The young actor Laura Dern called her “other mother”
However subtle, it is thought that positive dynamics on set will translate into a better result on-screen. And in the recent Netflix movie, Lonely Planet, in which Laura Dern plays a newly single novelist alongside Liam Hemsworth, the pair have said to have created a harmonious relationship behind the scenes, and even a friendship off screen – which is surely the hope when working on any production.
But further to this, there’s another project in which Dern has gone as far as to tell Screen Daily they “created a real family”, elaborating that she found her “other mother” when filming.
Having played many central female roles in the past five years, some maternal and many admittedly not so maternal, Dern notably won ‘Best Supporting Actress’ at the Oscars in 2020 for her recent role in Marriage Story. Starring alongside divorcees Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in 2019, the actor meticulously channelled the stoic divorce lawyer, Nora Fanshaw, aiding Johansson’s resilience throughout the exes’ separation.
Later, adopting the role of Renata Klein in the HBO series Big Little Lies in 2020, Dern embodied another character whose strong-willed characteristics were akin to her prior role. But, whilst a mother in the show, her maternal instincts weren’t paraded as a star attribute, often captured throwing lavish parties for her daughter, screaming at partner Gordon, played by Jeffrey Nordling, or claiming to soon emancipate from her bankruptcy. Whereby the production seemed to have cemented ‘The Monterey Five’ as a friendship group in reality, a maternal dynamic was not involved.
It was in fact when filming the adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic literary tale, Little Women, that Dern embodied a softer, more mothering role as Marmee March. Helping her girls navigate the realities of being women in the 1860s during the second half of the American Civil War, her role, whilst less flamboyant than those of Emma Watson or Florence Pugh with their youthful ambitions, upholds their critical support network despite the hardships.
On the project, Dern expresses that she was “their confidante”, but admittedly, “[they] all played all roles…friend; guide; sister; mother”. This was eventually how a role reversal took place with her on-screen daughter, Saoirse Ronan, who Greta Gerwig has also cast in her prior films. On the dynamic, Dern reveals that “I had such equal love for Florence, Emma and Eliza. [But] I’m definitely Saoirse’s other mother. And Saoirse is definitely my other mother”.
As well as being a success at the box office, Little Women secured six nominations at awards season and saw book sales rise immensely upon the film’s release. So, it could be suggested that where support systems are developed, just as Dern, 57, found a maternal figure even in her 30-year-old co-star, off-screen relationships can be complementary to a films success, beyond just the press.
