Betty Gilpin Says Her New Role as an Unhappy Wife with an Awakened Sex Drive Is Now Her Favorite

Betty Gilpin was incredibly surprised by how she was affected by playing a suburban housewife in flux in the new Starz drama Three Women. “It was completely the role of a lifetime,” Gilpin told MovieWeb in a recent interview about the new series from creator/showrunner Lisa Taddeo. The story tracks three very different women at a crossroads in their lives. Gilpin plays Lina in the ensemble outing, which also stars Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies), DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World Dominion), and Gabrielle Creevy (In My Skin).

Lina, who has endured a passionless marriage for nearly a decade, suddenly embarks on an all-consuming affair that transforms her entire life. Of the role, Gilpin said, “It was my favorite [role] I’ve ever played. Lisa’s book was such a gift to me as a woman in the world, because I felt like I really saw versions of myself and all three of [the women] in a way that I hadn’t put into words before.” She added:

“As an actor, you show up and you play the stakes. Then you go home, and you think, ‘
Well, probably a lot of that Hamlet-ing was in my head or will be on the cutting room floor
.’ In this case, it’s all in Lisa’s writing.
She treats this ‘Indiana housewife’ like she is Hamlet in her own life
, like she is Odysseus or Princess Buttercup in
The Princess Bride
, even though her surrounding circumstances are not the genre she feels inside.”

“Playing somebody whose wants and needs were just as loud as a character in Moby Dick was just the greatest gift,” Gilpin went on to tell MovieWeb, referencing the vast range of emotions she had to express. It’s a tour du force performance, in fact, and one of Gilpin’s finest after a memorable jaunt on Peacock’s Mrs. Davis.

Watch Our Full Interview with Betty Gilpin Below:

Why the Raw Emotions of Betty Gilpin’s Role Felt Risky

The actress added that playing Lina stretched her as an actress, too. “It definitely felt like going back to school,” she said. “I think there’s a safety in playing characters who don’t experience high stakes, take big swings, or have their wants and needs pouring out of every pore like Lina does. It’s a little easier to be whispery, minimalist, and cool. There’s less chance to fall on your face.” She went on to say:

“[For] Lina, it’s just not an option to play her kind of
Ocean’s Eleven —
cool, suave, and whispery.
She’s somebody who’s panting, pounding, screaming for what she wants at all times
. Because once she’s on the hamster wheel of what she wants, she can’t get off…
as an actor, it felt risky, scary and exciting to be on that wheel.
”