When she was 18, Julianne Nicholson came to New York City to model but quickly grew tired of that ā she knew she wanted to act. āI was waitressing and just living my best life,ā she says over Zoom, smiling, from A24ās Manhattan offices. āI was basically being a young person in New York without a care in the world. It was wildly different from āJanet Planet.āā
Sheās referring to the wonderful new film set during summer 1991 in which she stars ā a film that, like Nicholson, doesnāt put on airs but is capable of small miracles. Since its premiere at Telluride, āJanet Planet,ā the debut feature of acclaimed playwright Annie Baker, has been the sort of understated indie revelation that discriminating viewers excitedly share with their friends like a gift.
Now finally opening in New York on Friday, with the Los Angeles release planned for June 28, āJanet Planetā is ready for its grand unveiling ā and, in a sense, so is the marvelous Nicholson, an Emmy winner who has read the same stories about her that you have.
āNormally, the first thing thatās said about me is āunderused,ā āunderappreciated,ā āoverlooked,āā says Nicholson, with a heard-it-all grin, At age 52, she tries to ignore other peopleās perception of her fame and how much more massive they think it ought to be. āNormally, Iām fine with it because I continue to work. But every once in a while, I feel like, āOh, my God. Iām so tired ā am I still trying to get peopleās attention?āā
Those who have worked with Nicholson need not be reminded of her greatness or the way she makes her artistry invisible. Just donāt expect them to explain why Nicholson isnāt a huge star. When I ask Baker in a separate interview why she thinks the actor isnāt more renowned, sheās mystified that the industry canāt see what she and so many others do. āI find that really perverse,ā Baker, 43, replies. āIām outside of the Hollywood machine, and in my world, Julianne is a mega-celebrity.ā
Julianne Nicholson, left, and Zoe Ziegler in the movie āJanet Planet.ā
(A24)
In āJanet Planet,ā Nicholson plays the title character, a single, weary mom to the challenging 11-year-old Lacy, the two of them living in woodsy, hippie-ish western Massachusetts. As portrayed by newcomer Zoe Ziegler, Lacy is a peculiar hyper-anxious child whose insatiable neediness for her mother will be imperiled by three adults: Janetās live-in boyfriend (on his way out), her old friend and a potential new suitor. To her daughter, Janet is a riddle: an acupuncturist whoās cycled through several professions, several men, several lives. We donāt learn her backstory but we grasp her ragged past through Nicholsonās exhausted eyes and resigned expression. She depicts Janet as a work in progress who radiates something true about small towns, like the one where Nicholson herself grew up.
Born in a Boston suburb, Nicholson moved to tiny Wendell, Mass., with her mom and stepdad when she was 7, quickly adjusting to living off the land ā no electricity, an outhouse, pumping your own water.
āI moved out there in 1978, but it felt very similar to [the filmās time period],ā says Nicholson, warm but direct in conversation. āThere was an āalternative lifestyleā community,ā her finger quotes suggesting an unease with any negative connotations. āMy mom was starting her practice as an herbalist, my stepfather was a woodworker, and they built their house. They didnāt smoke pot ā they were functioning people in the world with businesses, raising families.ā
Writer-director Baker, for her part, had no idea Nicholson had grown up 10 miles away from her until they started talking about the script.
āJulianne knows how to play five different things at the same time,ā says Baker, who insists that Janet is nothing like her own mother. āShe knows how to play someone whoās feeling a lot of passion and also disassociating. Someone who is in love with her daughter and alienated from her. Someone whoās paying attention and also distracted. All those contradictions were so important for the character ā you have to find a person who can play contradictions, and she does that very naturally.ā
āJulianne knows how to play five different things at the same time,ā says her āJanet Planetā writer-director Annie Baker. āShe knows how to play someone whoās feeling a lot of passion and also disassociating.ā
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)
Janet struggles toward contentment. At one point, the character says sheās trying to shed the ādesire to be liked.ā Nicholson can relate. āItās so funny, because sometimes I feel like a deep people-pleaser,ā the actor confesses, ābut in my work life, I think people feel like Iām pretty forthright and clear. I donāt know if itās my Boston Irish Catholic upbringing, but sometimes I think it can be a little intimidating. Sometimes if I donāt sugarcoat something, it can feel harsh, even though thatās not my intention.ā
Sheās trying to instill the same directness in her two children: Ignatius, 16, and Phoebe, 15. āYou can say no, you can hurt peopleās feelings,ā Nicholson says. āWe canāt please everyone. We need to take care of ourselves because, ultimately, thatās where you get into trouble, if youāre not paying attention to yourself.ā
Nicholson still remembers the time after her parents divorced, living with her mother, Kate, before her stepdad came along. āWe were a little threesome, my mom and my sister and I,ā she recalls. āShe was only 20 years old when she had me, but she was also the oldest of 10 kids and has basically been parenting since she was 10. She is an incredible woman ā she takes everyoneās breath away when they meet her, still to this day.ā
Kate was a stabilizing force in her early career, albeit indirectly. After moving to New York, Nicholson spent years trying to find her footing as a performer. It took the right acting teacher, Sheila Gray, to help unlock things. āShe worked with sense memory,ā says Nicholson. āThe first day [of her class], she put an empty chair in front of me: āNow, put someone in that chair.ā I could smell my motherās hair and I could see her. Suddenly, it was like all this stuff was there. That felt meaningful to me.ā
Sometimes, Nicholson still draws on sense memory when preparing for a role, and sheās certainly given her share of indelible mother (and mother-figure) performances in the likes of āI, Tonyaā and āBlonde.ā (Donāt forget her terrific comedic turn as the stereotypical supportive mom in the satirical biopic āWeird: The Al Yankovic Story.ā) But to play Janet, she went in a different direction.
