Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson Make Their Broadway Debuts in The Fear of 13

Summary

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The Run-Through with Vogue

Episode: Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson Make Their Broadway Debuts in The Fear of 13
Date: April 21, 2026
Host: Marlee Maria (Senior Editor of Features & News, Vogue)
Guests: Adrien Brody, Tessa Thompson
Theme: Exploring the Broadway debut experiences of two celebrated screen actors—Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson—as they star in The Fear of 13, their approaches to stage work, and the resonance of Nick Yarris’s true story.

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Main Theme & Purpose

The episode dives into Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson’s transition from screen to stage with their Broadway debuts in The Fear of 13, a play based on the real-life story of Nick Yarris, a man wrongfully imprisoned for 22 years. The conversation spans the challenges and joys of live theater, forging connections with audiences, the evolution of their craft, personal rituals, and the deeper thematic relevance of the play.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Broadway Debuts and Early Experience

• Childhood inspirations:
  • Tessa Thompson recalls dreaming of performing on Broadway since childhood, having saved money as a teen to see shows both on and off Broadway.
    • “Those were the moments that I really understood that I probably wanted to act even before I even understood that that's what I was understanding.” — Tessa Thompson [03:34]
• First night reactions:
  • Both actors describe a mix of awe and pressure; Tessa feels “incredible,” while Adrien describes his feelings as “relieved” to be past the opening-night nerves.
    • “My own expectations are merely not blowing it in a moment.” — Adrien Brody [06:50]
• Community and tradition:
  • Tessa shares their discovery of Broadway community traditions like exchanging opening night notes with other shows.
    • “Being a part of the community… there's all these traditions, and we're new, so we didn't know.” — Tessa Thompson [05:21]
  • Adrien humorously admits to missing the tradition by accident.
    • “I've been just coming to work, but I didn't realize. I was like, wow, who are all these people signing?” — Adrien Brody [04:59]

2. Pre-Show Rituals and Theater Grounding

• Rituals:
  • Tessa pauses before a picture of James Earl Jones each night for inspiration.
    • “Every day I stop and have a moment with James.” — Tessa Thompson [05:38]
  • Adrien is awe-struck by the theater’s history and his own path from Off-Broadway as a child, shaped by New York’s art and street life.
    • “To be in this ground zero of this haven of work that's been done for so many years… it's always been a distant dream almost.” — Adrien Brody [05:44]

3. The Audience as a Living Force

• Both describe the unique, interactive energy a live audience brings. Each night is different, sometimes anticlimactic post-opening—Tessa notes the audience becomes part of the dialogue.
  • “The fourth wall doesn't always exist… It is really and truly a dialogue with them. The conversation is different every night.” — Tessa Thompson [08:53]

4. Working with Nick Yarris and Responsibility to Truth

• Nick’s involvement:
  • Adrien describes meeting Nick before the London run and being impacted by his profound empathy, resilience, and humor.
    • “Nick is very generous of spirit and a wonderful storyteller… there is kind of a divining rod for me.” — Adrien Brody [09:26]
  • Tessa describes the emotional depth of having Nick in the rehearsal room—seeing him weep during readings and offering deep praise.
    • “He keeps saying this thing to me… that he would do it all over again… if it meant that he could watch what Adrian and I do every night.” — Tessa Thompson [11:36]
• Portraying living subjects:
  • The play’s emotional stakes are heightened by the presence of the person whose life story is depicted.

5. Returning to Theater After Time Away

• Personal evolution:
  • Tessa reflects on her decade-long absence from live theater, having planned to debut on Broadway much earlier but following a path redirected by TV and film opportunities.
    • “Time can be a blisteringly fast thing. You look up, and suddenly 10 years are gone…” — Tessa Thompson [14:30]
  • She values the experience of originating a role and the creative invention it requires.

6. Challenges and Motivations

• Why take on this play?
  • Adrien seeks roles that provoke “abject fear,” finding meaning in expressing difficult truths.
    • “Anything that moves Me makes me concerned about the potential failure… I get very curious about it. I get very excited.” — Adrien Brody [18:54]
• Preparation:
  • Tessa’s approach is research-rich—she engaged with people doing prison volunteer work and those with incarcerated loved ones to shape her character, Jackie.
    • “That's been a lot of my prep is just understanding through folks that really do this work…” — Tessa Thompson [20:14]
  • Adrien avoids impersonation, instead drawing from relatable life experience and his proximity to environments similar to Nick’s background.
    • “I've always told Nick I'm not doing an impression of him… Nick's story is representative of the inhumanity that's afflicted many, many people in our country.” — Adrien Brody [23:12]

