Mamie Gummer Online | Magazines Archive

Boston Now
Meryl and Mamie make a movie | July 2007

Evening is not Mamie Gummer's first movie, but it is the first time she's been in the same movie as her mom, and when your mom is Meryl Streep, that makes it a moment in cinema history.

BostonNOW: I wonder if at any time you are doing his role you were conscious that your mom was playing the same character, Lila Wittenborn, at an older age?

Mamie Gummer: There was no formal consultation. Her scenes were shot before I got to the set. I play the character at 24 and she plays her in her 70s, so Lila's lived a whole life in between.

BN: How did being in those 1950s period costumes help your performance?

MG: Ann Roth, the costume designer, really builds characters with her clothing. She told me more about my character at my first fitting than I ever imagined, like that she played field hockey in high school. I have no idea how she knew that, but I went with it.

BN: This movie is opening against some pretty stiff competition. How are you going to get men in to see Evening when Die hard 4 is playing at the same theater?

MG: I'd like to think there are men out there who aren't aching to see Die Hard. Straight men, too. I just think that everyone that goes (to Evening) can relate to something in the movie. It poses a lot of questions, but it doesn't necessarily provide answers. It's about a life and about the hope of being happy at the end of the day. It's the antidote to Die Hard.

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