Julianne Nicholson as Lori in 2021ās āMare of Easttown,ā a performance for which she won an Emmy.
(Michele K. Short / HBO)
āI actually think the human experience is pretty lonely,ā Nicholson says, laughing, almost apologetically. āFor me, itās ultimately a pretty solitary experience ā and Iām lucky, because I have a full, rich life with a family that I love deeply. But thereās a deep sense of loss somewhere in Janet. Not to say that I feel it, but I had an understanding of what that could feel like for her if she really dug down to experience it.ā
Once Nicholson trained with Gray and garnered interest from a manager, she began landing film and television gigs, earning an Independent Spirit Award nomination for the 2000 drama āTully.ā Sheād gotten the lead in a short-lived NBC sci-fi series, āThe Others,ā and was part of the ensembles of āAlly McBealā and āLaw & Order: Criminal Intent.ā But there was never the breakout role that might make her a household name. And then, around 2011, the parts started drying up. She was in her early 40s, fearful sheād been on the wrong path all along. She looked at her body of work and found it wanting.
āI totally messed up,ā she remembers about that uncertain period and how she was thinking about it. āI gave all this time to something thatās not going to ultimately be the thing I hoped it might be.ā
Eventually, though, momentum started to build. Nicholson was cast in a Sam Shepard play, the dark comedy āHeartless.ā She was brought onto the 2013 film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play āAugust: Osage County,ā alongside powerhouses like Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.
āPart of me was terrified,ā she says of the āAugustā experience, ābut part of me also felt like I can meet these people when cameras are rolling. Another thing was just the confidence that I was given by being invited into that group.ā Itās a complex memory for her. āSo much of this work is how people perceive you,ā says Nicholson. āWhich is such a pile of bullsā, but I get it.ā
āSo much of this work is how people perceive you,ā says Nicholson. āWhich is such a pile of bullsā, but I get it.ā
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)
Since āAugust,ā sheās been on a roll, winning her first Emmy as Lori, Kate Winsletās tough-love best friend on āMare of Easttown.ā Craig Zobel, who directed the HBO series, had long wanted to collaborate with her.
āJulianne was one of those people that, if you were in New York in the early 2000s, she was in all of the good little New York movies,ā he says. āIt was always a good day on set ā I felt a little bit more relaxed ā if I knew that Julianne was going to be there.ā
As for the question of Nicholson finally having her moment, Zobel is confident. āI think about her a lot like Sam Rockwell, where heās now able to make whatever but he still feels like a New York actor.ā
Technically, Nicholson is no longer a New York actor ā two years ago, she moved to the countryside outside London with her children and husband of nearly 20 years, English actor Jonathan Cake. Itās a full-circle moment of sorts: As in her own childhood, sheās again living off the beaten path. (Presumably, she has power and running water this time.) Nicholson likes the solitude, and sheās relieved that her kids love their school. Sheās not the same freewheeling young woman she was back in the early 1990s, dreaming what her career might look like.
āI think Iāve done my city life,ā Nicholson says. āIām in New York right now and, honestly, Iām like, āOh, my God. Itās loud here.ā I just find it draining to be here. I love it, but to live here all the time, I feel like that would be hard.ā
In āJanet Planet,ā Nicholson plays a woman desperate to remake her life after so many failed attempts, but her daughter loves her for who she is. Anyone who has spent these last decades following Nicholsonās career will understand that. Her singularity has been on display for years.
She remembers the night she won the Emmy, the love she felt in the room. The pandemic was waning and people were finally able to be back around each other. āJust feeling like a part of that community felt really lovely,ā she says. āDay to day, I donāt have any sense of that. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I get to keep working and thatās the joy for me.ā
Julianne Nicholson continues to live her best life, whether you noticed or not.