Cinema Audio Society Awards 2025 Winners Listing

SPOILER ALERT: This interview comprises spoilers from all six episodes of “Zero Day,” now streaming on Netflix.

Lizzy Caplan at all times knew that her character, Congresswoman and former First Daughter Alexandra Mullen, was behind the catastrophic cyberattack that incited the existential and ethical panic that runs by means of “Zero Day.” It’s a plot twist that comes within the early minutes of the finale of Netflix’s newest political thriller, which stars Robert De Niro (in his first main TV position) as President Robert Mullen, an ageing, populist former chief who comes out of retirement to run a fee tasked with investigating the devastating nationwide outage.

So far as when she discovered about her character’s villainy, she says: “I believe it was most likely earlier than I learn the scripts. I could not have been as conscious of the magnitude of her position in it. Possibly I believed there have been going to be different individuals who have been concerned, however I didn’t understand how a lot of it was going to be Alex.”

In a heated confrontation together with her father inside her house, Alex comes clear about how the Zero Day assault got here from throughout the highest ranges of presidency — and the way it all went terribly unsuitable. Because it seems, Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine), the present Speaker of the Home, had teamed up with tech billionaire Monica Kidder (Gaby Hoffmann) to orchestrate a plot towards the sitting authorities of President Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett). Alex had turn out to be a part of the insurgency, fed up with the quantity of political infighting that was stopping important laws from being handed.

“In only one minute, [Kidder] might remind everyone how weak we’re, how fragile we’re, and that is sensible. It does,” Alex tells her father. “It is sensible that if you happen to can remind folks what’s actually essential, then possibly they’ll tune out all of the noise and the bullshit and the lies, and we are able to return to truly listening to one another. So we let it occur, as a result of it made that time for us. It made it higher than we ever might have made it, however I didn’t know that anyone was gonna die.”

Dreyer and even Mitchell are capable of persuade Robert to let Kidder alone take the autumn for the cyberattack in his fee report, reasoning that it will be essentially the most useful resolution for all concerned. However after Alex leaves her father a resignation word to learn whereas delivering his report back to the American public, Robert takes that chance to reveal Dreyer’s involvement, even when that will implicate his daughter and tear his household aside even additional.

Under, Caplan opens up about how she interpreted and justified Alex’s actions, her takeaways from working with onscreen father De Niro — and why she stays amazed by the enduring legacy of “Imply Women.”

What did you discover most intriguing about this fictional world that appears eerily much like our present political local weather?

The political elements clearly are driving this story ahead, and that is what the present is about: What would occur if one thing this terrible occurred to a rustic that’s this divided the place we didn’t actually know who to belief and we didn’t know who was telling the reality? And [what] if the reality turned extra subjective as an alternative of what it’s at all times been? I discovered all of it very compelling.

However what drew me in additional was the interpersonal dynamics that have been occurring beneath all of it. Alex has a really difficult relationship with each of her dad and mom, however primarily her father. There’s a variety of unresolved trauma that has occurred throughout the household — not solely the overdose dying of her brother, however the Valerie Whitesell [Connie Britton] character’s piece of it inside their household. So there’s a variety of skeletons within the Mullen closet, and Alex has various resentment in the direction of her father for lots of it and various resentment in the direction of her mom for sticking together with her father.

So the problem was sustaining that undercurrent of interpersonal drama beneath this tremendous high-stakes, on-the-world-stage political drama, and each scene had each. There are only a few easy scenes the place characters should not conserving their playing cards near their chest. All people is mendacity or telling half-truths the entire time on this present. That was the half that I discovered essentially the most compelling, but additionally very difficult. I imply, there have been 15 issues going by means of Alex’s head in each beat of this present. She additionally was holding onto her personal secrets and techniques on prime of all of that, but it surely was a dream to get to discover all of that with the solid and with Lesli Linka Glatter, and I believe it hopefully elevates it past only a straight political thriller.

A lot of Alex’s grownup life has been spent attempting to step out of her father’s shadow. Halfway by means of the season, Alex insists that she’s a congresswoman and never “daddy’s little lady,” and Speaker Dreyer reminds her that she’s each. What was your interpretation of Alex’s emotionally fraught relationship with Robert? Is she looking for love or approval from him? Does she wish to be seen as completely different from him?

I believe there’s a slew of issues she thinks she needs, after which just a few issues that she truly wants from this relationship and is possibly not as conscious of. She actually needs her household to be sincere about what occurred to her brother, to come clean with all of those defects of character. And she or he’s not going to get that from her dad and mom, which she finds endlessly irritating.

