Laura Dern Thinks Renata Could "Kill So Easily"

From ELLE

They might not have much else in common, but Laura Dern and Renata Klein have the same face. Dern has played Big Little Lies' type-A businesswoman for two seasons, deploying her own famously expressive features to give Renata all the fierceness and fury she requires.

But when I walk into a suite at the Bowery Hotel to talk to Dern about her partnership with True Botanicals, I see a very different image to the one served up on screen these past seven weeks. Dern's resting face is relaxed and radiant, compared to Renata's razorblade eyes and spring-loaded mouth. (Does Renata have a resting face?) Even when Dern is insistent—as she is about the True Botanicals Nutrient Face Mist she cheerily spritzes on my heatwave-ruined face—she's calm and kind, light years away from her BLL counterpart.

Different as they are, I talked to Dern why she relates to Renata "more and more," as well as how she ended up yelling at her best friend on the Big Little Lies set (in character as Renata, though), and her old roommate Marianne Williamson's presidential campaign.

Renata let loose this season. The screaming was incredible. How do you pull back in real life from a character like that?

I'm starting to relate to her more and more, so that's troubling. Part of the catharsis of her, and perhaps why people connect to her, is she does say the thing we've always dreamt of, even though we don't do it. She's rightful in her rage. Renata is very high-functioning, very boundaried, and a hardcore pro. She's someone who knows when to let loose, which means she's choosing to go crazy. I've played a character who was a rager, Amy [Jellicoe, of Enlightened] and she was constantly boundary-less, and couldn't control herself.

Renata is very controlled, she wants to blow up at the principal, she wants to blow up at a doctor who's not taking care of her kid. And her husband, which I'm really happy about. That's such a fun character to play, so I think for me to be available to whatever her whims are, it's just being balanced and being able to be in the moment. I'm a TM meditator, and that's a deep part of my regime, my wellness regime. Waking up and breathing and meditating, and putting on products that help my skin breathe, that smell good, that are natural, as opposed to piling chemicals into my system, means a lot.

Actors' faces are crucial to their work. How has your relationship with your face progressed throughout your career?

It is our canvas for a character, if you will. To take care of one's face, body, emotional health, mental health, is the canvas we bring to our workplace. We've got to be on point, in the moment, doing our thing, so what will help us serve that role? For me, if my face is healthy, if my skin is healthy, if my energy is balanced, then I can layer upon that a character even as complicated and wild as Renata.

The funny thing about Renata is that she's, at times, over the top emotionally. But she "little lies" about who she is. She always has her blow-out, but it's clean skin. We didn't go for the obvious choice with that character, myself and the director, which would have been to be Cruella—lots of makeup. She's done in this effortless way, which is very typical of a lot of women in powerful positions now. It's like, "I'm so approachable," while being cut-throat.

Is there a difference in your beauty routine when you play Renata?

For sure. One thing I love about Renata is she pretends at being clean, and organic, and authentic, but it does not come naturally to her. As an actor, how I live my daily life and prepare for film is that I try to find truly clean products. I've often been one of those people who's like, it may be organic or it may be natural, but I want to use the thing that works best. After I used True Botanicals' Radiance Oil about two years ago, I fell madly in love with it. I became obsessed. I started using a few products, then learned how natural it was, how pure it was, how sustainable it was, even its packaging. It's not only good for me, good for animals, good for the planet, but actually it just works better than everything else.

They have a nutrient cleanser that I use, and then I put on the Radiance Oil. I use it with makeup, with a foundation, and it offers a really clean, natural, hydrated, dewy look. Then I use the body oil and the overnight mask. The mask I'm obsessed with, because as an actor, there's that idea that when your skin is tired, you're going to get up the next morning, do a mask before they do your makeup, and you're exhausted. So I put it on before I sleep, and it's translucent, so it just disappears.

Beauty can be very personal. Do you work with the same makeup artists personally and on set?

