid with you, I would say I kinda feel proud about the fact that I get to depict what a normal woman of my age is like, with all its cellulite and stretch marks. There are no filters used on this show. I don't wear makeup. I haven't had a breast augmentation. And I think that's kinda cool.
HBO
Cynthia Mort (the show's creator) described it as an uplifting story about love. But Katie seems like she's in a pretty dark place a lot of the time.
AW
Katie is just sad because Katie's saying goodbye to her life as an individual. It's hard for women, especially in our society where you are defined basically as a corpse if you are not beautiful and young. People are desperately trying to hang on to youth. But with women especially, it's very hard. She has said goodbye to the young, carefree girl, and she said goodbye to the mother having the baby. And she is sort of like, "Well, what's next? Am I not desirable anymore?" It's a journey. It forces her to go inward, and now she has to deal with who she is.
HBO
The word "intimacy" pops up constantly with this show, has all this work changed how you define the word?
AW
I think a lot of people's intimacy issues have to deal with the fact that nothing is a sure thing. And you have to find a way to love around that. I think that's what real intimacy is. And my definition of it has changed over the years. But if I would have to say what it is now it's like, "How do you love and not have it just be something that meets your needs?" Because then you are experiencing real intimacy.
HBO
After being immersed into these characters' personal lives so deeply, do you find yourself dissecting couples on the street?
AW
I've always been a people watcher, you know. When I describe what I am playing, my girlfriends have coughed up a lot of stuff I don't think people would normally cough up. It's sort of like half the population has been left behind because they are not really sexually active. There is no libido killer like having small babies and people falling in your bed all night. Or being vomited on and being like, "Can I just sleep for two hours?" But it's like, if you are not having sex with your mate, there is something wrong, and you've gotta get a divorce. And that's absolutely not true. Don't get me wrong – I think it's a big part of coupledom; it's important to be sexual. But I also think that it's not the be all and end all of the relationship.
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