7. Literary Influences and Creative Process

• Books as a motif:
  • Both discuss books referenced in the play, with Tessa creating a “Jackie library” in her dressing room and reading poetry—often Charles Simic—before each show.
    • “I try to read at least a poem before we get on stage.” — Tessa Thompson [26:18]
  • Adrien speaks of creative nourishment through music and the difficulty of fitting in leisure reading while sustaining an intense schedule. He details nightly rituals like cooking, music-making, and reminisces about working out to a curated playlist before performances in London.
    • “I make stews… I cooked sweet potato, beef and brown rice stew and ate at 12:18 in the morning.” — Adrien Brody [28:02]

8. Off-Stage Life and Fashion

• Day-to-day style:
  • Tessa brings intention to her everyday dress, sometimes method-dressing according to her roles, but also notes practical aspects of theater costuming (e.g., being miked before going on stage).
    • “I method dress a tiny bit for the job. I haven’t done that yet in theater… but I have a whole pre-show, I have robes.” — Tessa Thompson [31:30]
  • Adrien, by contrast, prefers comfort, going home to relax after shows.
    • “I'll throw on my hoodie and go home.” — Adrien Brody [32:47]
• Post-show routines:
  • Tessa sometimes ventures out with family for other shows, while Adrien prefers quiet time and stew at home.

9. Theater Wish-Lists

• Dream productions:
  • Tessa: The Seagull, The Nina Variations, Ibsen adaptations, and Caroline, or Change.
    • “I just love Ibsen, so I’m always interested in people doing adaptations of Ibsen’s work.” — Tessa Thompson [33:52]
  • Adrien: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
    • “That would be amazing. I've always loved that. I think that would be a great one.” — Adrien Brody [34:30]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the weight of the story:
  • “There's a very small distance between having a life or having that taken from you… the downfall of many people's lives is one erroneous moment.” — Adrien Brody [23:12]
• On time and missed opportunity:
  • “Time can be a blisteringly fast thing.” — Tessa Thompson [14:30] and in closing [33:23]
• On audience interaction:
  • “The fourth wall doesn't always exist… It is really and truly a dialogue with them.” — Tessa Thompson [08:53]
• On the privilege of origin:
  • “Just to be the first to try to unpack something and figure it out together…” — Tessa Thompson [16:04]
• On daily rhythms:
  • “We’re both pretty hungry at the end of the night… I make stews.” — Adrien Brody [28:02]
• On creative drive:
  • “Anything that moves Me makes me concerned about the potential failure… I get very curious about it. I get very excited.” — Adrien Brody [18:54]
• On portraying Jackie:
  • “There will be audience members that really understand Jackie and understand how you could fall in love with… someone even in those circumstances. And there will be audience members that don't understand it at all and judge her. And she also, by the way, judges herself at various moments.” — Tessa Thompson [22:18]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro to guests and the show’s background: [01:47–03:23]
• First Broadway impressions and audience traditions: [03:26–05:21]
• Broadway community, rituals, and theater awe: [05:22–08:02]
• Audience interactions and play’s evolving energy: [08:02–09:05]
• Working with Nick Yarris and responsibility: [09:22–12:17]
• Contrast between London and New York productions: [12:41–14:15]
• Tessa on returning to theater and role creation: [14:30–16:13]
• Adrien and Tessa's differing approaches to post-show routine: [16:41–16:52]
• Why they took the project—embracing the challenge: [18:40–19:50]
• Research and approach to playing Jackie: [20:14–22:18]
• Adrien’s perspective on portraying Nick: [23:12–24:38]
• Literary influences and creative routine: [25:56–28:13]
• Off-duty fashion and daily dressing: [30:33–32:47]
• Dream shows and theatrical inspiration: [33:52–34:41]

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Conclusion

This episode offers a rich, intimate look into Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson’s Broadway debut, exploring not just their professional processes, but also their personal evolutions, connections to audience and community, and the emotional stakes inherent in telling true stories on stage. Through humor, candor, and reflection, the conversation encapsulates the lived experience of Broadway artistry, as well as the enduring power of theater to change both its practitioners and its audiences.