Yeah, my makeup artist in L.A. did Big Little Lies, and does film and press with me, and my makeup artist [in New York] does all my press. Both of them used the Radiance Oil before I knew True Botanicals, and it's their favorite oil, they use it on all their clients now too. I just got lucky to be surrounded by people who have the same ethos about skincare and beauty. I've been lucky to be with women who really love celebrating women at all ages, and love the health and wellbeing of my skin. Because I think a lot of women go to one dermatologist, and that's all it takes. That dermatologist says, "You know what you could do, you could Botox this, and you could do laser there." And suddenly, you're in the world of surgery and all kinds of things, because that one person made you feel, at a vulnerable moment, that you needed those things.

I feel really lucky that my makeup artists are very much into honoring skin, and honoring the body, and bringing out—especially in the work of characters—the sexuality, the grace, the simplicity, the vulnerability, the age, or not the age, depending upon the character.

Some people had theorized that one of the Monterey Five was going to kill again. Do you think Renata has it in her to kill somebody?

I won't speak to the myriad options we considered, the myriad options we may have even shot.

Don't tease!

Not based on your point, but based on all kinds of ways that these characters can articulate themselves, and find peace. But Renata could kill so easily. I don't know, she's a pretty classy broad, in my opinion. The angrier she gets, the more I am a fan of hers.

You pointed out on Twitter that Renata was taking a Lyft. And I wondered—has Laura Dern been in a Lyft?

I've been in a Lyft and an Uber. I'd like to say that I'm pretty down-home. I'm lucky to live luxuriously at times too, but I live simply. I would use things more, if I understood. I'm like, to my son, "Ellery, I called the Lyft, but it's not coming." He's like, "Mom, it's because you didn't press the right buttons." I'm always having to learn. I love supporting a company that gave free lifts to the Women's March, that was very beautiful, and supported the Everytown March. But Renata, from her perspective, that was rough. She did not like that.

The woman who plays Renata's assistant is a friend of yours. What was it like to yell at her like that?

Bellina Logan—first of all, my best friend since we were one. And she's a great actress, and a brilliant playwright, and now writer. She was cast by our casting director, but he was like, "I had forgotten you guys are best friends. This is going to be hilarious." I didn't know what scene they had written for us, so that was amazing. I'm happy to say it is the first time either of us have yelled at the other, ever.

You don't seem like much of a screamer.

We're very sweet friends to each other, so it was really fun.

I saw that you hung out with Bradley Cooper the other day. If you worked on something together, that would be amazing.

We would love to. We love each other, and he's an amazing person, and a beautiful artist. It's definitely a continual discussion of what to do.

I heard you used to live with Marianne Williamson. Is that true?

I did, it's very true.

What do you think about her deciding to run for office?

I am so grateful and so excited this many diverse, incredibly passionate, incredibly bright, thoughtful candidates are running together in the Democratic Party right now. I think we need all their voices right now to debate each other, hopefully thoughtfully. And my wish is, Marvel-style, that they align and say, "Whoever is the candidate, the rest of us are going with you. This is the cabinet." I think it's going to take a village, and I think, like Marianne, all of these different voices are keeping each other honest. They're talking about really important things. If we're having to come back against things like, "Climate change isn't real" and "Go back to your countries where you're from," putting children in cages, wow.

It's an exciting time too, to honor each of our diversities. Our families of heritage, our immigrant stories, who we are, where we come from, the color of our skin, our sexual orientation: We are unique individuals, and that's what's to be celebrated.

What did you say to Megan Rapinoe when you met her?

Use True Botanicals! I did have my Mist with me. But she's amazing. I thanked her for her fierce advocacy and voice, and talked about what it meant to my daughter, who was there and got to talk to her a bit. My daughter's been interning at Planned Parenthood, so how she's using her voice right now really meant a lot to my daughter, and all her friends. It was great to talk to her about that too.

We're saying goodbye to Renata, but you have Little Women coming next.

I remember someone asking me, "If you could dream up the character that you could play after Renata, who would it be?" And I said, "I don't know, some iconic, loving American literary hero." Just like Marmee in Little Women. I got exactly what I dreamt up, which is very rare as an actor, but very delicious. And a nice break. Renata, I love her so much, but she can be a little...I feel like she's listening! It can be a little fatiguing to play her for five months, so it was a lovely respite to do Little Women.

You Might Also Like

• 10 Pairs of White Sneakers That Go With Everything

• 50 Surprising Things You Never Knew About 'Sex and the City'

• 20 Serums to Solve All Your Skincare Problems