美国国家公共电台 NPR Edie Falco Plays A Middle-Aged Teacher With A Lot To Learn In 'Outside In'

 

KORVA COLEMAN, HOST:

Carol Beasley is at the center of a new movie "Outside In." She's a middle-aged¹ high school teacher trapped in her mundane² job and marriage in Washington state. And that all changes when her former student, Chris, who is played by Jay Duplass, returns to their small town after serving 20 years in prison.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OUTSIDE IN")

BEN SCHWARTZ: (As Ted) You are a free man in America. Look at this, his first beer in 20 years.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) OK, everybody. Chris's high school teacher's here. If it wasn't for you, Chris would still be in jail.

EDIE FALCO: (As Carol) Holy moly.

JAY DUPLASS: (As Chris, laughter).

FALCO: (As Carol) You're real.

COLEMAN: While Carol is thrilled to welcome him home, Chris has no idea how to transition back into society. Carol doesn't know how to help him, either. Their relationship begins to seep³ into different facets⁴ of her life, causing a rift⁵ between Carol and her family. Carol is played by actress Edie Falco, who joins me now. Welcome, Edie.

FALCO: Thank you. Happy to be here.

COLEMAN: You know, Edie, I had a very visceral reaction when I was watching the film, particularly when I was watching Carol. She doesn't seem to have a voice or an answer to anything. She certainly feels very passionately⁶ about things, but she can't seem to say what she wants. Why is that?

FALCO: I don't know. My - you know, I'm not great at verbalizing these things, sometimes. But my imagination - as I stand back a little bit, I am thinking she's a woman who probably never - was never asked. You know what I mean? Like, she just does what's - what the next expected thing is, you know?

You get - you know, you get married. You have a kid or kids, and you get a job. And that's the way it goes. And the idea that she may actually want something - I don't know. I think that's a talent unto itself, learning how to recognize that. And I don't think it's something she's ever worked on.

COLEMAN: Her failure to speak for herself leads to some situations in the film that I actually found really uncomfortable to watch. I'm a middle-aged...

FALCO: That's nice (laughter).

COLEMAN: It was really tough. It was...

FALCO: Then I've done my job.

COLEMAN: No, indeed you have. I'm a middle-aged woman. I'm watching the story of a middle-aged woman. And it felt like parts of it were a train wreck⁷. I felt like there was a bad situation coming, and there was no way to warn Carol. Why could she not see it?

FALCO: I don't know. I think if you do start to recognize that you have feelings about things and that you do have desires and - you know, and it gets a hold of you, I don't think you learn how to moderate. You know what I mean? I think the feelings may be so overwhelming. And which ones to act on? Should this be something she sort of ignores and moves through? So anyway, once she's in it, I feel like she's no longer in the driver's seat as far as how far she wants to take these things or what actually she's doing.

COLEMAN: I have to say your portrayal⁹ of this character was remarkable¹⁰. Your restraint in playing her was remarkable. How do you portray⁸ that? It was like I literally¹¹ wanted to reach through and say, Carol, please stop.

FALCO: I don't know, you know? I don't know. I - certainly, I got on the set. I loved the way reading it made me feel. So I decided¹² to do it. I had already met Jay Duplass and couldn't wait to work with him. And once we got there on the set in that town, in that home, you know, it just - it starts to have a life of its own. And I just kind of follow it.

COLEMAN: Edie, what type of research did you do to prepare for this role? Did you read about ex-convicts transitioning back into society or talk with people who assisted them?

FALCO: I no longer am as embarrassed as I used to be to say that I did no research at all. I don't know what - I don't know how to do research. I don't - I mean, if I do it, I do it on some subliminal¹³ level, you know...

COLEMAN: How do you find the depths of this character? Your portrayal of this woman was so arresting.

FALCO: At our cores, all of us people are really very similar, I'm finding after all is said and done - and especially with the state of the country and the world right now. When you move all that dust aside, you find out we're - we have so much of the same stuff going on at our centers, you know? And that's - what I think the work of an actor is is to sort of - once you've tapped into that, the rest of it is just sort of window dressing¹⁴, you know?

COLEMAN: Actress Edie Falco, star of the film "Outside In." Thank you so much for joining us.

FALCO: It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANDREW BIRD'S "DANCE OF DEATH")

1 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

2 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

3 seep   

v.渗出，渗漏；n.渗漏，小泉，水（油）坑

参考例句：

• My anger began to seep away.我的怒火开始消下去了。
• If meteoric water does not evaporate or run overland,it may seep directly into the ground.如果雨水不从陆地蒸发和流走的话，就可能直接渗入地下。

4 facets   

n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面

参考例句：

• The question had many facets. 这个问题是多方面的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fully cut brilliant diamond has 68 facets. 经过充分切刻的光彩夺目的钻石有68个小平面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

6 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

7 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

8 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

9 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

10 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 subliminal   

adj.下意识的，潜意识的；太弱或太快以至于难以觉察的

参考例句：

• Maybe they're getting it on a subliminal level.也许他们会在潜意识里这么以为。
• The soft sell approach gets to consumers in a subliminal way.软广告通过潜意识的作用来影响消费者。

14 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。