This is Laura Dern killing it at the Deauville film festival, where she will be honored for her work in film. The white dress with the blue, white and black feathers is Calvin Klein By Appointment, and that’s from the red carpet before the opening ceremony, which she walked with her kids. I’m not too fond of it, but it’s not bad. The long sleeve white and orange print shirtdress is by Gabriela Hearst. That’s an awesome piece and I would definitely wear that, but not with those shoes.
In terms of Dern’s career, I haven’t seen Big Little Lies yet but this is a reminder to myself that it’s waiting for me on HBOGo. The last time I watched Dern in a series was on Enlightened, which ended in 2013. (Where has the time gone?) Season two of BLL is currently in development and Dern is also on the Twin Peaks revival, airing on Showtime. Her slate is rather full – she’s in Alexander Payne’s Downsizing out late this year, with Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig, and she has no less than five movies in production, including The Last Jedi. I know Dern is an outlier, but it’s still reassuring that a 50 year-old woman is working steadily in the industry. (Which I know is ridiculous to consider, but here we are.)
Dern has a new interview with Women’s Wear Daily which is well written, brief and worth reading in full. She’s so well spoken and to-the-point about feminism and her beliefs. Dern discusses her two children with ex Ben Harper, Jaya, 12, and Ellery, 16, and their interests. I often want to gush about my son and I like noticing when celebrities do that. You can tell that Dern adores her kids. She describes herself as “primarily a single parent,” which is interesting. Here’s more, including how she talks to her children about the disturbing rise of neo-nazism.
Her career is everything she dreamt of
As I stand outside of it [and reflect on my career], it’s everything you dream of, or certainly everything I dreamt of as a kid, that my parents [Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern] had me consider. And I’ve always talked about this, that their greatest advice to me was to always try to be brave in complicated characters, and bring great humor to those characters, even in the saddest of moments, and also never get pigeonholed. And you hope for that and you say that, but it feels like a time that I’m just loving acting so much, and frankly, to have my kids see me doing what I love, as long as I also have quality time with them, has been a great luxury.”
Her son loves fashion
“When he heard that Christian Dior had invited me to their show, he was [so excited] — he’s a huge fan of what Maria Grazia is doing and knows the designers and loves the line and thought it was so interesting. It’s a beautiful, fun conversation to have with your kid.”
How she explains neo-nazism to her kids
I focus on what I’ve decided is this country and the country that I describe to my children. And there are very few things that seem clear, but there is zero tolerance for a few things, because we’re Americans, and we’re clear about a few things: Nazis, racists, people who denounce people based on their cultural or religious or sexual preference — like that doesn’t fly in this country. Our grandparents and great-grandparents have worked too hard to get us here. So I am continuing to tell my children the story that is what this country is built upon, and there have been some mistakes where there are a rare few who don’t understand. And we don’t have to have compassion for their ignorance, but we can acknowledge it, and we’ve just got to keep using our voice.”
You just get the sense that Dern is aware of how great her life is and that she’s also acknowledging that she’s in this position because of her parents, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern. She benefited from nepotism but she also worked hard to get where she is and she doesn’t take it for granted. Plus she’s very plainly saying what so many of us are struggling with and thinking about – this isn’t normal, it’s not ok, we need to talk about it publicly and with the people we love. At the same time she’s able to have gratitude every day and she’s not blowing smoke about that. I got some life lessons from this interview.
Oh and Dern is going to be in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. There’s a new Star Wars novel, Leia: Princess of Alderaan, which heavily suggests that her character is LGBT.
Dern’s kids crack me up so much. Teenagers just have this look like they want to be anywhere else most of the time.
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