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Transcript

[Rebecca Ford]

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[Tessa Thompson]

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[Tessa Thompson]

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[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

This is the run through. I'm Marlee Maria, senior Editor of features and News, and I'm delighted to be back on the show with more theater coverage from this amazing season. I'm speaking to Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson, who currently star in the Fear of Thirteen. The Fear of Thirteen opened last week on April 15th at the James Earl Jones Theater. That show is based on a documentary of the same name about Nick Eris. He was a man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 22 years and then was exonerated based on DNA evidence. And during that time he was visited by a volunteer and and fell in love with this woman and they had this very interesting romance where they are never touching, but they are, you know, speaking through glass and they're writing each other letters and they're talking on the phone and it's like quite romantic and it's beautifully portrayed on the stage by Adrian and Tessa. So we have a really interesting conversation about both of them returning to theater for the first time in a long time, both of them making their Broadway debuts and what the process of putting that show together and hearing from the audience and doing the stage do has looked like for both of them. And also just how they are sort of regrouping and carrying on their lives outside of the show. They have very different approaches to this. Tessa seems to be having the time of her life. Adrian is making stew. So it's a fun conversation. And now, Adrian and Tessa. Adrien Brody, thank you so much for being here. Tessa, thank you so much for being here.

[Rebecca Ford]

You're so welcome.

[Adrien Brody]

Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

How have you felt since your big opening night? I mean, you're both making your Broadway debuts. What's that mean? What's that feeling this week?

[Tessa Thompson]

What is that feeling? This is something I've dreamt about for a really long time. It was really coming to New York and seeing theater as a kid, which I got to do a couple times, and then as a teenager, which I did all the time, because I would save my money and I'd go see shows around New York, on Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Off Broadway. And those were the moments that I really understood that I probably wanted to act even before I even understood that that's what I was understanding. So it feels really incredible. And then every night we go out at the stage door, and invariably there are people there that say, it's the first time I've ever seen a Broadway show.

[Adrien Brody]

Amazing.

[Tessa Thompson]

Which is so cool.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

That's really cool.

[Tessa Thompson]

And then I think of myself, the first time I ever saw a Broadway show and what that meant to me. Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And.

[Tessa Thompson]

And there's students that come, and it's their first year of drama school or their last year of drama school, and there's just all these interactions with audience members. And yesterday we passed by a wall. It's a theater thing, which I didn't know about. If you're in a Broadway show, you send a note where everyone signs happy opening to all of the plays that are opening. So along our hallway when we enter is every single show, almost every show on Broadway had sent us.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

That's amazing.

[Tessa Thompson]

You know, and we did the same for all the shows. So being a part of the community. Adrian's laughing because he didn't sign anything,

[Adrien Brody]

because he didn't realize it was signing. I've been just coming to work, but I didn't realize. I was like, wow, who are all these people signing? She goes, you're supposed to been signing. I said, I must think I'm a. I'm the only one who hasn't signed. But it's not, because I didn't. Of Course, I would be happy to sign. Why would I sign someone else's script? I didn't know what it was, so I didn't understand.

[Tessa Thompson]

Well, there's all these traditions, and we're new, so we didn't know. We didn't know. And then there's all the traditions. I'm curious to hear from you what your, like, pre show ritual is, because I don't even know. There's all these things. Like, every day when I enter, there's a big picture of James Earl Jones, and every day I stop.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, that's good.

[Tessa Thompson]

And have a moment with James.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, that's great. Love that.

[Tessa Thompson]

What do you do?

[Adrien Brody]

What do I do? I acknowledge him in passing, but I am in awe of being in that magnificent theater. And even the moment that I was afforded an opportunity to preview was pretty awe inspiring. It's beautiful, of course, but, you know, it used to be the Court, and it's just to be in this ground zero of this haven of work that's been done for so many years and a community that, like Tessa said, I too, have had such admiration for. But it's always been a distant dream almost. I've had a lot of trepidation, if I'm going to be honest, just because of the enormity of the task. And I started doing off Broadway very young as a boy. And my mother's an amazing photographer. She photographed for decades for the Village Voice. And so I was very fortunate to be very closely interwoven with a very artistic New York community. And then also had, like, my street shit in Queens, which shaped me and shaped who I am and shaped why I even gravitate to this role in particular. And I'm so grateful for this coming my way. I'm so grateful for Tessa's involvement and what she brings to this, and to have the privilege of working together. But watching her conjure up this character night after night. And back to your question about opening night. I mean, I'm personally relieved to be past it. Of course. It's a lot of pressure to have never done this and to live up to your own expectations. My own expectations are merely not blowing it. Blowing it in a moment. Not, you know, am I gonna do. Am I gonna find the greatest connection and the best performance?

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

What is kind of the presence of an audience bringing to this sort of experience?

[Adrien Brody]

I mean, it's beautiful to have that. It's really beautiful. And, you know, last night we walked off the stage and I said to Tessa, I was like, that was a little anticlimactic. And it was merely which, by the

[Tessa Thompson]

way, apparently, the night after opening is always supposed to be that way.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Cause it's just like, normal.