I believe there’s a really common theme that regardless that not many individuals can establish with being the daughter of a former president or rising up within the White Home below that stage of scrutiny from such a younger age — that’s not a common expertise, clearly — I do suppose many individuals can relate to the concept you suppose you already know higher than your dad and mom, that your dad and mom are drawing from an outdated playbook they usually don’t get how issues actually work now within the trendy age. That’s Alex’s deadly flaw. She thinks that as a result of she understands how the information cycle strikes faster, and there’s a social media factor to politics now, she thinks meaning she is aware of higher than her father. I, Lizzy, actually personally disagree with that, as a result of what she doesn’t have is any of his expertise and any of his knowledge, and she or he reductions that as much less essential than what she’s bringing to the desk, and it leads her to make some very unhealthy selections.

All six scripts have been written earlier than the beginning of manufacturing, so that you had a transparent method to monitor Alex’s arc. How did you concentrate on taking part in and teasing out her interior turmoil over the course of those episodes?

I believe that it’s straightforward to wish to play that you’ve a secret. That looks like possibly the best plan of action when tackling one thing like this, however the actuality is, I believe individuals are higher liars than we give them credit score for. And when anyone is conserving this stage of a secret, I believe she’d be a really convincing liar, which she is. I’ll have an interest to see, if you happen to return and watch it, if you happen to can decide up on any little tells.

I do imagine her intentions have been noble. The outcomes she was striving for, I can fully perceive, however I wouldn’t have gone about it in that approach. I believe she’s immature, she’s sheltered. And regardless that, sure, she’s holding onto this large secret and these large lies, I believe, not less than for the primary episodes, what’s permitting her to place one foot in entrance of the opposite is that she actually believes within the trigger that she’s combating for. I believe they most likely all are combating for a similar trigger. She simply goes about it in a extremely questionable approach.

All of Alex’s secrets and techniques spill out in a heated confrontation together with her father in Episode 6. What do you keep in mind from the method of capturing that pivotal scene, and what was it like for you to have the ability to spar with De Niro in that approach?

Very intimidating. That was the scene that I used to be essentially the most nervous about, for positive. I simply saved considering, if I can simply get to the opposite facet of that scene, I can breathe somewhat simpler. We shot all of it day. It was a really, very lengthy day. It was completely exhausting. I don’t know if all of us felt assured that we obtained it. I definitely will at all times query whether or not or not we obtained it on the finish. I can’t think about it’s any actor’s favourite day to have to keep up that stage of depth and emotion for 12 hours, however Bob was so beneficiant, affected person and wonderful to work reverse. That was positively not one thing that I don’t wish to say that I anticipated, but it surely’s simply not one thing that will’ve been obligatory for anyone of his caliber to do. He doesn’t must be as beneficiant to different actors as he’s. It’s fairly thoughts blowing, and I respect it a lot.

Earlier than assembly De Niro for the primary time a pair years in the past, you advised Selection that you simply have been “gonna let him lead” as a result of he loomed so massive in your mind and in your childhood that you simply simply didn’t know what to anticipate from him. What do you keep in mind out of your preliminary assembly with him?

I believe our first assembly was at his workplace, which is a fairly unimaginable place. The partitions are lined with these images of him with so many individuals, so many film stills. It’s like a museum. However he was simply type, candy, beneficiant and real. It’s very apparent that regardless that he’s Robert De Niro, his precedence is his household and that’s what drives him. I didn’t wish to guess what he could be like, however he was so clearly similar to a household man.

And sure, I used to be completely nervous to fulfill him, and I don’t actually envy anyone in that place, to be that well-known for this a few years. Dwelling life as on that stage of superstar will need to have so many challenges. I believe it will be very unusual to have everyone have a look at you want, “I can’t imagine that is taking place to me,” each time you meet anyone. So I by no means lead with fangirling, as a result of I’m extra concerned about attempting to know the human being. However I additionally knew Jesse Plemons a bit, and he’s labored with Bob a bunch, and he advised me he’s only a actually good, first rate man — and this was the case.

The connection between Alex and Jesse Plemons’ character Roger is, by design, tough to outline, but it surely’s clear from Alex’s response to his homicide that he meant quite a bit to her and that she didn’t count on to lose somebody so near her as an oblique results of this cyberattack. How would you characterize their relationship? Have been they simply hooking up? Have been they really in love?

That was one of many positives that got here out of that lengthy six-month break [because of the strikes] that took us abruptly. We had gotten collectively at Lesli’s house — Lesli, Jesse, Eric and I — and we began speaking about this relationship. We don’t actually have that a lot actual property throughout the present. There’s only a few scenes between the 2 of them, and there’s a lot excessive stakes stuff occurring round them that it was a problem to strive to determine how we convey this actually lengthy historical past that these two have with each other. So we tried to fill these scenes with as many moments as we might that will convey simply how lengthy and the way difficult and the way intertwined their lives had been.

