"Manhattan" Star Rachel Brosnahan on Her "House of Cards" Role

We could talk about hair all day. Good to have you here. Thank you. You look beautiful. I feel very underdressed.

No, I just

You were glamping.

I was glamping earlier. It's a whole thing. Never mind. No one cares about me.

Um great to see you. You know, you've I I was looking your resume is insane because pretty basically you've had kind of three shows going in the last little bit.

Yeah. It's been really funny. It's been really really busy.

And you haven't you started acting when you were how old?

I started I guess technically when I was 17. Um I did my first job. Yeah. called the unborn. It was the worst thing, the whole thing.

Really?

Yeah, well no, it was I mean, it was an amazing experience, but I embarrassed myself over and over and over again.

Were you nervous?

I was so nervous. I had never auditioned for anything film and television before ever.

But you booked your first audition.

I did.

But there you go.

Right. Well, I had been told and I'll tell you the secret. Um, the secret I had been told is that if you want to be a good film and television actor, you just have to walk in and mumble all your lines. Is what everyone told me. So I did.

I I understand that. I understand it in theory. I understand that advice.

Yeah. Cuz it comes across real and like you're throwing away the lines and you don't care. But I literally went in and was like, Yeah, you know, like so and so's brother's working in the quarry, do you wanna go? Whatever thing, you know what I'm saying? The worst thing ever. Um, I didn't know that I had a call back. Everybody was gonna be in the room, that it wasn't just gonna be the casting director. Right. And I stood up in this call back and told the director when he told me what the shoot dates were that I wouldn't be able to do it because I had a vacation planned. We're getting that one. And he looked at me like I was an idiot and was and stood up and was like in front of 20 people that I now know were very important, was like, would you rather be in a major feature film or go on a vacation? And I kinda went, well, I've had it planned for a really long time. And I swear,

Oh my gosh, I love this story.

I swear they gave me the part just to be like you're an idiot, here you go.

They gave you the part to see if you show up.

Honestly. Honestly. They're like, is she gonna go on her vacation, or is she gonna come and do the movie? For real. I did it. They gave me the part.

That's probably why they found you endearing though, because there's so many people in Hollywood that are just like, oh sure, whatever. Yes, please, I'll do whatever.

I suppose. Yeah. The secret is just say no and mumble all your lines. That's the key.

There you go. Play hard to get. That's the moral of this story today. Do it. All over your life. So let's talk about Manhattan. When when I first heard the name, um, I thought it took place in Manhattan.

Manhattan is about the the race to build the the first atomic bomb, uh, at the height of World War II. It's a period. It's a period piece. Yes. In the 19 we start in 1943. Uh, you'll first see us. Essentially, there were two drafts going on. There was a draft for the soldiers and then there was the draft for the scientists who were sort of given a notice at work, saying, please show up at this strange location. Don't tell anyone where you're going. And they would just disappear. Pick up their families and uproot.

Kind of like your first movie.

Yes, kinda show up. We promise it'll be better than your vacation. Oh my God. Um, mortification. Uh, yeah, so they, you know, they pick up, they they bring their wives and their kids and and some of them didn't even bring furniture because they were told they'd have some and they didn't know how long they were gonna be there. Um, so our show really is about the scientists building the bomb and the struggles that entails, you know, whether it was for good or or for not.

I watched the pilot and it's it's amazing in that it looks like, and this is what's happening with TV, it's like a film. It's cool, right? It's like one of those films you see that you go, oh this is gonna be one of those epic movies that they cost them like $100 million to make and that kind of thing.

Right. We're not just shooting on a stage. You know, we have one, but there's only really one small set there. We're shooting in real buildings and we're really breathing the air and it helps create this community.

So, House of Cards, Yes. There are so many fans of the show that wanna know if you're coming back and I know you don't even know.

I don't know. Please bring me back. Um no, I have no idea. They don't they don't tell us anything.

What is that sort of but as an actor, I mean, I'm assuming you're coming back. I'm just saying you're coming back. Because you probably would. They have to really guard these scripts. Right. Because there's so much that happens on a lot of these shows and there's so many twists and turns that, you know, there can't be any spoilers. Right. So, how does that affect you as an actress? Knowing that you're gonna get a call in like three days, you gotta have the script memorized.

Uh, um, well, that that's not the most nerve-wracking part. I think the hardest part is keeping the secrets if you know them. You know, like I knew the big thing that happens in episode one of season two, I knew about it for quite a long time and had a really hard time keeping it.

Okay, so that's the tough part.

It's so hard. Yeah.

So, I think people know this but I just found it fascinating that House of Cards, you were supposed to have like five lines or something like that on the show and it turned into obviously what it is now.

Right. Yeah. I I when I auditioned for it, uh, the character didn't have a name. She was call girl. Um, and then for a long time I had no idea what happened. I was just like It's so funny when you go like when you have those um scripts and it's like, you want the person to have a real name cuz then you're like that's a real role. I can't tell you, when I first started I played eating disorder girl, girl, you know, a thousand of them like So this is call girl. This was call girl. It was a different kind of girl. What with House of Cards? Yes. It was only supposed to be five lines-ish and um and then for a long time I had no idea what happened. I was kind of like, they're so good to me, you know, and they are. Um, but uh, yeah, so they decided to bring back Peter Russo, the Peter Russo character, which Corey Stoll did such a beautiful he's an incredible actor. God, he's so great. Uh, we all strive to be that way. Uh, no, he's so good. Um, so they decided to expand that storyline and and change things about that storyline that they hadn't foreseen. And so they needed a way to bring about his downfall. Um, and they took a massive, massive chance bringing me back. Uh, and I am

You're being humble.

No, I'm not. I'm forever truly, like, because they really had no reason to believe that I could do anything. You know, I'd done five lines and I I had virtually no credits and I was straight out of drama school. Um, they they really and Beau Willimon, our showrunner, was a massive advocate for me.

So when you got the call like you're coming back, did you say you had a vacation plan?

I did. I was like, actually, I can't. Uh, please take me back. I have a vacation plan, you know. Yeah, no, it was it was episode by episode. So I kept feeling like every episode was probably my last one. You know, they were like, we're gonna bring you on for one more and I was like, oh my God. You know

So they tell you or do you get the call?

Um, I would get the call, you know, from my from my agent or manager being like they they think they're gonna bring you back for one more and I was like, you know, and then every episode I was like I was just, you know, I had I was just so new. I had no idea what I was doing and I still get like this but I was kinda like, oh that was bad. Oh that line came out wrong. Oh God, my career is over. You know, at at every turn and so I'm I'm forever grateful that they keep keep putting me on stuff.

No, it's a great show and and I really love seeing you on it so much. Yeah, but that's incredible. I mean, people hear those stories, you know, it was one line and it turned And those are rare. Really rare. So I think people hear those stories who aren't in Hollywood and go, oh that could happen to me. Well, it doesn't really happen that often.

Nobody, it can. I mean, I see I truly do feel like if it happened to me, it could happen to anybody and it was that kind of thing that you hear in in school that you're like that, you know, it's such an impossible thing and an impossible business in a way that you hear that kind of thing and you're like, God, if that could be me and and um, yeah. It is possible. It is. It is.

There you go. All right, thanks again.

Thank you.