It was Munchausen’s, it was an opportunity to transform, but as I was doing it, I became incredibly burdened because I really wanted to know: Did she feel regret? Did she feel awareness at what she was daily asking of her daughter or of where she was guiding her daughter? For me, it was an interesting, gripping story. I didn’t know that I would make that correlation when I began to play the character. Honestly, the timeliness for me is that it is about abuse of power and this Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome, where if people are told something enough by a person who has a position of power, authority, respect, or by a group of people, they can begin to believe it, like the emperor is wearing clothing when the emperor is not wearing clothing.
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Then, when you accept that it’s a mental illness, a whole other ability toward compassion comes in.Įmily Skeggs and Marcia Gay Harden (Lifetime)ĭo you think the movie is timely since it deals with mental health, an issue we need to work on in the U.S.? The story is completely gripping and to study Munchausen by proxy, you have to accept that it’s a mental illness because, at first, you just think this is a selfish, horrible, monstrous human being doing this to her daughter. I’ve never heard of Munchausen syndrome and I didn’t know about this particular case, so it was all new. Before she even was offered the role, she had wanted to play the role. Not at all, unlike Emily, who is a true crime fan, and knew the whole story. Were you familiar with it at all before you got the script? I first heard of Munchausen syndrome by proxy back in the ’80s or ’90s, and it was such a surprising thing. More than that, Esme is perfectly healthy, mentally and physically, and has been a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, forced to believe she was ill by her controlling, abusive mother. Instead she ran away with her boyfriend after plotting with him to murder Camile. Notable film roles include The Imagemaker (1986), her first screen role, in which she played a stage manager the Disney sci-fi comedy Flubber (1997), a popular hit in which she co-starred with Robin Williams the supernatural drama Meet Joe Black (1998) Labor of Love (1998), a Lifetime Television movie in which she starred with David Marshall Grant and Space Cowboys (2000), an all-star adventure-drama of aging astronauts.It turns out that Esme was not kidnapped. Throughout the 1990s, she continued to appear in films and television.
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In 1992, she played actress Ava Gardner alongside Philip Casnoff as Frank Sinatra in the made for TV miniseries Sinatra. She appeared in the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing (1990), a 1930s mobster drama in which she first gained wide exposure. Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in several television programs, including Simon & Simon, Kojak, and CBS Summer Playhouse. Harden's first film role was in a 1979 student-produced movie at the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated from Surrattsville High School in Clinton, Maryland in 1976, the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in theatre, and the graduate theatre program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a Master of Fine Arts. Harden's family frequently moved because of her father's job, living in Japan, Germany, Greece, California, and Maryland.
One of Harden's siblings is named Thaddeus, as is her spouse. Harden, one of five children, was born in La Jolla, California (near San Diego), the daughter of Texas natives Beverly (née Bushfield), a housewife, and Thad Harold Harden, who was an officer in the United States Navy. She has been nominated for an Emmy Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award two times. In 2009, Harden received a Tony Award for the Broadway play God of Carnage. She was also recently seen in Lakeshore Entertainment’s The Dead Girl, directed by Karen Moncrief and starring Toni Colette, Kerry Washington, Mary Steenburgen and Brittany Murphy.
Harden’s recent credits include Lasse Hallstrom’s film, The Hoax, opposite Richard Gere, and The Walt Disney Company’s The Invisible, directed by David S Goyer. She has starred in a string of successful mainstream and independent movies, such as Space Cowboys (2000), Into the Wild (2007) and The Mist (2007). She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lee Krasner in Pollock (2000). Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing (1990) and then The First Wives Club (1996) which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber (1997) and Meet Joe Black (1998).
Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American film and theatre actress.