[Adrien Brody]

Intuitively, I understand that. But still, there was some disappointment because of the hall, of the heightened state of everyone going to a festive opening night of play on Broadway. And, you know, and this was. This was a lovely night, but it just every. The interaction felt slightly subdued. And I was like, hmm, maybe we didn't bring it. We should wrap it up. But I think it was. Yeah. But that's kind of amazing in a

[Tessa Thompson]

play like ours, especially because the fourth wall doesn't always exist, so there's interaction with the audience. It is really and truly a. A dialogue with them. The conversation is different every night.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Yeah. Nick Yaros has been, I know, very present in this process in London as well as here. Present as in certainly seeing the show a lot. And kind of love to ask, first of all, when each of you first met him and just sort of what the dynamic is like with him at this point.

[Tessa Thompson]

Adrian's had a much longer relationship.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Yeah. When did you first meet him?

[Adrien Brody]

Well, I met him prior to doing the play in London. Lindsey Ferrantino, our writer, spent a great deal of time with him. And Nick is very generous of spirit and a wonderful orator and storyteller and has lived many lives and has an understanding of life that is quite remarkable, an understanding of time and the preciousness of time. And he even says that he's hard to kill because he's just tenacious. And he lives, and he still possesses this wonderful, I think, enhanced empathy. And to have him physically, there is something quite profound. Emotionally, there is kind of a divining rod for me. There's a lot of playfulness and humor and gregarious stuff that is true to Nick, too. But it always helps ground me knowing my responsibility to him and to see him there.

[Tessa Thompson]

Yeah. He was with us when we were doing table work, so he came in and he would, you know, offer a couple things or tell a story on break, for example. But then sometimes we would just be reading the play, and you could look in the corner where he sat, and sometimes he was, like, silently weeping, which was. Yeah, like, I think, really profound for the cast, especially those of us that were new to the experience. Sure.

[Adrien Brody]

And.

[Tessa Thompson]

And also, maybe, I don't know that everyone in our cast has made work that's based on someone that's alive or living, and that's its own thing. Whether someone's in the room or not, they're always in the Room. They're always in the room when you do that. Right. So then when they're literally in the room, it's a completely different thing. And so I think that was a quite profound experience for the cast. And then recently Nick says this thing to me, and I think the reason he keeps repeating it is because I don't know how to respond to it in real time. So he maybe wonders if I heard him. But he keeps saying this thing to me, which is that he would do it all over again. He would spend the 22 years that he spent there again, if it meant that he could watch what Adrian and I do every night.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Oh, my God.

[Tessa Thompson]

Tell the story. And I just.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

No wonder you don't know what to say.

[Tessa Thompson]

I can't ever. I never know how to respond. Oh, my God. So I don't really properly.

[Adrien Brody]

I would highly suggest against that.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

It's not necessary. We're here, so it's fine.

[Tessa Thompson]

Exactly. I'm like, I don't know what to do with this. I don't know what to do with this. But. But. So he says things like that.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

I was going to ask if the show feels quite. I mean, you did it in London. There was a bit of a gap before it opening in New York. Is it feeling to you like quite a different show given, you know, you have new cast members, you have a new director. Obviously it's a new space. Does the show feel quite different than it did when you first.

[Adrien Brody]

I mean, I think it was a two year gap. I was like, okay, I'm gonna have to learn this again. But then definitely had to learn it again because it is vastly different. Vastly different. New director's vision, new cast, myriad script changes and alterations and moments that did exist or moved and shifted in paragraphs and sentences and things that are all new. And it's very interesting to play a man that you think you know and he's not the same man that you played.

[Tessa Thompson]

Yeah.

[Adrien Brody]

And also you're different and I'm different.

[Tessa Thompson]

Yeah, I guess. I don't know.

[Adrien Brody]

I'm just older. I'm more tired. Maybe that brings.

[Tessa Thompson]

I'm always curious about this. Cause obviously there's a different cast. But like, for example, David's last play, he did bug and that they remounted it was the same exact cast, but they hadn't done it in a handful of years. And I think they did it pre pandemic. And their worldview will have changed because the world has changed and that becomes embedded in the work. So it's like the way I feel about rereading, which I think a lot about, because we read these series of books over the course of the play, one of them being, maybe I'll get in trouble here, but I love Lolita. It's like, one of my favorite pieces of literature. It's just beautiful prose. But I have a different feeling about books when years pass and I read them again over the course of my life. You know, something strikes me different. So I imagine it's kind of the same with material in a way.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Tessa, you've obviously alluded to your love of the theater for a long time and seeing shows when you were growing up, but it has been a while since you've done live theater in New York. Certainly like a decade. Why so long? Where have you been?

