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The women Lynskey portrays are angry, nurturing, fearful, strongmore often, theyre all of the above.
Getty Images; Design by Channing Smith
thought he was blackmailing her.
Last season Shauna was dipping her toes in the water of doing something illicit, says Lynskey.
Shed been repressing, repressing, repressing for such a long time.
This season is about her coming to terms with her past.
For me, that was a lot of interesting stuff to work with.
Im not a demanding person, and Im not a person who requires a lot, says Lynskey.
So when I do speak up, its something I believe in so strongly.
Im willing to defend it.
Melanie Lynskey:People often have labeled me as a meek person.
I am quite shy sometimes.
I do have some social anxiety.
But Im quite ferocious.
As a child, we moved a lot.
And then he was doing his residency, so I was always the new kid in school.
You havent even taken the time to see if I might be interesting.
I wasnt ever a kid who was the center of attention.
Do you remember the last time you were associated with meekness?
Sometimes at work, when I surprise people by fighting back quite a lot.
I dont have any acting trainingall I have is my own instincts.
Im going to try that.
Its like having a great therapist.
I think theyre surprised when I push back.
There have been times at work where I think background actors have been treated unfairly.
Its a cold day, and theyre made to stand outside and people arent offering them snacks.
Everyone else here has a big jacket on.
So I guess its using my voice at times when people would rather I didnt.
Also, they dont expect me to because I come across quite mild and sweet.
Whats typically the reaction when you do have those moments of speaking up?
Im not a person whos like, My trailer needs to be like this.
I need this and that.
Im not a demanding person, and Im not a person who requires a lot.
So when I do speak up, its something I believe in so strongly.
Im willing to defend it.
In those instances with background actors, people will say, Oh, I think theyre fine.
Im like, Well, Im going to need you to ask them if theyre fine.
Most of the time people arent fine.
Theyre freezing or thirsty.
Also, in a way, its me being okay with my own power.
I never want to abuse that.
I feel the resistance, but then they usually do it.
Its hard to fight someone when theyre asking for human needs to be met.
Not really, no.
I feel like people usually have a pretty good sense of me.
Years ago I was in a situation where I had an agent in London and an agent in America.
My British agent was like, Why?
And she said, Well, she' going to be devastated.
My British agent said, Shes really tough.
That kind of thing doesnt get to her.
I felt very understood by Jane, my British agent.
That Im not this other person.
My American agent was a new person on my team and just didnt know me as well.
She thought, Oh, shes so delicate.
Its that kind of thing that I want to push back on.
Just because I speak quietly doesnt mean Im not a strong person.
Where is this piece of paper?
You dont have a lot of time.
Thats something I dont think weve seen before.
She was a complicated character.
There was a lot in the writing that supported it.
But Ive had people messaging me, I didnt believe you!
you should probably be a more commanding presence for people to follow you.
And also, things about my bodyhow my body isnt right or whatever.
Im just like, Its a zombie apocalypse.
You dont have any questions about the mushroom face creatures?
But a womans in power and shes quiet, and youre like, Its impossible.
Thats who I am in my house.
I know where everything is.
I know the passwords.
I have this persons email.
I have that thing.
My husband is a strong man.
That shows how ingrained it is for them.
How do you deal with criticism, whether thats in your personal life or professionally?
I really love it.
I was in group therapy for five years, and it was the happiest time of my life.
The idea of it is dropping all social protocol and just sayinganythingto each other.
Its a chance to really investigate who you are and how you come across to people.
Constructive criticism, I love it.
I read every single review.
Im such a huge fan of TV and film criticism.
I love these writers.
I want to read their work.
When theyre hurtful things, some of the time theyre right.
I was bad in that movie.
I knew that I was.
I really have respect for him for seeing it and being like, This is different.
This is not what Im used to seeing from her.
It still hurts your feelings, but that just feels like a waste of time.
Most of the people Ive interviewed for this column say, I dont read reviews.
If so, how do you come out of that?
Im a very self-critical person.
Im a person who had a really bad eating disorder for over a decade.
