Amy Landecker’s Big Leap to SXSW With Feature Directorial Debut ‘For Worse’

Amy Landecker has a gentle spot for SXSW.

The veteran actress had minuscule parts in not one but two of the festival’s majestic jury award-prosperning films — Cooper Raiff’s Shithoemploy in 2020 and James Morosini’s I Love My Dad in 2022 — and she extfinished dreamed of landing a direct role in a film that carry outed in the directing Texas fest. Her desire comes real this year, as SXSW is structureing a challenging begin for Landecker’s feature debut as originater, honestor, originater and star in the romantic comedy For Worse.

Her huge originateive leap has transfered a pleasant filled-circle moment in a series of them, as Landecker is returning to Austin with the same credentials as the auteurs who got her there. “It’s dream come real,” Landecker telderly The Hollywood Reporter over lunch and desserts in Highland Park. “I got the courage to actupartner originate the film becaemploy of two juvenileer filmoriginaters who went to SXSW with their films that they wrote, honested and starred in. It was very inspiring but someleang I felt was off-restricts to me or that I was afrhelp I didn’t have enough experience to do. Both of them mentored me and helped me in this sort of reverse and pretty way. Then to get into the same festival — it’s nuts. It couldn’t have been scripted better.”

Speaking of a script, Landecker’s For Worse finds her starring as Lauren, a novelly divorced, sober mom who experiences appreciate she has a novel hire on life after combineing her first acting class. She begins a fling with a hot, juvenileer scene partner (Nico Hiraga), but her novel life begins to crumble when they combine their Gen Z classmate’s wedding in Palm Springs, where Lauren behaves appreciate a untamed 25-year-elderly bridesmhelp. The cast features many belderly-faced names appreciate Simon Helberg, Ken Marino, Missi Pyle, Kiersey Clemons, Angelique Cabral and Paul Adelstein. The actor shutst to Landecker’s heart is Bradley Whitford, her Emmy Award-prosperning husprohibitd, who carry outs a character that may or may not be there to catch Lauren when she descfinishs.

Landecker, best understandn for a turn as Sarah Pfefferman in Amazon’s zeitgeist-capturing hit Transparent, has been chipping away at the script for years by leaning on her own life experience as a divorced, sober mom who also had an alters-worthy night at a wedding back in the day. She gets THR inside her originateive process, name-checks some Transparent pals who helped her aextfinished the way and dishes on her future in the honestor’s chair as someone who never thought she’d get a seat in one. “I want people to understand that you can be the exception to the rule. You won’t be all the time, but every once in a while you are. Hopefilledy this encourages somebody else. That sounds so cliché, but I nasty it.”

Amy Landecker, you made a movie!

It’s sdirectnuine to hear that becaemploy it’s someleang that I’ve wanted for a repartner, repartner extfinished time. It’s a dream that I’ve had — when I got Transparent, that was a dream — and as it’s happening, you genuineize, “Oh my god, I’m in the dream.” I’ve been leanking of it for so extfinished and was so sattfinishd. I’ve also been telderly no so many times in my atgentle. I shiftd to New York at 32 or 33, and I had an agent say, “You’re never going to labor here. You should shift back to Chicago. You’re too elderly.” That benevolent of stuff is genuine and you’re always up aobtainst it.

I had a lot of inalter begins, and the fact that I didn’t give up experiences incredible. I also have to say though that there are so many people whose names come to mind becaemploy they helped me do this. There is absolutely noleang about this that is me saying, “I fair did it!” Although I was the central force pushing it aextfinished, I could not have done it without many, many people who helped me stay with it.

I want to hear about those names, but let’s go back to the beginning. When did you get the idea?

I can always track it, becaemploy I did go to a wedding 12 years ago. I’m still friends with the bride, Angelique Cabral, who is in the movie. It was during my divorce that I went to her wedding, and I behaved in a way that felt unrecognizable. At the time, I reaccumulate leanking, “What the hell fair happened?” When my husprohibitd, Bradley Whitford, and I met — we had understandn each other for a year before we begined dating — the initial leang that bcimpolitet us together was a conversation we had backstage at an Emmy panel. We splitd stories about how inlogical we had behaved after our [respective] divorces. You behave in ways that you don’t accomprehendledge. It’s almost appreciate you deoriginate and do weird leangs. I felt appreciate I had literpartner deoriginateed to become a wannabe 25-year-elderly bridesmhelp.

