[…] LB: Speaking of substance, you are about to start shooting the fifth season of Transparent.
JL: It’s going to be later than planned. I also just finished working with [writer, producer, and director] Ryan Murphy on The Assassination of Gianni Versace …
LB: And people are dying over it, asking to change the Emmy categories so you can get the guest actress nomination. You’ve always received a lot of attention, but how does it feel when you get this confluence of great reviews?
JL: It’s so wild. It always feels good. I was at a Christmas party with Joan Rivers once, and we were having this lovely conversation, and she said, “I say yes to everything,” explaining that the world works out for you in certain ways when you say yes to things. And it’s true. That’s how a whole trajectory of things fell into place, including working with Ryan Murphy, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.
LB: And he’s so great with women who aren’t 12. I mean, Jessica [Lange], Kathy [Bates] …
JL: Exactly. We didn’t really know each other, and then, when he saw a play I did [Other Desert Cities] and the response to it, he just said, “OK, we’ll do things.” He was so incredibly gracious and kind.
LB: Isn’t it wonderful that one of the great things about getting older is the equity you own? There’s something about “You know me and my work, and you know that I’ll show up for you” …
JL: That is so brilliant and so true.
LB: Who do you find beautiful?
JL: The memory of my mother is very beautiful to me. My father, the same thing: really light, beautiful. We’re talking about soul beauty now. My husband has been so beautiful and present for me—you know, my publicist, my agents, my friends … All the people I worked with on The Assassination of Gianni Versace and Transparent. They are people who are there in the goodness of their being, not in their doing.
LB: And that is …
JL: That is beauty.
Judith Light Opens Up About her Former Struggles with Emotional Eating
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