[Tessa Thompson]

You know, I've been asking myself that question daily now, because I'm like, why did it take me so long? I. You know what? It's. Cause time just flies, doesn't it? It's the beginning line of the play. Time can be a blisteringly fast thing. You look up, and suddenly 10 years are gone from your. Is that the line? 10 years ago? Okay, yeah.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

In Godwali.

[Tessa Thompson]

Now these years are gone from your life. And I think it's a similar thing. I had not planned on it being 10 years, and I certainly. Maybe this is just my hubris. I had intended to do my Broadway debut way before now.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Sure, sure.

[Tessa Thompson]

It was like. It's been a circuitous route to get there, in a way, because Broadway was always the thing that I imagined. Once I wanted to be an actor that I would do because I was like, I'll go to conservatory. Maybe I'll get into Giuliardo. Maybe I'll get into nyu. And then I started working in TV and film before I could apply to any of those programs, because I lived in Los Angeles. So my trajectory just was sort of changed, frankly, by just circumstance and where I lived and I don't know. But the hope, the sincere hope, was always to do a new piece of work. Much as I love revivals and there's so many plays that I'd love to. I love the idea of just wrestling with something that is growing and changing and the room for invention. And also when you get to originate a part, just what that means, I think maybe because I grew up reading these plays, and you'd look and see who originated the show on Broadway, and that just always there was just a luster. Yeah. This idea of, like, originated by this person.

[Adrien Brody]

Amazing.

[Tessa Thompson]

Just to be the first to. To try to unpack something and figure it out together.

[Adrien Brody]

Ah, when Thompson was on the stage.

[Tessa Thompson]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

I'll never forget Texas interpretation.

[Adrien Brody]

That moment at the end when.

[Tessa Thompson]

Exactly.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Loss.

[Tessa Thompson]

Exactly.

[Adrien Brody]

Harrowing experience.

[Tessa Thompson]

Exactly.

[Adrien Brody]

Never to be replicated again by these young actors.

[Rebecca Ford]

Yes.

[Tessa Thompson]

That's exactly what you want to do. Or you want to take an old piece of work and you want to just like blow the lid off of it. I would love it. And like take it apart and put it back together in some new way. I'm already, I'm like, I think about what I want to do next.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

I love that. It's been a very long.

[Adrien Brody]

I'm just thinking about where I can go, relax. Really thinking about that.

[Tessa Thompson]

I am.

[Adrien Brody]

Good for you.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

The run through will be back in just a moment with more from Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson. Comprehensive, witty, speculative.

[Tessa Thompson]

Critical.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Insightful, Profound. Wide ranging.

[Tessa Thompson]

Hopefully doesn't take itself too, too seriously.

[Adrien Brody]

I'm David Remnick and each week on

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

the New Yorker Radio Hour, my colleagues and I try to make sense of

[Adrien Brody]

what's happening in this chaotic world. I hope you'll join us for the

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

New Yorker Radio Hour.

[Adrien Brody]

Wherever you listen to podcasts, the thoughtful,

[Tessa Thompson]

exquisite, just, you know, real.

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[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

It's certainly no small thing to, like, lead a show like this. And what about maybe the story or the team that you've been working with? Adrian made you go, I would like to take this on I

[Adrien Brody]

when things instill a degree of trepidation, for lack of a better word, abject fear, maybe more like it. Anything that moves Me makes me concerned about the potential failure and disaster.

[Tessa Thompson]

And

[Adrien Brody]

I get very curious about it. I get very excited.

[Tessa Thompson]

You're a masochist.

[Adrien Brody]

I think I am. I don't want to say that I am, but I do, in a weird, masochistic way. I find a lot of joy in handling the responsibility of portraying the things that are deeply wrong and the suffering that others have to experience and finding a way of expressing that in a way that sheds light on that.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

I'm curious about the way that both of you prepared for these parts. I mean, I think, Adrian, you're sort of known for being, like, quite intense during your preparation projects, certainly for your film roles. So I wonder, you know, of course, the play is sort of is adapted from a very moving documentary that's really just Nick speaking, but. And also, you have not met Jackie,

[Tessa Thompson]

the real Jackie, right?

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Or have you?

