It’s not often you hear actors described as nice in Hollywood. Perhaps polite or professional, yes, but nice? Despite her gifts for terrorizing her audience, this is how I’ve heard others describe Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia on “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Her appearance opposite Toni Collette in the horror movie “Hereditary” was similarly unnerving.
Despite her familiarity with the darker sides of characters, Dowd tries to make every actor feel comfortable working with her.
“I think every actor has the obligation to bring a positive energy and a willingness to jump in and give everything you have with consideration for everybody around you,” she says.
That goes for the project’s crew as well. “No one is asking the crew if they want to sit down or would they like to have some coffee. It’s not difficult to realize when you’re privileged enough to be on a set, bring your A-game and bring it with the best spirits you possess.”
As for Aunt Lydia, one of the matriarchs in charge of Gilead’s remaining fertile women in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Dowd plays a complex character who can be cruel yet sometimes sympathetic toward her charges. She’s a strict headmistress with the power to take out someone’s eye for perceived “sins” in this theocratic state. Yet, in Season 2, we see a new side of Aunt Lydia, someone who’s not entirely closed off to hearing what June, also known as Offred on the show, (Elisabeth Moss) has to say about her treatment by the Waterford family or who will help bend the rules to save the life of a baby.
Dowd insists she’s a fun, well-written character to play. “How fun to jump into a character like that,” she says. “It’s the best. At the end of the day, we don’t bring the consequences home with us, do we? When I look at my fleet of handmaids, everybody has their eyes, everybody has their arms and their hands. Nobody’s been burnt. We don’t carry those consequences home with us.”
Dowd took lots of care in order to play Aunt Lydia. She re-read the novel, worked closely with Season 1 director Reed Morano and showrunner Bruce Miller. She listened to the input of others and drew from some of her own experiences going to Catholic school in Massachusetts. “They just had a very strong work ethic, and they taught us what it meant to commit to the work at hand,” she recalls.
“Reed Morano and Bruce suggested that this is a complicated person, not just someone who wants to torture these girls,” Dowd says of Aunt Lydia. “She has a real plan in mind, and she loves those girls and wants what’s best for them.”
Like many viewers, Dowd was surprised by the second season’s many dark twists, which included a suicide bomber, several executions and what was almost a fatal end for her character. “I was shocked at every turn when I would read the script,” she says. “I would put it down, heart racing.” She doesn’t know yet what’s in store for Aunt Lydia, but Dowd confirms she will be back in Season 3.
Dowd was especially moved by the removal of June’s children, which touched her as a mother.
Dowd’s as excited for her recent Emmy nomination for her fearsome “The Handmaid’s Tale” performance as she was when she earned her first Emmy nomination for her work in the first season. She went on to win for best supporting actress in a drama and delivered a gracious speech while fighting back tears and disbelief on her way to accept.
This time around, she heard about her Emmy nomination on July 12 faraway from Hollywood.
“I was in Australia, and the announcement came at 1:30 in the morning,” Dowd explains. “I had had a 5 a.m. pickup the next day. ... I kind of drifted back to sleep – that happy sleep of I think I’m dreaming, that this is a fairytale, but maybe it isn’t.”
Dowd admits there’s a little anxiety in the thrill of it all, and a challenge just to keep cool waiting for the results. “It’s just an honor, you know, the first time, second time. I don’t take it for granted.”
