Lois Smith has been known as “Marjorie” for some time now. She has played the characters of Marjorie and Marjorie Prime in the play of the same name by Jordan Harrison. Now, she has taken on these two roles in the film adaptation, directed by Michael Almereyda. Lois joined Seán Rocks on Arena to talk about meeting this acting challenge and about the process of adapting a work of theatre for film.
Set in the near future and also starring Jon Hamm, Geena Davis and Tim Robbins, Lois plays Marjorie, an 86 year-old woman who is losing her memory. Her daughter and son-in-law (Davis and Robbins) have provided her with an Artificial Intelligence companion, based on the memories she has of her deceased husband (Hamm). Lois told Sean that the film is popularly described as “sci-fi” but that it’s about more than that.
“It’s not a story about sci-fi really, though it does include this scientific technology… it’s really about us and our lives and how we live them and our memories and how we remember them. And what we do with our memories.“
On making the move from acting in the stage version to adapting the character for film, Lois described a confidence she had about the process, rooted firmly in her comfort with the text and the characters of Marjorie and Marjorie Prime.
“I’d been living with that text for quite a while before I made the film. It’s odd. It’s not that it was such an enormous jump, partly because I was so familiar with the character.”
That’s not to say that this role was without its demands. Lois recounted just how quick the turnover was from wrapping the film and starting work on a second run of the play.
“I finished shooting [the film]…about 1 in the morning. And at 10 o’clock, rehearsals started for the play…The whole thing has been an unusual journey… What a lucky duck I am to be able to do this.”
Listen back to the full interview with Lois Smith on Arena here.