NEW YORK − Carrie Coon has never made a film quite like “His Three Daughters.”
The intimate family drama (now streaming on Netflix) follows estranged sisters Katie (Coon), Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) and Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) as they reunite to care for their ailing patriarch. The movie was shot in just three weeks in a cramped New York apartment; next-door units were fashioned into makeshift green rooms, while the building’s basement became a production office. Miraculously, there were no noise complaints from nettled tenants.
“They emailed all the neighbors so they knew we were there,” Coon recalls with a grin. “We kept respectful hours.”
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The character was written specifically for Coon by filmmaker Azazel Jacobs, who found her “absolutely brilliant” in 2020’s “The Nest” and endeavored to work together. He knew she could peel back vulnerable layers of the high-strung Katie, who bulldozes her siblings as she tries to micromanage their dad’s final days in hospice.
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“The fact that Carrie could play a locomotive train is not the surprise,” Jacobs says. “It’s what happens after that, that I felt she could really go in some other direction.”
In real life, Coon, 43, grew up as the middle child of five in Copley, Ohio. She’s always been the family mediator, although like Katie, “I can be overbearing with my unsolicited advice.” Reading Jacobs’ script, the actress admired his unvarnished approach to grief, as well as the dark humor that cuts through.
On paper, it might “sound really depressing,” Coon says. “But whenever I see something that doesn’t have a sense of humor, it doesn’t feel real to me. The absurdity of the human condition must find its way in.”
‘His Three Daughters’ caps off a banner year for Carrie Coon
“His Three Daughters” could catapult Coon into the Oscar race after more than a decade of jaw-dropping work on stage and screen. The Tony nominee made her film debut in 2014’s “Gone Girl,” playing Ben Affleck’s wisecracking sister. (At a hometown screening of the David Fincher thriller, Coon’s Catholic grandmother flinched every time she dropped an f-bomb, “and I said it in just about every sentence in that movie, so that was really painful for me.”)
Coon has worked steadily ever since, juggling roles in awards dramas (“Widows,” “The Post”) and blockbuster franchises (“Ghostbusters,” “Avengers”). She’s also become a queen of prestige TV, starring in FX’s “Fargo” and HBO’s “The Leftovers” and “The Gilded Age.” In July, she earned a best actress Emmy nomination for the latter, playing the relentlessly ambitious Bertha Russell.
“Gilded,” in particular, has become a niche success. Created by “Downton Abbey” mastermind Julian Fellowes, and starring mostly Broadway veterans, the addictive period drama has never been a ratings juggernaut. But it’s gradually found a passionate, online fan base of women and gay men.
“It seems to be something younger people are watching with their mothers and grandmothers, either because they like theater or they think (co-star) Morgan Spector is hot,” Coon says, laughing. “And, of course, I really do feel like Gay Twitter saved our show. Never underestimate the power of Gay Twitter!”
Even as her star rises, she credits her Midwestern upbringing for keeping her humble. “You just put your head down and do your work,” Coon says. “I haven’t had a big gap where I haven’t been working, and I’m really proud of my resume.”
And, the actress insists, she’s not (yet) at the level of fame where people stop her on the street: “Everything that’s happening to me is happening on the internet – not in my real life. And thank goodness! I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Carrie Coon and husband Tracy Letts are raising their kids to love cinema
Coon’s stock will continue to rise next year with Season 3 of HBO’s “The White Lotus,” which she shot in Thailand this past spring. (An avid reader, she spent most of those 18-hour flights blissfully unplugged.)
She also has a small role in this fall’s “Another Happy Day,” a comedy about postpartum depression. Writer/director Nora Fiffer was “committed to doing an eight-hour workday with access to child care, and that is a movement we should all get behind in every industry,” says Coon, who shares two young kids with actor/playwright Tracy Letts.
“I’m lucky I’m in a supportive marriage – my husband is not afraid of female ambition and I really like being home,” Coon says. “Now the things that take me away from my family have to be really special. I’m very privileged to be in a position where I get to make choices about that.”
Coon and Letts are, in many ways, the ultimate creative power couple. The pair are hoping to bring two of his plays, “Bug” and “August: Osage County,” back to New York soon. (“They’re essentially period pieces now, but what they were predicting about the country is staggering,” Coon explains.) They are also avid cinephiles, with a collection of more than 10,000 Blu-rays.
The parents are now passing that love onto their kids, who watch at least one film every day. Although their 6-year-old son recently enjoyed “Inside Out 2,” he prefers old Charlie Chaplin and Japanese “Gamera” movies.
“The other day, we asked my 3-year-old what she wanted,” Coon says. “She said, I want to watch ‘The Fly,’ ” the 1958 sci-fi horror film starring Vincent Price.
“We said, you don’t want to watch that! You’re just trying to impress your brother! But she’s obsessed with it – they’re total nerds.”
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