'Severance' star Patricia Arquette chats with THR at the 2025 Emmys red carpet and about how 'Medium' had an impact on television and got a lovely crash from 'The Pitt' star and Emmy winner Katherine LaNasa.
00:00I mean, first of all, by the way, you're an award show veteran at this point.
00:08Do you need a little sweet something to get you through the day?
00:12Well, this is a long day.
00:14They don't feed you in this one.
00:15It's not like a sit-down dinner.
00:17So that's why I was begging for candy right here.
00:21Do you have a little secret stash, something in your bag?
00:25You see some nuts in there?
00:27I do.
00:27But it wasn't my idea.
00:30My manager was like, put these nuts in your bag.
00:33Patricia, congratulations.
00:35When I talked to you for the SAG panel, it was 20 years ago, 25 years ago, or 20 years ago, 25 years ago for Medium.
00:44And she said such amazing things about how your character in Medium really transformed television.
00:51Tell me about that moment and what you remember about that night being here.
00:54Well, first of all, I want to say to you, thank you for putting on that panel.
00:58It was so humbling to be a part of it.
01:01And I loved everything everyone had to say.
01:03She's incredible.
01:04And I'm so grateful to be even, you know, nominated in her same category and all of these actresses, honestly.
01:14I was lucky to be a part of Medium.
01:17I think Glenn Gordon-Karen was an amazing writer and Jake Weber and the kids that were on the show and just to have that complicated family.
01:27Look at this gorgeous.
01:29You look beautiful.
01:30You're so beautiful.
01:31Oh, my God.
01:32I'm so excited for you.
01:33I'm excited for you.
01:34Look at this.
01:35Look at her.
01:35We were.
01:36I moderated that.
01:37Oh, yes.
01:38That was so cool.
01:39Oh, my God.
01:40And I was like, you know, this was the moment of, like, you mentioned such nice things about Medium and how that really changed.
01:44Oh, yeah.
01:45Medium.
01:46It changed everything.
01:47I mean, nobody was doing the kind of work you were doing on network television, just being so raw and real and so unapologetically fully female in it.
01:56And I just, it really, I think you gave a lot of us a lot more room to be that way.
02:01Oh, thanks, honey.
02:02I mean, you changed things for people.
02:03And I don't think I told you, but I have friends who are, like, ICU nurses and all of that.
02:08And they're just like, that's real.
02:10That show is right on.
02:11They are nailing it.
02:13Like, yeah.
02:14Well, that was the basis.
02:15I won't hog your interview.
02:16But this is the bar right here.
02:19This is the bar.
02:20To even be in the category, I already won.
02:22I think it's your night.
02:22Yes, let's go.
02:23Okay.
02:25That was so special because there is something really naturalistic about what you were able to do then.
02:29But let's talk about severance because it really captured the zeitgeist in such a special way.
02:34What is the thing, though, that you would like to sever about your work life that you would like to forget?
02:38And what's the one thing that you would like to live in longer in acting or Hollywood?
02:43That's interesting.
02:43I mean, it's really hard to, as an actor, I've had a really, a lot of great fortune.
02:52But it's hard as an actor, the rejection.
02:54So I would think in a larger scale, I mean, there's even projects I really want to do that I don't end up getting, you know.
03:02I'm not immune from that, so it's hard to kind of walk away from that knowing, like, I had great ideas for that part.
03:09I knew that was going to be really interesting to play.
03:12And it's kind of something that will never exist other than this little, this little wisp of smoke in your own mind.
03:20What's the one thing that got away that you really still wake up at night thinking about?
03:24Well, I wouldn't say anything that really keeps me up at night, but I'm notoriously a terrible auditioner.
03:33And it's such an important part of getting a job, auditioning.
03:39So I was lucky to work with a lot of artists who, like, saw little sparks of originality
03:44and were okay with it being rough around the edges, you know, as I came up.
03:50But, yeah, there was a lot of projects that I didn't end up getting.
03:53Let's talk about one you did get, because I just watched the new trailer for The Murdoch Murders,
03:57which looks so good and gripping and dark and wild.
04:01And tell me about why you said yes to that.
04:04Well, I was really interested in the case.
04:06And I was watching it as he went to court and as new evidence came up.
04:12And watching someone lie on the stand is really interesting.
04:15And so looking at the Southern family and kind of the way women were indoctrinated to be normalized,
04:23to you're out of control, but, you know, they're boys and boys will be boys.
04:27And how this family had kind of so much power in this town to kind of make things go away and clean things up.
04:38And for her to slowly realize, like, I don't really know who you are.
04:44What are you really capable, even to the last second, not really knowing who someone is or what they're capable of?
04:52And then last fun question.
04:53When I'm at an award show, I always think of your speech at the Academy Awards.
04:57I know that this is the Emmys, but that speech really was such a moment that continues to live on.
05:03Those photos of Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez clapping for you.
05:05What do you remember about that night?
05:07And on a night like tonight, do you think about making a statement?
05:11It was a very powerful, terrifying thing to take a chance and be political.
05:17And frankly, like, then it seemed like a lot of laws were passed by people who had been trying to pass laws for a long time for equal pay.
05:24There was some progress being made.
05:26And now, actually, America's wage gap is growing wider again.
05:30And then women's rights just for their body is rolling back.
05:36And women are dying or at death's door, and they can't get health care.
05:40So it's a very terrifying time right now.
05:45I mean, but what gets me through is how many good people there are, how many people are helping each other, how many people care.
05:54It's really a time where we're going to see, who are you?
05:58Are you going to be a helper?
06:00Are you going to be a herder?
06:01Are you going to have a low-functioning dynamic?
06:04I'm going to get mine no matter what it does to you.
06:06Or are you going to be a high-functioning dynamic like we all rise together?
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