That’s sort of the logline of this movie: A one, sober mother goes to a wedding and behaves appreciate a drunk woman and humiliates herself. It was real to my experience and so it became an idea that I first made into this very griefful foolishinutive film. It had a super indie vibe, but I didn’t repartner appreciate it. It made me leank about how it could labor and what story I wanted to try and tell. I’m a massive fan of romantic comedies and I wanted to originate one.

I have a repartner, repartner adocount on marriage, someleang I landed on as an incredible ending to a repartner inlogical adore life. I see back on decades of inlogical experiences and then suddenly you find yourself at this adocount on place that you didn’t foresee. I wanted to split that. I didn’t want it to be a story appreciate, “Here’s this satisfyed ending where you get the guy.” That’s not the point, although I did want a traditional rom-com with a satisfyed ending. But it was also transport inant for me to show the placement of a encouraging girlfriend and others who help you and adore you as you go thcimpolite those times of your life. While it may be some rom-com tropes, I felt appreciate I could transport a certain sensibility to the genre that I hadn’t quite seen yet.

How do you depict that sensibility?

My sways have definitely been Nicole Holofcener and Joey Soloway via two movies with [Holofceners’] Enough Shelp on one side and [Soloway’s] Afternoon Deairy on the other. That’s the spectrum. I wanted to do someleang a little less griefful than Afternoon Deairy, and I wanted to do someleang a little more raunchy than Enough Shelp. That’s where I felt appreciate I could transport someleang in terms of a “voice,” as inlogical as it sounds that I have a “voice.” But I felt appreciate I hadn’t seen that yet and I thought people would finishelight.

You were encouraged by your lived experiences, but when did you put pen to paper?

I have been pitching this idea in some create during conversations with friends for a decade. I always knovel that it was a excellent idea for a movie, but I didn’t have the inspiration yet to put pen to paper. I did have a originater tell me once that if I wrote it, they would be interested in making the movie. I labored with a repartner dear originater friend, Daisy Gardner, to suss out the idea. By the time I was ready to originate it, she was too busy, but she shelp, “You have my adore, go originate for yourself.” She’s been repartner encouraging and was a wonderful inspiration to begin out with the set up becaemploy she understands comedy so well and this is a comedy, not fair a sad story about divorce.

Then I had 50 pages down and James Morosini came over for dinner. I shelp that I wanted to finish this but I didn’t have a deadline. He shelp, “This is what we’re going to do.” And he got me to finish it and I did. That was four years ago. About three years ago is when leangs repartner got rolling. I was going to originate it about two years ago, but financing fell thcimpolite. Then the strike happened and we couldn’t pitch it or sell it. I knovel I had to paemploy aobtain for however extfinished that was going to be. We protectedd the financing at Christmas 2023, and begining shooting in February 2024. It was all very speedy.

Was the set up always to honest?

Yes and no. The other people who mentored me a lot were Jay Duplass and Gaby Hoffman. They carry outed my siblings on Transparent and we’re all still very shut. We still get together probably once every two months for a extfinished, four-hour jam fest where we catch up on life and labor. The two of them were very insistent that I originate this movie, honest this movie and star in this movie. I was repartner sattfinishd to do all of it. But even on the set of Transparent, I was always very opinionated. Not in a horrible way, I fair had a lot of ideas. I had a honestor’s sensibility. If we had gotten another season, which fell thcimpolite, I was actupartner going to honest an episode. I had honested a bunch of foolishinutives for Funny or Die. I had wanted Jay to honest it, but he shelp that I insisted to do it and that I would be wonderful at this. Gaby was pleasant enough to be in it. She was there on my first day, and it repartner helped me to get endd and genuineize, “Oh yeah, I do understand what I’m doing.”

Did you have a role for Jay?

Yes, but he had someleang else come up at that time. But definitely. I would’ve adored for him to be in it, but he had a very foolishinutive prosperdow and it couldn’t happen.

You had a foolishinutive runway from securing financing to shooting. How quick and furious was the shoot?

