Judy Greer delivers a career-making performance in her new film Eric Larue — and a surprising aspect of costar Alexander Skarsgård’s character helped her in bringing the story to life.
“His facial hair was weird and it helped a lot,” Greer, 49, exclusively shares in the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. “I think it helped both of us be like, ‘Oh.’”
In the Michael Shannon–directed film, Greer portrays Janice, a mother reeling after her son, Eric (Nation Sage Henrikson), shoots and kills three of his classmates. Skarsgård, 48, portrays Janice’s husband, Ron, and the pair find themselves at odds when they choose to seek solace in separate religious congregations. The film is based on the 2002 play by Brett Neveu, who authored the work in response to the 1998 Columbine High School massacre and wrote the screenplay for the film.
While Janice is a more grounded, practical character, Ron throws himself at the mercy of his faith, which introduces him to controversial patriarchal ideals and, at times, odd behavior. Greer recalled first meeting Skarsgård in Wilmington, North Carolina — where the movie was filmed — and feeling dumbfounded by how the A-list actor would transform into what the story called for Ron to be.
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“I remember vividly we were at Satellite Bar in Wilmington. That’s the place we always went to,” Greer recalled. “And Alexander showed up. It was, like, daytime, definitely, because there was so much sunshine everywhere. And I remember he walked into the bar, it was kind of like an indoor-outdoor bar, and he walked in and he was wearing a white T-shirt and white shorts and white Converse [sneakers]. And he just looked like a God. Like, he was so tall and handsome, and he had this big open smile on his face. And I was like, ‘How can that be Ron?!’”
Once on set, however, Greer was “blown away” by Skarsgård’s transformation.
“I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, but seeing what he did with this character, it was so effortless,” she told Us. “I think he really cared for Ron. And he made a comment in an interview about how he really knew that [our director] Mike would take good care of Ron. And I don’t know, it gave me a lot of compassion towards him.”
Greer’s “love” for Skarsgård, however, proved at times a challenge. The actress noted how Janice doesn’t have much empathy for her husband — who, in her defense, spends a questionable amount of time with a coworker and fellow member of his church, played by Alison Pill, and has a habit of asking random women if they’d like neck rubs. But to Greer, Janice is simply “jealous” over how “easily” Ron can explain away their son’s actions. The contention between them continues to grow throughout the film, leaving them entirely fractured.
“It was hard in those scenes not to be more compassionate towards [Alex’s] character, because I did see him as such a big love,” Greer confessed.
While Skarsgård’s portrayal of Ron should be highly lauded, Greer delivers what is being widely regarded as her career-best performance. And although Greer denied reading any reviews herself, she’s aware of the praise thanks to her husband Dean E. Johnson’s Google alert.
“He’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God! This happened!’” she said with a laugh. “And I’m like, ‘Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!’ He’s like, ‘OK, but just know [they love it].’ He’s so cute.”
Greer confessed that Johnson reads “everything” so that she doesn’t “have to” and then sends the good news her way. It’s a ritual, she explained, that started after she received a valuable piece of career advice.
“I remember once someone said, ‘If you believe the good reviews, that means you have to believe the bad reviews. And I choose to believe in us.’ A producer said that to me once,” she recalled. “[But] yes, I know that many people are responding well to my performance and to the film. [Which is] nuts. [It’s] the best I can ask for.”
The acclaim doesn’t seem so “nuts” after watching Greer embody Janice. The heart-wrenching and emotional performance is undeniably showstopping. It also deviates from Greer’s history of taking on more comedic roles, which is exactly why she wanted to do it.
“I think what excited me is that it scared me,” she explained. “I like to try to do things that scare me and challenge me. That’s kind of what I felt ultimately about this, is that it would be a really big challenge. It would be scary, and I had to do it. And since I look up to Michael Shannon, like I have for years — we’ve been friends for years — to have him ask me to do this kind of just gave me the confidence, when I didn’t have the confidence, just to know that his faith in me was enough for me.”
Johnson’s confidence is also a driving force for Greer, which is why she keeps him as involved as she can in her projects, no matter the distance between them.
“I’ve never made a movie like this, but usually a movie that I care so deeply about and I’m so obsessed with, I make my husband read the script,” she explained. “It’s fun, especially when I’m out of town, because I’m like, ‘Oh, today we’re shooting the scene in the office and he’ll know what I’m doing’ And it just makes him and I feel more connected when I’m gone. But then it’s double fun with how, like, I’ve been there, I’ve shot the movie, I know what happened, but he only ever sees the finished product. So he goes from reading a script to watching the finished product and it’s, like, a year later.”
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While Greer’s performance is stellar from start to finish, a standout moment comes in the film’s final scene where, after visiting her son in prison for the first time, Janice abruptly pulls over and ditches her car (and sweater) to walk off into the sunset. For Greer, it was Johnson’s response to the scene that let her know they’d achieved what they set out to do when making the film.
“Seeing it through his eyes is always fun,” she told Us. “Him saying, ‘Oh, I love the end. It’s so great that we don’t know what’s going on and we just have to learn how to sit inside of our own s*** and sit in our mess and life is messy and we must keep trudging on. And yes, there’s some answers and no, there’s no answers. We just have to learn to be OK.’ And I was like, ‘OK, cool. We did it.’”
Eric Larue is in theaters now.