The process of coming out of that and trying to love my body was a really tough one.
Thats going to make other women feel stronger and other women feel okay because everybody looks different.
Theres not a lot of representation for women who look like me.
Theres not enough representation in a lot of different areas, like women of color.
It’s really a struggle.
So when Im struggling and having a hard day, Im just like, You know what?
Youre a human being.
Why dont you go out there and act like youre beautiful?
Also, my daughter thinks Im the most gorgeous thing shes ever seen.
I dont want her to stop thinking that.
Its also a lesson for myself.
I will not criticize myself in front of her.
I wont do it.
The number of times a day I have to stop myself.
Im like, God!
What do you wear when you want to feel the most confident in yourself?
I wear something that shows my body.
I wear something thats boob forward, I guess, is my way to put it.
Thats a good way of just leaving the house and being like, Here I am.
You alluded to this before, but is there a role you really wanted but didnt get?
Theres actually something thats in line with what we were talking about.
I auditioned years ago for the movieMona Lisa Smile.
I went in for the part that Ginnifer Goodwin ended up playing.
The director stopped me partway through and was like, I dont feel like youre this girl.
I was like, Im not really.
I didnt relate to that character and was trying to act it.
He was like, Why didnt you come back in and read for the role of Giselle?
Its the role that Maggie Gyllenhaal ended up doing.
I went out and came back in and read for that part.
I felt so much more confident and so much more myself.
He was like, There she is.
Now I can see you.
I would rather see you play this other character.
She wanted to do it and she got it, but I was told I came close.
I desperately wanted to work with him after that.
Whats the best advice youve gotten from a woman in your life?
Force them to repeat it in front of other people.
Because, she said, Bullies are scared.
They want to knock you down, but they want to do it quietly.
When you just shrug and say, Oh, can you just repeat what you said?
it takes all the power out of it and forces them to examine their own words.
It was such an empowering thing for me.
That was a great piece of advice.
I feel like that goes back to earlier, when you were talking about using your voice on set.
People are not used to confrontation so they push out whatever energy and dont expect to get it back.
Its powerful that you’re free to step out and say, No.
Thats been such a big lesson in my life, being able to push back gently and kindly.
Whats the last great book you read?
I read a book calledSomebodys Daughterby Ashley C. Ford.
She wrote a book calledBefore You Knew My Name,which is a mystery and its just so good.
I couldnt believe what I was reading.
I was so proud of her.
She published her first book at, I think, 44 or 45.
I love hearing about authors who are not an ingenue at 24 or whatever with their debut novel.
It was a really satisfying moment.
Youre an amazing writer.
Its a really great book.
Wheres your favorite place to unwind?
Probably at home on my sofa, watching reality television with my husband and a glass of wine.
What reality shows are you watching right now?
It was so fun.
Were huge mafia nerds, we love playing that game, so that was a really fun one.
I also loveMillion Dollar ListingandThe Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.AndThe Bachelor.We watch a lot of reality TV, honestly.
Last question: Do you have a go-to thank-you gift?
I have a lot.
I think a good hand soap is a nice gift.
Aesop has anice hand soap.
Recently Ive gotten a fancy bag for a couple of people very close to me.
Ive never made money in my life, so I dont know how to be careful with it.
Whats the best gift youve received?
My child, if youre thinking of gifts from the universe.
Anytime she and her dad make me a card, she signs her little name on it.
Its the sweetest thing of all time.
My husband, when I met him, was so awful at gifts.
The first birthday I was with him, he came over and was all stressed out.
He was like, Sorry, I walked around the mall, and its terrifying.
But he recently has gotten really great at presents.
He got me this beautiful snake ring from Gucci because I love snake jewelry.
Its my new favorite gift.
Its nice to know theres always room for improvement.
The turnaround is amazing.
The pressure of getting the right things stressed him out so much.
There were a couple of years where he would get things like a foot massager.
I was like, Oh, okay.
Things that youd get your grandma.
Anna Moeslein is the deputy editor atGlamour.