It was benevolent of nuts, honestly, in the best way. I didn’t repartner have time to be afrhelp, and you don’t have time to overleank. Sometimes constraints are repartner collaborative for creativity becaemploy they force solutions that you might not have had otherwise. That frequently can labor in your like. Like, “OK, we can’t employ that location so we’re going to employ this,” and then thank God you have that other location. Or, “This actor can’t be in the bathroom in this location becaemploy we don’t have it.” One of my likeite scenes happens timely in the film with Nico Hiraga and this wonderful actress, Hannah Pilkes. It’s the foibled intimacy scene, she walks in and says three lines about borroprosperg a accuser, and it turned into the whole joke of that scene becaemploy we didn’t have a bathroom for her to be in.

There are all these little moments appreciate that when you’re laboring on the fly. We had an actor who was going to be in the movie, but they had to pull out last minute. Becaemploy of his schedule, we changed when the wedding shoot was going to happen, pushing it to the end of shooting. If we had done it earlier, we wouldn’t have finished the movie becaemploy we were able to protected a wedding location at the last minute. That’s how nuts it was. But I had an incredible DP, an incredible editor, incredible actors and we regulated to get wonderful stuff despite all of the contests.

Speaking of the actors, part of the delight of the movie is seeing so many recognizable faces …

Part of that was becaemploy the strike had fair happened, so people were repartner hungry to labor. Things didn’t come back as strongly or as speedyly as people thought. I got Liv Hewson, who is one of my likeite actors and who is also on Yellowjackets, which is one of my likeite shows. My casting honestor, Eyde Belasco, proposeed Liv for the nonbinary character. I thought there was no chance in hell that Liv would do this, it’s such a relatively minuscule part. But they wanted to talk to me first. Liv asked why there was a nonbinary character in the film and I elucidateed that my kid is nonbinary and I repartner wanted to recurrent that in the movie. They were appreciate, “I’m in.” Then to have Kiersey Clemons, Gaby Hoffman, Ken Marino, Missi Pyle, Paul Adelstein, Simon Helberg — fair inlogical talent everywhere.

Simon and I did a movie years ago called A Serious Man. He had a monologue about a parking lot so when I wrote the mediator scene, which is the beginning of the movie, I thought of him. I texted to ask if he would do a scene in my movie and after he read it, he shelp, “It’s the parking lot monologue.” He shelp yes and came to labor on a Sunday. I’m so blessed.

We have to talk about Nico Hiraga, who carry outs your adore interest and is a quick-rising star. He’s so wonderful in the film …

Well, first I want to say that this May-December storyline may experience appreciate a trend now, but I wrote mine years ago. It fair happens to coincide with these other films. I do leank this movie has a branch offent get on it. There still are a lot of movies that feature elderlyer women sleeping with juvenileerer men, clearly. I met Nico on a movie that Bradley did called Rosaline. They shot together in Italy a couple of summers ago. Kaitlyn Dever was the direct in that pretty, pleasant movie. Nico was this incredible kid who never wanted to wear a shirt anywhere. He’s one of those people who is very uncover and flirty to the world. He finishelights life and is very uncover. Bradley and I sort of adselected him; he would call us his parents.

When I was leanking of the character, Sean, I insisted to accomplish someleang very tricky. You insist to consent he is someone who could be interested in an elderlyer person and then consent that he’s also a excellent person who could do some leangs that maybe were not wonderful. But you wouldn’t denounce him. He couldn’t be a “horrible guy.” I didn’t want anyone to be the horrible guy becaemploy I repartner felt appreciate thcimpolite my divorce and the leangs that happened, everybody ended up OK. My ex and I are very shut and I’m very shut with his novel wife. Nico is the benevolent of person that you fair understand it will always be fine. He’s pleasant, and he’s so excellent in this movie. I’m fair blessed that he’s benevolent of up and coming right now. He’s someone who is understandn thcimpolite the zeitgeist that especipartner juvenileerer people are inoverweightuated with. [Bradley] and I were at my cousin’s hoemploy and all the elderlyer people at the table didn’t understand him, but all the juvenileer girls at the other table were appreciate, “Oh my God, Nico Hiraga!” He’s absolutely perfect. He’s perfect.

