Staying Fit
When we caught up with Virginia Madsen, who plays the matriarch of a twisted family suspected of harboring a serial killer in this summer's new TV drama American Gothic, not enough episodes had been filmed for the actress to find out if she's the murderer. But as she proved while fielding our questions about acting and aging, the glamorous 54-year-old Oscar nominee (for Sideways, 2004) has been killing it recently on all fronts:
Q: What can you tell us about your role in American Gothic?
A: Well, I'm the matriarch of the wealthy Hawthorne clan in Boston, and one of my daughters is running for mayor. Evidence comes to light that someone in the family had something to do with a string of murders in the city 14 years previous. I'm hoping the killer is me.
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Q: Why do you say that?
A: Because one of the best things about my job is getting to do things I can't in real life. Like murder people!
Q: Not that we know about, anyway…
A: [Laughs] Exactly! Madeline Hawthorne is a powerful woman. She rules with an iron fist, but it's covered with a velvet glove.
Q: A natural role for you?
A: Well, she's very much like me in the way that family comes first, above all else, and God forbid you should stand in the way of my children! I have a college-age son now, and I've surprised myself how fierce I get on the phone with him: "You're the best. …You're doing amazing work. … I'm so proud of you!" Then I hang up and immediately I'm like, "Who was that?"
Q: Did you pick up that ferocity in the movie business?
A: Well, I think my natural strength is that I'm from the Midwest; we're very grounded people. We have a common enemy in Chicago, and that's the winter; it makes you strong, and it makes you tough.