I believe we additionally talked fairly a bit in regards to the dying of Alex’s brother and the way the three of them have been most likely at all times collectively and actually tight. So dropping Roger simply compounds the anguish over dropping her brother. These have been her folks. The highlight was shining so brightly on them since they have been youngsters, in order that they discovered this group of individuals the place they may act out and misbehave and be actual children collectively. I believe each Alex and Roger’s character have a variety of demons, medicine, secrets and techniques, so we simply constructed this backstory of what they’d been by means of collectively, and we tried to pepper little mentions of it throughout the scenes simply to attempt to give it this stage of richness in very, only a few minutes of digital camera time collectively.

How did you wish to play out the aftermath of Roger’s dying from Alex’s perspective?

I believe by the point he dies, the wheels are actually beginning to come off. The plan has gone so sideways that the one approach she will proceed placing one foot in entrance of the opposite is to maintain her eye on the prize, which was the top end result that she hoped for. I believe it most likely hits her a bit within the dialog together with her dad when issues lastly come out. However I believe, if something, she simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to course of Roger’s dying in any wholesome approach. She’s not giving herself time to grieve. She’s simply barreling ahead and doubtless attempting to sidestep the sentiments which might be developing not solely about Roger, however about her brother and her personal half in it.

You’ve personally gone from power to power in three very completely different reveals: “Fleishman Is in Bother,” “Deadly Attraction” and now “Zero Day.” I believe it’s honest to say the “Caplanaissance” is on.

I’ve by no means heard that! If I hear it from a second individual, I’ll possibly begin to imagine that you simply didn’t simply make that up proper now.

Effectively, I’ve simply coined the time period, so another person can use it now. You’ve overtly talked about how a variety of the misfit, left-of-center characters that outlined your early physique of labor weren’t essentially the individuals who have been getting the actually juicy main roles, however we appear to have arrived at a cultural second the place these varieties of ladies have turn out to be much more normalized.

I believe what you mentioned is true. The tradition and the TV and movie panorama has modified so dramatically that after I was first beginning out, the left-of-center characters have been by no means the primary protagonist, they usually weren’t the roles folks needed. Folks needed to be the “most important lady,” and I used to be at all times drawn to these extra misfit characters. But it surely was additionally irritating since you by no means have been driving the story as a rule. You by no means would’ve seen a present [like] “Wednesday” again after I was 19 or no matter.

So I do suppose that the tradition itself is altering, but additionally, as you grow old, I believe the roles for girls in tv have at all times been the richest. We have been simply speaking earlier about “The Sopranos” — Carmela Soprano is likely one of the biggest feminine characters of all time, so difficult. So there’s at all times been a spot for TV, and I at all times have and can proceed to run in the direction of these roles. They’re the one ones that actually maintain my curiosity. And naturally now, it’s similar to a luck of circumstance, I suppose, that the reveals are actually specializing in these messy, difficult, fractured protagonists.

Final 12 months marked the 20-year anniversary of “Imply Women.” Once you look again on that movie, what stands out to you? And did you will have any say in Janis’ Goth look that appears to have stood the take a look at of time?

I didn’t have a lot say within the look. Possibly I weighed in on flat-ironing sure components of my bizarre, ruined dyed black hair? However I look again on it so fondly. I spent a few years afterwards attempting to not distance myself, however I didn’t wish to be pigeonholed as that character, and I fought actually onerous towards that. Now, at this age, 20 years later, I really feel like I completed that to a sure diploma, and that’s now allowed me to essentially recognize how particular that film is and the way particular it was to have been part of it. As you mentioned, every new era appears to find it irresistible. In a approach, it looks like a ceremony of passage for each younger child — definitely each lady and fairly just a few boys — so it does really feel like a legacy now. It’s one thing that I’m simply endlessly proud to have been part of.

And regardless that the highschool itself in that film seems to be so completely different [from] highschool now — there’s no screens, there’s no social media. That’s not a component of this story in any respect, which might completely be a component of this story now. It’s [an element] within the remake and within the musical. So, how on earth does it resonate with children who’re in highschool now, when their highschool expertise actually doesn’t seem to resemble the highschool expertise from “Imply Women”? I imply, the themes are common. It was a nice, nice script. And yeah, there are going to be imply ladies in each iteration of highschool, even when it finally ends up being on the moon.

This interview has been edited and condensed.