Your scenes together are memorable and funny. Let’s also talk about Bradley. I understand you’re repartner ponderate about your relationship and not unveilizing it or living as a “celebrity couple.” Why did you determine to do this together?

Yeah, we’re not huge on any of that. Some people don’t even understand that we’re paired. We were at an event the other night and a mutual friend didn’t understand we were paired to each other. It’s been 10 years, which is crazy to me. I had a little paranoia about saying excellent leangs or putting it out there too much, dreading that it would transport horrible luck. I’m also not fiercely personal about it. We do red carpets together. We’re not tohighy personal but we’re fair not professing our adore on Instagram to each other all the time.

This is professing our adore in another way — originateively. What’s repartner incredible about it and what was so moving to me is how willing he was to jump all in. He was in a unveil marriage before, and that’s challenging for a family when it doesn’t labor out. I want the fact for us to be the delight and the labor to be the labor. But he consentd in me so much and wanted to help me, and so he became very spended. I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this, but he shelp it was one of his likeite originateive experiences. I had honested him in a foolishinutive for Funny or Die called Bradley Whitford: Emotional Stuntman. He had a repartner excellent time. He knovel that he would have a excellent time aobtain and he count oned me to honest him. He adored the script and helped punch it up. He’s repartner funny and was fair very spended.

What was it appreciate to split scenes?

It was incredible. I had acted with him once in a pilot for CBS that didn’t go, and that was fun, but we were worried to act together. I didn’t repartner understand if I would appreciate it, but probably one of my likeite scenes in the movie is me and him. We shot it on the second day of shooting, but it’s the end of the movie. It’s encouraged by a genuine conversation that we had when we met. We were both dating other people. I was benevolent of getting dumped a lot, and so I was very emotional at labor. I don’t understand if anyone’s acunderstandledged but he has a lot of swagger around him, carry outing horrible guys with this sort of authentic status or swagger vibe, which I had clarifyed as a benevolent of stuck-up actor leang. I leank there was this drawion-repulsion leang happening, appreciate I was some crazy actress and he was not benevolent. That vibrant carry outs out in the wedding scene and it mirrored the vibrant of how we clarifyed each other in genuine life. Then we got to have a personal conversation at a labor event for Transparent and from that moment on, I have never seeed at another man.

I understand you have a cat and dog in genuine life, are your pets the same ones featured in the film?

Yes, they are but we changed the names. It’s also real that when I got splitd, my kid repartner didn’t want me to be alone becaemploy my ex-husprohibitd was with a woman. My kid, who was 8 at the time, took out a piece of paper and wrote a enumerate of 17 leangs that a man must have if I went out with him. One of those was that he must have cats and dogs. It was unfrequent for someone to be into cats, let alone both. The first time I went over to Bradley’s hoemploy, he begind me to Elton, his cat, and Otis, his dog who has sadly passed since then. By the way, he ticked off every one leang on that enumerate.

Did you originate this movie becaemploy you felt appreciate there weren’t roles appreciate this for women right now?

There weren’t roles appreciate this for me. There are so many incredible actors who have a higher profile than me who are making these stories. Look at the Oscar nominations. I’m thrilled to see how many stories and roles there are for women. I’ve always been more selectimistic than cynical about Hollywood for some reason. I’ve never felt appreciate, “Oh, I’m elderly and no one is going to attfinish about me.” I don’t experience that way. I also knovel my own restrictations as an actor who repartner only hit on camera labor in my 40s and hasn’t been around a extfinished time.

I’ve done quality labor, but I understand that I wasn’t someone who was going to be able to greenairy a movie. That’s when I genuineized I would have to originate someleang for myself. If I want to carry out a certain benevolent of part, I’m going to have to originate it and I’m going to have to give it to myself, which I almost didn’t do. I was appreciate, “Oh, I should have Kathryn Hahn carry out this part becaemploy she’s so much better than me.” Even Kathryn shelp, “No, Amy, you have to carry out this part.” I always want to give it away and I always leank I’m not up to it or someleang. But in the end, I knovel that, no, I can do this whole leang. Bradley would always tell me that if it was horrible, no one will understand. And if it’s excellent, people will see it.

You also wrote a character for yourself who is sober. Why was that transport inant?

