Rose Byrnes career path seemed obvious. The Australian actress first became familiar to most Americans in Damages, the tense and twisty cable series that debuted in 2007. Byrne played a lawyer terrorized by Glenn Closes Patty Hewes, and after two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations, she seemed ready to move into her chosen echelon: that of the dramatic actress who regularly appears in grim Oscar bait and moody indie-house fare.
But a funny thing happened on her way out of the cable-television neighborhood: Byrne became an unlikely comedic star. In the past decade, shes stolen scenes in huge comedies, including Get Him to the Greek, Bridesmaids, Spy, and both Neighbors films. Next year she will star alongside 2017s comedic breakout, Tiffany Haddish, in a buddy comedy directed by Miguel Arteta. (“Its a really great script, something I hadnt really read before for a long time.”)
Over tea in a Boerum Hill café, Byrne recently explained that she did make something of a conscious decision to start looking for comedic roles, when she was wrapping up Damages. “Firstly, I think they come from the same place, comedy and drama,” she said. She remembered studying drama as a young student, then discovering she had a comedic impulse scratching at the surface: “I realized, Hold on, I don't want to be taken that seriously anymore. I want to be able to be taken seriously doing something funny. It was a good turning point. And I think it freed me up more. Hopefully. I think comedy informs your drama and drama informs your comedy.”
After the heaviness of Damages, Byrne was eager to look for something lighter. “I had done a supporting role in Marie Antoinette, Sofia [Coppola]s movie, and that character was very, kind of bubbly—and the comedic relief a little bit. It was a very small part, that gave me a taste. It was like, I always try to see if I could do a little more of this,” she said. Then came 2010's Get Him to the Greek, which firmly set Byrne on a new trajectory.
The actress was frank about the level of control she has over her career—how much of it has come down to chance, the scripts shes received and the ones she hasnt. “[There were some] dramatic roles that didnt come to me. I was like, Thats a shame, I wouldve loved to do that.”” she said. “Its definitely a little bit out of your hands. Its really out of your hands, is the truth.”
Byrne's partner, Bobby Cannavale, is good friends with her Juliet, Naked co-star, Ethan Hawke. Byrne describes Hawke as “charismatic, very smart—for someone who has worked extensively with everybody as a writer, a producer, an actor, and has had so much success, hes still all in in every scene.”
Photograph by Landon Nordeman.
But Byrnes latest film, Juliet, Naked, feels like a bit of a landmark for her. After numerous supporting roles, this one—which sits somewhere between the comedic and dramatic poles—is centered firmly on her character: Annie, who is stuck in a stagnant relationship with a man played by Byrnes Bridesmaids co-star Chris ODowd. Then, she improbably connects with an aging former rock star, played by Ethan Hawke. The film, based on a novel by Nick Hornby, has a sweetness and warmth that is enhanced by its casting—who wouldnt want to get a beer with Byrne, ODowd, and Hawke?
Byrne was interested in playing the part as soon as she read the book, and reached out to director Jesse Peretz and producer Judd Apatow about it. “It was still sort of in script development for a long time, and then it slowly came together and then they reached out again and I was like, Yes! Yeah, Im in. Im all in. And then it came together in 2017 and we went to London and we shot it for a couple of months,” she said.
Hawke is a good friend of Byrnes partner, Bobby Cannavale; they starred together in the 2005 Off-Broadway revival of Hurlyburly. Byrne describes him as “charismatic, very smart—for someone who has worked extensively with everybody as a writer, a producer, an actor, and has had so much success, hes still all-in in every scene.” She also has a personal connection with ODowd that goes beyond Bridesmaids. “Hes worked in Australia with some friends of mine. . . . Hes Irish, Im Australian, theres a shorthand, a cultural shorthand. Chris just felt incredibly familiar to me. It was very easy.” Imagine how Byrne might describe you!
She said it was easy for her to access the crux of Annies struggle, as the character yearns, like so many others before her, to get more from life. “Though it wasnt a relationship that Ive been in, I have seen people who've been together forever and then seem to get stuck for whatever reason and then they kind of try to get out before its too late . . . but sometimes it is too late,” she said. “Shes sort of breaking all the rules. Shes set up this life, shes set up this thing, and all of a sudden shes literally like, What am I doing. And she is so uncomfortable with it, so apologetic, and very English, but its funny. I thought that it was an examination of a woman whos 40. Shes not 25, shes not 35, she's 40.”
Bridesmaids wasnt just the film that introduced a global audience to Rose Byrne, comedian; it was heralded as a female-centric success story, a vanguard that inspired everything from Trainwreck to Girls Trip. This wasnt something Byrne fully had a grasp on at the time.
“I was very naïve, and I didnt know, Wow, this is groundbreaking, or This is going to change the game, or . . . I was so naïve, and when we went to do the press, and it became such a beloved movie, I was like, Oh, this is all were going to be talking about. And I was very unprepared for that,” she said. “It was definitely fun doing it, and unusual because it was all women. . . . I had never done anything like that with that many actresses.”
But now, in this post–Harvey Weinstein Hollywood, Byrne is looking at her choices differently. “I think the past few years have been so incredible in whats been revealed, and I think it cant not affect everyone in the business. . . . Im incredibly lucky in that I havent been in situations where I felt—not really, maybe here and there—where I felt, like, uncomfortable. Ive never had a horrible trauma. These incredible women who come out and talk about it, which is really hard, I think its incredible for anybody to come forward.”
Byrne has a production company—Dollhouse—which she runs with four of her female friends, and which is focused on female-driven projects. And she said that she has noticed, industry-wide, an uptick in the number of women who are attached to projects as directors or producers: “Thats a big shift that Ive seen from my side of things. So I just hope it continues, and continues, and continues to change and evolve, so it can become a point where we dont have to talk about it all the time—because its just a given that theres equal rights for women.”
Though 2011's Bridesmaids changed her career, and the possibilities for female-driven comedies in Hollywood, Byrne says now she was “very unprepared” for that film's success.
Photograph by Landon Nordeman.
Cannavale and Byrne have shared the screen together in the past, in 2014s Annie and Adult Beginners, as well as Spy; Cannavale, Jersey-born and of Italian descent, made his career with a diverse range of television and film projects after breaking through with his role on Third Watch, and hes also mixed in a wide array of stage work, with two Tony nominations (for 2007s Mauritius and 2011s The Motherfucker in the Hat). Byrne says the two value each other as collaborators.
“He gets me as an actress and I think I get him as an actor,” she said. “Because were very different, and come from such different worlds, but that is a huge common ground, our work. Hes very down to earth as well, I think. Hes very smart with material, he has a lot of ideas. Whereas I can get a little flustered, hes very fluid with his ideas about stuff which for me is very helpful.”
The two recently filmed an appearance together on Rashida Joness TBS comedy series Angie Tribeca. “Its very funny, physical comedy and, yeah, we were just laughing, and laughing. I had just had the baby so I was really out of it, but it was great,” she said. Byrne—who also recently filmed a spot on Amy Sedariss show—can see herself returning to television at some point: “Yeah. Oh, for sure. Again, its what comes my way.”
On our way out of the café, bracing against the humidity, we chatted briefly about podcasts, which Byrne said she listens to with much more frequency when she is in Los Angeles. In Brooklyn, though, “I don't like walking and listening to podcasts for some reason. Id rather just take in the. . . .” She gestured to the Brooklyn cars and Brooklyn trees and sunshine and passersby. “Yeah. I like quiet.”
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