[Tessa Thompson]

No, no. It had always been Nick's wishes to protect her life and her. Yeah, her life. Her new life that she built without him. And so that wasn't on the table for me. And Lindsay also did not have access to Jackie when she was writing the piece. So the piece is an amalgamation. It's things that she's understood about Jackie from Nick. It's also things that she's written. She sort of has invented the shape of this woman. But the thing that I have been able to do, which has been really incredible, is to spend just time with people that do this work and understanding sort of what it means to them, how they do the work, how it sort of affects their lives. And then also, thankfully, there's kind of a lot out there as a resource for also people that have the spouses or family members or loved ones of folks that are incarcerated, because, sadly, there's so many people in this country that are incarcerated. And also, every night I go to the stage door, and invariably there is someone there. I met the daughter of a man and a woman that met when her father was incarcerated, and they fell in love. Nowhere I meet. I meet the children of folks that come and see our show. So that's been a lot of my prep is just sort of understanding through folks that really do this work and people that also have loved ones.

[Adrien Brody]

She's also a gifted actor and can intuit a lot of the circumstances and find truths in that. And I think that's part of what the key is, is to, you know, interpret it in a way that it's feels real to you. And so, of course, you have access to these things that are guides, but you understand enough about life to share that and to see it. And I think that's to your credit.

[Tessa Thompson]

I think I'll take it. It's mostly you can. It's my own eyeball.

[Adrien Brody]

You have the intellect for it, or you also have the emotional capacity.

[Tessa Thompson]

I love research. It's like my favorite thing. It's my way of circumventing whatever imposter syndrome that you can feel. But also, it's just inquiry. I just love it. I just. I love that process. I also think that Jackie, interestingly, is kind of the audience. She's kind of like the every person that brings you into this world. And there will be audience members that have experience with the carceral system, and there will be people that don't. And there will be audience members that really understand Jackie and understand how you could fall in love with. With someone even in those circumstances. And there will be audience members that don't understand it at all and judge her. And she also, by the way, judges herself at various moments. And so I think that's kind of the fascinating thing, in a way.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Yeah. What about for you? Obviously, a very different situation with Nick being so around. But what did you. Cause I also know that there's, you know, you don't want to be impersonating this person.

[Adrien Brody]

I've always told Nick I'm not doing an impression of him, and he's super supportive of that. And I think, furthermore, Nick's story is representative of the inhumanity that's afflicted many, many people in our country. And we could have a whole conversation, many conversations about how flawed our judicial system is and the carceral system and how easy it is to make a misstep in your youth, which isn't unfamiliar to me. Queens and Philly are not dissimilar, you know, And I grew up around a lot of opportunity to make mistakes, and witnessing a lot of people make tragic mistakes in their life. There's a very small distance between having a life or having that taken from you. And I think that is, unfortunately, with all the. Those momentary lapses of judgment or emotional outbursts or whatever. The downfall of many people's lives is one erroneous moment. So I understood my responsibility very early on in the storytelling and also why I gravitate towards that and how to tap into that.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

The run through will be back in just a moment with more from Adrienne Brody and Tessa Thompson.

[Rebecca Ford]

Hi, I'm Rebecca Ford.

[Tessa Thompson]

And I'm John Ross. And we're the hosts of Little Gold

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Men, Vanity Fairs podcasts.

[Tessa Thompson]

For film, TV and awards lovers.

[Rebecca Ford]

And just because the Oscars are done

[Tessa Thompson]

for now doesn't mean we are.

[Podcast Sponsor/Announcer]

Join us every week for coverage of

[Rebecca Ford]

the biggest stories in Hollywood, interviews with today's brightest stars, and so much more.

[Tessa Thompson]

Listen to Little Gold Men every Thursday,

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

wherever you get your podcasts. Circling back to the books that are such a present part of this story. And Nick says in the documentary and in the show how, you know, he kind of transferred his drug addiction into a real book addiction. And did you revisit many of the books that kind of come up in this show? Or if not, like, are you reading anything? Can you read? Like, read, do kind of other creative things sort of on the side when you're in a show like this?

[Tessa Thompson]

Yeah, I have been. I've started now because we don't rehearse, so we have our days free, so there's lots of time to read.

[Adrien Brody]

It's been like three days. I don't know what this girl's talking about.

[Tessa Thompson]

Well, I only started reading a lot. In the background, the tome on Baldwin that is extraordinary. I just started it, so I'm two chapters into that.

[Adrien Brody]

Good for you.

[Tessa Thompson]

It's incredible. But no, reading is a thing that I like to do before the show. Now a little bit of time. So I set up a little like in my dressing room. Jackie has a little library of books. Oh, sweetie. I was not a Charles Simic fan. I wasn't super familiar with his work. But it's a favorite poet of her. She's a PhD student in poetry. So I've been trying to re. Engage. I love poetry, but it's something that I like forget to read sometimes, you know, like I easy to forget. It's not always a thing that I think I'll pick up a book, book of poetry. So I bought a bunch of Simic. Adrienne gave me a beautiful Simic book for opening. And then I'll start reading like Mary Oliver. I try to read at least a poem before we get on stage.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

That's really nice.