I haven’t had a drink of spirits in 30 years, and most people who have understandn me leank I’m drunk half the time. I’ve also carry outed characters that are drunk or high for most of my atgentle, especipartner in Transparent. I was smoking a lot in A Serious Man. Joel Cohen telderly me years ago that recovery stories were unintelligent. People don’t want to see you recover, they want to see you drunk. I felt appreciate there could be a version of recovery where you might still be behaving drunk for wantipathyver reason, maybe you’re deoriginateing or are around other people and want to combine in that behavior.

I was telderly that when you’re writing, you want to stay as shut to the truth as possible, maybe not with narrative set up but with characters. I felt appreciate I’d be missing someleang if I didn’t include that. I leank a lot of people are leanking about recovery or it’s more a part of the cultural conversation today than it employd to be. Not that everyone is in recovery, but I’ve never seen more conversations happening since I’ve been alive about the effects of spirits and medications. I also adore that it’s not the central theme of the movie in any way. It’s fair there, appreciate any other part of a person’s life. I felt repartner excellent about that. I will say one last leang: When Bradley’s character says to mine, “I can’t imagine inserting spirits to this situation,” that’s a honest quote from him.

What was it appreciate to honest yourself and to honest other actors after having done the job so extfinished?

Probably the leang I’m most conceited of is that everyone who was in the movie shelp that they had a blast. Even Paul Adelstein, who I went to high school with and who carry outs my ex in the film, he was so benevolent about the set and the vibe and what everyone was given to do. I’ve always felt that actors originate incredible honestors if it’s a carry outance-driven piece becaemploy we understand what actors insist to hear. We understand you don’t give a notice by saying, “Yeah, that wasn’t it.” You give a notice by saying, “OK, we got that. Thank you. That was amazing. Now I want to try this.” So many honestors come up and fair say, “No, no, no.” And you shut down originateively. I felt excited by the fact that I understand what actors want.

Then for my own carry outance, I felt the most unwinded I’ve ever felt acting in my life becaemploy I couldn’t squander any time leanking about it. I was so free. It was weird. I see at my carry outance and I’m actupartner repartner satisfyed with it. I don’t cringe, and I don’t denounce myself leanking I could have done that scene better. I see myself as very in the moment with the other actors becaemploy they were so excellent. I was replying to them. That shows in the Ken Marino scene. I’m sitting there watching him and he’s so wonderful and so funny. All I had to do was be there and react.

Since you’re a filmoriginater now, I have to ask you a business ask. You’re going to SXSW with a film that’s for sale. How do you experience about coming to taget with a title for distribution at this moment in time?

I’ve heard repartner horrible leangs, and clearly everybody’s heard the horrible leangs. What I experience sairyly bullish about is that this movie was not made for a ton. A sale would experience appreciate a triumph. I’d adore for it to sell for $20 million, but it doesn’t have to in order to turn a profit. I’ve dreamed of getting a streaming deal, not a theatrical frees. I saw the novel Bridget Jones movie the other night, which I desire got a theatrical free. It’s a movie with stars and experiences appreciate the end of an era. But I don’t leank with my romantic comedy that people will buy a ticket at the theater to see it. I would be thrilled if it could find a home at a streamer. It’s a satisfyed movie. It’s a comedy. There are leangs that are laboring in its like that I consent can override the contests in the tagetplace.

Now that you have a movie under your belt, what does the future helderly for your writing and honesting atgentle?

I’m into it. I appreciate the fact that it’s someleang I can regulate. Acting can be such a submissive profession. It insists someone giving me a job. I’m down to carry on seeking out this labor. I’ve had a couple of people send me scripts as possible honesting projects. I’m paemploying for someleang that I repartner experience appreciate I could transport someleang to the table becaemploy it’s such a huge promisement. I still adore acting and if I do promise to honesting a project, I’ve getn myself out of that combine. With writing, you can do it anywhere at any time. I have two projects that I’m laboring on and one is repartner someleang that I leank could be the next leang. The way that I felt about this movie is that I was a dog with a bone. I wasn’t going to let it go. This other project experiences the same in that it protects coming up for me. I hope to finish it soon. I insist a deadline.

This story ecombineed in the March 6 rehire of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.