[Tessa Thompson]

So I've been reading a little bit. But now that I have her days free, I think I'll try to get into a groove with reading a bunch more. I did read a little. I mean, Lolita, I revisit every handful of years anyways. But I hadn't read Catcher in the Rye in a very, very long time.

[Adrien Brody]

Have you reread it?

[Tessa Thompson]

Oh, some of it.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, yeah, Yeah.

[Tessa Thompson]

I didn't get to old Geller yet.

[Adrien Brody]

I thought about it.

[Tessa Thompson]

I know. I did too.

[Adrien Brody]

I did Think about it.

[Tessa Thompson]

Should we start?

[Adrien Brody]

You know what I've been reading. You know what I've been. That's so funny that you say this because I was like, wow, I really am impressed by you because I'm just really trying to catch up on sleep, which is a challenge because I don't sleep. I'm an insomniac.

[Tessa Thompson]

I go to bed. That's why I go to bed immediately when I get home. But you're. You don't stay up later.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, you're doing other.

[Tessa Thompson]

I made beets the other night.

[Adrien Brody]

I. I make. Yeah, I make musical ones.

[Tessa Thompson]

Not beetroot.

[Adrien Brody]

No, I don't make beet.

[Tessa Thompson]

He also does make lovely breakfast.

[Adrien Brody]

I do make stew. I make. I make stews. I make stew. Like I came home last night and I. I cooked sweet potato, beef and brown rice stew and ate at 12:18 in the morning.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

What?

[Adrien Brody]

Because I don't eat from the mid afternoon on.

[Tessa Thompson]

Okay.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah, I'm starving. We're both pretty hungry at the end of the night. And within that time I work on. I've been making. I've been making music for much of my life, which I just kind of mostly do privately, but my music often is deeply influenced by the work that I do and I've made. I'm a product of the birth of hip hop in New York and I am living within Nick's journey. And so a lot of the musical work and soundscapes and even stuff that I've written is deeply inspired from that and offers me a soundtrack like a fighter has going on to the Ring. I have a soundtrack that kind of both amps up my adrenaline levels, but centers me. And I custom create that and curate that. Whether it's predominantly my stuff now, but other things. In London I was listening to a lot of trap music and working out with one of the fellow actors prior doing a little jailhouse workout that we do in my little cinder block walled dressing room in the Dunmar and you know, incline push ups off the bench, off the chair and on the bench and whatever. We'd do a series of workouts and then I'd put on John Frusciante and listen to kind of an album essentially contemplating suicide and loss. And that kind of helps find a sweet spot. But I've had less time and space to sit and read literature as of late. I meditate regularly, but I'm not. I would very much enjoy it, but I don't have the space really to just sit back yet and open up. But we will have more time And

[Tessa Thompson]

I'm looking forward to that.

[Adrien Brody]

It's really been a few days, and I'm well behind my rest.

[Tessa Thompson]

I'm only two. I'm only two chapters in. That's a chapter a day so far.

[Adrien Brody]

Impressive. Very good.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Since this is Vogue's podcast, I am gonna ask some fashion questions off duty. When you're off stage, when you're now having a little bit of the day to yourself, like, how are you approaching getting dressed? Are we, like, putting together looks or are we just being comfortable incognito, low key? What's. How are we kind of approaching clothes these days?

[Adrien Brody]

I'm never putting together a look.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

That's enough.

[Tessa Thompson]

Well, the weather has just changed.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

It's been complicated, the weather.

[Tessa Thompson]

There's more opportunity now.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, is there?

[Tessa Thompson]

I think there's more opportunity. So this is the thing just in general with me. When I work on a movie set, for example, I don't come to work in, like, sweatpants and hats.

[Adrien Brody]

Oh, no, I know you don't.

[Tessa Thompson]

I come to work in clothes.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

You're dressed.

[Tessa Thompson]

I come to work dressed. And typically, I'll come to work sort of in the pocket of how I want to feel that day so that it doesn't feel like such a stark transition from sort of like what I've come in to what I'm becoming.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

That makes sense.

[Tessa Thompson]

So that's just sort of. I guess I'm sort of method. I method dress a tiny bit for the job. I haven't done that yet in theater because it's a different kind of demands and you're there. But I have a whole pre show. I have robes. I have different, like, dressing robes. For example, I'm getting ready that I want to be in my dressing robe. Some of it is to feel. Some of it is for how I feel. Right. And some of it is practical. There are practical concerns because I'm miked in my bra, so I have to be in this, like, thing. Then they have to mic me, so I can't be in my clothes. They don't have access to me. So it's also. There are practical considerations.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

She's not just swanning around in a room.

[Tessa Thompson]

I'm not just swanning around in a room. But I will say it depends on what's happening after tonight. I might go somewhere after the theater.

[Adrien Brody]

Okay.

[Tessa Thompson]

So I'm learning different things. Like, I have a different pair of pants under my pants right now.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Look, she comes Friday.

[Tessa Thompson]

Depending on the weather, I might leave in this other pair of pants when I leave the theater. But I'M not thinking about how I look at the stage door, but it just depends on what's happening. You know, there are amazing little speakeasies and things all in the theater district.

[Adrien Brody]

I love how she has this life.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

She's really.

[Adrien Brody]

I go home and make a stew in my room.

[Tessa Thompson]

That's a life. That's a life choice.

[Adrien Brody]

It's a life choice. I don't know if it's a life, but speaky and robes and two pairs of pants, and I'm just like, yeah, I'll throw on my hoodie and go home.

[Tessa Thompson]

I mean, most nights I do that too, but occasionally. Occasionally, I got family in town, you know.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Oh, okay. Yeah, you have to know some.

[Tessa Thompson]

They're gonna go see another place, so I'll meet them at.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

What are they seeing?

[Tessa Thompson]

They're gonna go see. You Got Older at the Ching Lane Theater.

[Adrien Brody]

Yeah.

[Tessa Thompson]

And then they might go see a matinee of Cats.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Oh, fun.

[Adrien Brody]

Tessa has all the time in the world.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

She's making lots.

[Tessa Thompson]

I'm making time. I'm making time.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

That's what you have to do.

[Tessa Thompson]

Otherwise, time can be a blisteringly fast thing.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Oh, look, there we go. And finally, this came up a little bit earlier, and I asked some theater people that we had here yesterday. This. Is there a show that you would like, love to see revived? Either a show that was, like, you saw early on that inspired a love of theater or that you've gotten to know over the years? What is a show that you would either love to see or would love to be a part of after this experience?

[Tessa Thompson]

I really love the Seagull, but I really love this play called the Nina Variations. So that's something that I think could be interesting to do. I'm also just, like, in a. I just love Ibsen, so I'm always interested in people doing adaptations of Ibsen's work. I loved. I saw, before it got transferred to Broadway, the musical Caroline or Change. And it was one of the most extraordinary performances I've seen. Tanya Pinkins in that. I would love to just see it again.

[Adrien Brody]

A good sequel would be One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest would be.

[Tessa Thompson]

They're about. They're doing it. They're doing it on the West End.

[Adrien Brody]

There we go. Oh, maybe that'll get here. But yeah, that would be. That would be amazing. I've always loved that. I think that would be a great one.

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

Totally. Well, I mean, I guess that's time. Thank you guys so much for being here. Time, time. That old chestnut time.

[Tessa Thompson]

Literally, that old Chestnut. How will we ever crack it?

[Interviewer/Host (possibly Chelsea Daniel or Alex De Palma)]

That's it for the Run Through. See you on Thursday.

[Rebecca Ford]

The Run through with Vogue is produced by produced by Chelsea Daniel, Alex De Palma and Alex John Burns, with help from Emily Elias. The show is engineered by Pran Bandy and mixed by Mike Kutchman. Bye. I'm Jesse Sevcyk. And I'm Shilpa Oskokovic. And we're senior Test Kitchen Editors at Bon Appetit and the hosts of the Bon Appetit Bake Club podcast. Bake Club is Bon Appetit's community of confident, curious bakers. We love to bake. Some might even call the two of us obsessive. And we love to talk about all the hows and whys and what didn't

[Tessa Thompson]

works that come with it.

[Rebecca Ford]

Every month we publish a recipe on bon appetit.com that introduces a baking concept we think you should know. Then you'll go bake, send us any questions you have and we'll get together here on the podcast to talk about the recipe. And this month we're making Strawberries Strawberry Roll Cake. It is the unofficial birthday cake of the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen and it is the perfect way to welcome spring. Head to ba.com and come and bake along with us. Send us your questions, pictures and any thoughts to bake clubon appetit.com or find us on the substack. Join us the first Tuesday of every month as we debrief about our latest bake find, Ba Bake Club.

[Tessa Thompson]

Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Rebecca Ford]

Happy baking

[Tessa Thompson]

from prx.